Troutbirder II

Troutbirder II
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Friday, December 18, 2015

End The Gun Epidemic in America

When I established Troutbirder blog many years ago, I vowed to keep it upbeat and noncontentious by avoiding political and religious "debates." Talk radio kind of "discussion" usually makes me sick. So it was with some foreboding, when I read several of my favorite nonpolitical  blogs recently to find that they had  broken that same self imposed line. And then I was shamed.  Midlife Roadtrippers recent post on guns comes to mind. Here is a link to her post.  http://midlifejobhunter.blogspot.com/2015/12/compass-lost-finding-solution-to-our.html
Her words touched me to the core yet I knew my own outrage over these never ending  murders would leave me inarticulate at best and sounding like the wingnuts who swarm the media and the moneyed interests in Congress.

From  The New York Times whose motto remains "All The News That Fit To Print."
 

"It is a moral outrage and a national disgrace that civilians can legally purchase weapons designed specifically to kill people with brutal speed and efficiency. These are weapons of war, barely modified and deliberately marketed as tools of macho vigilantism and even insurrection. America’s elected leaders offer prayers for gun victims and then, callously and without fear of consequence, reject the most basic restrictions on weapons of mass killing, as they did on Thursday. They distract us with arguments about the word terrorism. Let’s be clear: These spree killings are all, in their own ways, acts of terrorism.

Opponents of gun control are saying, as they do after every killing, that no law can unfailingly forestall a specific criminal. That is true. They are talking, many with sincerity, about the constitutional challenges to effective gun regulation. Those challenges exist. They point out that determined killers obtained weapons illegally in places like France, England and Norway that have strict gun laws. Yes, they did.
But at least those countries are trying. The United States is not. Worse, politicians abet would-be killers by creating gun markets for them, and voters allow those politicians to keep their jobs. It is past time to stop talking about halting the spread of firearms, and instead to reduce their number drastically — eliminating some large categories of weapons and ammunition.

It is not necessary to debate the peculiar wording of the Second Amendment. No right is unlimited and immune from reasonable regulation.
Certain kinds of weapons, like the slightly modified combat rifles used in California, and certain kinds of ammunition, must be outlawed for civilian ownership. It is possible to define those guns in a clear and effective way and, yes, it would require Americans who own those kinds of weapons to give them up for the good of their fellow citizens.

What better time than during a presidential election to show, at long last, that our nation has retained its sense of decency?"
Yes, I hunted for sixty years waterfowl and upland game. I like a challenge and took  up bow hunting for deer for a few years. The deer won that one. My sons followed in my footsteps and we had a great time. It was a bad knee and falling that finally ended it for me.


 Let's begin with something simple and common sense. Military style assault rifles  should only be in the hands of our military forces.

 

 

 

19 comments:

  1. I cannot agree more. There is only one use for an assault weapon: to kill large numbers of people as quickly as possible. I'm scared for our country. The trajectory we are on is wrongheaded. My two cents. :-(

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  2. I truly feel as if America has lost its way on gun control. I don't want to live in a society where I need a gun to be "safe". The number of guns out there in society seems so out of control that I wonder how we will ever go back. It seems that the proponents of guns are the vocal ones and I commend you for speaking out. There is no reason for civilians to own military assault weapons in a civilized society.

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  3. TB, thanks for the link, hope more follow it, what she has to say is well worth reading.
    As you know, I'm out there far enough to advocate voting down the 2nd...and this as a present gun owner, for 60 years actually, and see it's changed.
    I think the NRA should be held responsible for much of our violence, and their lords, the gun industry, should be treated as war criminals. The leadership I'm talking about, of course. The membership has been shown to have a very different view than their leaders.

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  4. I target shoot , so have a few around.

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  5. We have too many guns in Canada and not enough regulation. So you know where I'm coming from. How's that for dancing around the issue.

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  6. Though I don't believe ANYONE needs to own assault rifles or the like, I will not give up my basic weapon for protection. It's fairy tale dreams to think that everyone will give up their guns. Criminals will then be the only armed ones and I don't care to live in that world either. We need STRONG background checks and we need to get the guns off the black market......but that, I'm afriaid, is impossible.

