This week, we marked Veterans Day, originally known as Armistice Day, marking the end of World War I, the War to end all wars. Instead, we have the 80th commemoration, and tens of thousands of new veterans in a war of never end.
This Veterans Day, above all, has demonstrated that the U.S. War on Terror and the NRA’s War of Terror have consequences.
This week, the consequence of misguided policies have had tragic consequences.
The massacre at Fort Hood, Texas, only the latest mass shooting, points up the reality that sending soldiers to war, especially an unending war with an undefined enemy, affects society at home for the long term.
Just this week, also, the DC Sniper, John A. Muhammad, was executed for his wanton shooting spree seven years ago which took the lives of 10 innocent souls. He also was a Desert Storm veteran, as was Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber.
It is seen in the disturbing increases in the number of suicides, in homicides, in domestic violence, in homelessness among veterans who have returned from the War on Terror, in numbers vastly out-proportioned to the rest of the population.
“Studies show that the suicide and domestic violence rate in the Army is higher than ever before,” Helen Benedict, a professor of journalism at Columbia University, blogged at New York Times.com. “The number of attempted suicides and self-inflicted injuries has jumped six-fold among soldiers since the war in Iraq began. And post-traumatic stress disorder rates seem to be higher among Iraq War veterans, at 35 percent, than even, some studies show, among the veterans of Vietnam.
At least 121 Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans have been charged with a killing after returning from war.
On any given night, says New Jersey Senator Menendez, 131,000 veterans are homeless, of which 10,000 are in New York City and northern New Jersey. Indeed, one-fourth of all homeless in America are veterans “home” from the war.
“The veterans of these wars are suffering higher rates of trauma and breakdown than this country has seen for decades, so high that neither the military nor the Department of Veterans Affairs appears to able to cope. Veterans often have to wait months for treatment, and many have to travel for miles to find a VA hospital or clinic,” Benedict wrote.
In many instances, the soldiers are chastised by superiors or fellow soldiers for seeking out counseling; others are afraid of ramifications.
Major Nidal M. Hasan, a 39-year old Army psychiatrist, the accused shooter, had not been sent into war. But he had to counsel many soldiers who no doubt described in graphic detail the source of their nightmares. And Major Hasan, a committed Muslim, appears to have been deeply conflicted about being in the military. As it turns out, there were signs for more than a year and suspicions that Major Hasan, who had consistently received poor ratings, was possibly descending into psychosis; one superior even questioned whether he had the capacity to commit fratricide.
According to reports that are beginning to emerge, Major Hasan basically was shipped to Fort Hood to get rid of him – that was an easier process than trying to drum a doctor out of the military.
Shortly after coming to Fort Hood, Major Hasan, it is alleged, went out and bought himself a gun. And not just any gun. Major Hasan purchased a “Five-Seven,” manufactured in Belgium, known as a “cop-killer gun because can penetrate body armor. Lightweight and easily concealable, designed as a military sidearm to complement military rifles made by the same company, it has been described as "an assault rifle that fits in your pocket."
The mass murder at Fort Hood is wrapped up, as well, in a battery of other misguided policies that fall under the category of “gun control” – or the lack of it.
There are consequences of policy decisions – this one being the decision by the Bush/Republican Congress to allow the Assault Weapons Ban, which President Clinton signed into law in 1994, to lapse in 2004.
In just 4 ½ years since 2005 and the absence of an assault weapon ban, there have already been more than a dozen mass killings.
I think of the immigrants murdered as they were in their classrooms learning English in Binghamton, N.Y.; the Alabama family sitting on their porch; the eight people at Pinelake Health and Rehab in Carthage, N.C. I think of the Amish children, the students at Columbine high school, Virginia Tech, and DeKalb University, who happened to get in the way of a rampage.
And I think of the 43 people Major Hasan shot in the blink of an eye, “like ducks in a barrel,” someone said.
But they are just a small number of the 30,000 people who are murdered each year by gun violence – the equivalent of ten 9/11s a year.
