Are we really free as a society when our right “to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed”? When Is Enough, Enough?!
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“If we’d given the people of Sandy Hook more support, other kids wouldn’t be dead now. … Had I acted, maybe my son might be alive.” –Richard Martinez, father of slain 20-year-old Santa Barbara student, Richard Michaels-Martinez.
A Gun Culture
Giving new meaning to the term “hunting for a wife,” Jewelry by Harold owner in North Liberty, Iowa will give a husband-to-be a voucher for a new Remington 870 rifle with the purchase of an engagement ring priced at $1,999 or higher. Shop owner Harold van Beek stated:
“So say: I’m hunting deer, and here is a diamond ring, dear.”
To apply for this “deal,” one must be eligible to own a gun in Iowa, and not have been convicted of a felony.
In its attempt to pull in shoppers a couple of years ago, on so-called “Black Friday” (the day following Thanksgiving,) the camping and outdoors superstore, Cabela’s, handed out envelopes to the first 800 people over the age of 18 who lined up in front of its stores before 5:00 a.m. for a chance to win a Browning A-Bolt Medallion .300 WSM rifle with a Cabela’s fiftieth anniversary gun case all worth $875.
The Scottsdale, Arizona Gun Club now offers its members the service of sending out their Christmas cards with family, including infants, posing with Santa while holding pistols and military grade automatic weapons, fa la la la la, la la la la. Joy to the world?
I’ve heard about people being shot from canons, but for those who want to remain active hunters well after they have “bought the farm,” now their wishes have come true. Be the first on your block to kill long after you have died. For the sum of only $1250, your loved ones can have you cremated with a pound of your ashes stuffed inside genuine bullets, resurrecting you as live ammunition.
For that measly sum, you can metamorphose as 250 shot shells, 100 rifles cartridges, or 250 pistol cartridges. For only $100 extra, until you come alive again as a killing apparatus, your bullet ashes can rest in peace in a decorative wooden coffin-like box.
The company, Holy Smoke Bullet Urns of Stockton, Alabama, has taken quite literally Shylock’s claim in Shakespeare’s 1596 Merchant of Venice: “The pound of flesh which I demand of him is dearly bought, ‘tis mine, and I will have it.”
According to the company’s founder:
“You know I’ve thought about this for some time and I want to be cremated. Then I want my ashes put into some turkey load shotgun shells and have someone that knows how to turkey hunt use the shotgun shells with my ashes to shoot a turkey. That way I will rest in peace knowing that the last thing that one turkey will see is me, screaming at him at about 900 feet per second.”
In this way, you will obtain virtual immortality in the elk antlers hung over your family’s fire place or in the stuffed duck sitting on their living room side table. In addition to the decimation of wild game, the company offers this alternative to traditional burial as a means to “continue to protect your home and family even after you are gone.” So just think of it; now you can kill a home intruder by shooting them right in the gut with your Great Uncle Henry or Aunt Gert!
And maybe it’s not too late to go down to Nation’s Truck Sales in Sanford, Florida where two years ago they offered each customer a brand spanking new assault rifle with the purchase of a truck. Stated General Sales Manager, Nick Ginetta:
“We started on Veterans Day. Hey, so many have given so much for this right!”
Asking Critical Questions
I would ask, though, have so many in fact given so much for the right for us to turn our bodies literally into killing devices or for the right to own a “free” assault or hunting rifle? Do we really want “the last thing that one turkey will see is me, screaming at him at about 900 feet per second.”? Do residents of our nation really need so many guns, assault rifles and others?
Each time I hear of yet another incident of gun violence, I think back to the very first thing that caught my eye as I entered the grounds of the Ames, Iowa Republican Party Presidential Straw Poll in the summer of 2011. Three young children, I would guess between the ages of 4 -7, sporting day-glow orange baseball caps with “N.R.A.” [National Rifle Association] scrawled atop, and round stickers on their small T-shirts announcing “GUNS SAVE LIVES.”
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, though, gun related violence has reached epidemic proportions in our country by snuffing out the lives of upwards of 30,000 people and wounding many more annually. Each year, over 100,000 people are affected in some way by gun violence. Many of the guns used in these killings reach military level weapons power, guns which currently remain legal. Today in the United States, there are 88.8 firearms per 100 people.
Of the estimated 65 mass murders in the United States since 1982, most of the shooters obtained their weapons legally. Demographically, the shooters in all but one case involved males usually white, with an average age of 35 years.
Should any limits be imposed on the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution, which reads: “A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed”? We seem somehow only to remember the second clause in that sentence while neglecting the first, especially the term “well-regulated”!
