By Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
The horrific events in Newtown, Connecticut have left us all with a sense of shock and helplessness. Twenty elementary school children dead, six educators slaughtered, and a place we all like to think of as a safe haven from the misery of the world polluted by horrific violence wrought by weapons more properly used on a battlefield. Politicians from President Obama to New York Mayor Bloomberg have called for “meaningful action” to combat gun violence which is endemic to America.
But does this mass murder of innocents present the right case to support effective gun control? From what we know now the answer is “no.” The shooter, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, was a troubled teen who suffered from either Asperger’s syndrome or a personality disorder according to the New York Daily News. One family friend described the young man, saying, “This was a deeply disturbed kid. He certainly had major issues. He was subject to outbursts from what I recall.”
Lanza also had strange permutation of the syndrome in that he was impervious to normal stimuli. Another “longtime” family friend said Lanza had a condition “where he couldn’t feel pain. A few years ago when he was on the baseball team, everyone had to be careful that he didn’t fall because he could get hurt and not feel it.”
Asperger’s syndrome is an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) which allows the sufferer to maintain high academic and cognitive functioning but handicaps social interaction. It is the classic high school brainiac who is unable to ask a member of the opposite sex out on a date. The cause is unknown but certain genetic markers may be present to suggest that is its origin. Thus, Lanza may have acted from a motivation he had little control over and which no amount of gun control or mental health legislation could control.
Additionally, the guns used in the slayings were purchased legally by Lanza’s apparent first victim, his mother, Nancy. Lanza stole the weapons — a .223 Bushmaster assault weapon*, and two semi-automatic handguns, a 9 mm Sig Sauer, and a 9 mm Glock — after murdering his mother and thus began his rampage. The simple fact is that no gun control measures either on the books or reasonably under consideration could have stopped such a disturbed person from acquiring these weapons if he was willing to kill to get them.
As much as many of us would like to see guns regulated at least as much as cars or liquor, the facts here do not present the best case to achieve this goal. The American love affair with guns is seemingly getting stronger with sales of firearms setting new records. Gun manufacturers and their minions at the NRA have succeeded in scaring many Americans into believing that Obama and the Democratic Party have a secret agenda to disarm the public.
In fact, the public’s support for gun control has been on a steady decline according to polling conducted by Pew Research. Even the school mass murder at Columbine registered only a bump of support which quickly vanished. The chart below (from the Huffington Post) graphically demonstrates the public’s attitude about guns in an era of distrust with government and the political process.
It would take a paradigm shift in the culture to create the political will to take on the Second Amendment. It is a telling — and perhaps damning — fact that even the death of 20 children under age 10 is simply not enough.
Source: CNN; New York DailyNews; Huffington Post
~Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
PSs:
Our good friend, slartibartfast, has provided a link on the effectiveness of the federal ban on assault weapons. It’s good reading. Here it is: Did the federal ban on assault weapons matter?
*Also commenter, Roman Berry, (9:19 am) has provided some context for the term “assault weapon.”
Thanks, guys.
Hey! The Second Amendment says nothing about having to be intelligent.
The parents probably thought that it was all about ‘baring arms’ as opposed to ‘bearing arms’.
Anyway, they need to have that loaded gun handy in order to defend themselves against intruders who would find that gun lying around and use it against them, or something.
Sling,
What is wrong with people like this child’s parents that they are so careless as to leave a loaded gun where a young child can get a hold of it? Some people don’t have the brains they were born with.
BTW
That double-action extra trigger pressure is a major contributor to people not hitting what they think they are aiming at.
So it was with those NYPD officers who shot 16 bystanders.
Add that factor to the fact that the cc gun is maybe like George Zimmerman’s mega-selling cheapo Kel-Tek PF-9. 18 ounces, <6" overall and 0.8" thick – like the actual barrel is about 2".
I saw a report linked with that NYPD incident. An analysis of NYPD shooting incidents apparently showed that they could only hit what they aimed at 34% of the time !! Wow!
From that ‘6-year-old brings gun to Houston school; 3 hurt’ story
“The parents need to be more concerned about checking backpacks before their kids leave home. It’s the parents’ fault because the kids don’t know better,” said Moffett, a security officer at a medical building. “
Eh…checking backpacks?? Hello!!
… Just in case junior has picked up that loaded gun that they left lying around somewhere in the house?
.
There appears to be a culture/fetish in concealed-carry land about being ready for immediate shooting.
It’s way too time-consuming to rack the gun ( it’s more than just ‘cocking’ ) in order to get a round from the magazine into the chamber for the first shot – when the opportunity might arise ofter years of just carrying it. Every microsecond is precious.
They rack the gun, then add another round into the magazine. That way, if sometime way down the years they have to pull it out to shoot, they can fire instantly – and they have an extra round over and above what would normally be left in the magazine.
Cheap (aka popular) guns have no safety catch.