The Brady Center report, Assault Weapons: Mass Produced Mayhem, documents the concerns of police chiefs from around the country on the increasing problem of assault weapons since 2004 (Brady Center, p. 3). For example, during the last year of ban (2004), Miami police reported that 4 percent of homicides were committed with assault weapons. In 2007, 20 percent were committed with assault weapons (Miami Herald, 2007).
The horror at Fort Hood clearly overshadowed what happened just the day after, in Orlando, when a man fired as an engineer a year ago and unable to find work since, killed one and injured several others at his former place of business.
War is not the only trigger; financial distress, marital distress, a slew of distresses can trigger a rampage -unfortunately, the combination frequently occurs in a single veteran.
Not only has the Congress allowed the assault weapon to lapse, but now there is a new assault on the rights of citizens to “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness” to automatically restore access to guns to mentally unstable veterans, under something called, “Veterans 2nd Amendment Protection Act” (S 669, HR 2547).
“When I heard of the tragedy yesterday, we were in the midst of planning a response to the latest dangerous legislative proposal from the gun lobby in the United States Senate - language to automatically restore access to guns to veterans designated by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the Justice Department as ‘mentally incapacitated’ or ‘mentally incompetent,’” Paul Helmke, President of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said in a statement. “In light of what happened yesterday - a violent attack by an emotionally unstable soldier - it is even clearer that the proposal being pushed by Senator Richard Burr of North Carolina should be rejected.
This legislation could allow more than 100,000 mentally incapacitated or incompetent persons to arm themselves immediately, despite findings by the Veterans Administration that they are unfit to manage their affairs.
“The legislation poses a serious danger to veterans, their families, and the public. Anyone unable to manage his or her own affairs due to mental illness should not be permitted to take on the responsibilities of gun possession,” the Brady Center stated. “There is a heightened risk of suicide when a dangerously mentally ill person has access to guns. “For the safety of veterans, their families, and the public, the U.S. Congress should reject “Veterans 2nd Amendment Protection Act” (S. 669 and H.R. 2547).
The War on Terror might have contributed to the rise in violence by soldiers and veterans, but the NRA’s War of Terror is the reason for the rapid multiplication of horror.
In just a few minutes, Major Hasan, armed with that handgun he purchased for himself shot 13 people dead and wounded 30 more. 43 victims in a matter of moments.
Why should any one have access to such a gun? How many more mass murderers are we creating and will we create?
Certainly, those who return from the battlefield are not the only ones who have contributed to the massacres we have seen with nauseating frequency.
But it is terrifying to contemplate the tens of thousands of veterans who will be returning to “society” with the potential to become a mass murderer, and, thanks to the NRA and their enablers in Congress, have the machinery to do it.
There is much we need to do on behalf of our Veterans, and the Obama Administration seems to be doing it – with a program to increase help with PTSD, address jobs and homelessness and access to college, as well as removing some of the bureaucratic barriers to obtaining health care and providing more secure funding to the Veterans Administration.
But there is much we need to do for the rest of society, to remove the insecurity and fear, and, yes, cost of innocently becoming a victim.
Congress needs to reinstate the ban on assault weapons and to enact sensible gun control, including eliminating the gun-show loopholes, and enforcing responsibility of gun dealers (like the shop that sold the DC Sniper his arsenal) to properly control their inventory to keep guns out of the hands of people who shouldn’t have them.
This week, these issues of controlling needless gun violence and helping veterans came together in one person: NYS Assemblywoman Michelle Schimel, a leading proponent in the State Legislature on behalf of veterans, who was honored by New Yorkers Against Gun Violence with the Distinguished Allard K. Lowenstein Award For Public Service.
Ms. Schimel, a board member of NYAGV and strong advocate for gun violence prevention, has been a leader in passing a "microstamping bill" in the Assembly earlier this year with very strong bipartisan support to give law enforcement officials better tools to solve gun crimes and homicides. Senator Eric Schneiderman (D-Manhattan/Bronx) has taken up the fight in the State Senate.
Microstamping is a technology that stamps the serial number of a gun onto expended cartridge cases recovered at a crime scene. It is an invaluable tool for solving and prosecuting gun-related crimes – essentially taking murderers off the streets quicker, before they kill or maim again.