Certainly, Jewelry by Harold, Cabela’s, Holy Smoke Bullet Urns of Stockton, Alabama Nation’s Truck Sales of Sanford, Florida, and gun clubs hold the constitutional right to market their devices of death, but what type of messages are they communicating? Are we really “free” as a society when our right “to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed”?
I propose that we reevaluate the political right’s obsession with the so-called “freedom” to bear arms because it is not only “criminals who kill people” as Second Amendment advocates claim. Though NRA Executive VP Wayne LaPierre asserts that “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun,” this week, a bad guy with a gun was literally taken down by a good guy armed with courage and a can of pepper spray at Seattle Pacific University.
We must also rethink the “logic” of permitting concealed weapons, especially in places like houses of worship, colleges, bars, restaurants, and political rallies.
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I believe we must criminalize the possession of automatic and semi-automatic weapons, and close loop holes such as buying a weapon at a gun show. We must increase the waiting period and make background checks more rigorous and effective. Furthermore, we need to limit the number of guns any individual can own, and also limit the number of bullets any gun clip can hold. We must also rethink the “logic” of permitting concealed weapons, especially in places like houses of worship, colleges, bars, restaurants, and political rallies. Moreover, all data bases monitoring gun ownership must interface to assess the gun owning population more accurately and effectively.
I also believe that even our flawed “founding fathers” did not want unlimited and unrestricted rights to bear arms. Even if they did advocate for unrestricted gun ownership, these are the same men who owned slaves, committed genocide against and expelled native peoples, withheld enfranchisement from women, and so on.
But as we all know, the chances for comprehensive gun control in the United States is only a pipe dream since the N.R.A. controls Congress and state legislatures, for if they did not, we would have seen effective laws passed years ago resulting in countless lives saved.
The Insanity Must End
How many more Columbines and Auroras; Fort Hoods; Virginia Techs; Northern Illinois Universities; University of Californias at Santa Barbara; Seattle Pacific Universities; Phoenix, Arizona parking lots; Pennsylvania Amish school houses; Santana High Schools; Springfield Oregon high schools; Jonesboro, Arkansas middle schools; Universities of Texases; Honolulu, Hawaii Xerox Corporations; Atlanta brokerage offices; US postal offices; Jewish community centers and schools; Muslim community centers and Mosques; Sikh temples; Christian churches? How many more dead to urban and suburban violence? How many more gun-induced killings to domestic violence? How many more accidental killings? And how many more Gabby Giffords, Harvey Milks, George Tillers, Tupac Shakurs, The Notorious B.I.Gs., Trayvon Martins, Lawrence Kings, Molly Judith Olgins, Mary Christine Chapas, Katherine Coopers, Richard Michaels-Martinezes, the famous, and the not-so-famous will it take for this country and its politicians to wake up to the reality that, contrary to the N.R.A.’s assertions, guns in the hands of anyone, in any and all stations of life, kill people? When is enough, enough?!
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Photo: dno1967b/Flickr, Ammo Photo: Capt’ Gorgeous/Flickr Pawn Photo: rutlo/Flickr
I see Warren never responded … how come?
While part of the 2nd Amendment’s purpose was to provide an armed citizenry capable of fighting back against subjugation by a foreign (or their own) government – being armed is useful in times where there *is* no effective government. When hurricane Katrina obliterated New Orleans there was no functional police force. You couldn’t dial 911. Citizens who survived the hurricane were forced to defend themselves against violent criminals who simply walked away when the prisons were evacuated. They had to fight back against looters, thieves, and predatory opportunists. Large scale disasters happen. Governments *fail*. Civilized society does break down on… Read more »
No matter how you look at it, any gun from a small mm pistol to an assault rifle, whilst legal, will continue to cause these sorts of problems. Ban them all, now! Seriously guys, it’s 2014 not 1814, you don’t need a gun to protect yourself from the government!
Matt, did you watch the video?
Oh really? I have a well respected black NRA commentator for you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4n8egXfmJM
Kacerdais … great video.
Anyone know where Warren Blumenfeld is, it appears he’s left the building.
