Forget Thoughts and Prayers, We Need Real Gun Control – This Is How We Can Do It
– By Ed Kociela –
You can keep your cheesy thoughts and prayers, they don’t seem to be working very well.
And, you can stow your crocodile tears, we all know they are fake.
It’s time to effectively do something about gun control in the United States.
Not tomorrow, not down the line after yet another mass shooting occurs, I am talking about now. Right now.
The other day the president issued an executive order that is intended to establish stricter rules for certain types of guns, tighten down background checks, and add substantive support to local violence prevention techniques and regulations.
The 2nd Amendment freaks will run screaming into the night about how it is yet another attempt to seize their precious guns.
Hopefully, this time, they are right.
Maybe it is time to come get the guns.
I really don’t care about whatever fanciful interpretation you might have of the 2nd Amendment, I assure you it was not written to accommodate today’s whacked-out world that has turned the United States into a shooting gallery.
We are often told that to initiate a conversation about guns too soon after a mass shooting is insensitive and simply an emotional response, that we should allow cooler heads to prevail and have that conversation with a clear head. But, with the frequency of mass shootings, will we ever get to that kind of place? I doubt it.
Your words of condolence to those touched by gun violence are insincere attempts at masking the true feelings of lawmakers who value the lobbying dollars of the National Rifle Association more than they do human life.
Yeah, that Washington D.C. cop died after being stabbed.
We have seen rows of people mowed down by vehicles.
We have seen people blown up by homemade bombs.
But, nothing has come close to the efficiency of an assault rifle with large-capacity magazines loaded with bullets designed for wreaking human carnage.
Nationwide, there are 106 gun deaths every day, nearly 80,000 serious injuries from gun violence every year. Breaking it down even more, Utah averages one gun death every day. As absurd as it may sound, that is actually a good number in gun violence actuarial figures. In Texas, California, and Florida, the death rate is one every three hours. You won’t find numbers like that in the civilized world.
Hey, I understand that there are other means of killing.
You could use a homemade bomb, a knife, a knee across the back of the neck for eight or nine minutes – all efficient ways of taking human life. But, those numbers pale in comparison with how many people are gunned down, all because lawmakers are pandering to the redneck vote and morally bankrupt bribery of the NRA and its deep pockets.
There have been, even recently, attempts at bipartisan legislation to combat gun violence. Those in favor of meaningful legislation, however, are outnumbered in a Senate bereft of morals, common sense, and accountability leading many to believe that, as usual, we will get a lot of “thoughts and prayers” nonsense, some lip service to “doing something about this tragic problem,” but, in effect, no meaningful results.
We go through this cycle every time there is a mass shooting, faking our outrage, faking our intent to rectify the problem, faking our sincerity, before coming to the overall conclusion that it is too late to do anything because there are too many weapons on the streets, not enough people or interest to remove them, and no other means of ending the slaughter of human life.
I have offered it up before and continue to present it as a reasonable means of legislation that could help.
It would begin with a reinstitution of a ban on all AR-15 and like-designed assault weapons. It would include a federal act that would require deep background checks of everybody who wishes to purchase a weapon of any kind. Background checks would be required not only through commercial sales, but at gun shows and through personal, one-on-one sales. And, if a person using a gun in the commission of a crime did not go through a background check the person who sold the weapon to the criminal would also be punished equally for the crime. Remember, every new gun that has been sold has been sold legally. What happens after its original sale is an entirely different matter. Perhaps it is handled safely, perhaps it gets sold to some gangbanger privately. You never know.
I think we could pretty much forget about collecting the weapons already out there. That is an unachievable goal. The rednecks would be picking off Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms agents at a hefty clip if that came about. You could ban or severely restrict the sale of ammunition, except for the fact that it is actually pretty easy to cast bullets and reload your own ammo.
We get a lot of lip service about better screening of mental health patients to ensure they do not get their hands on a gun, but that also seems to go nowhere.
So, unless we make people who claim to be “good gun owners” accountable, we really have little recourse at this point.
And, of course, the penalties for carrying a concealed weapon without a permit should require confiscation of any gun somebody without a permit carries in a concealed manner.
Finally, we could use some help in raising our kids to understand that they really do not need a weapon to function properly in this world.
