Have I missed the NRA’s condemnation of the armed thugs in Oregon? Has a single “responsible gun owner” called this “irresponsible”? Has one pro-gun person said publicly it is wrong to use guns to steal and threaten fellow citizens?

The NRA’s silence is support. They’ll gladly do business with terrorists, with anyone who’ll buy guns and bullets and scare other people into the same. Worse, these braying jackasses and tin-pot revolutionaries are the poster children of the NRA: bold white men holding an oppressive government at bay with guns and more guns. Defenders of the Constitution, though they are only interested in a dozen words therein. Proof that the only law we need is a “good guy with a gun.” Heroes of the NRA? If you haven’t burned your NRA card yet, you’re a co-conspirator in sedition.

I’ve heard it is the duty of peace-loving Muslims to condemn each act of violence linked to Islam. Where are the Mormons on this? Where’s Harry Reid, gun-loving Mormon, on this? These dangerous lunatics believe god is guiding them and protecting them. (Fools don’t realize the reviled Federal government is protecting them. But their grasp of reality is stretched.)

The armed turds in Oregon aren’t heroes. They are bullies, pompous, and self-righteous. They are Confederates and will share the same fate.

WHEN UNSPEAKABLE VIOLENCE IS ENACTED UPON INNOCENTS, SAY, IN A SCHOOL OR MOVIE THEATRE, AND THE SURVIVORS AND THE FAMILIES OF THE VICTIMS, IN THE THROES OF PAIN AND ANGUISH, WANT TO ASK, “WHY DID THIS HAPPEN?,” “HOW DID
THIS HAPPEN?,” AND “WHAT CAN WE DO TO PREVENT THIS FROM HAPPENING AGAIN?,” AND ONE OF THE AREAS THEY (STILL WE) FOCUS THEIR SCRUTINY IS THAT OF THE HIGHLY EFFICIENT WEAPONS OF WARFARE THAT ARE CASUALLY AVAILABLE TO US CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES, THEN WE FRIGHTENED GUN OWNERS HAVE THE CHANCE TO BE HUMAN AND SAY, “OKAY, THIS IS A HORRIBLE TRAGEDY. LET’S OPEN UP A CONVERSATION HERE.” INSTEAD, I’M SURMISING, OUT OF FEAR, WE THROW UP OUR DEFENSES AND BEHAVE IN A VERY CONFRONTATIONAL WAY TOWARD SUCH A CONVERSATION , CITING THE SECOND AMENDMENT AS THE ULTIMATE PROTECTION OF OUR RIGHTS, NO MATTER HOW RIDICULOUSLY MURDEROUS THE FIREARM, WHICH, UNFORTUNATELY, MAKES US LOOK LIKE DICKS.
NICK OFFERMAN

If I didn’t find the public voice of gun ownership so bellicose and arrogant and self-serving, I’d feel sorry for people who are so sure they are in constant danger that they must have a gun for comfort. Or for people who are so limited in entertainment options that they must have a gun for fun. Or for people who are so enamored of killing animals, they have to have a gun. Saddest and most frightening are those who believe the only reason they are free is because of guns. I’d feel sorry for them, if I weren’t disgusted and tired of the bullshit.

If you ever wade through the arguments presented by pro-gun commenters, you’ll distill their arguments along these lines:

Any object can be used to hurt or kill someone: screwdriver, hammer, car, gun. Therefore, no rules can apply to a gun that don’t make sense applied to any other object. Do you really want to register screwdrivers? If you do, only criminals will have screwdrivers. (Just to be clear: rules that do apply to potentially deadly objects like cars CANNOT apply to guns.)

No object is mentioned in the Second Amendment other than guns. There is no ambiguity in that amendment: it emphatically states everyone can have any gun. Therefore, guns are the one object we can’t “restrain.” The Second Amendment trumps all others, except for free speech, and you better have a gun when you exercise that. Gun ownership is an inalienable right. (Freedom from violence is not. However, the only way to be free from violence is to own a gun.)

No object can be used for self-defense like a gun. Not a baseball bat, not a knife, not a fist. Therefore, nothing is a better defense than having a gun. Efforts to control gun violence are a literal attack on people and intended to tie them up so the bad guys win. Why do you hate freedom?

Guns are fun. Guns are traditional. Guns build character. Guns do more good than harm. Guns do no harm at all. If you don’t have a gun, you’re not entitled to an opinion (rather, your opinion is wrong).

