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Peggy has been attending a hobbyist convention (she collects clothing buttons) in Jacksonville, Florida, with her friend, Sandie. Peggy and Sandie were taking a walk today when they escaped being shot by a matter of seconds. Twelve people were not so lucky, and four of the twelve are dead. Among the panicked survivors who ran past Peggy and Sandie was a man with a bloody leg.
It is Republicans who are to blame for making our country into a war zone, and it is evangelical Christians who dominate the Republican Party. How do these good Christians (the same people who claim that I can't be moral because I don't believe in hell) justify forcing the rest of us to live in constant fear of being murdered simply because we chose to attend school, go on vacation, drive down the street, sit in front of an open window, or take a walk? They say that:
(1) Gun violence is the price of freedom.
(2) Gun violence can be greatly reduced by putting more guns in the hands of more people, thereby making all of us afraid to start shooting.
My tolerance for those who vote Republican has been going downhill for years, but the hill steepened dramatically after Trump was elected because it was then that I lost my final vestige of hope that these people even mean well.
The last time I spoke to Peggy's father, he said that he and his fellow Baptist deacons were considering whether to start bringing guns to church simply because one never knows when a gun might come in handy. After I received Peggy's call, I wanted to phone him and ask him if his position about gun ownership would have changed had his daughter been murdered. I didn't do it because I didn't want to hurt Peggy.
If you vote Republican, blood is on your hands, and while, in my present state of outrage, I don't really care one whole hell of a lot what happens to you, my anger would know no bounds if my wife had been murdered because of you.
20 comments:
I am so glad that Peggy escaped.
And deplore right wing politics more and more.
Thank goodness Peggy is safe. She must be in a state of shock. Every senseless shooting reminds me that I want leaders of my country to be sane. Best wishes to Peggy.
"And deplore right wing politics more and more."
I find it hard to hate so many people so much, but when one knowingly makes choices that result in thousands upon thousands of people being murdered in this country every single year, it won't do to keep voting Republican while rehashing the same old asininities, things like, "Guns don't kill people; people kill people," or, "If you take their guns away, murderers will just use some other weapon," or that ultimate obscenity, "Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their families." All of the militant atheists working together couldn't come near making religion look as bad as what the evangelical gun-nuts and the Catholic aiders-and abettors of child molestation are doing.
Did you know that in a city like Chicago or Baltimore, there are weekends when scores of people are murdered with guns, and while the gun crowd wouldn't be deterred regardless, it clearly makes a difference in how seriously the public as a whole looks upon the problem when the deceased are black people. How do I know this? I know it because of the amount and kind of news coverage given to the victims. If the victims are white, you see their faces and hear all about what lovely people they were, but when the victims are black you just hear their names and ages, and oftentimes, all you get is an anonymous tally.
Something else that you might not know, given where you live, is that it's very common for ANYONE who supports ANY measure that could reduce this country's insane murder rate to receive death threats even if that person is the parent of a murdered child. One reason that politicians find it hard to stand up the gun lobby is that so many of these people are physically threatening, and, of course, they all have guns. It's as if there's some ingredient in gun oil that makes people criminally insane.
I did know about the death threats. It seems that the solution to someone wanting to reduce/limit the fatalities is to threaten their life. I am very, very glad that guns are not nearly so prevalent here. Yes, murderers can and do find other ways, but they are less able to achieve mass killings. Thoughts and prayers bring no-one back from the dead, and I doubt they provide consolation to the living.
I'm pleased that Peggy escaped! who knows how many near escapes we all have, a matter of seconds can be everything.
As for guns/ republicans/ far right & Christianity, may they all get what they deserve
I’m so very glad Peggy is ok. How horrific for her and her friend
My heart goes out to those not so lucky
We in the land down under just don’t understand this love of guns. Well most of us anyway. There are some here that think we need guns. But every time there is a mass shooting they become less and less vocal
I hope and pray to whoever is listening that common sense prevails one day
Stay safe xxx
Glad she's okay ... and like others have said, I hope we can all get back to some rationality and common sense.
How frightening, snow. For Peggy to be that close: we are all too vulnerable in leisurely public places and I share your rage about it. If Sandy Hook didn’t change our gun laws, we are doomed through any Republican path or promise.