You really don’t.
Disputes are going to happen, arguments will occur, but that doesn’t mean disputes or arguments should result in an OK Corral shootout.
I wish the administration luck in its endeavor to make the United States safer, to remove gun violence from the headlines, to eliminate this insanity.
But, to be honest, I don’t see a lot to indicate that it will happen.
Not unless, of course, enough members of Congress grow a spine and remember these words: Thou shalt not kill.
Viewpoints and perspectives expressed throughout The Independent are those of the individual contributors. They do not necessarily reflect those held by the staff of The Independent or our advertising sponsors. Your comments, rebuttals, and contributions are welcome in accordance with our Terms of Service. Please be respectful and abide by our Community Rules. If you have privacy concerns you can view our Privacy Policy here. Thank you!
Click here to submit an article, guest opinion piece, or a Letter to the Editor
Come and take them.
(And get a haircut. You look like an idiot.)
yeah. what a LOSER.
This lady is wrong on so many things but my biggest problem is she says we need to hold good gun owners accountable. Typical idiot that thinks punishing “good gun owners” is going to change the behavior of criminals. I guess their behavior would change if they know their victim is going to be unarmed but I don’t think it is the change she is looking for. I’m also wondering if she took out the number of suicides and gang violence from her numbers because those are going to happen no matter what laws she wants passed. We are normally between 22 and 27 for world gun deaths but she wants to make it sound like a country of 330,000,000 people are just wasting each other. More people die every year from hands and feet than all rifles combined but she needs to have those scary assult rifles banned even though an assult rifle hasn’t been used in a crime in a very long time. I assume she thinks the semi automatic AR15 is an assult rifle but she would be wrong. I’m also not sure why she is focusing on a rifle with such a small bullet when there are much much larger calibers that are way more lethal. I have a feeling it is because she is scared of scary black looks more than she actually knows about weapons.
That lady is a “He” and is goofier than that “Three Dollar Bill” with SloJoe Biden printed on it…
Its a NAMBLA member and sounds exactly like he has ingested more drugs than Obama.
I’m curious. Compliance with New York’s SAFE Act, and a similar law in CT, still seems to be running barely in the double digits. What, pray tell, would you suggest doing if you get the laws you want and, in spite of the threat of fine and prison, the vast majority (or even a significant minority) of gun owners simply decline to comply? Given that laws, all laws, are backed up by the threat of force, up to and including deadly force, how many of your fellow citizens are you willing to have killed in order to make your ideas work?
According to the author, anyone who owns a gun is destined to kill, like we’re all deranged for wanting to protect our families and loved ones. He even quotes the Ten Commandments. And the US Constitution is no impediment to his desire to disarm law-abiding citizens, it’s simply outdated because he wants it to be. Let’s look at how well standing-down on our defenses is working out – observe the recent efforts to refrain from use of force in the cities run by Liberals – and we can see clearly that rioting and chaos reign unencumbered.
This also ignores the fact (review FBI and other published statistics) – that as gun ownership has increased, violent crimes have been decreasing. Yeah, I didn’t think this author would even give that FACT a passing mention. Better to dwell on the singular, dramatic events that stir everyone’s emotions. Note I am not condoning these heinous, violent acts; quite the opposite. I think we need to focus on the problems with society, not the inanimate objects that are inappropriately leveraged in such egregious acts.
It’s interesting to me that the same people who promote their misguided disdain for firearms as a means of protection and those that would strip everyday citizens (“rednecks” to quote this author) of their Constitutional rights, will at the same time promote the release of felons, including those who have raped, murdered, tortured, or even committed crimes with a firearm because – well, its inhumane and these felons are misunderstood, or perhaps they’re “rehabilitated”. Lock them up – hold them to their full sentence for their crimes. Stop early-release programs, uphold the laws that exist already. In short, stop treating felons as the victims! Liberals are literally the dumbest of the dumb. Draw your own conclusions about the author.
I see the author works out of Mexico as well.
So how are those restrictive firearm laws working out down there ?
The communists are succeeding in their disarmament plans for Americans. They attack on all fronts, and never give up. The RINOS talk about supporting gun rights but in reality they side with the communists.
