Last January I noted that, under Indiana law, a woman who is raped, impregnated, and gives birth to the child can be forced to allow the rapist visitation and even could lose custody and be forced to pay child support to the rapist. Louisiana, it appears, has laws of similar effect. 1/6

The woman, now 32, was allegedly raped at age 16 by a man nearly twice her age whom she had never previously met. One commentator said “to be forced to pay her rapist child support and legal fees and…

People decide how to vote based on information from a lot of sources, including conversations at work, w/family or w/friends. Some “well-known facts” are facts only because no one questions them. An example is that a gun works (1) for self-defense & (2) more often hurts bad guys. 1/5

6/12 I compared NRA’s stopping CDC peer-reviewed studies of gun violence as health risk to tobacco companies’ suppressing studies that showed mainstream smoke (MSM) harms its users. Inferences arise…

In 1950s & 1960s tobacco companies denied mainstream smoke (MSM) harms its users & even said MSM is good for one’s health. In 1964 the Surgeon General issued a report & people found out what tobacco companies had known for years: MSM kills about 1/3 of its users. 1/5

In 1964 approximately 42% of adult in USA smoked. Today that’s 18%. People avoid things that kill. People learned about cigs/cancer & many quit. Since mid-1990s NRA effectively has barred CDC from…

In photos posted on social media these people smile, weapons on the ground or firmly grasped. If “gun loving” households thwart thieves, gun zealots should want to let us know. If a person in one of these photos is shot, commits suicide or shoots a loved one, we have a right to know. 1/4

By publishing photos they waived objection to public interest in what their guns do. Since mid-1990s NRA effectively has barred CDC from sponsoring peer reviewed studies of gun violence. People have a…

At today’s rally against gun violence, about 350 people listened to several speakers. People are disgusted. But stop talking about “sensible” gun laws as that concedes ground before we start. It is the guns anywhere/anytime/for anyone crowd that changed the law. Gun control wasn’t 1/4

questioned in this nation’s early years. Handguns, e.g., were seen as threats to public safety & limited. Southern States sought to stop duels. Later, the West was not so “wild.” Tombstone and Dodge…

What: Indy’s March for Our Lives, to protest gun violence Where: Tarkington Park, Meridian & 40th When: today, June 11 at noon. I’ll wear an orange “We Can Stop Gun Violence” t-shirt. The steps we can take to reduce gun deaths are not difficult & can reduce 43,222 dead (2020). 1/6

Host of a gun show on WIBC, in the dunes of the IQ Desert, said I want to repeal the 2nd Amend. I’ll be charitable & infer he said this from ignorance. I’ve never said 2A should be repealed. It’s…

Neil Young stares out at the ocean. A few feet away, next to a table with an umbrella, headline states: “Sen Buckley Calls for Nixon to Resign.” Sen James Buckley (R-NY), brother of National Review editor William F Buckley, reluctantly made that call on March 20, 1974. 1/4

On local radio this morning a host said people care about the price of gasoline, as though attacks on our system by a mob are nothing. The show is among others on a station that crow guns must be used to fight…

How 2nd Amendment works vs tyranny: 1) Angry ppl exchange texts & emails; 01/05/21 some meet/bring caches of weapons; 01/06/21, mob converges on Capitol, neither pulls weapons nor is fired upon. 2) Individuals w/automatic weapons, in places usually safe, kill lots of ppl. 1/4

3) Individuals try to kill gov’t officials @ their homes. 2 & 3 R called terrorism. Missing: army of well-trained individuals entering battle vs gov’t forces (of tanks, jets, missiles, smart bombs…

Machines built so well they last 100 years is a great idea for consumers, but not 4 manufacturers. If markets don’t exist, businesses die. U.S. gun makers might be ghoulish, but they make goods that live a long time. Estimated life of an AR-15 replaceable barrel is 20K rounds fired. 1/5

Someone who shoots that often knows how to switch barrels. Other people would have an AR15 for life. Gun culture ramps up desire for more guns. An Indy radio show host Saturday bragged about how great…

1) Gun people should get over it: we elected an African-American President who did a good job. 2) We should limit the number of guns a person can own. On point 1: it wasn’t the beige suits or that he was left-wing (he wasn’t). He was Black. Racism runs deep in the USA. Mel Brooks 1/5

satirized it in “Blazing Saddles.” Some people laugh at that film w/o realizing it’s making fun of people like them. On point 2: Photos on-line show smiling gun owners with 50 or 60 guns spread out on the…

Gun deaths (45,222 killed in 2020) in this country, on one level, are a complex problem (43,222 in 2020/54% suicides). Universal background checks might not have worked in specific cases. Fire inspections don’t always work either.An element common to all gun deaths: guns. 1/5

A start to end gun deaths is not to own a gun. Some people buy a gun to defend the home, but an implied warranty of merchantability, that a thing is fit for the purpose for which it’s sold, exists by law in…

On 6/4 on Indy radio show “Gun Guy” the host opened by recalling how, as a kid, he listened to the Indy 500 on radio. He pivoted to “causation” of mass shootings and says ppl 4 gun control or Democrats need to ask would what you advocate have prevented this particular outcome. 1/6

He then says, “If the answer to that is ‘no,’ then you’re an idiot.” He adds that the Uvalde shooter passed 2 background checks. The flawed reasoning of his conclusion that background checks don’t work has a…

Last week I criticized, 4 feeding gun culture, the host of a radio show. He attacked me but invited me on his show. I inferred this as a challenge to debate & set 2 provisos: neither speaks over the other & no one speaks > 2 mins. He sd no one tells him how to conduct an interview. 1/5

Today on air, he sd he’d be glad to debate me, I can call in. But debate is not an interview. Basic rules to debate: speaking uninterrupted & w/in time limits. The few callers to the show…

Governments, in the USA, enacted laws to restrict ownership and carrying of guns since our early days. To enact laws about a subject inherently means the subject is political. NRA has dumped a LOT of money on members of Congress to stop gun control or even to study gun violence. 1/4

Last week, after I tweeted about guns & an individual who has a radio show about guns, someone on Twitter said if you name someone tag them. On my next blog/tweets I tagged that person, who said I had…

Gun culture knocks reasonable limits & solutions to gun violence. Reality: no measure is 100% effective. Cities have fire codes, but no one says bag fire departments. GOP elected officials now suggest the real problem is mental health (“MH”), but offer no clear plan yet keep guns. 1/5

Problems: 1) Texas is an example where a GOP governor recently cut funding for MH. 2) This stigmatizes ppl who have MH issues, most of whom are non-violent. 3) MH is one factor that red flag laws,…

Kyle Hupfer’s (IN State GOP chair) latest email makes no mention of recent mass shootings (Buffalo, Uvelde). One would think the GOP might: 1) Propose meaningful gun control. Okay, that’s silly. The NRA pays GOP members of Congress to block any gun control. 1/5

2) Offer thoughts & prayers. Perhaps Mr Hupfer sees how silly repeating the usual crap it. But Mr Hupfer does say: “Joe Biden and the rest of the Washington elite are completely out of touch with ordinary Americans. Yet…

Guns, poll watchers, KKK & the Horse Thief Detective Association (vigilantes) were facts. Prior to May 1925 primary elections the former head of the KKK, D.C. Stephenson, was arrested & later convicted of Murder. The Indls PD Chief issued orders “to keep members of the 1/4

Horse Thief Detective Association far away from all public polling places. The association, of course, had once been an integral part of Stephenson’s organization - the ‘enforcement’ arm of the Klan. On…