Jim Morin for May 27, 2014

Aside from the NRA and firearms manufacturers, we should also be re-examining our society as a whole: our “entertainment” industry which feeds our demand for violent movies & TV programs, and our video games. Parents who do not, or lack the time to spend with their children deprive them of a constant emphasis on moral & spiritual guidance..

I am not a pro-gun advocate, but even if every American citizen did not own a gun, we would still have violence problems to face. The root of our increasing violence goes deeper than many seem willing to admit.

@MangeyMoose – well said!

Yesterday there was an article about gun runners buying all the guns they want in Indiana and supplying Chicago gangs with the armament they need to blast away at rivals and innocents who get in the way. Apparently anyone who can cloud a mirror can buy a gun in Indiana. Clearly a victory the NRA can be proud of.

Violent video games are as popular in countries that are very nonviolent compared to here. Could it be that monkey see, monkey do is not exactly how humans operate?

Ah, and the killer made the right-wingers happy by using a knife! Nothing warms their hearts more than killings committed without the use of gunpowder.

Meanwhile in Indiana….see Ted Lind’s post above.

The never-ending “conversation”: first someone uses a gun to kill lots of people. Some people call for tightening loopholes in gun laws. Others say we are not enforcing the laws we have, so no new laws will matter. No one from either group will ensure that we enforce the laws we have.

In the background, there will be noises about mental health, and others will say that this is not the time to discuss gun laws.

Still others will call for a ban on cars and knives.

Repeat, without change, ad infinitum.

The most hilarious thing I’ve heard on this most recent incident was Limbaugh saying the guy used a machete, not just a gun (the gun was an innocent bystander, of course). He THEN launched into a bit about how his dad told him not to believe anything these egomaniacs who claim to be “God’s gift” to women who use the airwaves to self-promote their views and egos. He did such a perfect job of describing himself, it was really funny.

The OTHER point off, yes, churchie, OVER the top of Limbaugh’s pointy-headed “logic” was about the kid’s dad being the co-director of a “Hunger Games” movie. Rush totally missed the fact that “The Hunger Games” is PRECISELY the result of a right-wing chickenhawk dictatorship (of sorts) picking kids to represent them, and go out and kill each other to sustain the conservative blood-lust for “little wars” they can watch, but not be at risk by. Then the populace rebelled against these latter day Mayans, and their “religious zeal” for sacrifice.

I have a post at the edge of my pasture that still has a few extra I.Q. points it’s willing to share with some of our “righties” to increase theirs.

One thing I will say for Joe the Plumber: he may be an ill-informed reactionary idiot, but at least once he was honest. If the NRA leaders would say what they believe — which is precisely what Joe said, that they think a few dead kids is an acceptable price to pay for an absolute Second Amendment (which is NOT what the Founders intended, deal with it), I could at least respect their honesty, if not their judgment. Instead, they are pretending that selling millions of guns saves lives in direct contradiction of the facts.And I am specifying the NRA leadership because 70% of NRA members favor increased gun control.

The U.S. has the highest rate of gun ownership in the world: 88 guns per 100 people (that’s scary!). And no, we don’t have the highest rate of gun-induced homicide in the world—there are other social factors affecting these statistics—but it’s way up there.Imagine if we had the same strict gun-ownership policies as England, where the rate of homicide by firearms is only 2% that of the U.S., and there are only 6.2 firearms per 100 people.See http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2014/05/25/imagine-no-guns/

On tonight (not NBC), an interview with law enforcement experts. While the NRA types are saying the cops should have seen his Youtube video and acted, overlooking that there are 100,000 postings on Youtube, PER MINUTE, how are cops supposed to track social media? Or that after the kid spending the majority of his life in therapy, and being an excellent con man, never came across to them as violent, which is why his parents freaked when they saw his last post, might suggest that LAW needs to change so that folks don’t have to be committed or arrested before the authorities can act and identify them, to at least keep them from getting guns. (But: every day in America, a fair number are shot by just your simple, innocent gang-banger, and it doesn’t ever make national news, unless it becomes a “mass shooting”, meaning three or more victims.)

tigger: I’ve said it before: I listen to Rush ON OCCASION, just to hear where our resident right-wing may get their information, and for comic relief. It’s amazing how many who claim never to listen to him end up quoting him exactly!

When trying to discern the intentions of the framers of our Constitution, it would be well to keep in mind that they probably had no conception of automatic weapons, nor of any adult, or child, walking into a schoolhouse with a loaded musket and a grudge.

Actually, we are drowning in gun laws, what we need is enforcement. Did any of you gun control idiots notice that three of the CA victims were stabbed? Do we need knife control, too? Did you know that more people are killed with hammers than with guns? Do we need hammer control, too?

Yeah. It won’t take long. The “Great Unwashed Voters” have very, very short memories.