As much as I detest Trump, I can’t grasp that 90% of Republicans wholeheartedly endorse him. How can that be? I feel like i’ve Been asleep for the last 20 years
I hope i’m Alive and lucid when gun control finally happens...,
Best to you and Peggy, 💜
Love
kj
"I did know about the death threats."
After the murder of 26 six year olds and their teachers in Connecticut, Alex Jones, a talk show host of whom Trump is an outspoken fan, said the shooting never happened, but was merely a ploy on the part of the anti-gun crowd to win support for taking away guns (some of the parents of the murdered children are now suing Jones). Wayne Lapierre, the leader of the National Rifle Association (Americas most powerful gun lobby) says that liberals love it when children are murdered, and that they only want to take away people's guns so that those people will be unable to revolt against the government when other freedoms are taken away. Every time there's a mass murder here, the gun crowd races out and buys more guns because they fear firearms restrictions. Now, there is a court case about the "freedom" to put plans on the Internet for making untraceable guns with 3D printers. It would be very hard to overstate how nutty things are here.
"Every senseless shooting reminds me that I want leaders of my country to be sane."
I don't think they're necessarily insane. I think, in some cases, they actually think they're supporting the Constitution, but that most of them are simply afraid of the National Rifle Association. They're about guns like they are about Trump, by which I mean that they might very well hate Trump, but they know that if the criticize them, they will lose votes.
"As for guns/ republicans/ far right & Christianity, may they all get what they deserve."
I felt such rage when I got that phone call that I had to stop the cooking I was doing and write this post. Everyone wants respect, but I don't know how to respect people who vote so as to facilitate mass murder, and the irony is that they say they do in so that they can own guns with which to protect themselves and their families, it never occurring to them that, just maybe, all those guns make them and their families less safe. Their's is nothing more than the Old West attitude of every man for himself, there being no obvious concern (beyond, "Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their families") for the lives of others. 34,000 Americans die by the gun each year and over twice that number are injured, yet the answer that is commonly put forward by the gun crowd IS MORE GUNS although Americans already own 46% of the world's firearms, and that mass murders are all but unknown in countries with few firearms.
"I hope and pray to whoever is listening that common sense prevails one day."
When it does, it won't be on the part of the gun crowd which only cares about what they call their "Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms." They favor high capacity magazines; fragmenting bullets; bullets that will pierce police body armor; automatic weapons; and the ability to make their own untraceable firearms with 3D printers. They regard any restriction about anything pertaining to firearms as the first step in taking away their guns, which they think they need in order to (a) protect themselves against the bad guys and (b) to protect themselves against their own government when the day arrives that that government tries to regulate firearms.
"As much as I detest Trump, I can’t grasp that 90% of Republicans wholeheartedly endorse him. How can that be?"
It leaves me in despair of Americans ever being able to work together for the good of all regarding even the most critical and pressing issues. Trump's overall approval rating hovers around 35%, which is about where Nixon's approval rating was after the Watergate tapes were made public and totalitarian senator Joseph McCarthy's approval rating was when he was ousted. What this tells me is that Americans are no more united now than they have been at many other times, and if we got through those times, maybe we'll get through these. I know that liberals have their own nutcases, but at least the liberal nutcases aren't usually subject to snapping at any time and shooting people.
"Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah blah."
I envision you as being in your early teens. You're sitting with your knees drawn tightly against your chest and your eyes are squeezed shut. Your fingers are in your ears, and you're shouting blah, blah, blah, ad infinitum. When you're senses tell you that no one is talking, you remove your fingers and look up, only to go back to saying blah again when there's an attempt at dialogue.
"Cars & alcohol kill more people than guns. BAN ALL REPUBLICANS WHO DRIVE AND/OR DRINK!!!"
