Saturday, December 22, 2012

Arm the Children Campaign

Wayne La Pierre, foiled in his attempt to arm the teachers in every school by the Teachers Union and other rational people, now has a new ploy, sure to reduce violence and restore calm to campuses everywhere: Arm the children.

Yes, Mom and Dad, what kid doesn't want his/her own bolt action, rat-a-tat, multi shot, submachine gun and/or hand gun to protect themselves in school and at the mall or movies against some gun toting maniac.

Because, let's face it, these killers are everywhere. Having armed guards at the school is not going to stop the carnage. Only armed children will be able to protect themselves by killing the killers.

Asked if he'd feel comfortable sending his own tykes out packing heat, the NRA president said, "Hell yeah, I would.  If we don't get guns into their hands when they're young, they might turn into liberal peaceniks or something.  What kinda country would that be to live in?"

This is a real baby with real guns. And here's the story:

Baby Issued Permit to Carry a Gun

ajzeller1979
By ajzeller1979
May 18, 2007 in World
Bubba Ludwig just made history and he can't even walk yet. Bubba, whose real name is Howard David Ludwig, is the first 10 month old to be issued a firearm owner's license.
Bubba can't walk yet, or talk or sign his own name, yet, by law, he can own a firearm. Bubba's father, Howard Ludwig, applied for the card for his son as a joke. He applied for the card, paid the fee, listed his sons height and weight thinking there would be no way that this would actually be approved. The whole thing started when the baby's grandfather purchased him a 12 guage Beretta shotgun as a gift. While most people give rattles, toys or even clothes, this seemed just more... appropriate. It takes a lot of thought to match the right firearm with the right infant. The family says that the shotgun is going to be held by Bubba's father until he is at least 14, truly an appropriate age for a child to be wielding a weapon that, when fired at in close proximity to, say a human leg, can literally blow the leg off the body. Way to think on your feet dad.


Monday, December 17, 2012

Guns don't kill people - trigger fingers do

We've all heard that saying "Guns don't kill people, people kill people."  Well, yes, but what if there were not easy access to guns, of all sorts, not just assault weapons. (And really, can any gun not be considered an assault weapon?) 

Here's a simple way to stop the madness, short of banning (or making it really hard) individuals from owning guns.

Cut off the trigger fingers of all males at birth. That's right.  No trigger finger, no gun killing.  Simple?  Why only males you ask? Well, who commits most of the gun violence in this country?  Males.  Anger. Testosterone. Whatever, it's much more concentrated in the male of the species.  So we'll start there.

What about the need for soldiers?  What about police officers, and even hunters?  And of course, people being adaptable, wouldn't they just learn to use another finger, and haven't people been known to shoot with their toes? 

All right, you have a point. But how about this.  In the UK, where hand gun ownership was strictly regulated in the 90's, not a single mass killing of the type we saw this week at the school in Connecticut has happened. And Australia. They have similar laws with similar results.  There must be something to it.

So isn't it likely that there is some, call me irrational, correlation between the easy procurement of mass killing weapons and their use for mass killing?

And yes, I was disappointed that Obama did not utter those words, so loathed by the NRA, "Gun Control."

Oh I listen to the talk shows. I hear the people who call in saying the answer to gun violence is more guns. Why if those teachers had been armed, they could have taken care of the problem with  minimal death and carnage.

And of course I am familiar with the old saw "If we outlaw guns, only outlaws will have guns."  Well, that just doesn't cut it anymore.  We outlaw drunk driving don't we?  We outlaw meth production.  Yes, those things still go on.  And prohibition is not the sole answer. Clearly, there are too many angry, disaffected people out there.  We do need more mental health options, better schools, jobs,  maybe even a national program for restorative justice, instead of our obsession with retribution and revenge. 

We live in a culture of hate and violence.  It's on our TV's, including the nightly news.  We spend more on wars than on growing a healthy society. We live in fear.  Radio personalities tell us to fear our government. Paranoia is a national pastime.  

We have congresspeople trembling before the alter of the National Rifle Association

As I watched one of my favorite all time classic feel good All American holiday movies, A Christmas Story, last night, I couldn't help but cringe that the plot of that whole show revolved around one little boy's desire for a bb gun.