How to Combat Gun Violence

Let's get the sadly Ridiculous out of the way first. Having to train school children to rush a rampaging gunman shows how deeply and thoroughly Guns have broken our Society. But. If you find yourself near a Mass Shooting you have two basic options: Fight or Flee.

Unfortunately, what many do is the third F; Freeze.

Understand that you are at a severe disadvantage. The Gunman has already decided on a course of action and you are reacting. Action trumps Reaction. Nonetheless, a general rule to apply is your distance to the Gunman.

If you find yourself within 21 feet of the Gunman attacking might be your best option. It's called the Tueller Drill. Your attack should be brutal, swift, and encompass everything at your disposal; pens, teeth, knee strikes, whatever. Close, Dominate, Finish.

If you're further away locate cover and move to it. From that position of cover locate new cover and move. Continue until you're far enough away.

Now, I am sickened that having to explain, teach and practice your response to a Mass Shooting Incident is necessary but, because of the evil efforts of the NRA, ALEC and the bad faith of Right-Wingers it is necessary.

Yes, I know name calling isn't going to help. But, we need constant rhetorical cracks to the mouth to maintain the focus on this issue. 30,000 Americans die each year because of Guns from Homicide, Suicide, and Accidents.

So, while we'll create an entire New Cabinet and Federal Department (Homeland Security), pass sweeping invasive Federal Laws (Warrantless Wiretaps approved for another 5 years) and blow 10 Trillion Dollars on Wars of Choice we won't or can't do anything about the Self-Inflicted Gun Violence which plagues Our Society.

This isn't an Emotional Appeal it's an Appeal to Reason and Humanity.

The NRA has quietly with ALEC backing spent the last 10 years rolling back Gun Legislation. Not through referendums but going to Courthouses to ensure that any and all Gun Laws are struck down. 

The NRA and Gun Owners of America are not Lobbying for the rights of regular Americans to own Guns but for Corporations to continue flooding our Nation in Weapons and for the profits to keep finding the Rich executives Cayman Islands and Swiss Bank Accounts.

In 2005 George W(orst President Ever) Bush backed by the Republican Controlled House and Senate passed Legislation making Gun Manufacturers immune to Lawsuits for their Negligence.

Zardoz LaPierre stated the Republican and Bush 2005 law was the "No. 1 legislative priority of the National Rifle Association". Of course, the NRA "lobbied lawmakers intensely for it". Sickeningly 59 Democrats joined in the House to pass it a vote of 283 to 144.

George W(orst President Ever) at the behest of his Moneyed Masters hailed the law, "further our efforts to stem frivolous lawsuits, which cause a logjam in America's courts, harm America's small businesses, and benefit a handful of lawyers at the expense of victims and consumers." 

Republicans care more about Guns and the Holy Second Amendment than they do about Children. It's been so plainly obvious that the sheer horror of their evil actions should cause a complete rejection and utter revulsion of Republican Policies, if Americans weren't finding ways to rationalize their behavior.

Gun Bans work, when they are enforced. Enforcement and a Culture Change are the keys.

In the aftermath of Jovan Belcher's murder of Cassandra Perkins and suicide, 7 NFL players turned in Guns.

In the aftermath of the Newton CT Mass Murder, sales of AR-15 skyrocketed with weapons selling for 3 to 5 times their normal price. One business sold the equivalent of 3 years worth of Banana Clips and Hi-Capacity Mags in the course of 2 weeks.

A company which designed and markets bullet-proof backpacks for children (Princess Pink for girls and GI Green for boys) saw a massive spike in sales.

This is not the way. This response is the Culture we Must Change.

We are awash in Guns. And there is no evidence an Armed Populace is a Polite Populace.

As for the Firearms' Lobby; No other industry enjoys blanket protection for the murderous results of their products intended use. 

In Illinois Law, laws exist which can be a model to make Guns Manufacturers and Arms Dealers responsible if they don't do due diligence to ensure Guns aren't ending up in the hands of Mass Murderers.

Every person who is injured within this State, in person or property, by any intoxicated person has a right of action in his or her own name, severally or jointly, against any person, licensed under the laws of this State or of any other state to sell alcoholic liquor, who, by selling or giving alcoholic liquor, within or without the territorial limits of this State, causes the intoxication of such person. (235 ILCS 5/6-21)

Eliminating that despicable Bush-backed, NRA-crafted 2005 Legislation should be the first step. Next, re institute the Assault Weapons Ban. Additionally, if you own a Firearm it should be incumbent upon you to prove you have positive and safe control of said weapons at least yearly. 

We as a Society need proof that your guns won't go missing and end up in the hands of some Southside gangbanger.

Then making the Manufacturer, Dealer, and Owner potentially liable should be next. Of course, further Legislation might be needed to curtail the production of certain weapons, ownership duties, and so forth. 