I really, Really HATE every time another Mass Shooting occurs- at a school or otherwise- the Go To respose is about Chicago and Black Boys/Men. Let’s be Very Honest- whenever these Mass Killings happen, the Culprit is 9/10 WHITE, and it’s a “mental illness” as the problem, yet whenever folks invoke Chicago, Black Males w/ Guns= Thugs, NEVER Mental Illnesses or the Raw Deals of Living Conditions that play a role in Gun Violence. Not ALL Blacks are Criminals and Not EVERY “White” Mass Killer had Mental Problems, or Un-Caring Parents, or were Bullied, etc. You NRA/Gun Rights people No… Read more »
You don’t understand my point. I believe gun control advocates only care when shootings happen in their neighborhoods and only want to restrict the weapons owned by their political opponents. Your response makes no sense in the context of the discussion.
As I noted above, “Chris Dorner in 2013 was a black male, Aaron Alexis in 2013 (DC Navy Shipyard) was a black male, Nidal Hasan at Ft. Hood in 2009 was Palestinian American, Seung-Hui Cho in 2007 (Virginia Tech) was Korean American, Jeffery Weise in 2005 (Red Lake Reservation) was Native American.” These were just in the last 10 years; it’s not just White males who commit mass murder.
You obviously don’t ‘get’ the fact that all those anti-gun ordinances in Chicago do little or nothing to prevent those deaths. Imposing Chicago-style gun laws nationwide would do absolutely nothing to solve the problem.
Let’s do some FACT CHECKING, shall we? “Do residents of our nation really need so many guns, assault rifles and others?” Certainly up for debate. A 1994 survey conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that Americans use guns to frighten away intruders who are breaking into their homes about 498,000 times per year. “According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, though, gun related violence has reached epidemic proportions in our country by snuffing out the lives of upwards of 30,000 people…” The author conveniently left out that roughly 20,000 of these… Read more »
I am so much looking forward to Mr. Blumenfeld’s response to this. Josh, I will be cutting and pasting your response and holding it in my files for future reference. Thank you very much for your research.
Those damn crickets …… hey Warren, you out there somewhere?
Oh look, another emotionally charged anti-gun article that’s long on hysterics and short on facts. Please stop obsessing over what is in the killer’s hand and spend more time on what’s in his *head*. There are easily discernable patterns there. The solution lies in fixing socially broken boys before they grow up to be socially broken men. That’s hard work. It’s much easier to regurgitate the same tired rhetoric about how banning scary objects will solve the problem. Maybe one day you’ll realize that it isn’t possible to legislate a conscience. The implication that the police officers recently killed in… Read more »
I suggest obligatory periodical mental examination for gun owners and more resources to law enforcement to remove illegal weapons from the street. But all this is easier said than done, the shootings either at school or at other places are symptoms of a deep socio-cultural decay. We need to find the the problem and fix it not ignore it.
I’m looking to get a new revolver, any suggestions?
15 year old with assault rifle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wsQNCjoafY
Police commend her!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-L0eZXW9nA … used an assault rifle.
Each year, over 100,000 people are affected in some way by gun violence.” I assure you that it’s more then 100,000 a year. Simply look at the population of urban areas where gun violence is rampant, that communities of people can’t even sit in their living room without fear of being shot. Of course the guns that are used are totally “illegal.” All this rhetoric does jack shit for these communities. Over 150 alone were killed by guns in Chicago since the first of the year. But I will also admit there were also some murdered by stabbing, a couple… Read more »
Warren Blumenfeld, when Bryan stated that “assault rifles” are no different than handguns, we all expected you to have an answer, since it seems you know so much about guns. However, you redirected the conversation toward another direction. The fact of the matter is that a semi-automatic “assault rifle” fires at the same rate as does a pistol, even a revolver. One trigger squeeze equals one round fired. Bryan is right, you come off extremely ignorant to the gun owners who read your article. If you believe all guns should be banned, OK, I have no problem with you having… Read more »
I should have read all the responses Eric, I referenced you and your response to another article in a response here. Eric, people have to be educated about this and I appreciate your educating them, even though they don’t want to learn.
Yeah, Jamie, and how well did that work for the two police officers in a Las Vegas pizza restaurante yesterday? Your gun has a better chance of killing or injuring someone accidently than in serving to protect you from “a psycho.” Maybe take up bowling instead.
Warren, was wondering why you didn’t address my points on gun control for police. How do you feel about Tasers? 9-11 could have been just another day if the people on those planes had been allowed to carry them. Even with firearms there are nonlethal options like rubber tipped bullets and Taser or beanbag rounds for shotguns.
I used to have the exact same stance on “assault weapons” and “death machines,” until I started using them. I now regularly go to shooting ranges and fire off rounds. The gun is a machine. It has no feeling or emotion. The person holdin the gun does. The “sanity” or “insanity” of the world cannot be placed on the shoulders of the “gun culture.” It is placed in the well-being of the human holding the gun. It is in how we treat each other. I am a peaceful person, but if a psycho comes at me, you damn well better… Read more »
The vast majority of gun owners never commit any acts of violence, but you’ve done your level best in this article to implicate the peaceful, law-abiding majority in the acts of the violent micro-minority.
