Matt Wuerker for October 08, 2015

OK, I get your meme, Only American Lives Matter. At least that’s what I got out of it. Maybe you should rephrase that a bit, after clearing out suicides, domestic dispute, and self defense shootings. Stick out outright homicides with no domestic element in there with nothing else, then it’ll be alittle more accurate, also include civilians of OTHER nations killed by the same terrorists we’re fighting in the “those lost to terrorism”, and adding our troops serving of there to those lost to terrorism.

It is really stupid to spend so much on terrorism and almost nothing on all of hundreds of thousands killed by gun violence. It is bad enough we pay so much in taxes but to then see it thrown away like this adds insult to injury. Humans pride themselves on rationality but there is little sign of it here lately.

Nothing violent about shooting yourself in a moment of anguish with that handy handgun! Just a quiet, peaceful transition to death, or perhaps permanent blindness or other disability. La la la.

What are the odds that either party alone has a better solution to gun violence than a bipartisan solution could provide?

Ah, the joy of tortured statistics. It’s really very simple, and we don’t have to take select subsets, or specific cities, or anything else.The United States has more deaths due to guns, per capita, than any country in the world.It is demonstrably true that the reason for this is a combination of the number of guns available, and the lack of restrictions on access to, or use of, guns.You can debate WHICH laws to use to your hearts’ content, but the bottom line is that a lot of Americans die preventable deaths every year because of guns, and other countries don’t.

And now some of the details:1. Yes, gun deaths include suicide rates. The “success” rate for suicide is far higher for guns than other approaches. Even removing those numbers, we’re still higher than anyone.2. Yes, there are other forms of murder. But only guns allow you rapid mass murder, with a higher percentage of fatalities per injury. In fact, a lot of non-gun attacks never even get reported.3. Other countries with similar levels of gun violence and guns have enacted laws that work. Why not us?4. Most Americans support increased gun control. Yes, even 70% of the NRA.5. And one thing is for damn sure: doing NOTHING is the worst thing we can do, and is all we have done of late.

It’s immaterial. The laws do not affect the rate.

Still a whole lot less than were killed by guns that year. And, as Obama said, we were right to deal with terrorism. But why can’t we do anything about gun deaths?

Relative to “spin” and “political”, the ’toon perfectly sums up the facts. Thou shalt not offend the small percentage of gun owners who are actually members in the NRA, or firearms manufacturers, or for that matter those in the MIC who use the false (basically and comparitively) fear of terrorism to profit hugely. (MIC is also prime driver and beneficiary of “Homeland Security” spending, same contractors as in “defense”.)

I recently had a conversation with an Indian taxi driver. In his country you’re allowed to own a gun (handgun or rifle) but you have to go before a court and prove the reason why. (There are tigers in my neighborhood, or, I married outside my caste and his family has threatened to kill me). They will then issue you ten bullets. Then every year they come to your house and check to see if you still have them, and you must account for why any are missing. (I went to the practice gun range/no, I didn’t shoot my lover/four bullets fell in the toilet while it was flushing).Sounds good to me!We should do that here!Seriously!I’m serious!

Night-Gaunt49Read Gandhi’s writings. From his return to India (from South Africa), he opposed the caste system as the greatest obstacle to Indian development. If he had supported it, he would have been a grocer (the sub-caste to which Gandhis were allotted) rather than a lawyer (which many of them entered, including Mohandas.