It is one of the clearest evidences of how hostile the NRA is to the fundamental right of citizens to be free of fear as they go about their daily life that it has opposed microstamping technology and taken aim against the legislators who support it.
The NRA consistently takes the position thinks that the Second Amendment, interpreted based on a misplaced comma, trumps everything else – the right to free speech unafraid of intimidation by a gun-toting wingnut, and the very essence of American society, the right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
“America has seen an epidemic of horrific gun violence at churches and synagogues, workplaces, health clubs, high schools, universities, police stations and now Army bases,” Brady Center’s Helmke said. “This latest tragedy, at a heavily fortified army base, ought to convince more Americans to reject the argument that the solution to gun violence is to arm more people with more guns in more places. Enough is enough.”
Is it? When will “enough be enough”?
Comments
You present such a "target rich environment" I hardly know where to begin.
1. The 1994 AWB did not ban any "assault weapons". And I'm not even referring to your mistaken definition of an "assault weapon. The law did not prohibit the posession or sale of the prohibited weapons, only their future manufacture. The weapons in private hands remained there and existing weapons in the pipeline were allowed to be sold. In fact, new pre-ban models were still available for sale when the ban expired 10 years later.
2. Microstamping is not "an invaluable tool for solving and prosecuting gun-related crimes". Several states have already looked at microstamping and decided it would be a waste of money better spent on more police officers. They already collect a test-fired cartridge case from every handgun sold. After several years of collecting and cataloging fired cases, not one crime has been solved as a result.
3. There is no "gun show loophole". Each and every law that applies to gun sales applies inside a gun show in the same way it does outside. Firearms purchased from an FFL holder's business stock must have an NICS approval before they are transferred to the buyer. Sales between private citizens are not regulated by federal law, inside or outside of a gun show, and never have been. The "DC Snipers'" rifle was stolen from a gun shop. Surely you are not suggesting we should run background checks on theives before they are allowed to steal a firearm?
4. I find your suggestion that every returning veteran is a timebomb waiting to commit mass murder, and that their Second Ammendment rights, recently affirmed by the Supreme Court in DC v Heller should be "infringed" to be disgusting and abhorrent. These fine young men and women have given of themselves so you could publish this garbage. As the saying goes, "All gave some, some gave all". You should be ashamed of yourself.
This column is a perfect example of how a person with limited actual knowledge and a clear political agenda can elevate anger and ignorance into a weapon. She probably even thinks she's doing the world a favor.
Sad.
That's pretty funny, blaming muslim terrorism on the NRA and veterans! I'm sure everybody's gonna believe that.
Microstamping? The guy used a revolver that was recovered on scene. Microstamping? Does the author know why microstamping does not work with a Revolver or is she as ignorant as her endless quoting of the Brady Campaign propoganda implies she is? BTW, Fort Hood was an example of a 100% gun free zone. That meant, the only person with a gun was the person who was already intent to break other laws. In a battle between logic and emotion, I'll chose logic every day.
Microstamping? The guy used a revolver that was recovered on scene. Microstamping? Does the author know why microstamping does not work with a Revolver or is she as ignorant as her endless quoting of the Brady Campaign propoganda implies she is? BTW, Fort Hood was an example of a 100% gun free zone. That meant, the only person with a gun was the person who was already intent to break other laws. In a battle between logic and emotion, I'll chose logic every day.
You really are naive and uninformed, AND IGNORANT. I could list reasons from your trashy article but I think you wrote it just to be sensational.
Look around the world. Has any country solved this mass murder problem? Well, yes, but it is so politically uncomfortable that it is ignored by the media. Israel had several terrorist attacks. Airplanes, schools, etc. Now they provide military training to every young citizen. They give each one a gun and they take the gun home and keep it with them. One gun per person. It works. Any murderous person gets only one or two then is annihilated by the citizens with guns. Nice.
"In just 4 ½ years since 2005 and the absence of an assault weapon ban, there have already been more than a dozen mass killings."
None of which had anything to do with so-called assault weapons, whatever those are. There are semi automatic rifles which look like M16s but do not fire automatically.
No incident more clearly demonstrates the futility and utter immorality of gun control so perfectly as an incident like this. The failure of gun control is perfectly modeled in the microcosm of the Ft. Hood military post.
