Really the pro-gun vs Anti-Gun battlefield is drawn as two different playing fields, one for each side with neither meeting in the middle ever. As we have seen from the anti-rights playbook the #1 Imperative is side-step facts and reality and get an emotional story into any event that could be pushed for gun control.
Now for me, as a new father I know that in a month my daughter will be undergoing her first round of immunizations, and from all I hear those days when little LaWeer’da gets the needle are going to be ugly days of fussy uncomfortable baby potentially with fevers and other symptoms brought on entirely by the vaccine. Further there is the specter that my daughter could get autism from the vaccines.
Why do it at all? Well first up the Autism claim is 100% bullshit, and even if it wasn’t autism is an uncommon enough disease that when you factor in how many infants get their immunization and grow up to be healthy, even before you factor in genetic variables (my wife and I have no symptoms of the disease and yet were fully vaccinated) the potential risk for autism would greatly outweigh the risk of my child dying horribly from the diseases we have all but eradicated (well up until we stopped preventing un-vaccindated aliens from crossing our boarders and taking residence in this nation) is worth the chance. But there is no chance since the sole “researcher” who concluded there was an autism risk is a fraud.
Yes there may be a sleepless night where I will question the above logic, but that will only be because I will be in an irrational, emotional person more concerned about my current feelings, rather than the fruits of this labor.
In other words I’ll be reduced to the state of an anti-rights activist.
OK so all this buildup is a way to unify some posts that I was planning on writing individual posts on, but frankly that isn’t realistic with the baby, so given that I have some time now, I will write.
First is a sad story of death and violence from one of the “Faces of Courage” from the Moms Demand Action site:
I come from a long line of gun owners. My grandmother had an NRA bumper sticker on her GTO; you know the one: “If you outlaw guns only outlaws will have guns.” We owned many guns used for various activities. We also prided ourselves in being “safe” gun owners. Kids took hunter safety and guns were to be put away correctly. In my day, that meant taking the bullets out. But then there was a dark side too, my grandfather that I never got to meet, who never got to play with his grandchildren, killed himself with a gun years before I was born. And then there was that Halloween.
On that day, much like the day my grandfather used his gun for violence, the person holding the gun had a break with reality. I came home to a brother who was unreasonably angry. His anger quickly turned on me as I got ready to go trick or treating. The fight that happened doesn’t really matter; it was not based in reality. Within five minutes of me getting home he decided I needed to die and the gun was there, always ready. He took careless aim and shot me in my leg and arm. Seeing my leg blown apart and immediately rendered useless and my arm torn open must have brought him back because he didn’t reload….
Guns are used to kill. Sit with that for a full minute today, repeat it over and over, GUNS ARE USED TO KILL. That is their only purpose. If we all hold that truth, the only truth about guns, and we repeat that truth to our children, neighbors, and legislators maybe we can change this country. Maybe more people will get common sense and good guys will realize you don’t need pack a gun.
Now as the title says this post is about cold logic. With all of these stories I do have compassion, but at the same time compassion should not be used as a blank check as the anti-rights groups are attempting.
So in this story a woman’s family has a history of severe mental illness. I have no idea the nature or severity of it except that it involved her grandfather shooting himself, and her brother losing all touch with reality and shooting her. There is no discussion of other family members (or the author herself) experiencing mental issues, nor is there any discussion of any prior less severe incidents.
No in her piece these events happen in a vacuum and the gun is to blame. I feel for her, but also I KNOW she’s not being honest. It is noted that spree shooters and murderers are described as being “Normal”, or “Nice” by their coworkers and neighbors before the event. Still you will NEVER hear that same story from family or loved ones. They KNOW the person is off, and if they don’t realize what horrors they are capable of, 20/20 hindsight shows them the errors of their thinking.
As for her last tag-line of “Guns are used to kill”, I must turn the light around to her. She KNEW her brother was deeply troubled, and I suspect he had harmed others in the past, but not severely enough that they couldn’t be talked away or covered up. He didn’t get the help he needed.
If I, and my family ever encounter other family members who’s illness was ignored in the midst of a violent outburst, I’d rather not be telling the world what my broken body looked like and noting that the only thing that saved my life was the choices made by somebody who was completely crazy. No I would prefer to put that person on the ground with a tool designed to do EXACTLY that. I’ll have to deal with the resulting sadness, and probably the ire of the family who didn’t take care of their own mad at me for taking care of MY OWN.
Its cold logic but its the truth. There is nothing that Moms Demand Action, or any other group that could have prevented this except for their foolish, and often denied plan to ban all firearms in private hands. Even then it won’t stop bad people from having guns, and it WILL stop good people from stopping bad people on a rampage.
OK Next up is something from Joan Peterson which again shows their pointless hand-wringing.
A central Wisconsin sheriff’s deputy who lost an AR-15 rifle faces a brief suspension.
Wood County sheriff’s Chief Deputy Randal Dorhorst told WSAW-TV that the deputy will serve a 12-hour suspension effective immediately. The deputy then will be reinstated following the suspension.
The deputy was putting the rifle back into his squad car when he inadvertently left it on the trunk of the car and drove off.
Now this is a SERIOUS problem! An officer loses his rifle in the middle of a street, and gets suspended for 12 hours, and then gets his job back. Maybe he’ll be admonished and demoted, and his career will be forever blemished for this deeply dangerous and unlawful act…but he still has a career.
Does Joan Peterson talk about stronger punishments for police officers doing horrible things? No she’s against guns. Maybe she’s secretly lobbying for officers to be disarmed, or just stripped of their rifles. But mostly its just hand-wringing and little else.
Here’s one from her bestie Mr. Jason “Baldr” Kilgore:
Newport and Pittsfield schools were placed on alert Friday after a young male called a local Walmart on Thursday, asked if the store sold assault rifles and reportedly said, “I need it for school tomorrow,” according to Newport police.
Newport police Chief Leonard Macdaid said security at Walmart in Palmyra called him on Thursday afternoon to report the call made to the store.
“He asked if they had assault rifles there,” Macdaid said on Friday morning. “When the lady told him, ‘I’m not sure, I’ll transfer you to sporting goods,’ the young male said, ‘I need it for school tomorrow.’”
Now this is REALLY stupid. Somebody calls saying they need a rifle “For School Tomorrow”, and that’s IT! Panic ensues…but no rifle was sold, and no validity was found for the call. WTF? Of course Baldr’s blogs are for removing guns from private hands, but this story is like trying to re-instate the prohibition of alcohol because a local convenience store got a call from a pre-pubecent kid asking if he could buy beer.
Stupid.
And last a cartoon that came from the flap of Texas Open Carry Vs. Mom Demand Action
So first up we have the ridiculous stereotype that all pro-gun people in America are overweight white men. In fact there are several races represented in Texas, as well as woman and children, as well as multiple body types…as if that has any relevance.
The bigger issue to me is that the Mom’s sign is “Remember Sandy Hook”….like ANYBODY wants to forget it? No the Mom’s were in Texas to help destroy their pro-gun way of life.
Mom’s Demand Action was an OFFENSIVE ATTACK and they were making open threats against lawful gun owners of Texas, not the other way around.
Also I have my doubts that anybody ACTUALLY felt threatened. And if they DID, they were being foolish. How many pro-gun rallies are there? How many murders, injuries, or negligent discharges happen?
Yeah!
OK so my tabs are clear!