Very soon American gun owners will face reality. Surrender your freedoms or resist.
The colonists faced similar decisions. Their choice brought us America. Will you choose to save America ? It wont come by surrender.
Funny, this idiot didn’t mention that Utah has some of the least restrictive gun laws and carry laws in the nation combined with some of the lowest violent crime numbers. Consistently ranking in the top ten best states for gun ownership and pro2A legislation, Utah is a model for other pro-rights states to follow, including their preemption laws. He might want to come out from behind the door of his goofy progressive closet and honestly admit the carnage in our cities occurs overwhelmingly in Democrat-run urban crap holes with the most restrictive gun laws in the nation. Year after year after year. Don’t hold your breath. Boneheads like this aren’t capable of rational thought, only emotional whimpering, but they do make for a fun read.
Typical moonbat lusting for control over all who oppose his drug induced fantasies. If there are no arms to defend your rights how will this poor abused child be able to send you inferiors to his gulags?
Ever notice how these snowflakes never seem to have the slightest intent to imprison real criminals but can’t wait to shackle law abiding citizens. Its a shame we closed our mental institutions in the sixties. He should be locked up.
Unless you’re willing to personally come and try to take my guns shut the hell up, you pompous, ignorant windbag.
She has a right to her OPINION, that is all it is. She tries to use emotion not FACTS about violence(seems we here gun violence, but everything else is just violence). We have a systemic problem in this country. Violence is glorified, in Hollyweird, music, etc. But her comments are nothing but outright lies, and HER EMOTION. As far as confiscation, well she would fit right into 1930’s Germany all she needs to do is speak German and put on a brown shirt. Really, she is talking like a Nazi, and that says ALOT about her. Lastly, she is brainwashed to believe assault is a rifle, and not in fact just an ACTION.
I have a great idea, Ed- why don’t you personally go door-to-door and confiscate those icky guns? And please start in Chicago, Detroit, and Baltimore- where our African-American pals are murdering people at 20 times the rate of “other races” in the USA- just to prove you’re not a coward and a “racist.”
Then, you can confiscate all cars and trucks- since they kill WAY more people each year than guns.
Then, you can throw all Doctors in jail, because they cause almost 400,000 deaths PER YEAR in the USA.
THEN, why not send all your Liberal chums to prison, since they have murdered 62 MILLION unborn babies by abortion.
Better yet, why don’t you just drop dead- as it’s the only cure for your hoplophobia, paranoid delusions, and severe mental illness you suffer from?
It’s yet another hit piece on gun owners, but at least there’s a bit of reality in it, ammo is easy to reload, you’re going to run out of ATF and FBI agents if you actually do try taking away arms, etc. One last point though, anyone with a basic knowledge of machine work or knows how to use a 3D printer can make their own gun in short order. Guns won’t go away, and Biden has vastly accelerated the sale of guns. We can’t keep them in stock. Thanks Joe.
Initially, I thought this piece was satire. The emotional, unhinged rant. The picture and Bio of the author.
You can keep your gun control, S I L E N T L Y, in your own head. Don’t let it out. Ever.
You have lost your 1st Amendment privileges (which, like all other “Rights” that are protections AGAINST government, are only protected by an armed Society).
I’m going to demand my state reps draft legislation that requires all those in “government” (of every kind) declare annually, and in writing, that THEY DO NOT AND CAN NOT PROTECT ANYONE ON AN INDIVIDUAL LEVEL. Then the next time they attempt to claim that they need to do anything in that regard, they get a wet flip-flop beating for 3 days, or until they come to their senses (whichever comes last).
“cheesy thoughts and prayers” “crocodile tears”
More typical leftist snark and confession through projection. Just because you people are shallow thinking, neurotic control freaks it doesn’t mean everyone else is.