All that expensive training and conditioning, the background checks, and their weapons were securely locked away in the armory. A percentage of soldiers, starting with officers should be required to be armed at all times in the interest of soldier safety, and military security. You'd never see this happen in Israel. Why? because they trust their soldiers all the time, not just in the battlefield
The expiration of the Assault Weapons Ban had nothing to do with the murder spree of Muslim extremist John A. Muhammad's murder spree. True, Muhammad and his juvenile cohort used an assault weapon to commit the murders, but he could have carried out the crimes using a variety of high powered, single shot weapons never addressed by the original Assault Weapons Ban. The type of weapon is insignificant....the cold-hearted will to commit murder is at the center of all of these tragedies. To deny decent, law-abiding citizens the right to protect themselves guaranteed by the Second Amendment is equally cold-hearted.
"But it is terrifying to contemplate the tens of thousands of veterans who will be returning to “society” with the potential to become a mass murderer, and, thanks to the NRA and their enablers in Congress, have the machinery to do it."
I am as much of a left wing, anti-war person as you can get..and even I found this statement offensive.
Please tell me what specific laws you would like passed that would have prevented this tragedy. If you cannot name any, you are just exploiting the issue.
Your article was not very good and I got bored reading it. I don't know anything about guns but I don't follow your reasoning at all. What kind of person blames a gun for the actions of the person shooting it?? Do you blame a car for a driver driving drunk too? Your whole premis that banning a something like a gun will solve all the mass murder problems of the world is flawed and boring. I think that you should stop getting your theory from Sara Brady. She's not right in the head.
GET THIS:#1 You cannot legislate righteousness(translation for the brain dead: No law can prevent crime because the criminals BREAK the law.)#2 You cannot prevent crime by controlling (outlawing the ownership of) objects(guns, cars, drugs alcohol, etc.)#3 All gun control schemes hide behind a patent lie:that gun control is needed to prevent crime,see #1 and #2.#4 No gun control law has ever kept even one gun away from anyone determined enough to get one and therefor has never saved even one life or prevented even one crime,see #1,2,and 3.#5 ALL gun control laws are unlawful because the right of "the people" to keep(own) and carry(bear) firearms is guaranteed by the Constitution.#6 All gun control laws are designed to abrogate the rights of free Americans because free Americans are the only ones affected by those laws.Therefor: #1 Stop the war against freedom and Constitutional rights by WINNING IT.#2 Expose the gun banner's lies, and #3 ROLL BACK ALL UNCONSTITUTIONAL GUN CONTROL LAWS!
Gun grabbing idiot! Any excuse to take them away from people. Lady, you are dancing in dead peoples blood and I can see that you have no shame whatsoever.
Karen, that is pathetic.
I think the source of your problem is that you are afraid of firearms, most likely because you are unfamiliar with them. This is easily overcome...all you need to do is to be properly taught how to handle firearms. After that, rationality comes.
If you're going to be in the Houston area, I would be delighted to introduce you to shooting in a safe and professional manner.
If Paul Helmke thinks that stateside Army bases are heavily fortified, then he has never been anywhere near one. His agenda is quite apparent to anyone with enough sense to come in out of the rain.
Your (and his) pandering to the ignorance and emotions of the uneducated among is is an affront to responsible, freedom-loving Americans, and to the US Constitution. That document, revered around the world for it's wisdom, is not to be trifled with. Yet you "do-gooders" keep thinking that you can abrogate citizen's rights for some ephemeral "safety of the public" goal.
Look up what Ben Franklin said about that.
There are so many errors in this article, it's hard to know where to start. But this is as good as any:
She says: "How many more mass murderers are we creating and will we create?"
Well, "WE" are not creating any. It is the murderer who chooses to do wrong. So many people these days have a warped sense of responsibility/irresponsibility. When you start with such a fundamentally flawed premise, the dominoes of bad reasoning just start to fall. This article ultimately blames everything and everyone for this crime, EXCEPT the man himself and the beliefs he expressed when he began his spree.
