It’s nauseating to hear gun worshiping fetishists blather their “Thoughts & Prayers” bullsh!t, followed by crazy-a$$ed rationalizations. It’s even worse when they start touting the Second Amendment, giving more rights to guns including and especially guns designed not for hunting game, or even home defense but specifically for war, for killing other human beings in the greatest number possible as fast as possible than to human lives.
Even children’s lives – gun violence is the leading cause of death for children!
The Second Amendment never said what the gun goobers claim it says. And it was written when almost every “Arm” was muzzle loading! (The British had actually developed a breach loaded firearm but it was highly unreliable and even dangerous to use) Imagine if instead of modern weapons, not just high capacity magazine assault rifles even semi-auto hunting rifles or shotguns or handguns someone deciding to engage in a mass shooting had to use what they used back in the 1790s when the Bill of Rights/Second Amendment was passed. (The video is age restricted so I can’t embed the actual video but please watch it)
Ed — A Petition For Stronger Gun Laws – YouTube
I was a kid too young to grasp Charles Whitman getting up into that tower at the University of Texas back in the early 1960s and conducting the first mass shooting of the modern news era. Thankfully, such things – mass shootings – were rare for decades. Still, as I grew up and into adulthood workplace violence with people using guns started to happen. Enough that the term “Going Postal” entered the lexicon. However, it would be Columbine that really ushered in the era of mass shootings. It’s only gotten worse. But, as I learned early in life no matter how bad things sometimes get, they can ALWAYS get worse.
Gun violence keeps getting worse. Mass shootings are now a multiple times per day thing.
How soon before the number per day, not just the average but the actual number become two, three or more per day? Not long I fear. Hell, this past weekend there were SEVEN around the country. (Not to mention in TX they had both a mass shooting and a hate-inspired mass vehicular homicide against immigrants too!) Without fail, each and every time we have a long list of conservatives offering “Thoughts and Prayers” with a pile of rationalization nastier than that big pile of dinosaur doo-doo in Jurassic Park.
These “Christians” with their thoughts and prayers seem to believe and often say out loud how much better Christians they are than those who actually try to follow Jesus’ teachings keep offering those thoughts and prayers. They make quite a spectacle that they are doing so. And as I say in the title GOD AIN’T LISTENING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Or, if God does hear them the reaction is “What the f**k? I gave people free will. They have the means to fix this. The knowledge of what can be done. What works and what doesn’t. They can CHOOSE to do what any rational person knows can and should be done! What the hell? They expect me to “miracle away” the very problem THEY created by merely offering thoughts and prayers and babbling about mental health and other crap that they know is crap? Not to mention these same people have spent their lives keeping people from having access to mental health treatment! While at the very same time FURIOUSLY working to expand access to guns including weapons of war! ??? If they’d pay attention to their freaking bibles there’s stuff in the New Testament about faith without works being nothing. So these thoughts and prayers idiots who CREATED the problem and who have the means to do so, with meaningful laws and enforcement need to get busy and fix their own damned mess!”
I say the standard response every, and I mean EVERY time one of these gun apologists trots out their “Thoughts and Prayers” b.s. the immediate response should be “God is NOT listening to you! Because clearly whatever version of God they believe in isn’t doing jack to fix the problem.
Silence, which is what these a$$hats who will defend guns and unfettered access to them before they will defend living, breathing human beings including kids in schools are getting from their God can speak volumes.
God’s silence, evident by the FACT that mass shootings are increasing and increasing at an ever more rapid pace is God saying “YOU made this mess. I gave you the freedom and the ability to fix it. So CLEAN UP YOUR OWN MESS! (Oh, and it you refuse don’t be all crybaby and shocked when you arrive at the Pearly Gates and I personally crotch punt you down to hell.)
I recommend a book I as currently rereading: Ed Asner’s “The Grouchy Historian, an old-time lefty defends our Constitution against right-wing hypocrites and nutjobs”, published in 2017. It explains the basic “left” interpretations as opposed to the “right”. At the moment, I’m in the last chapter which is on the 2nd Amendment (chapter 23). The 1st two quotes are too long for a bumper sticker, but I LOVE the sentiment!
“Guns don’t kill people. People kill people.” —-Slogan of the NRA
“Bats don’t hit home runs. People hit home runs. But if you take away the bats, you can’t hit a home run.” —-Anonymous
Good read, informative, not dry….