Blaming the acts of the tiny criminal element on the “gun culture” is not moving the conversation forward, and does absolutely nothing to prevent violent criminal acts by the criminal few.
Some are missing the point of the article – the insane mind set of the gun culture promoting death in a lighthearted, humorous way. Yes, the writer does make some “errs” in some areas about facts but, the article isn’t about those kind of facts. It always amazes me how people “jump the gun” and move right into “defense mode” instead of reading and thinking w/ an open mind. Now, I am NOT anti gun. I am anti create of false sense of facts by being blase’ about something so serious; which, in my opinion is what the writer was… Read more »
Is raffling off a hunting rifle “promoting death”? Accusing peaceful, law-abiding people of complicity in crimes they didn’t commit is an ineffective way to get people to discuss the actual violence problem in this country. Blaming violence on inanimate objects does nothing to solve the problem, or get people to co-operate on coming up with a solution.
Are anti-gun advocates really concerned with violence as a public safety problem, or are they using public safety concerns to push a cultural agenda?
Here is a counter proposal: Restrict police and Federal Agents to six shot revolvers and five round pump action shotguns. No full-auto military weapons of any kind to “enforce the law.” No military vehicles or aircraft including drones and especially no Nazi helmets, body armor or facemasks. A jury in Texas recently acquitted a homeowner who shot and killed a SWAT cop during a 6AM “no knock” raid. They believed him when he said he thought he was in imminent danger and had no way of knowing if they were actually police.
The first sign that you aren’t serious: You throw about the term “assault” weapon as if they are truly legal. In reality, it wouldn’t take much research to realize that true “assault weapons” (weapons used in military assaults) are not legal in the U.S. Second sign: you mention that some weapons sold in the US are, powerwise, comparable to military stuff. Well, yeah, but why does that matter? Hunting rifles are very often more powerful than automatic rifles, which trade off power for sheer number of bullets. As for power… I haven’t seen any evidence power of the weapon was… Read more »
Dear Bryan: An “assault” weapon by any other name is still an “assault” weapon. No amount of word games you are playing will kill the message of my article.
But this simply isn’t true. An M16 is an assault weapon. Fully automatic guns are assault weapons. Those are already illegal to own. A single fire, or even semi-auto gun dressed all in black with a suppressor and a bayonet holder is not an “assault” weapon any more than a handgun is an assault weapon. Words have actual meanings. You ignore that at your own cost. The message of your article lacks any support among most guns owners, and struggles to win the support of even half the population. To prevail, you’ll need to convince those that are skeptical of… Read more »
Bryan. As you play with words, yet another shooting is taking place right now in a high school in suburban Portland, Oregon. The insanity must end.
Over 40 people were shot and killed in Chicago last month. 12 people last week. Most of these are poor young black men who were shot using weapons you don’t even mention. Not a peep from anyone here yet 2 dying rural Oregon somehow has you talking about insanity?
If you don’t mind, PLEASE Refrain from scapegoating Black Men from the Majority White Mass Murderers. I and the rest of the Black Community get enough blame for America’s Domestic Issues as it is….
That’s not what I am saying. I am saying that gun control activists only cry about the relatively rare deaths in suburbia
Your wordplay concerning “power” doesn’t work either. The author is clearly talking about “power” in terms of destructive capacity; not technical, physics based power.
Your comment is evidence of the pervasion of gun culture. This tactic of misdirection by wordplay was taught to you. A puppet with a gun is still a puppet.
Words have meaning based on context. When one speaks of power when discussing weapons it is used to refer to physics. The author doesn’t know his subject and the commentator does
“Assault weapon” has become a political slogan.
Several languages do not include the term “assault weapon” or it would also include daggers, shovels, handgrenades and Mosin Nagants with a bayonet. Arguably the term is relatively new and invented in the US. Also did you think about the consequences of multiplying the number of illegal arms in circulation by banning legal weapons? Does your police even have a record of who owns what weapons? In Finland we did successfully reduce the number of killing sprees done with legal weapons by stricter gun control. Now they use either illegal ones, explosives or poison gas. The last one was not… Read more »
Uh…Bryan. Most people would rather fight and pretend they’re right (whatever that means) than solve real problems. Didn’t you learn that lesson yet? There are many more lessons to learn about people as well. Most of them sad.