This morning, on the news, a Mr. Pratt, the executive director of a group called ‘The Gun Owners of America’ was shown a chart detailing the surprisingly small number of gun deaths per million people in a recent year in a bunch of European countries, where guns are hard to get, as opposed to here in the USA, where they aren’t hard to get at all.
His response actually sent a shiver down my spine.
He said that the chart obviously left out the second world war, and the concentration camps and mass murders perpetrated against ‘unarmed populations.’
Yeah, you heard me.
Because, when you get right down to it, there are really only three reasons for owning a gun… let alone a secret underground bunker full of guns…
- Hunting… (because who doesn’t like to go into the woods to shoot animals with a long-range rifle with a scope, and then call it a ‘sport?’)…
- Self-defense… (because we need to be able to protect ourselves… against all those other people who have guns)…
- And… and I saved the really scary one for last… to protect ourselves from our own government when they come to take our guns away.
Yes, when you hear one of those idiots on TV talking about the second amendment of the constitution, and whining about how Obama was trying to take their guns away… (and these people don’t always live in compounds in the woods with other people and dress all in camouflage, many of them are working-class people, or wear suits, and some even work in and for the same government they are so worried about)… they are basically saying that they are thinking of joining with their like-minded fellows in armed revolt against our government if they ever pass any meaningful gun laws.
They think they can stand up to tanks and aircraft, smart bombs, battleships, satellites, drones, and pull off a second American revolution against the forces of ‘tyranny’. They picture themselves as the Minute Men in this scenario.
The idea would be laughable… except a lot of these people are ex military. And a lot of the people in the military right now have some of these same views. So maybe it would end up being a lot more complicated than it seems like it would be.
Oh, Mr. Pratt made one more interesting point. He said that Oregon is a state that allows people to carry guns in most places, but that the school where the shooting took place was a ‘gun-free zone’. He was sure that the criminal chose a gun-free zone on purpose because he just knew that if he had started shooting people in most other parts of the state, that responsible gun owners would have dropped him in is tracks almost instantly.
Wait… has there ever been a case where an armed, untrained citizen stopped a mass shooting?
Screw it! Forget gun laws. Let’s just let everybody have all the guns they want. Sell them on the street corners, or in vending machines. Give them away as prizes, hand them out as gifts. The only way we are ever going to solve this problem is if there are so many guns on our streets that they pile up like snow in a blizzard, and then we will all be perfectly safe… because we won’t be able to go anywhere… or see each other.
Pouring My Art Out 
Good point, in my view. I have never heard of any instance where an armed civilian stopped a mass shooting.
me neither
Yup. Yup. And . . . um . . . yup. I know at least one of these weirdos personally. When he talks, I turn my head like one of those pugs on YouTube.
You could bite him… or at least pee on his leg… oh, wait, people who get dogs have to have a license…
I cannot even watch these assholes. My blood boils far too quickly.
An example of unarmed folks stopping an armed one? The train in France — was it last month. The last time a “good guy with a gun” helped he tried to rescue a carjacking victim, shot the (now doublly victimized guy in the head, and the man’s car was in fact ‘jacked.
Yup. We need more armed folks. Sure do.
I didn’t want to talk about this… but I had to.
Yeah, as a Canadian, I’m with you Art. Only long guns with small magazines are permitted with an in depth investigation before licencing. No hand guns(unless by exception), no automatic weapons, no large mags, no open carry and no sale without a firearms certificate and a licence to purchase – two separate certifications. both of which require investigation and courses. Any mental health issues, arrests, or even some physical issues will revoke permits.
I saw Obama’s video – he was so frustrated. I agree with him – what is the mental state of a population that is so afraid to give up their guns? I doubt it will ever change Art. Part of the problem, as you said, is that Americans feel it is necessary to be able to defend themselves from their government – and all that implies. I look at your government and I don’t see it getting any better. For instance your super-rich who are supporting the Republicans – such as the Koch bros – are making policy that excludes the middle class. For instance they stopped funding the US Export-Import Bank this week, This gov’t bank guarantees loans for huge infrastructure projects sold by US companies overseas- like dams, power plants, jet leasing, train systems,etc. Now the big guys are moving out of the US – GE has already moved an industrial engine manuf plant from Wisconsin to Canada.. And they built a new jet engine testing facility in Winnipeg. They can get Canadian support for exports. This is your own government , urged by the super-rich – throwing away middle class jobs. Maybe those who are arming themselves aren’t as crazy as they seem at first glance.
Great post Art.
I still think we should do what that jerk who bought the rights to that medicine did… we can just jack up the prices of bullets… charge $1,000 per bullet and people might think twice about mass shootings.
I see it again and again on social media. Another mass shooting in the US. I see the President standing before the press and not be able to give anything but condolences to the families.
There is a solution, of course there is. But it won’t happen in my lifetime.
I live in Australia, a place where gun laws work – but to try and compare Australia to the US is like comparing apples to cars. Perhaps its our cultural heritage, perhaps its just our way of looking at things, or maybe its just how our society works. There was a time when guns were more available, but it took two massacres. One in Port Arthur and another in Scotland, (where a class of kindergarten children and their teacher were gunned down), that caused our views to change. It took a Liberal right wing conservative government to get support with the opposition and in just six months, the laws were changed. The country wanted it. Sure, there was opposition to it at first, but the rights of the overall population outweighed the minority. Twenty years on, the statistics speak for themselves.
Unfortunately, America is full of crazy people and our government is broken…
What would it take to fix it? That is what scares me most.
I don’t even have any answers to this problem. I just do a silly humor blog. America is throwing away so much of what made it great. It is ripping itself apart. Common sense and compromise has been replaced with stubborn entrenchment.