America is the only rich democracy that features the routine mass slaughter of its citizens with guns. Why does this happen? The data show a really clear picture: It's the guns. Yes, it's that simple.
Brian, as Earl Landgrebe said re: Nixon, “Don’t confuse me with the facts. I’ve got a closed mind.” It has never been about “facts” but a religious fervor that freedom means, “I can own a gun and shoot anybody or anything I like.” I live in N FL and this is the attitude.
Of course, the second amendment says nothing about the right to “bear arms” but it is about a well regulated militia. So we have a large militia but is not regulated at all. But don’t tell anybody that as they cannot be bothered with reading the foundational documents of their own country.
Growing up and listening to Lynyrd Skynyrd the song Saturday Night Special is the most anti-gun song I have ever heard. “Hand guns are made for killing, they ain’t no good for nothing else.” Wonder if Ronnie Van Zant would be disowned by Jacksonville for that sentiment today? Of course these are the same people who think Sweet Home Alabama is laudatory when it is actually tearing it down for the racism of George Wallace and praising Muscle Shoals recording studios which was integrated and open to all musicians.
In the end, as my old boss once said, “you can’t have an argument with somebody who has religion” and the entire GOP and gun owners in this country have religion, data and facts don’t matter, and they simply “believe”
I fear for the US and that it’s time is passing and becoming a parody of Idiocracy
Thanks, as always, for your insightful comment, Paul. I'll likely do a post in the future about the 2nd Amendment and the strange gospel that has been built around it. I didn't know the history behind Sweet Home Alabama - thanks for sharing that!
Brian, I enjoy the exchanges we have had. We all learn for everybody around every day if our minds are open to it. That kind of intellectual engagement keeps me
going many days. the song Saturday Night Special, the line after the one I quoted says “and if you like to drink your whiskey, you might even shoot yourself” speaks volumes of “gun accidents” and suicide to guns. On Sweet Home Alabama, there is even more to the story. It was written as a rebuke to Neil Young’s Southern Man to say “Hey we know we have a problem, but don’t paintball of us with that brush”
I look forward to the “Gospel” of the 2nd amendment.
Likewise! Here’s to many more, and the hopes others start commenting more too. (I’ve only had this newsletter for a month, so it will take a little bit to build, but hopefully will soon be more dialogue and not just me writing stuff for people to read).
I do not agree with your position on gun control, I own dozens of them. I do not commit crimes. I will not ever give them up, even with facing the prospect of death or imprisonment in order to keep them. With that said, great article and reasoning for your position! I pretty much disagree with all of your political positions but you are a fantastic writer ...keep up the engaging content.
I agree that a gun license would be a great idea but in observing the emotional fervor in the proposals for and the resistance to gun purchase and ownership restrictions, I think that hardware restrictions will be difficult and very limited in scope.
My view is that an operators permit shouldn't run afoul of the 2nd amendment and would create a means to permit and identify safe operators that provides benefits to both operators and for the public in general. The permit would show that a person has met the qualifications and demonstrated an ability to operate a firearm safely. Overall, this should be a means by which someone demonstrates a professional attitude toward safely operating firearms. Enforcement of this kind of permit would focus toward problem analysis and retraining in the event of disqualification, infraction, or accident. A person would not need an operators permit to own a firearm but they would need one to possess an easily operable (loaded} firearm outside of their home and home property.
As an outline for the proposed legislation I would suggest:
• A written test to display knowledge of State or Federal firearms laws
• A practical test to demonstrate firearm competence
• A medical examination to determine any physical or mental impairment to safe operation of a firearm
• A bi-annual safety review and medical exam in order to renew the permit.
I would expect some of the following to be benefits of this sort of legislation:
• Having demonstrated professional status, permit holders would not be subject to background checks for purchases of firearms or ammunition.
• Concealed carry or open carry status would be covered under qualification for the permit.
• Unqualified persons purchasing firearms or ammunition would be subject to waiting periods and background checks which would reduce the “security through obscurity” factor for officials attempting to identify risks.
• Law enforcement would have a tool to remove an operable firearm from an unqualified operator in a public space.
• A professional operators community would develop around which there would be events, seminars, recruitment, communication and cooperation with other communities and so on.
I have no illusion that this legislation would prevent all gun tragedies. I think that it would likely reduce firearm suicides due to the medical requirement which would provide an opportunity for intervention and a personal inclination not to embarrass or undermine a community with which you associate. It should also work to reduce firearm accidents and incidents as well as provide authorities with a tool to remove an operable gun from public when held by an unqualified potential operator.
Thanks, Brian. I strongly recommend this article on a recent study of gun violence in the U.S. from the American Nations Lab. Led by Colin Woodard, it demonstrates that gun violence is driven by the overall cultural attitudes that prevail in different regions of the US federation (see Woodard’s 2011 book American Nations for his whole thesis of regional ethno-nationalism.)
Money quote: “Understanding how these historical forces affect policy issues — from gun control to Covid-19 responses — can provide important insights into how to craft interventions that might make us all safer and happier. Building coalitions for gun reform at both the state and federal level would benefit from regionally tailored messaging that acknowledged traditions and attitudes around guns and the appropriate use of deadly violence are much deeper than mere party allegiance. ‘A famous Scot once said “let me make the songs of a nation, and I care not who makes its laws,” because culture is extremely powerful,’ says Carl T. Bogus of Roger Williams University School of Law, who is a second amendment scholar. ‘Culture drives politics, law and policy. It is amazingly durable, and you have to take it into account.’”