But, by putting the Onus onto the Firearms Industry to police themselves and ensure their weapons of Mass Murder don't end up in the wrong hands we can make a good effort at stopping the Hemorrhaging.

The Dark Night in Colorado and America's Mental Health

"The white man, that landed here; He came with two great weapons. One is the bible and the other was the gun. If he didn't humble you with the bible, he'd crumble you with the gun. And he's still praising the lord and passing the ammunition." - Lewis H. Michaux

As the media engages in the morbid coverage of The Dark Night of Colorado the Pro-Gun Lobby has conditioned America to simply treat these increasingly murderous sprees as "natural disasters".

We should feel sympathy for the victims and horror at the tragedy but, simply go back to our daily routine while awaiting the next shooting as though it's simply part of the societal landscape, like toronadoes, droughts, and Oil Spills.

But question the sanity of allowing someone to purchase 6000 rounds of ammunition? No, we can not do that, because the Holy Second Amendment. We are being held hostage to a warped vision of an idea. But, according to right-wing loonies these gun rampages are a god given immutable law and thus man can not change it. This is all just collateral damage of Freedom.

The writers over at Lawyers, Guns, and Money show how Conservative scum Glenn Reynolds immediately politcized the tragedy. Like most of the despicable tactics of right-wings it's brilliant. Use this horrific gun-fueled terrorist assualt as a political battering ram all the while bemoaning that Liberals are going to use it as a political battering ram.

Reverend Rick Warren tweeted shortly after the shooting, "When students are taught that they are no different from animals, they act like it." Nice christian compassion there Rick, you fat pile of putrid garbage, go back to bashing poor people for not paying enough taxes.

This incident is going to resonate for decades. A dozen murders, 59 wounded, hundreds more exposed to the carnage. Decades from now people and extended families will be dealing with the fallout and emotional damage.

But, that means nothing to right-wingers and gun loving loonies. No, they must retreat into a pseudo-philosphical realm where the death and devastation of unfettered access to guns is just some thought experminent.

Well, as always the first proposition of gun loonies is to claim if someone in the theater was packing this would have all been avoided. The way to combat gun violence is with *moar* guns!

This is, of course, ridiculous because James Holmes was "Acting" and any armed patron would be "Reacting". Action beats Reaction 99% of the time. But, when taking into account the number of people, the darkened conditions, the confusion, the smoke, the panic, and the up-armored murderer Holmes, how many rounds would be needed to drop him? But, such considerations are purposefully avoided by deluded gun loonies who would have you believe and probably believe themselves that they could draw, fire 2 rounds center mass and holster in 3 seconds all the while you enjoy the show.

Now, moving beyond the right-wing one-shot, one-kill Death Wish fantasy scenarios, gun loonies often claim that the mere thought that an intended gallery of victims would included a preponderance or even several armed persons would be enough to dissaude the attacker. And this is why famously Wyatt Earp, Doc Holiday and Bat Masterton never had to fire their guns or even pull their pistols in the old west because everyone was armed. But, if as every gun owner wants to claim Holmes was "crazy, sick, demented" then a logical fear of others having guns isn't going to stop him.

James Holmes obviously suffered a pyschotic break and based on his preperations he knew it. It's probable his study of the brain provided him with the edge in this incident. He was acting and knew the reaction times of his victims would be slowed and flawed.

More and more often in my daily duties as a Police Officer, I come into contact with people suffering from untreated mental disorders or diminished capacity. But, Police Officers should not be regularly tasked with responding to people suffering from reduced capacity or mental problems. When your only tool is a hammer, then everyone becomes a nail.

The Mental Health of members of society needs to be addressed by society. But, more and more "society" lets these people fall through the cracks because family counselors, DCFS workers, and mental health professionals are understaffed and overworked. While local and state governments choose to cut funding for those workers because budgets are squeezed.

And budgets are squeezed because the 1% in this Nation see no reason to invest in it. More and more superrich bastards, like Mitt Romney, ferret away Billions into off-shore tax havens.

The 1% have no reason to have a Post Office, no reason to have National Healthcare, no reason to have a Social Security safety net, no reason to regulate gun sales or control access to ammuntion. The 1% who control 50% of this country's wealth see no point in having a Nation.

They have the assets to set themselves up in little fiefdoms. The 1% don't see movies in giant cinemaplexs with the hoi poloi. They don't do downward facing dog with a bunch of middle class housewives. They have private movie studios. Yoga instructors come to their homes.

Society is at risk because the assets of society are being drained to the coffers of the Plutocracy.

Self-Hating Veterans

You know who you are! The nasty and brutish vets who voted for a Hussein!