I remember Ed Asner, especially his marvelous portrayal of Lou Grant. He was actually from very new where I grew up. A lifelong lover of baseball the thing about bats resonated and I immediately realized something. Being in my mid-60s I played with wood bats all my life. The thing about them, even at the speed little league pitchers throw wood bats can break, or at least split/become cracked. Many of us would take money we earned or scrimped to save from our allowance in order to buy our own personal bat that felt “Just right” to us. For many like me it was quite an investment, enough that when a bat cracked/split we’d carefully shore it up a while longer by driving a thin nail or two into it – something not as easy as it seems because if you didn’t get it right you made things worse! I mention this because the cost of bats, especially for the bag every team from little laague to teams in schools and up through college switched to metal bats over time. While the initial cost was higher you didn’t have to worry about them breaking!
They even started getting used at the professional level and the problem that was whispered about with players as they got to their mid to late teens was the speed of a batted ball was increased with the use of metal bats. Yes, when a wood bat breaks at the handle the pieces, in particular the barrel of the bat can in rare instances hit someone but pitchers in particular suffered increased injuries from the ball “jumping” off metal bats, and hitters got an advantage too because ground balls infielders would have gotten too became hits because even better conditioned infielders with better scouting info. on hitters couldn’t get to the faster than wood bat hit ground balls. So metal bats were banned from the major leagues and I believe thoughout most of the minor leagues. I recall reading an article many, many years ago as this happened talking about hitting coaches teaching players the differences they’d need to master to use wood bats. A favorite technique was to have them gently tap a telephone pole with both, so they could learn where the “sweet spot” on a wood bat was.
The point is that part of the reason metal bats got banned at a certain level of play is that they were more dangerous! Think about that. But certain types of guns are (far) more dangerous too and we don’t do jack about it!
I just ordered th paperback (even though the Kindle was cheaper!). As som as I read it, I can share it! Thanks, Jane!
“Even children’s lives – gun violence is the leading cause of death for children!”
How can we let this continue to happen in the richest and most powerful country that has ever existed?
One trait that is common among the “christians”.
Mental illness.
Actually ‘arms’ in the 18th Century sense is ALL arms and not just firearms. It would include swords and pikes.
Strangely, while there is a manic belief that the ‘second amendment’ stops the government of the US or any state from banning firearms, it hasn’t stopped them from doing that to swords, which are also included in the ‘right to bear arms’
Now if they can legislate on one piece of military equipment from the era, why can’t they legislate on another?
Not to mention, when was the last time someone tried to buy a nuclear bomb (which is, after all, an “arm”–remember the “Strategic Arms Limitation Talks” and the “Strategic Arms Limitation Treaties” both covered nuclear weapons under the “arms” heading) without getting a visit from the Feds regarding the matter since nukes are kind of, um, “restricted” material?
A really important point that gets lost (especially among so-called “originalists”) is that in the 18th century the phrase “to bear arms” meant specifically into combat. As in “bear arms into battle.” It had NOTHING to do with protecting your property, or walking around town with a firearm. In fact, most large towns and cities of the colonial/revolutionary era had laws against carrying loaded guns around town. Just like in the 19th century most western towns had laws against carrying guns in town. Leave em with the sheriff when you come in, pick em up on your way out. Fun fact: the gunfight at the OK corral in Tombstone happened because Marshall Virgil Earp tried to enforce the law of no guns in town on the outlaw band the Cowboys. He, Wyatt, Doc, and a couple other deputies found them at the corral. They said “You can take our guns from our cold dead hands.” Virgil said “OK.” And history was made.
William H Bockemuehl
My FB post on April 30, 2023
So, I was thinking (always a dangerous thing, I know).
Interacting with 2nd amendment advocates, they ALWAYS bring up “Shall not be infringed”, to which I respond “A well regulated militia”. They then inform me that the SCOTUS has already ruled on that, BUT (and here is where the thinking begins).
A few of the SCOTUS claim to be ‘Constitutionalists’. They want to interpret ruling in the manner that they believe the founding fathers intended them when they wrote them. But they either missed the boat on this one or they are lying.
Let me explain. In the late 1700’s, when the constitution was written, virtually everybody (meaning every white male) had a firearm. They hunted for food and defended home, hearth and self from hostiles. The possession of the firearm did NOT make them part of the militia. That is a separate thing.
In a well regulated militia, there is a hierarchy. There are Generals at the top, followed by colonels, majors, captains, lieutenants, plus sergeants, and corporals all directing the soldiers. The soldiers are farmers and towns people that have their day to day jobs but, when need strikes, can be called to arms, to defend a town, county state or country. They are ‘well regulated’.
There is a movie with Spencer Tracy called ‘Northwest Passage’ about Rogers Rangers in the 1760’s. It shows that hierarchy in action.
The SCOTUS got their interpretation wrong, or they are lying…but that doesn’t seem to be anything new these days.
We do have a well regulated militia today. It is called the National Guard.