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| Gun control in America now a hot topic |
When you vehemently disagree with someone, it can be hard to listen to what they have to say. Instead of hearing their views, you'll often only hear your own objections to them.
So listening is a skill that's the work of a lifetime really. It’s one of the hardest things we ever learn to do. But it's also one of the most enlightening.
I know a little about this, having grown up in the north of Ireland, but of course every country and every individual has their own pieties. Blaspheme them and you'll get an earful, if you can bear to listen, that is. But if you can, it' almost always worth it.
When Vice President Joe Biden announces the proposals the administration is considering concerning gun trafficking and assault weapons this week I don't anticipate a principled debate will follow between the two political parties here. Instead, I expect more grandstanding and ideological stalemate, because that's increasingly where the business of the nation concludes.
One side is as bad as the other, people like to say. But are they really?
When it comes to concerns over guns and gun safety I don't think people have been listening to the increasingly belligerent rhetoric coming from the NRA-supporting side of the debate. I've been listening, and I have to say I'm a little spooked.
Take Larry Ward, chairman of the so-called Gun Appreciation Day movement, for example. Ward wants American gun owners to turn out "en masse at gun stores, ranges and shows from coast to coast" on January 19 to "strike the fear of God in the gun-grabbing politicians."
If you're not sure what God has to do with guns, well, neither am I. On Friday Ward told CNN he had created the first annual Gun Appreciation Day, which is set to fall, predictably, just before President Barack Obama’s inauguration and the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, to "honor the legacy of Dr. King."
He said this without laughing. Ward added that slavery in the U.S. might never have happened if African Americans had owned guns.
To clarify, Martin Luther King is not alive today because he was shot dead by a gun. It beggars belief that this howlingly misguided individual, with his near perfect ignorance, dares to suggest that his Gun Appreciation Day could honor King's legacy, or could have altered the course of slavery in America, for God’s sake. Choosing to celebrate guns and co-opt the blessing of a man of peace who was shot dead with a rifle seems to me to be beyond crass.
And remember what started this debate. Twenty innocent children and six faculty members at the Sandy Hook school, all dead at the hand of another young man with a grudge who had access to high powered weapons.
But Sandy Hook and the horror of what occurred there have clearly not forced gun enthusiasts to search their own consciences. Rather, it has underlined what is really animating the gun debate -- paranoia and deep suspicion of your neighbor and of your government.
It turns out there's an awful lot of anxiety among conservatives that you'll get rolled by your fellow patriots in the land of the free.
In eastern Kentucky a local sheriff told the press he will simply refuse to enforce any new gun laws, claiming his first duty is to protect the U.S. Constitution. You can be fairly sure, of course, that he'll revise that first duty once a Republican president has been safely elected, but let's not quibble here.
Sheriff Denny Peyman, looking like he was on the verge of tears, told the press he would be deeply ashamed to have to explain to the founding fathers why the U.S. was currently any kind of debating gun control. But perhaps if the founding fathers could have seen the unspeakable destructive power of a AR 15 semi-automatic, they might have been deeply ashamed that Peyman ever thought he was speaking for them.
There are even more egregious examples of the kind of toxic rhetoric that are making the rounds of the demoralized and politically routed GOP and its Tea Party outlier.
Take conservative columnist Larry Klayman. He called Biden’s gun task force recommendations, which haven’t even been released yet, "a declaration of war against the American people and our way of life." Talk about pearl clutching.
Fellow columnist Matt Barber of the Liberty Counsel is also busy envisaging a "second civil war" under Obama. He claimed last week that liberals celebrate school shootings, adding that the National Education Association is to blame for the Sandy Hook massacre.
"No one’s taking my guns either. Period," said Barber. "I plan to buy more -- a bunch more. In fact, who’s to say I don’t already have a veritable arsenal? Point is, tain’t Big Brother Barack’s nor any other candy-keistered-liberal-cream-puff’s bloody business whether I do or not."
This is the language of confrontation and dismissal, of course. This language contains dog whistles and put downs and plays to the to the basest prejudices of the people listening. It plays to them in the knowledge that they have not and will ever listen to the other side.
If 20 dead children can't make them think again, nothing can. But don't take my word for it. Listen to them yourself.