Enough IS indeed enough. There are so many comments in the article that have been extrapolated to the nth degree to support a liberal view point it becomes exhausting to read. Many others have commented on your factually incorrect babble, so theres no need to regurgitate. But I am really offended by your tone towards veterans. So by treating our veterans like criminals just for having served, what message are you sending to America? Serve you country at the expense of maybe losing your Constitutional right to bear arms? Those men and women deserve every effort we can muster to help them, but treating them as second class citizens is not the answer.
The Ft Hood shooting happened because Hassan was a terrorist plain and simple, and because officials danced around his questionable behavior out of fear of offending the PC crowd in the US about his ethnicity and Muslim faith. No amount of gun control can change what's in men's hearts. Gun control is nothing but sybolism over substance.
"The NRA consistently takes the position thinks that the Second Amendment, interpreted based on a misplaced comma, trumps everything else – the right to free speech unafraid of intimidation by a gun-toting wingnut, and the very essence of American society, the right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
I believe everyone else has pretty much summed up the ridiculousness of this article. I would also like to point out that Karen is also an expert on misplaced commas within the Second Amendment? I feel dumber for reading this article.
All mass shooting so far have one thing in common. "GUN FREE ZONES". Gun free zones are a killers dream. Clinton created military bases, as gun free zones in 1993. These terrorist killing must be laid as his feet. Stop creating gun free zones that only law abiding obey. Therefore as anyone with half a brain can see, they don't work but only facilitate mass murder.
There are so many errors in this article, it's hard to know where to start. But this is as good as any:
She says: "How many more mass murderers are we creating and will we create?"
Well, "WE" are not creating any. It is the murderer who chooses to do wrong. So many people these days have a warped sense of responsibility/irresponsibility. When you start with such a fundamentally flawed premise, the dominoes of bad reasoning just start to fall. This article ultimately blames everything and everyone for this crime, EXCEPT the man himself and the beliefs he expressed when he began his spree.
This article is asinine to the nth degree. Such drivel should not be printed as it shows the lack of intellect of the author. Most of the crap in the article has already been debunked if any thinking person knows how to use a search engine they can even find gov statistics which refute them.
The cause of almost all "mass slayings" are the direct result of madmen or of jihadis being in "gun free zones" created by those of low intellect and hidden agendas.
Ms. Rubin, please remove your head from your rectum. You may be able to see through the B.S. of the Brady bunch. Hasan was a murderer and a terrorist. Fort Hood was and continues to be a "gun-free-zone". The tragedy at Fort Hood proves the NRA right on handgun carry permits and the Brady bunch wrong. It's so clear I can't believe the level of stupidity you have to have attained to see it any other way. It's the Brady bunch who are exercising a War of Terror and a War on Freedom. It's us gun-toting wingnuts that defend freedom, liberty, and public safety, not you loony-left, nanny-state loving, freedom hating Nazis. There are plenty of gun-hating nations around the world. If you desire a nation with gun control so badly, please move to a nation that already has gun control and be a slave there, but leave us who want to be free alone. The "Assault Weapons Ban" was a joke, and a bad one at that. It's only accomplishment was it weakened the ability of free people to defend themselves.
There are so many errors in this article, it's hard to know where to start. But this is as good as any:
She says: "How many more mass murderers are we creating and will we create?"
Well, "WE" are not creating any. It is the murderer who chooses to do wrong. So many people these days have a warped sense of responsibility/irresponsibility. When you start with such a fundamentally flawed premise, the dominoes of bad reasoning just start to fall. This article ultimately blames everything and everyone for this crime, EXCEPT the man himself and the beliefs he expressed when he began his spree.
Karen Rubin - Long Island Elitist
Oh Karen, not all of us can be as abrasively anti-american as you...
Very few of us have the elitist attitude you seem to flaunt with ease, allowing you to disregard the RIGHTS of fellow citizens so you may feel warm and fuzzy inside...
Liberals love band-aids..."why worry with fixing the real problem when we can make a government agency/program or subsidize a research group to remove rights from americans?"(and all while stealing taxpayer money too!!!!)
Oh Karen, so much of me hopes you seek out one of the myriad countries that were founded with your precise brand of medicine as their charter-goal. Heaven knows we became a world power because of great liberal thinkers like yourself....
