When it comes to guns there are it seems 3 different arguments.
One is You can't have my guns. Two is taking all of the guns away and
the third is more of a metaphor postulating off of the
first which is knives, cars and booze kill people so should we outlaw those as
well?
I argue that all three of them are loose,
loose loose. Because all 3 arguments are long held beliefs that have
become so intractable as to nullify any reasonable discussion before it takes
place.
When Sandy Hook happened, I thought at the
time was it was long overdue for a national discussion on the senseless
violence committed by deranged madmen.
What happened instead was all three
common arguments ground the discussion to a halt.
There is a movement by the left to curtail
the sale and distribution of large capacity magazines. Plus a
federal wait time and background check on all gun sales. Both public and
private. The problem is, while well meaning, will probably not stop by and
large the mass killings that take place on what seems like a weekly basis.
Taking firearms is not going to do
anything other than to make law abiding citizens criminals. Plus it will do
nothing other than to fracture America even more than it does now.
Now, after careful thought and a little light
reading and watching all 3 news networks I would propose this.
By far the mass killers today are white
males who have become isolated and disfranchised. And arguably
mentally ill. Because lets face it anyone who decides to take an arsenal
into a crowded area and start mowing down bodies probably doesn't have the best
grip on reality.
That said here in America, we have
national campaigns for ED, smoking, cancer, click or ticket, 55 saves lives and
the newest buzz word campaign bullying. But nowhere do we have a national
campaign for reaching to those white males who need help with reality.
Better said is this. How much more
effective would it be for the NRA and the government to come out together and
hammer home on TV and print ads taking up of arms and mowing down
your neighbors or coworkers is never a good idea and for that matter neither
is an option in the first place.
How many mass shootings would be carried
out if these 2 powerful bully pulpits were to come together and agree to enter
a national campaign about talking to those white males about ceasing the mass
violence they think will both serve their personal interests and carve
out their names in a national spotlight and a footnote in the history
books.
What if the media were convinced to not
give them any coverage. How about we not cover it for days and months on end?
Instead it gets a simple 15 second blurb and then moving on?? How detered would
these would be gunman be if they knew their names would never see the light of
day on a scrolling ticker or their names plastered all over the evening news.
Maybe it doesn't stop any but maybe it
stops more than a few if we start looking after ourselves and stop hoping the
government will save us.
I heard this on a podcast the other day
I've never heard of or thought of before.
Adam Carolla is now the owner of some guns
that were given to him by his father in law. He had a good point which is this.
We hear all the time of the kid sneaking into his house only to be gunned down
by accident or the spouse or kids who get shot by accident.
So the first 2 rounds in both his shotgun
and 9mm pistol are non-lethal rounds. His theory is this. The life altering
rounds are just a pump or a trigger pull away. So hopefully when his kids are
sneaking in or the maid comes early nobody gets killed by accident. And maybe
even the wayward junkie gets scared away instead of getting killed. Something
to think about.
Sequester, fiscal cliff, debt ceiling. 3
ways to say what we have representing us is both defunct and horribly
broken beyond all repair. We have now reached a point in time where no matter
what each side of the aisle says the other is going to take issue with it.
If the President says the sky is blue the
GOP is going to counter with its gray skies and raining. There is no doubt
a financial issue we must face and fix. However, those in charge have
grown so far apart that any hope of a reasonable compromise is not ever going
to be an option for the next 4 years. In a word, we are Fucked.
Obamacare is 20,000 pages and nobody
really knows what's in it. But there is a general agreement we are all going to
pay a lot more for what those of already have and give more for those who have
less.
The President has not submitted a budget
ever and the Senate by law is supposed to do one and has not done so in the
last 4 years.
The Congress has submit one but
the Senate won't vote on it. Here's what I say if the President won't submit one,
then its up to the Congress and the Senate to work one out and they submit it
for approval.
Why is it the people we elect seem to have
no sense of responsibility? Why is it they think their job is to work on
getting reelected instead of governing?? This is one of those
things that the more you ponder the more irritated you get.
I do know this I blame a large part on the
Tea Party. 86 members who effectively hold the government hostage. I
wonder if any of them with all of their education remember the part where the
Fathers compromised over every detail of the newly formed government? Maybe
part of our vetting process should be to get them to take a history course on
how we were founded in the first place.
Finally, North Korea has decided that the
treaty signed eons ago is no longer valid and they have plans on nuking the
west coast.
How come this is not a leading story?? Why
are we given air time to stories like the that broad in AZ or the boys in OH.
They are not national stories.
Maybe one of the first things we need to
do is overhaul the 4th estate. I so don't care about celebrities in the news or
local stories that capture the national spotlight. On a slow news day how about
we concentrate on the real issues we face and leave the bullshit stories to
local fluff anchors.
It's no wonder the rest of the world
laughs at us for the way we conduct ourselves. I know there is a conclave going
on but does this really meet the standard of news?? When I got up this morning
all of the news outlets had pictures or rather live feeds from Rome. Their
cameras focused squarely on a smoke stack.
I know there are 1.2 Billion Catholics in
the world, but I'm pretty sure a live feed of a smoke stack is not news.
I don't think I'm asking much just a
little more careful thought into what passes for real news.