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…
ContinueAdded by Mark Small on June 6, 2022 at 5:43am — No Comments
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…
ContinueAdded by Mark Small on June 5, 2022 at 7:12pm — No Comments
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…
ContinueAdded by Mark Small on June 5, 2022 at 8:30am — No Comments
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…
ContinueAdded by Mark Small on June 4, 2022 at 8:16pm — No Comments
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…
ContinueAdded by Mark Small on June 4, 2022 at 5:56pm — No Comments
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,…
ContinueAdded by Mark Small on June 4, 2022 at 12:08pm — No Comments
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…
ContinueAdded by Mark Small on June 3, 2022 at 9:01am — No Comments
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…
ContinueAdded by Mark Small on June 2, 2022 at 2:44pm — 1 Comment
The next “bingo” card lists places where ppl otherwise feel safe: elementary schools, synagogues, grade schools, grocery stores, elementary schools, churches, high schools & now hospitals (Tulsa). Gun culture pervades our society. In the 1970s international terrorists wanted to disrupt daily life. 1/3
Today our home-grown, right-wing, white supremacists carry the baton. They take advantage of the internet, the airwaves (love AM/FM!) & wrap themselves in the flag & squeeze…
ContinueAdded by Mark Small on June 1, 2022 at 7:47pm — No Comments
Few should be surprised. Mass shooters in recent yrs have been active on the internet & even have live streamed their crime. Lincoln said: “Let the people know the facts and the country will be safe.” Shooters’ browser histories could reveal a lot. We might learn nothing. Or? 1/3
We might see patterns of a specific ideology or how this country’s gun culture ramps up shooters. Some emails might be privileged, but browser histories only show searches. If anyone has found where…
ContinueAdded by Mark Small on June 1, 2022 at 7:51am — No Comments
An individual does not have a right, under the 2nd Amendment, to possess any kind of weapon at any time for any purpose. That opinion’s not mine, but the Supreme Court’s as expressed by the late Justice Antonin Scalia. D.C., et. al. v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570, 626 (2008). 1/5
Assault-style weapons, banned by Federal law from 1994 to 2004, were defined. State laws also have defined what such a weapon is. A problem with the 1994 ban its loopholes. A 2019 study published in Journal of…
ContinueAdded by Mark Small on May 31, 2022 at 7:21am — 1 Comment
On the one hand: protect relatively recent “gun rights” of ppl who make inchoate claim liberty is promoted by private ownership of assault-style weapons (e.g., AR-15s) designed to kill a lot of ppl fast. On the other hand we have mass shootings, millions of kids are scared of school. 1/4
Ppl don’t have a right “to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose.” D.C., et. al. v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570, 626 (2008).There are parallels betw AR-15s…
ContinueAdded by Mark Small on May 30, 2022 at 7:51pm — No Comments
Weapons designed for maximum carnage in minimum time should be limited to their intended use: warfare. Also of significance for a weapon like the AR-15 is number of rounds held in the clip. Reloading takes time. The more rounds in the clip, the less frequent are reloads. 1/5
There is no reason for an individual to have an assault rifle or a clip for it that holds more than 5 rounds. In D.C. v. Heller, the SCOTUS decision, Justice Scalia, writing for the Court, said we do not have a…
ContinueAdded by Mark Small on May 30, 2022 at 10:43am — No Comments
Guns are special in America: good endings in movies & TV dramas (fiction); central to a (white person’s) telling of how the West was won (fiction); & is based on (a made-up) history of the 2nd Amendment). Local radio adds to the lies. Reality: 45,222 killed (2020)/54% suicides. 1/5
Gun narratives sell lies: guns deter/do not cause violence; guns brought America freedom. WIBC @guyrelford “Gun Guy” feeds gun culture. I criticized it. Mr Relford attacked me & invited me on…
ContinueAdded by Mark Small on May 29, 2022 at 8:34pm — No Comments
A former pres, speaking Friday to the NRA, repeated the lie that you need a good guy w/a gun to beat a bad guy w/a gun. Lying is what trump does, but after mass shootings in Buffalo & Uvalde, where police had guns, one concept needs to be addressed. “You have to fight fire w/fire.” 1/6
The phrase is a mantra to defenders of private ownership of assault rifles & magazines that hold more than 5 rounds. The fire in New Mexico was exacerbated by planned burns, that seek to burn…
ContinueAdded by Mark Small on May 29, 2022 at 6:55am — No Comments
Memorial Day, as we were reminded us, commemorates the women & men who died in military service for this country. As we mourn we should be aware we can prevent more deaths of military personnel & veterans. First: fund programs for PTSD, housing, job training & 1/5
any other social net vets need. Second, we should cut the military budget in half. We are on a constant war-footing against the rest of the World. That engenders hatred. Fewer wars = fewer dead. The USA…
ContinueAdded by Mark Small on May 28, 2022 at 10:14pm — No Comments
When someone pontificates about honoring veterans on Memorial Day weekend, I wonder what the person thinks. We shove military personnel into conflicts that have little to do with liberty & more to do w/corporate profit. Guy Relford, the gun guy, responded to my earlier blogs. 1/5
Military personnel enter environments laden w/toxins. Agent Orange, in Vietnam, exemplifies the problem. Burn piles distribute this crap into the air & we deny benefits to our people. Worse, we engage…
ContinueAdded by Mark Small on May 28, 2022 at 8:23pm — No Comments
Indianapolis’s WIBC carries a radio show, “Gun Guy,” hosted by a lawyer named Guy Relford, on Saturdays. Today’s lineup of shows was missing that auditory gem. WIBC had not lapsed into good taste in respect for the shooting victims in Uvalde but has Indy 500 programs. 1/4
Deluges of right wing misanthropy need to be offset. This week the NY Yankees & the Tampa Bay Rays replaced play-by-play texts of a game w/statistics related to gun violence. Garnered my respect, but won’t grab…
ContinueAdded by Mark Small on May 28, 2022 at 7:58am — No Comments
“God” isn’t anyone’s property despite what the far right preaches. A minority seized control of the GOP & much of the USA. “God” is convenient for them to say “you can’t be moral if you’re not [they’re type of] Christian.” They shout & drown & bully others then grab tax $. 1/5
Sign says “No trespassing” outside an evangelical church. “God” didn’t license naming rights to that church or grant a monopoly to anyone to dictate to us what our gov’t is to be. People who say…
ContinueAdded by Mark Small on May 27, 2022 at 8:28pm — No Comments
Mass shooters are inconsiderate of Indiana’s General Assembly & its recent “permitless carry” law, but GOP leaders won’t reconsider the new law. The Gov & the House Speaker say gun violence is a complex issue w/multiple factors. No. Gun violence involves guns. 1/
We can be more complex. Mass shootings involve assault-style weapons designed to kill as many people as fast as possible. HISTORY: Observers of the Russian-Japanese War of 1904-05 said there would be no more wars…
ContinueAdded by Mark Small on May 27, 2022 at 4:10pm — No Comments
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