NOW KAREN.YOU KNOW THOSE ARE PLAIN LIES.THE MAJORITY OF ALL THOSE FIREARMS YOU STATED WEREN'T EVEN "ASSAULT WEAPANS".SO STOP WITH THE LIES.WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPEND IF JUST ONE OF THOSE VICTIMS WERE ARMED IN ANY OF THE "MASS SHOOTINGS",THERE WOULDNT BE ANY "MASS SHOOTINGS"BECAUSE THE LOONY WOULD HAVE BEEN DROPPED IMMEDIATELY.KEEP WRITING STUPID BASELESS STORIES LIKE THIS.THEY MEAN NOTHING THIS ISNT BRITAIN OR AUSTRALIA WHERE THE PEOPLE HAVE NO SAY-SO AND THE GOVERNMENT RUNS RIGHT OVER THE CITIZENS.AND BY THE WAY GET USED TO IT THERE ARE OVER 300 MILLION GUNS IN THE HOMES OF THOSE WHO REFUSE TO BE A VICTIM.YOU LYING LIBERALS CANNOT FOOL US CITIZENS ANYMORE.THE #S ARE OUT CRIME IS AT AN ALL-TIME LOW CONCEALD CARRY STATES HAVE LOWER CRIME THAN NON CARRY STATES AND SINCE THE PRESIDENT TOOK OFFICE THERE HAVE BEEN 2.3 MILLION "ASSAULT WEAPONS" SOLD WITHOUT CRIME GOING UP
Just because you are able to obtain a weapon logic would dictate that you would have to commit the crime, right? UH... NO!
DON'T TREAD ON ME because of your psychotic outlook, lady. I still believe in the future.
Just because you are able to obtain a weapon logic would dictate that you would have to commit the crime, right? UH... NO!
DON'T TREAD ON ME because of your psychotic outlook, lady. I still believe in the future.
There are so many errors in this article, it's hard to know where to start. But this is as good as any:
She says: "How many more mass murderers are we creating and will we create?"
Well, "WE" are not creating any. It is the murderer who chooses to do wrong. So many people these days have a warped sense of responsibility/irresponsibility. When you start with such a fundamentally flawed premise, the dominoes of bad reasoning just start to fall. This article ultimately blames everything and everyone for this crime, EXCEPT the man himself and the beliefs he expressed when he began his spree.
Karen Rubin's article was written while she was in a state of euphoria, caused by her partying with the brady's, and dancing in the blood of the victims of their agenda.
Didn't they tech you anything about researching your story in journalism class? You are so factually wrong on so mnany counts that you must have known this and just assumed your audience was as stupid as you think they are. Are you this ignorant or just so wrapped up in your 'Gun Control solves the world's problems' fantasy that you don't care about truth and facts? You are far more dangerous than any veteran that returns to this country with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
There are so many errors in this article, it's hard to know where to start. But this is as good as any:
She says: "How many more mass murderers are we creating and will we create?"
Well, "WE" are not creating any. It is the murderer who chooses to do wrong. So many people these days have a warped sense of responsibility/irresponsibility. When you start with such a fundamentally flawed premise, the dominoes of bad reasoning just start to fall. This article ultimately blames everything and everyone for this crime, EXCEPT the man himself and the beliefs he expressed when he began his spree.
I e-mailed a critique to Karen, and this is the response I received.
"This commentary had to do mainly with sensible gun control, especially in light of the newest proposed legislation in Congress that would allow veterans who have been determined to be "mentally incompetent" to have rights to their guns.
I think I was extremely sympathetic to the needs of Veterans and what we need to do for veterans. "
ROTFLMFAO, boy's & girls, Karen is demonstrably REALLY OFF THE DEEP END! You wont get any realistic or logical response. Here is her e-mail Krubin723@aol.com, but her in box may still be kinda clogged up, LOL!
The "5-7" is manufactured in Columbia, South Carolina.