To be a leftist you have to be emotionally and intellectually underdeveloped, so your internal dialog is disjointed and juvenile. The only conclusion your child-like intellect can produce is that bad events are caused by bad people, so you dutifully set out to find the bad guys with the easy certainty only an idiot can achieve. If you were as intelligent as you think you are, you’d know how closely related your mentality is to the evil people who commit mass shootings. They also believe their agenda is superior to everyone else’s and they’re somehow justified in imposing their will on others. You can tell yourself you have the moral high ground, like all destructive control freaks throughout history have. But deep down most of you know it’s your weak, morally bankrupt leftist beliefs that creates culture rot so severe it leads to dysfunctional people who open fire on folks who aren’t a threat. Your values are cancer masquerading as compassion. And you need to remember that no amount of smug bloviating will change that fact. You and anyone else suffering from the kind of delusional thinking you demonstrate here should never be empowered to choose how the rest of us defend ourselves.
Ed,
I read this article with a jaundiced eye, as I’ve seen seen so many seemingly similar articles in the past. However, you acknowledged some facts here that surprised me, so I decided to engage you in conversation, if you actually respond to the comments posted. As with any discourse that involves opposing viewpoints, a common starting point can lead to self-examination, and even if the final outcome is not a change in disposition, at least it can lead to a greater understanding of the opposing beliefs.
You posit that a gun confiscation scheme would be a futile effort and would most likely result in a violent reaction. On that we can agree. I will raise an objection here that you characterize the people who resist these actions as “rednecks”. I am an unashamed Second Amendment advocate, as are many of my friends who span many economic, racial, and religious backgrounds. Most of them, including myself, would object to being labeled a “redneck”. I think it was unnecessary to include that disparaging term in your article.
While I agree that expressing sympathy and compassion for the victims of gun violence doesn’t solve anything, it shouldn’t be discounted, or denigrated. A genuinely felt emotion is not inconsequential. It’s actually a part of what is missing in the entirety of the issue of violence, be it gun-related or otherwise. The lack of empathy, of sympathy, of general respect for human life is the issue. The cultural acceptance of unemotional regard for the lives of others is a cause that is much more primary. I’ll stop there, because I will get into dangerous territory if I don’t, even it’s the truth.
What you are really advocating for is the federal government to infringe on a right that the Constitutution SPECIFICALLY PROHIBITED THEM FROM INFRINGING ON. Regardless of any statistics or emotional appeals you may cite, the Second Amendment is a basic human right that was NOT granted by, but rather acknowledged, enumerated, and protected by the Constitution and the bill of RIGHTS appended thereupon. This right was not enumerated and protected because deer and ducks were oppressing us. It was emplaced because THE PEOPLE were being oppressed by the government, and once we were able to free ourselves from that burden, we wanted to make sure that we could not be burdened in that way ever again.
I could go on about the points we agree and disagree on, but I tend towards verbosity, and I’m trying to curtail that (I may have already failed in that regard). I hope that you respond to me directly, here in this open forum, so others may take notice and consider their beliefs.
Ed,
I’ve given you more than 24 hours to engage me in discussion, and you have not responded. Was this opinion piece just an unguided missile? A “fire and forget” device? I hope you appreciate the analogy of using an indiscrimate weapon to attack a position. 🙂
Let’s drive a little deeper into your piece now. You seize upon the physical implement used in the commission of crimes, while passively ignoring the root causes of the culture of violence that infects our American society.
Our country has not turned into a “shooting gallery” because of the presence of guns. It has seemingly become that way because of the widespread cultural acceptance of that as a response to the most minute of slights. It has become that way because of the lack of parental influence, because of the lack of infuence from having BOTH parents, INVOLVED PARENTS in the home, because of the lack of accountablity in the judicial system.
You rail against “assault weapons”, while ignoring the FACT, per national statistics published by the FBI, that most gun crimes are committed with handguns and shotguns, and that “assault weapons” account for less than 1% of gun crimes. You are horrified by single incidents of mass violence, while ignoring multiple incidents of violence in major cities that occur over a short span of time, that result in as many or even more injuries or deaths than a mass shooting.
But none of those statistics matter anyways. They’re immaterial to the conversation. What IS material to the conversation is the Constitutionally protected right to own firearms, for defense against any threat, whether it be criminal or governmental.
I’m going to close this by correcting your interpretation of of the Fifth Commandment. It’s not “Thou shat not kill” It’s “Thou shall not murder”. There is a wide gulf between killing and murder. One is an act of defense. One is an act of offense. I’m not even a religious person, but I do understand this distinction.
WUT a richard cranium that needs a hair cut