How about banning Republicans as a grave danger to national security due to, for example, their belief that the dictator of Russia is their friend, but that a free press and their own security services are not. The only reason I don't favor the death penalty for a lot of things (like drunk driving and child molestation) is that the more severe the penalty, the harder it is to get a jury to bring in a guilty verdict, and the harder it is, in many cases, to get witnesses and victims to report the crime (for example, if a ten year old is being molested by her father, she's less likely to report her father if she knows he might be executed). That aside, Marion, your presumed attempt at humor aside, you're making a false equivalency. You might as well argue that since most accidents happen at home, we should ban houses. The fact is that, unlike guns, automobiles are a necessity, not just to get people places, but to deliver goods to stores, etc. Another way in which automobiles are unlike guns is that automobiles are rarely inherently dangerous. Within the last year, I saw (on the evening news) a cop giving a talk about firearms safety during which his gun went off and shot a student. Likewise, I've heard various accounts (on the news) of mothers being shot to death by their toddlers, a typical instance is when a toddler takes the gun from its mother's purse while the mother is shopping).
Cont.
Then there are the many reports of cops shooting people to death for no better reason than that the cop was pissed, yet cops (unlike the road rage murderer who, a month or two ago, followed a woman into a parking lot and shot both her and her children to death) presumably pass tests and undergo training to insure that they are sane and reasonable. My point is that there is simply no imaginable way to have a citizenry that is armed to the teeth without tens of thousands of people a year dying unnecessarily by murder and accident. Run the numbers yourself. It's around 34,000 killed and over twice that number wounded (like the poor woman in Nashville who was left paralyzed a few weeks ago while walking her dog). Do you not feel even a little embarrassed to live in a country in which mass murder is so commonplace that anything less than four killed is only reported if its a slow news day, a country in which firearms are responsible for 13% of teenage deaths (which makes it the second cause of death, accidents being first and suicide being third)? Do you seriously believe that if we arm teachers and take money from education and spend it on armed guards, that our children will be as safe as, say, the children in Denmark or in any other place in the entire world outside of an actual war zone? Is there ANY number of victims that would cause you to rethink your lifetime NRA membership, and what if the government DID send people around to take away your guns--would you do, as so many have threatened, say to them, "You can only have my gun when you pry my cold dead fingers from around its trigger."
Finally, how did guns become the Holy Grail of Christianity? I recall that Christ said that his followers should sell their winter coats if necessary to buy a sword, but surely you're aware that in every other instance in which he spoke about how his followers should relate to their enemies, he said things like "love them," "do good to them" turn the other cheek to them," etc.
How scary for Peggy! I hadn't heard of this mass shooting. I guess there are so many of them that they fail to garner attention.
It is a mystery how the fake Christians (because they aren't following Christ's teachings at all!) love their guns so much.
The insanity of America's gun law is too well ingrained, making it virtually impossible to control. You're stuck with it, no matter who is in power. The "Good ol' Boys" of both parties will never surrender their beloved weapons whatever new laws are made to prevent the slaughter on the streets, the schools, at meetings and anywhere else.
I'm sorry, but that's life, and death, in the U.S. of A. Too many people keep a gun or two because they feel it is necessary for their safety. It's similar to a soldier being brainwashed by a drill instructor constantly hammering home to a new recruit: "Your rifle is your best friend! Look after it; keep it close and keep it clean". And gawd 'elp the poor bugger who failed to take that to heart.
The only good thing is that Peggy escaped from this latest incident at this computer 'game' contest. The outlook is not a happy one.
Peggy is lucky. America's gun obsession is nuts! In this county, there is an initiative to be on the ballot that says the sheriff will decide if any gun measure is constitutional. The sheriff!!! I don't get the gun obsession at all. I don't like guns. They can kill you with one false let off of guard. Every fall almost, hunters kill innocent people or each other. Well anyhow, I'm glad Peggy is safe.
Marion, I softened this post a little, it not being fair or accurate for me to say, "I wouldn't "care one whole hell of a lot" if a pro-gun person was murdered. In some cases, I really wouldn't, but they would be the extremes--someone like the head of the NRA for example, or a gun loving legislator, in other words, the people whom I hold the most directly responsible for the mess we're in. You're not one of those people, and I'm very much aware that your pro-gun stance came partially, if not totally, out of a fear for your life. If I really thought someone might try to kill me, I would want a gun too, but I don't consider the fear of individuals as a sound basis for national policy. In this case, I should imagine that scores of people are murdered with guns for every life that is saved by a gun. I created this post and put in online within a half hour of hearing from Peggy, compared to my usual hours upon hours over three or four days. I was too upset to focus on anything but how mad I was, it being my first time to know someone who came that close. Peggy said that and Sandie were no more than fifty feet from the shooting, having just walked past the place where it occurred.