19 Comments
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.Smyrnian | Jan 19, 2013, 06:59 PM EST
Ephraim - I am with you on that. Eirieamach is in la la land, however.
eiriamach | Jan 19, 2013, 08:00 AM EST
No Smyrnian, the evidence does not show "Psychos do that, as all the evidence show's." The evidence shows that most mass killers displayed no symptoms of psychiatric illness before they went on their killing rampages. One, as I pointed out earlier, was an army psychiatrist himself. We'd need a test to detect those who might BECOME mass killers once they have the high-tech weapons. That's not the same as a test to find current pathology. We can't deny people their rights (to own a gun, for instance) on the basis of what we think they might do in the future. We have to assess their past behavior. So a psychiatric test will not be the cure-all for our gun violence problem. First, we need to ban the assault weapons and large-capacity guns.
EphraimKibbey | Jan 18, 2013, 08:38 PM EST
Smyrnian - unless you have been ranting about civil war or about how you are going to kill people if new gun laws are passed, I do not consider you one of the "GUN NUTS." However there are plenty of them out there as evidenced by the examples I mentioned. As a responsible gun owner who just likes to make holes in paper, I think they could all use a good background check followed by commitment someplace where they will no longer pose a threat to themselves or to the public and will stop making the non-gun owners think we are all like that. I agree with you that the lawmakers who turned millions of unstable people out of our mental institutions to group homes were penny-pinching fools. That is what happens when people complain about paying taxes for necessary government functions. I wonder how many of the 40% of unchecked firearm transfers have gone to folks who have no business anywhere near a gun. Hopefully you recognise the need for keeping guns and crazy people separated as I do.
Smyrnian | Jan 18, 2013, 04:44 PM EST
I am not nuts, crazy or violent. What are you talking about, Ephraim? The ones we used to lock up but no longer do? Sure, lets make laws for them. That will surely work.
EphraimKibbey | Jan 18, 2013, 01:41 PM EST
Why are "GUN NUTS" opposed to universal background checks and an up-to-date federal database of those who are criminals and those who have been judged to be a danger to themselves or others? DUH! Because THEY ARE NUTS and they are VIOLENT and they are a DANGER to themselves and others! Take for example the guy who just lost his concealed carry permit for going on the internet and shouting that he was going to KILL people if gun control laws were passed. Take for example the idiot on Piers Morgan shouting about Civil War. If universal background checks are instigated, they will never be able to buy another gun again because they are CRAZY!!! They give all normal gun owners a bad name and the sooner their guns are taken away the better. The other group fighting sensible gun laws are less conspicuous. They are the CEO's of gun manufactures who now sit on the NRA board. NRA elections are fixed so that the current NRA administration stays in power so they can support Gun Manufacturers over the wishes of the gun owners/members. This group only cares about keeping their jobs and their big salaries.
Smyrnian | Jan 18, 2013, 01:35 PM EST
Normal, non-psychiatric people do not play video games and the go out and kill people. Psychos do that, as all the evidence s how's. Pretty obvious isn't it?
eiriamach | Jan 18, 2013, 11:37 AM EST
Many millions of teenagers and young adults are addicted to violent video games, yet only those with access to high-capacity, rapid-fire guns become mass killers. And "BigPharma" does not manufacture assault weapons. Conclusion? Pretty obvious, isn't it?
stanJames | Jan 18, 2013, 01:35 AM EST
the NRA is obviously in the pockets of the Republicans to a large extent. My psychologist neigbor said their stock in trade is pushing paranoia. He also said of LaPierre and his statemet a week or 2 ago that the guy is borderline Psychopathic. Guns save lives? FBI 2006 figures 29000 Killed by guns in the USA 1000 legit police shootings 100 legit self defense So 280 killed for every 1 saved. Madness BTW in 1994 under Clinton a 10 year ban on assualt rifles was put into place. IN 2004 Bush let it expire without a wimper. Now we know why - the gun nuts are to a very large extent republicans of the bible belt extremist protestant repub base
pilib04 | Jan 17, 2013, 09:39 PM EST
The sickness that is the disease of the gun crazies has no bounds.
