Fed Up with the Gun Debate

First, Happy New Year to Everyone! Second, a busy holiday season followed by preparing for a company audit (we passed) are my excuses for a shamefully long absence. Third, I’m sick to death of this gun debate, prompting my jump right back into blog waters. Fair warning, this is probably going to be a rambly rant.

The CT school shootings were horrific, which definitely took the 2nd Amendment off the back burner. I remember during the debates, gun control was not really addressed other than the usual, “make sure kids have a good childhood so they don’t turn into the Columbine monsters.”

The NRA has completely disgusted me. After the massacre, they wait days to give a statement, and when they did, their solution was all schools should have armed rent-a-cops. Because having them really helped in the Columbine shooting.

Bragging about their paid memberships increasing exponentially after the shootings pissed me off to no end. What kind of organization does that? Nothing like 20 dead kids to up your numbers. Ugh.

Vice President Biden meets with anyone and everyone related to guns and violence and comes up with recommendations. On the 16th, he took 23 of those recommendations and turned them into Executive Orders. For some reason, I get Conservative newsletters and alerts even though I’ve e-mailed them, saying that I’m a bleeding heart Liberal. Let’s see. In the past two days, I’ve read, “Impeach Him” (yawn) and “Congress must act to counter every single one of these orders! They have the power to do it, and they must take action.”

Every single one? Even this one?

18. Provide incentives for schools to hire school resource officers.

Wasn’t that what the NRA was calling for? Damn that Commie Obama for giving us what we wanted.

The whole debate has gotten ridiculous, really. I have heard it all. From hard core gun nuts who say NO background checks to banning all weapons. Maybe we can have some sensible solutions? Like tougher background checks? Closing that gun show loophole would be great too. I still don’t understand how Joe Crazy can walk right into a show in many states and purchase an AR-15 without any kind of background check. Here in CA, there are background checks when you buy from a gun show. You purchase from the dealer and go through the background check. When you pass, you pick up your weapon from the transfer dealer who has been holding it until you pass. That should be in all states.

The assault weapons ban. Senator Dianne Feinstein is leading this campaign, as she did when assault weapons were banned in 1994. So, to the NRA, she is Satan incarnate. It makes me ask the question. Who really needs an assault weapon? A handgun or shotgun would suffice if Stranger Danger comes into your house. Do you really need something that will literally blow their head to bits? Dead is dead.

And the high capacity magazines. Again, do you really need a 100RD magazine when one bullet is all you need to kill a deer. Max 3 if you’re a bad shot. Limiting the capacity you can buy would be one way to go.

One of the things that I wish the gun lobby, gun nuts, and Conservatives would drop is the “tyrannous” government argument. Where were you when the Patriot Act was signed into law by Bush? And extended by Obama? I should have seen well-regulated militias storming the capital. Did they sleep in? Were they too inept to send an e-mail blast, “Our rights are about to be eroded. Grab your guns and meet at the steps of the capital. Donuts and coffee will be provided.” Either they don’t really care about a tyrannous government, or their militias really suck. Or a combination of both.

Anyway, I’m pretty much fed up with the whole thing at this point. Will real change happen now? I’d like to believe so, but I am a realist. The NRA has a financial choke hold on Congress, and a large group of voters will keep the pressure on to keep gun laws as they are. Nothing screams American machismo more than assault rifles with magazines stuffed with as many hollow point bullets it can hold. Go big or go home, baby.

Of course, on a more personal level, if that Commie Imam King Barack Hussein Obama tries to take away my shoulder-fired surface-to-air missile, he’ll have to pry it from my cold, dead hands.

Healthcare and Guns

In South Dakota, state legislators introduced a bill requiring people over the age of 21 to purchase a gun. It was a poke at the new healthcare law. The bill’s sponsor, Republican State Representative Hal Wick, said, “Do I or the other cosponsors believe that the State of South Dakota can require citizens to buy firearms? Of course not,” he said. “But at the same time, we do not believe the federal government can order every citizen to buy health insurance.”

OK, so introducing this ridiculous piece of legislation was to prove a point. Does it really though?

vs.

Guns – used to kill
Healthcare – used to prevent/cure illness

Guns – may not have to be used during a person’s life
Healthcare – will be used at least once in a person’s life

All this has proven is that the state representatives have way too much time on their hands.

I’m writing this post and am sick with the flu. I went to the doctor today, and she prescribed antibiotics. She wanted to treat me as if I had pneumonia because of the symptoms I’m having. She did not want it to escalate. She also told me to start using my steroid inhaler before my asthma gets worse.

I am very blessed to have insurance. What if I didn’t, had to wait, and developed pneumonia? Or had an asthma attack? I’d probably go to the ER. What if I can’t pay? That’s OK, they’ll see me anyway. What if I end up hospitalized because the pneumonia was that bad – from not being able to go to the doctor earlier? I’ll run up this huge bill in the tens of thousands of dollars. If I can’t pay it, I’ll just discharge it through bankruptcy.

This is how it is now. The healthcare law is an attempt at fixing our broken system. It’s far from perfect, which is why we should work on it and not scrap it all together. People are already benefitting from this law. Children will not be denied insurance due to pre-existing conditions and young people can stay on their parents’ insurance until they’re 26.

Instead of writing up legislation to point out what’s wrong with a law, how about thinking of things to make the existing law better? Maybe South Dakota is on to something, though. If people get sick and can’t get or afford insurance, they can kill themselves with the gun that was shoved down their throats.

Backpack, Lined Paper, Pencils, Glock?

World’s most disturbing back-to-school shopping list. In Gardena, CA today, two kids get shot when another’s gun accidentally discharges in his backpack. The article talked a lot about having wands at school to detect firearms. Is it a given that kids go to school armed now? Is the question no longer, “Why did he have a gun?” but “Why aren’t there metal detectors?” That is very frightening to me.

Maybe it’s reality. I used to sub for a “low-performing school district” (translation: poor and minority). At one of the high schools, city police officers hung out at the cafeteria at lunch everyday. I was a bit taken aback at first. As the days wore on, they became part of the landscape.

I really don’t know what to make of this story. The comments I read covered the 2nd Amendment pretty well from both sides. One Conservative said that this is the reason why we should be armed. One Liberal asked if the NRA was happy now.

Personally, I don’t care if someone has a gun. Or even a stockpile to kill every living thing within a 5 mile radius. Most gun owners I’ve come in contact with are very responsible.

This goes beyond the 2nd Amendment. The article stated that fights were happening every day at that school. Have we become so desensitized to violence that fights every day don’t really faze us? Or are we becoming more violent as a society? Violence is all around us in the media. I’m not saying that we should censor it, but is that part of the problem? What can we do keep these things from happening? Is it going to get worse?

So many questions.