Brian, as Earl Landgrebe said re: Nixon, “Don’t confuse me with the facts. I’ve got a closed mind.” It has never been about “facts” but a religious fervor that freedom means, “I can own a gun and shoot anybody or anything I like.” I live in N FL and this is the attitude.
Of course, the second amendment says nothing about the right to “bear arms” but it is about a well regulated militia. So we have a large militia but is not regulated at all. But don’t tell anybody that as they cannot be bothered with reading the foundational documents of their own country.
Growing up and listening to Lynyrd Skynyrd the song Saturday Night Special is the most anti-gun song I have ever heard. “Hand guns are made for killing, they ain’t no good for nothing else.” Wonder if Ronnie Van Zant would be disowned by Jacksonville for that sentiment today? Of course these are the same people who think Sweet Home Alabama is laudatory when it is actually tearing it down for the racism of George Wallace and praising Muscle Shoals recording studios which was integrated and open to all musicians.
In the end, as my old boss once said, “you can’t have an argument with somebody who has religion” and the entire GOP and gun owners in this country have religion, data and facts don’t matter, and they simply “believe”
I fear for the US and that it’s time is passing and becoming a parody of Idiocracy
Thanks, as always, for your insightful comment, Paul. I'll likely do a post in the future about the 2nd Amendment and the strange gospel that has been built around it. I didn't know the history behind Sweet Home Alabama - thanks for sharing that!
Brian, I enjoy the exchanges we have had. We all learn for everybody around every day if our minds are open to it. That kind of intellectual engagement keeps me
going many days. the song Saturday Night Special, the line after the one I quoted says “and if you like to drink your whiskey, you might even shoot yourself” speaks volumes of “gun accidents” and suicide to guns. On Sweet Home Alabama, there is even more to the story. It was written as a rebuke to Neil Young’s Southern Man to say “Hey we know we have a problem, but don’t paintball of us with that brush”
I look forward to the “Gospel” of the 2nd amendment.
Likewise! Here’s to many more, and the hopes others start commenting more too. (I’ve only had this newsletter for a month, so it will take a little bit to build, but hopefully will soon be more dialogue and not just me writing stuff for people to read).
I do not agree with your position on gun control, I own dozens of them. I do not commit crimes. I will not ever give them up, even with facing the prospect of death or imprisonment in order to keep them. With that said, great article and reasoning for your position! I pretty much disagree with all of your political positions but you are a fantastic writer ...keep up the engaging content.
The one argument I didn’t see (might have skimmed past it) I need a gun to shoot the shooter…
I agree that a gun license would be a great idea but in observing the emotional fervor in the proposals for and the resistance to gun purchase and ownership restrictions, I think that hardware restrictions will be difficult and very limited in scope.
My view is that an operators permit shouldn't run afoul of the 2nd amendment and would create a means to permit and identify safe operators that provides benefits to both operators and for the public in general. The permit would show that a person has met the qualifications and demonstrated an ability to operate a firearm safely. Overall, this should be a means by which someone demonstrates a professional attitude toward safely operating firearms. Enforcement of this kind of permit would focus toward problem analysis and retraining in the event of disqualification, infraction, or accident. A person would not need an operators permit to own a firearm but they would need one to possess an easily operable (loaded} firearm outside of their home and home property.
As an outline for the proposed legislation I would suggest:
• A written test to display knowledge of State or Federal firearms laws
• A practical test to demonstrate firearm competence
• A medical examination to determine any physical or mental impairment to safe operation of a firearm
• A bi-annual safety review and medical exam in order to renew the permit.
I would expect some of the following to be benefits of this sort of legislation:
• Having demonstrated professional status, permit holders would not be subject to background checks for purchases of firearms or ammunition.
• Concealed carry or open carry status would be covered under qualification for the permit.
• Unqualified persons purchasing firearms or ammunition would be subject to waiting periods and background checks which would reduce the “security through obscurity” factor for officials attempting to identify risks.
• Law enforcement would have a tool to remove an operable firearm from an unqualified operator in a public space.
• A professional operators community would develop around which there would be events, seminars, recruitment, communication and cooperation with other communities and so on.
I have no illusion that this legislation would prevent all gun tragedies. I think that it would likely reduce firearm suicides due to the medical requirement which would provide an opportunity for intervention and a personal inclination not to embarrass or undermine a community with which you associate. It should also work to reduce firearm accidents and incidents as well as provide authorities with a tool to remove an operable gun from public when held by an unqualified potential operator.
Thanks, Brian. I strongly recommend this article on a recent study of gun violence in the U.S. from the American Nations Lab. Led by Colin Woodard, it demonstrates that gun violence is driven by the overall cultural attitudes that prevail in different regions of the US federation (see Woodard’s 2011 book American Nations for his whole thesis of regional ethno-nationalism.)
Money quote: “Understanding how these historical forces affect policy issues — from gun control to Covid-19 responses — can provide important insights into how to craft interventions that might make us all safer and happier. Building coalitions for gun reform at both the state and federal level would benefit from regionally tailored messaging that acknowledged traditions and attitudes around guns and the appropriate use of deadly violence are much deeper than mere party allegiance. ‘A famous Scot once said “let me make the songs of a nation, and I care not who makes its laws,” because culture is extremely powerful,’ says Carl T. Bogus of Roger Williams University School of Law, who is a second amendment scholar. ‘Culture drives politics, law and policy. It is amazingly durable, and you have to take it into account.’”
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/04/23/surprising-geography-of-gun-violence-00092413