Seanmor | Jan 17, 2013, 09:19 PM EST
No U.S. president or Congress is empowered to disarm the NRA and deprive those loyal, law-abiding,responsible, tax-paying citizens of their Second Amendment rights. N
Smyrnian | Jan 17, 2013, 06:42 PM EST
The founding fathers never envisioned opening up the nut houses and letting the loonies out either. Psychiatric centers around the nation were emptied 40 years ago; where do you think the nut jobs are these days? Come on! Wake up! We never had this 50 years ago when gun laws were virtually non- existent. Figure it out...
Scrivner | Jan 17, 2013, 06:04 PM EST
In the weeks after Sandyhook a man in Chicago massacred his wife and sons and committed suicide. None of Chicago's strict gun laws were broken, he only needed gasoline and a match. Previoiusly he had tried it with rubbinng alchohol. Focusing on weapons and their legitimate owners is a gross waste of resources in trying to cure this mass murder problem.
jamieLM | Jan 17, 2013, 12:06 PM EST
I don't think the Founding Fathers ever envisioned scenarios like Columbine, VA Tech, Aurora, Sandy Hook, and others when they enacted the 2nd Amendment. I completely agree with hollabackgurl. @ bonjouryall - Why would any rational mother have guns available around a son who she knew was mentally/emotionally disturbed, exposing him to guns, even taking him to the target range??? This isn't a failure of a strict gun law. It's the failure of a woman who had no commonsense - NONE. There are many responsible gun owners. Lanza's mother was not one of them. I'm for Obama's proposals. No one is talking about going after responsible gun owners, but we don't have to make it easy for the mentally unbalanced to get their hands on guns, especially the type of guns/ammo clips that the military uses. I don't understand why any civilian needs these types of weapons/ammo. Btw: I grew up with rifles that we used to protect our livestock from rabid animals and non-human predators. We didn't need high powered assault weapons to get the job done.
eileenkny | Jan 17, 2013, 12:04 PM EST
I don't understand something-why would any law biding citizen oppose background checks if they're buying a gun? They don't have a problem with banks, real estate agents, landlords, etc. If they don't have anything to hide, what's the problem. Someone tell me, please. Another thing-assault type weapons. You can't hunt with them, the ammo would destroy whatever game you shot. They were made to kill people! Again, why would any law biding citizen need one? And the last one that gets me-clips that hold more than 10 rounds. Again, you're not going hunting with them, you're trying to inflict real bodily harm. I've owned a gun, and I'm retired military, so I know the damage an AR-15 can do. It's the semi-auto version of the M-16. Nobody is going to take away the Second Amendment, and to suggest civil war is, to me, treason.
patrickesq | Jan 17, 2013, 09:17 AM EST
As soon as the President's gun control proposals are enacted into law, I hope that the mental health proposals will provide immediate screening and counseling for the gun fanatics who can find nothing wrong with everyone owning a military stye assault weapon with the capacity to destroy the bodies of 20 children and 6 adults with up to 11 lethal bullets in a matter of minutes.
hollabackgurl | Jan 17, 2013, 08:39 AM EST
No one but the kookiest Tebaggers believe Obama is Stalin part 2. The survivalist mom is dead because her 'hobby' have her disturbed child the weapons to cause a massacre.
bonjouryall | Jan 16, 2013, 10:35 PM EST
This survivalist mom was in one of the strictest gun control states in the country in one of the safest towns in the state. So you're saying more of the same to solve the problem? Why not just create a police state where Obama's blackshirts spy on every citizen, launch indiscriminate raids on homes searching for weapons, and jail people on being a threat to the public order? This would at least be effective short term on stopping violence and silence republican dissent.
bonjouryall | Jan 16, 2013, 10:35 PM EST
This survivalist mom was in one of the strictest gun control states in the country in one of the safest towns in the state. So you're saying more of the same to solve the problem? Why not just create a police state where Obama's blackshirts spy on every citizen, launch indiscriminate raids on homes searching for weapons, and jail people on being a threat to the public order? This would at least be effective short term on stopping violence and silence republican dissent.
McNamara31 | Jan 16, 2013, 03:08 PM EST
Twenty innocent children awaiting Santa and Christmas, are dead. Their bodies riddled by a military style assault weapon purchased by a "survivalist" mother who knew she had a very troubled son in the home.If we can not "now" make progress with this nation's gun problem....then when? A very wise man who would himself be slain by a bullet once said: Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer.(JFK)