Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Today’s Atrocity

Today’s  Atrocity – Brought to you by Guns

Once again, or should I say, Today’s Atrocity  was there to greet me, as I sipped my coffee,  when I glanced through the few new agencies that I have on my Kindle.   Today’s Atrocity was not in the United States, this time, rather in Paris, France.  Another 12 dead, and maybe more yet to die, gunned down while they went about their daily routine. 

They day before it is a family, snuffed out by their son, take your choice, the one on the west coast or the one on the east coast.  What is the body count in the last few years, I wonder, are we wasting more lives at home than we did in Afghanistan. The answer is a resounding yes.  Between 2008 and 2012 Murders in the US surpassed the total deaths for the Vietnam war.[1]  For 2013 someone in this country was murdered every 37 minutes.[2]  How were the vast majority of these murders committed, why with firearms of course.

I can hear the NRA members already saying their normal line, “That’s why we need to be able to bear arms, to protect ourselves.”  I wonder how it is that so many intelligent people can be led and swayed by so few.  When the NRA, was run by hunting enthusiast, I had no problem with the organization.  But the driving force behind the NRA today, is small groups that are more interesting in playing militia than thinking.  They need their AK’s and Thousands of rounds of ammunition, to protect their little space in the wood from the Government of the United States, for they all know that the US Government is always trying to take over the common man.  Hell the US Government, can’t even control third world piss pots, with the strongest army in the world.  I am not worried about my own government, I am worried about my fellow countrymen who feel they need to protect themselves from it.

The 2nd was written in the late 1780’s with the intent to ensure that the common man, could and would be able to bare arms, for two reasons.  One they needed to hunt to survive in most cases, and two, the Government had no standing Army, and it needed its country men to come to it’s assistance in times of trouble.  The 2nd was not written, with the intent that the average citizen could maintain an arsenal at their home, that often makes them better equipped than many US Army infantry members. 

I know that we will never do away with the right to bear arms in the United States, but whose rights are being violated, if a background check is done before a weapon is purchased, or the amount of ammunition owned by an individual is limited.  No citizen, who has the legal right to own a weapon is being stopped from owning one.  Only those who should not be allowed to own a weapon would be prohibited from owning them, as they are now.  I would increase the reasons for not allowing gun purchases, to include mentally ill, and those being treated for severe anxiety or depression.    A tough stance, but it could be done,  those on prescription medicines for treatment of such conditions, are on file, and it should be part of a back ground check.

The simple act of requiring a background check, and the time it would take to do it, would stop a number of mass murders, that take place because someone is upset or disgruntled, so the go by a gun, and come back in a hour or the next day, and shoot up their work place or school.
 
Oh I know, people will get killed by other people even without guns.  The first murder was Cain slewing is brother Able with a rock.  But what it will stop is the ever increasing instances of people committing mass murders, with absolute ease, simply by pulling a trigger and moving the gun from side to side.  Single shot weapons eliminate this possibility, greatly, as even the best has to take time to jack in another round, or pull the hammer back on a revolver.  A true hunter wouldn't be effected, in fact it will make them a better shot.  A sniper fires a single shot rifle with deadly accuracy from long range, because they only need one shot, just as a experienced hunter does. 

I am more than happy to answer any comments regarding this post.

D. D.



[1] FBI Data Table 8 Link: http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2012/crime-in-the-u.s.-2012/offenses-known-to-law-enforcement/expanded-homicide/expanded_homicide_data_table_8_murder_victims_by_weapon_2008-2012.xls

[2] FBI Crime Clock Statistics, Link: http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2013/crime-in-the-u.s.-2013/offenses-known-to-law-enforcement/browse-by/national-data