The only safety factor in one of those cheapo double-action guns is the additional pressure needed on the trigger to fire them. Double-action means ‘cock and fire’ in one trigger pull.
That is the default way that real men – and real women who carry a Man Card – have their guns. Something catches that trigger and BANG!
Seriously! 100’s of 1000’s of people who will hopefully shoot only themselves (in the thigh or somewhere more sensitive) as they clumsy/panic pull the gun out of the holster under their waistband and accidentally put enough pressure on the trigger.
Elizabeth Juanita Campbell,
Would you suggest that girls bring their “boyfriends” to school/class with them all the time? Can’t they talk to their boyfriends in the morning before school, before/after class, after school, at night, on the weekends?
YOUR boyfriend ISN’T everybody else’s boyfriend. Get a grip!
Leejcarroll:
“How pathetic (for lack of a better word and I know there are many) that we think children, even at age 5, 6 need to go through a metal detector.”
***********************
6-year-old brings gun to Houston school; 3 hurt
Officials say the gun accidentally discharged when it fell out of child’s pocket
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42665638/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/t/-year-old-brings-gun-houston-school-hurt/#.UNIdneTBGE4
About this much “pathetic.” Beaver and Wally are long gone. More examples available.
Think what you will, Harvard study studies link firearms with increased death relative to number of firearms.
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/research/hicrc/firearms-research/guns-and-death/index.html
How pathetic (for lack of a better word and I know there are many) that we think children, even at age 5, 6 need to go through a metal detector.
At what point do we consider how to teach children to be trusting when we refuse to take action to keep them safe in ways that do not frighten the heck out of them (you know like maybe gun control)
On a decidedly emotional note”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/douglas-anthony-cooper/earn-an-f-and-youll-earn-_b_2319712.html
Wherever you stand on control please follow this link and see what one element in the fetishistic need for weaponry is. Read only if you are man enough.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/emma-gray/bushmaster-rifle-ad-masculinity-gun-violence-newtown-adam-lanza_b_2317924.html
@Bob: I disagree, at least with the part you posted. There is such a thing as priorities. The phrasing is misleading in that respect; it says if “your” chance of dying by route A is less than “your” chance of dying by route B…
But I am exponentially less concerned about losing my own life in a car accident than I am about children being murdered in a blood bath. As an adult I accept the risk of death in a car every time I get in it, I do not accept the risk of death for a six year old excited to be learning to read about Jack and Jill.
I don’t care about the differential in risks. Put armed cops with metal detectors at every door of every school, it doesn’t cost that damn much to protect children. It will increase the school budget by 1% or 2%. Call it a jobs program, it will help the economy.
“the high visibility of these tragedies skews people’s perceptions about risks. I think the risk of this kind of tragedy is already so low that it’s 1) hard to lower the risk even more, and 2) hard to justify lowering this risk relative to many other risks we could be lowering.
…
We should always strive to continue to reduce all risks of death, especially the preventable risks of other humans, wherever possible. But the risks will always exist. If your chance of dying in a mass shooting is 0.000003% and your chance of dying in a car accident is 0.9%, with a whole lot of other risks in between, I think it’s reasonable to ask if there aren’t a lot of easier and more effective ways to try to use the government’s limited resources to save lives than trying even harder to prevent the next shooting tragedy than we already are.”
http://www.postlibertarian.com/2012/07/perspectives-in-gun-shootings-and-other-risks/
Juanite, who knows what the original wording of that is? your “No one comes into the Father but thru me?
Problem is with your kind of thinking is it is the same as the adherents of other faiths that think theeirs is the be all and end all, you know like in Iraq, Iran etc.
I have had problems with comp so missed a lot of the ocnversation but I have seen a little of it. I dont think anyone is saying lets get rid of all the guns. they are saying “well regulated” whether to militia or to owning guns.
Actually, I don’t want anyone else praying to MY god. I would consider that unfaithfulness.
What justagurlinseattle said. Well done.
@Gene: However, we cannot prohibit the sale of all guns without a Constitutional amendment.
I do not see why not; most states prohibit the sale of all sex, but that does not outlaw sex. What gives the government the Constitutional right to outlaw the purchase of one type of arms, like an automatic weapon or explosive, that does not give them the right to outlaw the purchase of all types of arms?
Could we outlaw the sale of handguns but permit muzzle-loaded cannons?
rafflaw 1, December 15, 2012 at 5:44 pm
Noone removed God from the public schools. Public schools are supposed to be free from religious activity, but God is still present in every soul at every school. One only has to use their mind to think of God so what is Huckleberry talking about? What we need is a concerted war on Guns. If we as a society can’t take measures to protect our children in a school, then we are beyond help from any God.
Dear rafflaw:
This is an example of pure ignorance! Let’s say, I love my boyfriend sooo much, that I am willing to spend 1 day a month with him! Wow! You might say is that how much you love him?
And you would be 100% right on saying that, why? Because if you love someone, you are sure to spend as much time (close to 100%) time with them, if possible!
