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Mass Violence Is Not Uniquely American

12/15/2012

7 Comments

 
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Answer: Neither one will.
     In reaction to the shocking massacre of young students and their teachers at school in a small Connecticut town, the media are in the usual attack mode about U.S. Second Amendment rights.  Most of them never having owned, fired or even held a gun, seem to think video games or violent movies - and guns - make people do this.  And they also talk as if this violence is a uniquely American phenomenon.   It's not:

A man with a knife injures 22 school children in  China, a man kills 16 students in Dunblane, Scotland before killing himself.  Thirty-eight school children died in a bomb blast in Bath Township, Michigan (in 1927).  School massacres have not been limited to guns or America.   They've happened all over the map.  Mass murder seems to be something persistent that would be better solved by addressing the psych problem, not the tools used by maniacs.  Kakistocracy Report made this observation:


As one blogger pointed out, "it’s not the weapon, it’s the psychopath who preys on the undefended... it’s the reason we have the right to bear arms. Mass murders occur in places where personal arms are prohibited. In the worst cases, it’s one’s own government that’s the perpetrator." Of course, the 'progressives' will never believe this. It is the reason we must utterly defeat progressivism.

Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become more corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters. ~ Benjamin Franklin

Maybe the coarsening of our culture goes hand-in-hand with the lessening of our freedom. (Read the entire post...)
Our hearts sincerely go out to the victims and their families, friends and classmates.  But the media are trying to chalk this up as a lesson about "the American gun culture."  WE just want it to be the right lesson.

What's consistent between tragedies of mass murder around the world (there have been so many) is that there's so little consistency between them.   Browse the history and statistics about rampage killers.  Few other nations have a Bill of Rights or "gun rights," much less a Constitution meant to defend personal freedom (that's still rare).   Asia, Europe, Russia, and other places with immense government control over citizens have a large share of senseless losses caused by maniacs. As blogger Velociman puts it:

Forget the political poseurs. They will be, and are, raising their needy heads. I have no desire to enter the fray of gun-free-zones versus heat-packing librarians. I've eaten herring before, and did not particularly care for it.

What we do have, however, is a seriously psychotic individual acting out a rage that is incomprehensible to the vast majority of us. Shooting toddlers. Someone, somewhere, brought this upon this village. I find it inconceivable that this fellow awakened this morning and thought for the first time Today is the day I go berserker.

Again, I do not see this as a gun issue. It is a crazy people issue. I have no facts, I am intuiting here, but I would wager this young fiend, who is by various descriptions autistic, Asbergian, schizophrenic, has a well-documented history of aberrant, dangerous behavior. I am by no means casting aspersions on the autistic. I have friends with autistic children. It is a heart-rending challenge, but it is by no means this. This is something else entirely. (Read the entire post...)
So, WE suggest that a vulnerable and well intentioned public should be very wary of knee-jerk  policy that would do little to solve this puzzling human problem that's far from an American one.  There is a more tangible risk that "never waste a crisis" opportunism will rear its ugly head in short order.

WE don't question that the President's reaction was sincere, but wonder what he meant when he said, "we're going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics."  "Regardless of the politics" seemed a bit loaded.  WE don't think that dealing with the issue of the deranged, who suffer from whatever syndrome leads them to commit such heinous crimes, should have anything to do with "politics." 
Attorney General Holder, in comments that followed on December 14th said, "we need to discuss who we are as a nation, talk about the freedoms that we have, and the rights that we have, and how those might be used in a responsible way."   That was very glib, but "who we are as a nation" meant what?
It was former presidential Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel (nickname "Rhambo") who said, "You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that it's an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before."  That is about as ominous as it gets for a cabinet member.  Fortunately he resigned his cabinet position, and WE hope the rest of the regime never agreed with it in the first place. However, WE'd be very surprised if that wasn't a widely held belief.  It is so in character. 

This feels like a serious crisis - given the series of similar incidents recently - which is creepy.  But the Second Amendment says what it means, and means what it says.  The Supreme Court upheld the idea that it represents an individual's right to keep and bear arms - not to commit crimes with them, for goodness sake.  Regardless, WE also know that this administration is vehemently opposed to gun rights.  With a stunned public ready to accept any solution, this could be a perfect storm (and not in a good way) for politics to kick-in divisively.  Would diminished "gun rights" diminish lunacy or crime?