As the shift in voting patterns moves more people towards the Democratic Party and away from the insane Republicans, efforts are made to proclaim the vast majority of veterans are still republicans, this recent gallup poll shows veterans are more likely to be Republican, than the general public, but 62% identify themselves as Democrat/Independent. While it is fatuous to declare the parties have no difference whatsoever, I agree with words of Gore Vidal (“There is only one party in the United States, the Property Party ... and it has two right wings: Republican and Democrat.") and Bill Maher (The Democrats are what the Republicans used to be).

Today the Democrats occasionally support progressive liberal issues but, most often kow-tow to the Corporate Power which controls this Nation and uses the government and veterans to enrich their off-shore bank accounts.

But, perhaps today there is a chance as The Pimp and The Prostitute Liz Dick continue their Media Tour, young vets will move away from the Pro Human Pain and Suffering Right Wing Chicken Hawks and towards the progressive liberal self-hating views of Pat Tillman and afford the poor and the middle class a chance to do something with their lives other than be allowed the Freedom to protect the property of the rich.

To all the Veterans out there... Ooh-Rah.



I add this here because I forgot one of principle problems with the Pro Human Pain and Suffering Republican America of today. Ideology trumps all in their eyes. Because of this veterans who do not hold to conservative ideals are ignored or ridiculed. Therefore, ignorant conservative fanatics ensure The Veterans of Foreign Wars supported a non-veteran Peter Roskam over Tammy Duckworth, a wounded veteran of a foreign "war" for political office. Or vehemently defend their decisions to support Saxby Chamblis over Max Cleland. One of the two went to Vietnam and was severely wounded one received 4/5ths the number of deferments Dick Cheney received.

Update:
This comment by Wile E. Quixote sums up nicely the current Conservative/Republican, a cowardly chicken hawk who more than willingly talks tough and ensures others go to fight for him/her. The Republican Party, the Party of Deferments:

American conservatives have less than zero credibility on military matters. Rush Limbaugh dodged the draft. Dick Cheney got five deferments during Vietnam (he needed five because he lost two of them for drunk driving). George W. Bush pulled strings to get into a champagne squadron of the Texas Air National Guard. Mitt Romney fagged off to France to be a missionary for a couple of years (All of the Mormons I knew in the Army did their two year missions and then once they were done, enlisted. Guess that never occurred to Mittens). Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, Glen Beck, Michael Steele, Michael Savageweiner, William Bennett, Eric Cantor, John Boehner, Kathryn Jean Lopez, Rudy Giuliani, Ann Coulter, Michelle Malkin, Max Boot, Jonah Goldberg, William Kristol, John Podhoretz, Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachman, are there any prominent conservatives under the age of 70 who have ever signed up, taken the oath to uphold and defend the Constitution, put on a uniform and served their country?

Guns Amok

Run Amok - 'a murderous frenzy or rage'

Three more murderous rampages recently occurred in March in which firearms were used, one in Alabama, another in Germany and the killing of a pastor during a religious sermon in Illinois.

Yet there can be no debate on the gun issue as the common man is brow beaten into submission by slogans, "Guns don't kill people, people do!", "If owning a gun is made a crime, Only Criminals will have Guns!"

When someone in Java or Malaysia went Amuco centuries past, there was only so much murder they could accomplish with a war club and keris before being overpowered.

Is the threat of death by Amuco just another weight, another burden we must accept? The Dread of Damocles, of being gunned down, whether it be at a High School, a University, a Metal Concert, Church services, out shopping or while merely sitting on our front porch?

This past year Chicago experienced a sad spike in murders due to gun violence. The University of Chicago produced a study Gun Violence among School-Age youth in Chicago:

A total of 510 people were murdered in chicago during 2008. eighty percent of these victims were killed by gunfire. nearly half were between the ages of 10 and 25, and the vast majority were male. The dramatic overrepresentation of both young males and firearms in homicide is not unique to chicago, nor are these patterns new. Yet over the past 50 years, our society has made far less progress in understanding how to protect our citizens from gun violence (and violence more broadly) than we have learned about how to protect citizens from other serious threats to life and health.

I could list dates and numbers of persons killed in the recent murderous shootings rampages but I'm not going to use the sorrows of others to ply my argument. I don't have the answer. I don't know the magic fix to this problem. But, isn't it worth discussing? Isn't it worth attempting to disrupt the cycle? Couldn't the Laissez-faire market take a break from giving billions for Banker Bonuses and Bailouts and the never ending Black Hole of the Military Industrial Complex? Or is that just more government socialism?

How does one resist their Government?

The most dangerous man, to any government, is the man who is able to think things out for himself, without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. almost invariably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane and intolerable, and so, if he is romantic, he tries t change it. And if he is not romantic personally, he is apt to spread discontent among those who are. ~ H. L. Mencken.