I am sure in my example my boyfriend would come to the conclusion that I do not really love him, thus my words are not in effect with some verb, some action word.
How can we deny (begrudge) God (Our heavenly father) a little time of our day, claiming that “One only has to use their mind to think of God…” and expect God to be happy? Is that fair? Would my boyfriend not say, see you, bye bye!
This is the kind of cheap nonsensical rhetoric that is a core of today’s liberal. They want their cake…and eat it too! But one day, God too, will emanate with wrath!
All the war on guns will not cure the evil that envelopes us! It is an evil oozing from our very Courts. It is an evil that was here before we got here, and it is an evil that if we want to over come, then there is only ONE WAY!
John 14:6
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
PS: The most high of the hypocritical Courts begin their day, well “the Supreme Court opens its proceedings with a religious invocation.”
“Rafflaw,
This is an example of pure ignorance! Let’s say, I love my boyfriend sooo much, that I am willing to spend 1 day a month with him! Wow! You might say is that how much you love him?”
Raff,
Ms. Campbell is a hate filled uber-Christian, which I learned on another thread, Her mission here is to convert us all to her brand of Revelations-based Christianity, to save us from an eternal damnation that she sadistically condemns us to. She is actually getting her rocks off as she writes.
Elizabeth Juanita Campbell
How can we deny (begrudge) God (Our heavenly father) a little time of our day, claiming that “One only has to use their mind to think of God…” and expect God to be happy? Is that fair? Would my boyfriend not say, see you, bye bye!
——————————————————————-
If YOU want to make time for your boyfriend that is fine…
HOWEVER…. do NOT force me to make time for your boyfriend…..
and the same goes for YOUR god…. he is NOT my god…..
SO, I should NOT be forced to make time for YOUR god…..
That is what the LOVELY little First Amendment is ALLL about…..
*****************************
Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
****************************
~~Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion~~
and so in a PUBLIC school…. If you force prayer… that would be GOVERNMENT establishing Christianity as the RELIGION people must follow and pray to while at a public School….
This would cause a LOT of problems being that we have many people whom are Jewish… Buddhist…. Muslim… and Atheist…..
In NO WAY should we make other people PRAY to YOUR god….
—————————————
~~ or prohibiting the free exercise thereof~~
and even though you are at school…. YOU are free to excuse yourself during lunch and Pray ALL YOU WANT…..
YOU can come to the school EARLY and stand outside and PRAY TO YOURSELF all you want…..
heck…. after school… YOU can go to any religious function you would like and talk about whatever you want…. god… or what ever……
Just do not force me to pray to YOUR god….
—————————————–
just as your relationship with your boyfriend is PERSONAL>…
so is YOUR relationship with god……
I will keep my boyfriend to myself…. and I would appreciate that others do the same…… and same goes with your god…
During the final episodes of this season’s Boardwalk Empire I found myself rooting for Al Capone.
Now, I’d love to see the NRA come out swinging by shoving Obama’s face into that deep pile of steaming hypocrisy of his.
So President Obama is concerned about children? Would that include the children he kills with those drone strikes of his or does his concern only extend to American children?
And speaking of credibility, much less being sworn to defend the constitution; what can we say about the word of a man who supports the use of torture and extraordinary rendition; suspends habeas corpus without the existence of insurrection or rebellion; carries out a policy of warrantless wiretapping as if the 4th Amendment did not exist and issues executive orders authorizing the EXTRAJUDICIAL EXECUTION of American citizens…
Let the political blood bath ensue!
Mike,
Xactly.
Sorry,
But to say that Scalia is an idiot is to deny his scienter.
Evil genius is more like it.
“But to say that Scalia is an idiot is to deny his scienter.”
Bob,
We differ on this because I believe that psychologically Scalia believes, perhaps literally, that he is on the side of angels. My psychological take o him is that he believes he represents the side of good and all those that oppose him are evil. I fact in a sense I would prefer him to be a “Evil Genius” because sometimes they can be made to back off, in protection of their long term strategy. Those that have convinced themselves of their “purity” of thought are the most dangerous to us all because they will not back down.
“During the final episodes of this season’s Boardwalk Empire I found myself rooting for Al Capone.”
You mention my favorite character on my favorite show. Yeah Nucky is a great character, played by a great actor. Capone in that show, however, I’ve found him infectiously charismatic from the beginning and quite nuanced. My original favorite was Jimmy, but alas Nucky killed him. I liked the Irishman, but Nucky sent him on a fools quest. Jack Huston, a fabulous actor, may be gone seeing the turn of events in the last episode. Gretchen Mol is one of the sexiest women on TV, in a great role. I thought last season was the best one so far.
Tony,
“Can we prohibit the purchase of guns without a Constitutional Amendment?”
Yes and we do that already by certain gun types. However, we cannot prohibit the sale of all guns without a Constitutional amendment.