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  7. "What better time than during a presidential election to show, at long last, that our nation has retained its sense of decency?"

    Yes,what better time than now when we lose over 30,000 a year to guns. More than in car accidents. More than by terrorists from foreign countries. I'm flattered that you referenced my post. As you now know, it was a hard decision to cross over the line of our usual posts, but I can say I'm most proud that we did. Just comes a time when you have to stand up. I don't know where I go from here, but I've been most impressed with the dialog that has begun here and on my blog. Makes me realize all is not lost. Cheers to you, Troutbirder.

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  8. I suspect it's too late to change - they should never have started it in the first place. A gun is a lethal weapon - who wants to live in constant fear of being shot down by some lunatic?

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  9. I know just how you feel about posting serious things that matter to us. I try to keep away from it but find I have to comment time to time ... but I try to keep it factual and not get tied up with the emotional side of whatever it is ... although I have to admit that the current Republican fiasco is really trying my understanding and patience.

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  10. It is an issue that will never be settled. I have noticed that not many "attacks" happen in Wyoming or Montana where they carry rifles in their pickups uncased and most likely loaded. Just a thought. :)

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  11. Good on ya. Sometimes we have to raise our voices.

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  12. I agree with Far Side....it is an issue that will never be settled. I live in a household of hunters, but we have not need of assault weapons.

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  13. My thoughts on Far Side's comment--You don't have the huge populations in those states like you do where some of these attacks are happening, so I'm not sure it has anything to do with carrying loaded guns. I live in Chicago and there are far too many people walking around with loaded guns and the murder/shooting numbers are through the roof.

    We live in scary times.

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  14. We sit here in Canada and simply wonder why the U.S. Is so different in terms of the routine mass killings. We just don't understand. But it is nice to see so e bloggers raising the issue for discussion!

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  15. First we must admit to ourselves that we are a violent people. Our nation was founded in a violent genocide and built by people kept in bondage with violence. We've seldom been at peace since then. We just got done destroying half the Middle East, killing between one and two million in the process, according to most estimates I've seen, and are still over there killing people, and in fact are again escalating our violent involvement. As of yesterday, in 2015, American police had gunned down 1,155 Americans, according to killedbypolice.net, and many of them were unarmed. Our police often subdue peaceful protests violently. Gun deaths overall now outnumber traffic fatalities in the US.

    What do we do? Eliminating guns -- devices designed to kill people -- would be a start. But there are so many of them and so many people who wouldn't give them up. And oh yes, those criminals who have them.

    Let people keep their guns. Outlaw ammunition. The gunpowder in it has a shelf life. Eventually it will absorb enough moisture so as to be harmless. Remember the old saying, "Keep your powder dry"? That's why. With no ammunition, people can then throw their bullets and guns at each other, and won't kill very many of us. Once we're past the hyperbole and the emotional reactions we can then, maybe, examine ourselves and find the source of our violence.

    I bring up the thing about gunpowder to remind people that things aren't hopeless. There's always a way out. Several. Eliminating assault weapons would be a big step. Behavioral psychology suggests that when the killing dies down and the weapons fade into the background of our psyches, we'll naturally be more peaceful. Our natures aren't set in stone. We have a good side and a bad side. Conditions largely determine which comes to the fore.

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  16. I think Bubba M.'s comment above is right on the money, particularly the last paragraph. If there is one common feature of most comments about the gun issue, at least from my/our side of the isle, is how hopeless the whole thing is; millions of guns already, criminals who won't give up guns, etc, etc, on and on. As Bubba points out, it's not hopeless, just a long struggle.

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  17. Hi,
    My boys shoot in the Scholastic Clay Program. They love it. I think it would be hard to just ban guns. Hunting in Wisconsin is so much of the tradition of families. We also have shooting sports and it is fun.
    Yet, I totally understand, when a gun gets into the hands of a evil person!!

    Wishing you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
    Carla


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  18. The criminals will "always" have access to and obtain guns -

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  19. Great post!
    Let's hope sanity will prevail in the next year.

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