No one is responsible for accidental death involving a gun. Not the gun owner. Not the guy who made money selling the gun owner the gun (without safety lock / cabinet or training) and the bullets (armor-piercing — it’s his right!). Not the industry that grows fat on blood. Not the politicians they own. Not the rabble they rouse for their endless profit. After all, it could have happened with a can opener. Do you really want to outlaw can openers?

I tell gun owners no one is going to take their gun away. I agree to what I can about data. Then, I ask: what can we do about gun violence. Most answer with more of the above “logic.” Some mention “mental health.” Are you willing to pay a tax on gun-related sales for mental health services?

Diane Dimond sums it up nicely.

Albuquerque Journal | States doing what Congress won’t on gun control laws By Diane Dimond / Crime and Justice

Eighteen states have passed tougher gun buyer background check laws. Nine states have adopted laws to keep guns out of the hands of known domestic abusers. …

Yes, 99.9 percent of all gun owners are responsible citizens, so it raises the question: Where are they on the issue of keeping firearms out of the hands of those who would use them for ill? To blindly accept the NRA’s age-old mantra of “We already have enough laws!” solves nothing. It leaves us powerless against the next mass shooting, the next gang carnage.

It’s easy to pooh-pooh the various suggestions about how to keep guns out of the hands of those who shouldn’t have them. Critics of change seem to think that, unless a proposal is 100 percent guaranteed to fix the gun problem in America, we should reject it.

I’ll take constitutionally sound baby steps over years of Washington’s inaction any day.

Albuquerque Journal | States doing what Congress won’t on gun control laws

This gun owner should never be allowed to own a gun again. He should surrender all guns, make apology and restitution to the woman, and be required to make numerous public appearances to warn others about stupid mistakes.

The person who sold this gun should prove that he provided this owner with gun cleaning lessons. If he cannot, he should never own or sell another gun again. We reduce mistakes by motivating people not to make mistakes. Apparently not shooting someone isn’t motivation enough. Hit the fools where it hurts. Zero tolerance.

By Associated Press

Wednesday, January 6th, 2016 at 2:28pm

………. ………. ………. ………. ………. ………. ………. ………. ………. ………. ………. ………. ………. ………. ………. ………. ………. ……….

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Police in Colorado Springs say a woman sitting on a couch in her apartment was shot through a wall after her neighbor accidentally fired his gun while cleaning it.

The woman was taken to the hospital after Tuesday night’s shooting with what police described as a minor injury.

Police say 51-year-old Frank Dawkins accidentally fired his gun and the round went through a wall separating his apartment from his neighbor’s. Dawkins, who called police to report the shooting, was arrested on a count of illegal discharge of a firearm.

Dawkins was not being held in jail Wednesday and a phone number listed for him was not working.

You’re out there. Your silence helps the lunatics on both sides of the issue of gun violence.

To my mind, a sensible gun owner does NOT believe someone is coming soon to take his or her weapons. A sensible gun owner does not run to the gun store every time a voice in his or her head says the war is imminent. A sensible gun owner may have a gun for hunting for food, not for blood sport or trophy. A sensible gun owner might have a gun for self-defense, but doesn’t think it’s the first tool but a last resort.

You don’t want to help the loonies. They see slippery slopes and jackbooted thugs. They argue that Madison would have owned an automatic weapon. They condescend when others misuse terms like automatic weapon. They salute the straw man of mental illness with no appreciation for their own.

Just as there are sensible gun owners, there are sensible people who won’t own guns but do want something done to curb the violence. You need to get together and find a solution that the loonies can’t shoot down (tall order). (You may know I’m not one of the sensible gun opponents. I would indeed wish away all guns if I could. However, I surrendered years ago. No one is taking anyone’s guns away. Now, what can we do about gun violence?)

You need to identify yourselves: I own a gun but I want to help limit gun violence. Don’t assume that people understand that most gun owners are sensible – your cause has been hijacked by lunatics. You need to speak publicly. You need to prove yourself to the loons who will call you GONOs (gun owners in name only) and accuse you of being tools of the demons in their heads. Wave your NRA membership at them. For god’s sake, slap the NRA up against the head for claiming to be membership-driven instead of the corporate tool they are. Pat your sidearm. Use the language of gun fetishists without becoming one. Look and act like a reasonable gun owner interested in helping to solve our problem, instead of shooting someone who tries to.

Stand up to the gun loons. You’re better equipped than the unarmed. Please help limit gun violence.