"It is a mystery how the fake Christians (because they aren't following Christ's teachings at all!) love their guns so much."
I don't understand it either, and I also don't understand the almost universal evangelical support for our current wars. I assume that many evangelicals oppose them, so why don't they speak up? This was Florida's third--and by far the worst--shooting in eight days, and I noted that there's not even any talk of tightening gun laws as a result. Also over the weekend, eight black children (in another state) burned to death in an apartment fire. McCain's demise easily got a 100-thousand times more attention than those children, and I wondered if it would have matter had they been white. I'm pretty much a "support your local police" kind of guy, but I also take a lot of interest in noting what gets massive coverage and what gets little if any notice. Clearly, if you're old and/or black, the media doesn't consider your death important, but if you're a pretty young white female, your death will get dominate "the news cycle" for days as did the case of the young woman who was murdered in Iowa. Pondering these things has given me a lot more sympathy for black people. The lack of attention give to old people, I can kind of understand there being a tragic element about a child's death that's simply not there in the case of an elderly person, but to know that, all else being equal, the public cares a whole lot more about white people than black people doesn't set well with me.
"The "Good ol' Boys" of both parties will never surrender their beloved weapons"
The Republican Party dominates in the countryside, the Democratic in the urban areas. The countryside is where the pro-gun people have the most support, the urban areas where the anti-gun people have the most support. It seems to me that the public will put up with incredible shit for a long, long time, and when it has had enough, it will pressure the government to do something, and once public support is gone, the guns will also be gone. True, some people would die before they would surrender their guns, and there will always be exemptions for hunters and so forth, but even the National Rifle Association wasn't always so unreasonable as it has become. I would offer racial integration as a possible parallel. I well remember it being the common belief that some of the country schools would NEVER be integrated, but ten years went by, and they were. People who talk big don't usually take their talk to the wall when it comes to prison and lawsuits.
It's similar to a soldier being brainwashed by a drill instructor constantly hammering home to a new recruit: "Your rifle is your best friend!
As in, "This is my rifle; this is my gun. This is for killing; this is for fun." (Chanted while holding a rifle in one hand, and one's crotch in the other, in this the most Christian nation on earth.)
"there is an initiative to be on the ballot that says the sheriff will decide if any gun measure is constitutional."
So much for keeping the legislative and executive branches of government separate! This has successful lawsuit written all over it. How sad to put sheriffs in a position of either having to illegally declare a law void when that law would make their own deputies safer, or else incurring the ire of voters for not doing so.
glad to know Peggy wasn't in the wrong place at the wrong time, just near the wrong place at the wrong time. I don't understand the obsession in this country with guns. and it hasn't always been this way. things only started getting out of hand when the supreme court decided the 2nd amendment allowed people to buy as many and as many kinds of guns as they wanted for 'self protection'. nevermind that someone is 4 times more likely to be killed in any kind of altercation or criminal encounter if they have a gun. or that women ore 7 times more likely to be killed if the man in her life has a gun. the whole argument about banning cars is ridiculous as cars and their ownership and operation is highly regulated. instead, let's regulate guns the way we regulate cars. and the self defense argument? really? they think they are going to rise up against a rogue government? might have been possible in the 1800s but I'd like to see some yahoo, no matter how big his arsenal, stand up to a blackhawk helicopter or a missle shot from a great distance.
I missed this post and read the ones after somehow, only finding out this happened from Peggy by mail (I'm responding after this). Horrifying, people's loved ones are being murdered randomly so often it's both infuriating and heartbreaking.
I have to say that after reading your wife had such a close brush with death, and that which she experienced being so shocking any reply that doesn't bother mentioning her and has 'Bla, blah, blah, blah' in it, is frankly disgusting.
Sending love dear to both of you Xxx
After the murder of eleven Jews Saturday, Trump continued that day's rallying for the upcoming election, comparing cancelling an event because of a mass murder to cancelling an event because he was having a bad hair day. He denies any responsibility for the increasing right wing violence in America although he openly encourages it. Since he was elected, hate crimes against Jews has increased 57%.
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