Like all gunbanners, you are either stupid or a liar, or both. I say "stupid" because, if you are just misinformed, then it is because you are too lazy or, more likely, unable to grasp and assimilate facts that destroy your twisted gun ban (lack of) logic. Many other letters outline the many flaws of reason or misinformation you cretins vomit out. So I'll just add this thought: You and misguided idiots like you should fear two things:#1 The fight that will come to America if and when the government becomes foolish enough to try to destroy Second Amendment rights, AND/OR #2 The tyranny that will follow, if you and your twisted gun ban followers are successful in your endeavor.
Oh great and wonderful liberal philosophizer who asks,"When will “enough be enough"?" Is there no end to your eloquent waste of perfectly good ink on your totally clueless ramblings? I would share some of the vast amount of information millions of gun owners are aware of regarding human behavior, constitutional rights, American history, and the tyrannical warfare on freedom hiding behind the lie of crime control by banning guns, but it's not my job or responsibility to see that you educate yourself before you show yourself to be the fool that you are by preaching about something you are totally and completely clueless about. Truly you prove the adage: "You can't cure stupid." Add to that: "evil".
As part of the extensive non existant preparation you must have undertaken in order to write this fantasy masquerading as a piece of legitimate journalism, I'm convinced you also failed to read this quote: "The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men [and women like you] of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding. ~Louis D. Brandeis. ---What a great start for you here at examiner.com.!! I do so hope that you're going to have a great career here with the other slobbering mindless liberal constitutional freedom hating anti American closet tyrant supporting liberals that rail against Second Amendment (and hence ALL the) rights and freedoms that Americans enjoy.
Such a pretty smile on such a pretty face! These clearly hiding a vast empty chasm in your head, or, possibly, revealing the mindlessness of one too vacuous to imagine truths beyond your grasp. My strong suggestion: Find someone to care for you properly, stick to keeping house, finish highschool (with a definite emphasis on U.S history and government), get a good day job--ANYTHING but writing more of the usual trite uninformed but highly opinionated gun ban blither that we already can read over and over again by brain damaged individuals who precede you, like Jack Dunning and Mike Stone. They don't need you--really! And the fact that you are just regurgitating their lunatic drivel smacks of plagerism.
At the risk of wasting my own ink per Fear Two, I would make this suggestion: There are already a number of countries without hindrances like America's Bill Of Rights and it's Constitution, where the governments enforce the very strict and total bans of all gun ownership by their citizens that you crave. Several of these countries that come to mind are, Cuba, Russia, Mexico, China, and North Korea. All of these countries are wonderful places to live where you can surely be free of the terrible fear of the "gun violence" you hate so much. Why don't you move to one of these havens of peace and happiness, and soon? Then you wouldn't have to worry yourself fighting with that bad NRA and those scary gun toting "wing nuts". Then, I know you'll be so much happier, less fearful, and at peace than you are now. Oh, by the way, take your buddies, Paul Helmke and Tom Diaz at the VPC with you.
Here's one of Karen's gems to Jarhead1982: --"This commentary had to do mainly with sensible gun control..."-- as if she figures the 22,000 specific gun control laws now on the books aren't enough. Maybe that's what she means whe she asks, " When will “enough be enough”?
Stick to writing about travel. And I do hope you know a little more about that than you do about guaranteed rights under the U.S. Constitution and the myth and the lie spread by traitors to this country, that ingringing on these rights is necessary to stop crime. Of course, the fact that you had zip knowledge of any of these things before you began regurgitating the standard well known gun ban vomit tells me that you may be more than stupid. Your brain may very well be dead. If you do want to continue down the well beaten gun ban road, just cut and paste the s--t written already by several other already existant examiner.com freedom hater writers. Jack Dunning and terminally brain damaged Michael Stone come to mind. It'll be much easier for you.
Another gem of insight into the mind of a liberal: "I think I was extremely sympathetic to the needs of Veterans and what WE need to do for veterans."---How magnanimous you are!!--as if the veterans actually NEED your sympathy or YOUR ideas on what YOU think needs to be done for them! Really, with benefactors like YOU and other liberal politicians who view themselves as rulers over the peasants, who needs socialist tyrant enemies?
John L.-- Don't you know that in the liberal world nobody is responsible for what they do? It's YOUR fault they're murderers. That's why YOU are the one who should suffer for their sins. You really need to start getting with the program, if you're going to get very far in Obamasworld.
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