Our founders intended the Second Amendment to serve multiple objectives:  for individuals' self-protection, national defense, and as a general warning to would-be despots. The last one seems remote to us of course, but The Revolutionary War was still visible in the rear view mirror when the Bill of Rights was ratified in 1791. The very idea of a people needing to overthrow their government seems laughable now. The protections written into The Constitution were so effective, nobody has had to worry about it for 209 years.  "It can't happen here!"  And what good would our little pea shooters be against the best equipped military in human history? I pity the fool...! 

Just make sure you keep an eye on both hands, and pay close attention to the man behind the curtain.  Just in case... 
7 Comments
Ma Bear
12/15/2012 01:41:26 pm

Thanks for the info. I had no idea there was so much of this happening around the world. These other incidents don't get very much attention but they should. I wonder what really can be done. What seems certain is this isn't domestic terrorism and I wonder why Homeland Security would be involved.

Reply
Joley
12/17/2012 08:05:56 am

I do not believe Obama was tearfully sincere. He has approved of partial birth abortions and abortion in general which has murdered millions of children. Also, while he is championing gun control fails to mention that his children are in a private school and are personally surrounded by men with guns. Perhaps if the teachers are trained (as in a Texas school) to respond quickly and carry a gun more children would be saved. It takes time for police to arrive.

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Comrade X
12/17/2012 08:11:44 am

Are the New Generation of Anti-Depressant Medications Contributing to School Shootings?

http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2012/12/are-the-new-generation-of-anti-depressant-medications-contributing-to-school-shootings.html

Reply
childofww2
12/17/2012 01:32:38 pm

I do not see guns as the problem, rather gun free zones as the invitation to psychopaths. The "culture" is really what needs examining. A mentally sick boy flounders his way through life with a genius mind but one devoid of any of the normal braking systems. Our culture has been degraded by Hollywood, by gratuitous media, violent video games, violent sports, by ortion on demand - in any and all of these human life is cheap, devoid of value. Where are the mechanisms for good? I believe they have been discarded in the quest for hedonistic instant gratification of the worst kind. A person who has no faith has no feeling for the Constitution and it's founding philosphy, has no hope nor do does he/she see people including themself as having any relevance to the world. Hence sweet innocents are torn away from their parents at the price of everlasting grief, and grown people from all walks of life are randomly taken away from their loved ones.The Swiss are mandated to carry a weapon - their incidence of crime is considerably lower as a result.

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Maxim
12/17/2012 04:42:26 pm

Professor John Lott made a good point on the Mark Levin Show. He asked if anybody would put one of these "gun free zone" signs in front of their house to discourage a criminal attack. Says a lot about this kind of asinine philosophy.

Reply
Comrade X
12/18/2012 06:19:02 am

"Three days before 20-year-old Adam Lanza killed his mother, then opened fire on a classroom full of Connecticut kindergartners, my 13-year-old son Michael (name changed) missed his bus because he was wearing the wrong color pants.

"I can wear these pants," he said, his tone increasingly belligerent, the black-hole pupils of his eyes swallowing the blue irises.

"They are navy blue," I told him. "Your school's dress code says black or khaki pants only."

"They told me I could wear these," he insisted. "You're a stupid bitch. I can wear whatever pants I want to. This is America. I have rights!"

"You can't wear whatever pants you want to," I said, my tone affable, reasonable. "And you definitely cannot call me a stupid bitch. You're grounded from electronics for the rest of the day. Now get in the car, and I will take you to school."

I live with a son who is mentally ill. I love my son. But he terrifies me.....

http://gawker.com/5968818/i-am-adam-lanzas-mother

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Comrade X
12/20/2012 01:52:47 am

While the media attempts to smear the NRA in every conceivable manner possible, a different culprit emerges that bears some scrutiny: the ACLU.

Fox News reports on the motive of the mentally disturbed Connecticut murderer [emphasis added]:

Adam Lanza, 20, targeted Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown after killing his mother early Friday because he believed she loved the school “more than she loved him,” said Joshua Flashman, 25, who grew up not far from where the shooting took place. Flashman, a U.S. Marine, is the son of a pastor at an area church where many of the victims’ families worship.

“From what I’ve been told, Adam was aware of her petitioning the court for conservatorship and (her) plans to have him committed,” Flashman told FoxNews.com. “Adam was apparently very upset about this. He thought she just wanted to send him away. From what I understand, he was really, really angry. I think this could have been it, what set him off.”

What might have prevented his mother from having him committed? The ACLU.....

http://www.soopermexican.com/2012/12/18/how-the-aclu-prevented-sandyhook-murderer-from-being-institutionalized/

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