Alex Yarde argues that if America was a bar patron and guns were alcohol—we’d have been cut off a LONG time ago.
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Any bartender worth the title knows when a customer has had enough, there are tell tale signs, slurred speech, wobbly knees, belligerence and the responsible thing is to cut them off.
America, you’re an angry drunk, you’ve had enough. It’s time to call it a night.
No more guns for you.
Tragedies like Columbine, Virginia Tech, Aurora, Sandy Hook Elementary. I could fill this page with names of the lost.
The list gets longer. We ignore the writing on the wall.
According to the LA Times, There already are more than 300 million guns in the United States, though a minority of Americans owns them — about 1 in 4, down from a high of 30% in 1985, according to a report this year out of the University of Chicago.
Most of that decrease can be attributed to the decline in the number of people who hunt. Despite the lower number of gun owners, however, they and their lobbyists, led by the NRA, wield a disproportionate amount of political weight.
So, whenever there is a mass shooting the NRA says, GO BUY MORE GUNS! And, on cue, some run out and do just that. Then yell at anyone else who dares even suggests they’ve had enough, ironically, the panic about imaginary confiscations and abnormal hostility only confirms their instability.
Like barflies at last call.
Remember when the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) made the link between texting & traffic fatalities from distracted drivers? Based on their irrefutable findings, it was deemed a public safety issue. Public Awareness was raised. Enforcement increased, fatalities dropped.
The CDC wants to study guns much in the same way as phones. Guess what? They can’t. Why? Because the NRA controls the political process.
There are more rules governing the production and safety of ladders in the U.S. than guns. Gun Manufactures enjoy unique protections from lawsuits that most other businesses — and particularly consumer product-makers — do not.
Mental health issues are not addressed as they should be in America granted, but this knee jerk labeling of mentally ill people, the VAST majority who are no threat to anyone but themselves, is as bad as labeling Arabs as Terrorists or Islam as a “dangerous hate filled religion”.
Have you ever read what’s in the Holy Bible?
The Klan considers itself a Christian organization. So all Christians belong to the Klan and Christianity is a dangerous, hate filled religion.
That’s an absurd statement right?
Then why is okay to speak of Muslim Americans this way?
Other countries have mentally ill individuals, a tiny fraction of which could be considred dangerous (other countries also have far better diagnosis, treatment & outpatient care).
Other countries have violent criminals, dangerous, hate filled characters out to do others harm.
Other countries have political extremists, ideological grifters that cloak thier crimes by speaking for one religion or another, claming to be “God’s Favortie Soldiers.”
But NO other country suffers from gun violence like we do.
And. This is important. It’s NOT because we don’t have enough guns.
So..Last call America!
Somebody take our keys, call a cab and make sure we sleep it off safely.
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Photo: Michael / Flickr
Interesting facts around Mass Shootings:
http://crimeresearch.org/2015/06/comparing-death-rates-from-mass-public-shootings-in-the-us-and-europe/
First, thanks for reading & sharing. You want to keep your family safe? Don’t buy a gun. Once you bring a gun into your home, statically, the likelihood someone in your home gets shot skyrockets. Accidents like a kid finding an unsecured gun aren’t going to happen if you don’t own a gun. If you have a gun but it’s not loaded and in a safe. Then what happens when that “bad guy” shows up? “wait a second, I’ve got to get into my safe, load my gun, I’ll be right back”? And for the record, burglars just want your… Read more »
You list “Georgia Tech,” but I think you mean “Virginia Tech.” That institution was the scene of a mass shooting killing 32 people back in 2007. Up to this point there has not been such an incident at Georgia Tech.
Lance,
Thanks for catching that! You are correct. The shooting at GT wasn’t a mass shooting.
Thanks for making the change, and thanks for tackling this topic. We all still hold our colleagues in Virginia Tech close in our hearts after their tragedy.
Lance,
Thank you. I regret all the tragic loss of life. I lost my niece. I know that one mistake can change your life forever. I take this issue very seriously. If anything I write can help one person reconsider bringing a gun into their home around children? It’s well worth it.
BTW. Your analogy between the klan and Christianity vs the Muslims and Islam is incorrect too. While fundamental Christians can be very hateful their recent acts of true violence are rather minimal. Christianity is not a way of life as is Muslim sharia. That religion concerns all aspects of life, law and social order. It’s more like orthodox Judaism than Christianity. But goes even further than that. Kind of an all in thing. You get theses folks here who’ve lived as families for centuries like this and can you imagine their disbelief at what they walked into? They cannot and… Read more »
You’re rhetoric sounds good Alex but your wrong. Simple as that. There are millions of firearms out there and hardly none of them have been used by either NRA members, who take their responsibilities VERY seriously about owning a gun. I would venture NRA members have zero use illegally in violent crime, but statistically that’s not realistic. Gangs are not NRA members. So where are they even getting handguns? Sure they steal some but they certainly don’t show up at gun shows and buy them individually from private dealers. There are so many other issues involved here but as a… Read more »
Conservatives and wealthy people have not done anything good when you look at the economic mess that they have created. It is a well-known fact when the economy goes down, crime and poverty goes up.
The NRA doesn’t care about taking gun laws seriously: http://www.alternet.org/investigations/nra-and-us-gun-makers-getting-rich-thousands-die
There are strict gun laws in Japan and Europe; however, you don’t see a huge criminal black market in selling guns in those places.
I could see your point. If every point made wasn’t wrong.
The NRA isn’t an objective voice on guns. They are supported by Gun Manufacturers. They spend millions to stop any regulations, even common sense ones supported by Law Enforcement.
What independent studies have found is owning a gun is far more dangerous to yourself and your family than not. An inconvenient truth is still truth.
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2015/01/good_guy_with_a_gun_myth_guns_increase_the_risk_of_homicide_accidents_suicide.html
There is a negative correlation between the number of guns in private hands and firearm violence. The people who own large numbers of firearms are statistically unlikely to commit crime. So why on earth do you care so much about them and the weapons they own? Why do people only care about the statistically unlikely episodes of firearm violence that involve certain perps or victims? Do you guys really think assault weapons bans are meaningful given that they’re used in a tiny minority of violence? If assault rifles ceased to exist your overall rates of firearm violence wouldn’t decline at… Read more »
I could see your point. If every point made wasn’t wrong.
The NRA isn’t an objective voice on guns. They are supported by Gun Manufacturers. They spend millions to stop any regulations, even common sense ones supported by Law Enforcement.
What independent studies have found is owning a gun is far more dangerous to yourself and your family than not. An inconvenient truth is still truth.
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2015/01/good_guy_with_a_gun_myth_guns_increase_the_risk_of_homicide_accidents_suicide.html