What is the difference between a terrorist, a patriot, a freedom fighter and a rebel? The McCain Camp has been pushing a connection between Bill Ayers of the Weather Underground and Obama. Why?

ZombieTime published a post highlighting, Prairie Fire: The Politics of Revolutionary Anti-Imperialism a book produced by Ayers and other members of the Weather Underground. Interestingly, the post starts with the following: William Ayers is a communist. Then disclaims there is nothing illegal about being a communist but ends with the (I suppose) stinging reproach;

William Ayers is a communist. By his own description. He was a communist then, he is a communist now, and he was a communist for the entire time that Barack Obama worked with him and was associated with him.

The Weathermen conducted activities against the United States Federal and State and Local governments (across the US but also in Chicago, the Weathermen twice destroyed a statue of a police officer which stood in Haymarket Square) during the US war in Vietnam and stated they planned to "seize power". The Weathermen used bombings, demonstrations and prison breaks.

There is a loud contingent, led by such luminaries as Sean Hannity and Bill Cunningham, claiming what Bill Ayers did in the Sixties was beyond redemption and when Obama wins, have convinced themselves he will install a islamic marxist police state, which will take their property and curb their freedoms. But, what can they do to resist such an evil government? Clearly they can not physically resist because of their stance against violent resistance used by Ayers. They have placed themselves in a quandary.

The problem is these people who are touting Ayers as ultimate evil have constrained themselves into accepting the Hobbesian Ideal of Government. Once a government takes power the people have no voice and no role in government and the every action of the government is by axiom, legitimate. This is clearly the view of the two Dicks, Nixon and Cheney. As typified by the famous Nixon line ‘If the President Does It, That Means It’s Not Illegal’ and Cheney's 'So?' in response to the fact 2/3rds of Americans think the war in Iraq is not worth fighting.

So does Bill Cunningham think resisting the government is immoral or prima facie evidence of treason? No, Bill Cunningham has stated many times if Obama is elected he will fight like a Scottish Warrior Poet or like Patrick Swayze in Red Dawn.

But by what LEGITIMACY does Braveheart Cunningham have in resisting Obama's Federal Government?

The early history of the United States is founded on the Polybian belief in order to avoid revolts a simple government of one of the 3 classic types (monarchy, aristocracy, democracy) is to have a balanced government combining the 3. The One, The Few, The Many. The problem is those men were the product of the Enlightenment as well versed in Ancient Greek and Roman History as with contemporary thought. Such men are in short supply today. But, to them the problems of modern America are not new, they are simply an extension of the problems faced in Ancient Greece and Revolutionary America. However, the United States was founded with the active resistance (The Revolution) to the ruling government. Which causes a problem; If violent struggle can legitimately be used once can it be used again? Or was the American Revolution a one-time aberration?

Toranaga: There is no mitigating factor for rebellion against your liege lord. Blackthorne: Unless you win. ~ from James Clavell's Shogun.

On what side would those who rage rage rage on the Obama/Ayers connection have fallen with regards to Sophie Scholl and White Rose, with the government or the radicals?

Are these they same people who cheered when the US military rolled into Iraq and deposed the ruling government of Saddam Hussein? Would they have been pro-Sadr when his father was against Saddam and anti-Sadr when the son is against the current government of Iraq?

Do these people cheer the Kurds on against the government of Turkey? Do they champion a Kurdish Free State? Or do they snicker and roll their eyes at Biden's not new idea of a tripartite Iraq?

Are these the same people who cheered Georgian military aggression against South Ossetia?

Do these people think the Irish resistance to British rule is unconscionable and the deaths and bombings in the Troubles are all the fault of Irish criminals who have no basis for resistance?

Getting back to the Weatherman bombing tactics. What is the difference between the bombing of the Haymarket Square statue and when the American Founding Fathers and Patriots destroyed a statue of King George III, which stood at the foot of Broadway on the Bowling Green in New York to make bullets?

Sometimes, in the beginning of an insane shabby political upheaval he is strongly moved to revolt, but he doesn't do it - he knows better. He knows his maker would find out - the maker of his patriotism, the windy and incoherent six-dollar subbeditior of the village newspaper - and would bray out in print and call him a traitor. ~ Mark Twain, As regards Patriotism.

Funny how Twain knew what tactics would be used against those who stand against their government.

Mad Max & Lord Humungus

Inspired by LT Nixon's fantastic article Vote Lord Humungus in '08 I began thinking again about one of my favorite and the quintessential Post-Apocalyptic movies of all time, The Road Warrior (Mad Max 2). In so doing I found an excellent analysis of the film, Max, Lord Humungus and Society on YouTube by Rob Ager. I am placing them here with all credit to Mr. Ager.

Part One.


Part Two.