This post ought get the blood to boil……..we know what some think……an interesting piece of historical events…..
BTW, will the morons please stop telling low IQ Americans that the government is coming for your guns……it is pure bullshit and lies……sad but appears that some are secretly hoping it is true so they can say….”see told ya so”………..(where’s that chip when we need it)…….
How the NRA Rewrote the Second Amendment – Michael Waldman – POLITICO Magazine.
This post should generate a bunch of comments…this type always does…….let ’em fly, my friends!
We have had our debate on the gun issue…..both pro and con….it is like the race issue…….all talk NO action…….
We all remember Newtown……the deaths of children under these circumstances are unacceptable……well at least to me it is unacceptable…apparently I may be in a minority on this issue……with that said there has been some disturbing news……
(Newser) – The number of US kids and teens who die from gunshot wounds in hospital has risen almost 60% in a decade, according to a new report. The study by two doctors looked at data from 1997 to 2009, and found the number of those hospitalized with gunshot wounds rose from 4,270 to 7,730, while the number of those that then died from them climbed from 317 to 503, NBC News reports. Eight out of 10 of the wounds came from handguns, says study author Arin L. Madenci. “Furthermore, states with higher percentages of household firearm ownership also tended to have higher proportions of childhood gunshot wounds, especially those occurring in the home,” he says.
As a result of the findings, the authors say, perhaps the national conversation about gun control should move from larger semi-automatic weapons to limiting the number of smaller firearms in homes. “While public health resources and policies have largely focused on military-style semi-automatic assault weapons, it may be more crucial to intervene on handguns,” says Madenci, per Medical Daily. The director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research tells Discovery that research and data like this has been sorely lacking in the field since Congress stopped funding it in the 1990s. “I see this as a huge step forward,” he says.
A truly sad indictment of our society…..too bad it seems to be an acceptable price of doing business…..
But with this sad news there is another tilt to the gun saga……
Source:The Washington Times
The call for stricter gun control has waned since the Newtown, Conn., school shooting at the end of 2012, a Gallup poll released Friday found.
In the days following the school shooting, which killed 20 children and six staff members, 58 percent of those polled wanted stricter gun control. Now, almost a year after the December shooting, that number has dropped to 49 percent.
The drop also means the country now is split nearly evenly on whether gun control laws need to be stricter. On the other side of the 49 percent who want stricter laws, 50 percent want laws to either be less strict or kept the same.
Like I have said ……the price of doing business……..God forbid any one should be held accountable…..a sad, sad day……
Much has been said in the media and around coffee tables about the Zimmerman trial and the use of “stand your ground” defense…….I believe there is something 20 states that have a version of this piece of crap (personal opinion noting official)……I get about a ba-zillion emails from people that know that I am an opinionated SOB and send me stuff that might fire up my mind and my fingers…….the following is an email I got from a friend in Colorado…….
By popular demand, lets take some of the issues in the Zimmerman case a little deeper just for discussion’s sake. There are many levels to discuss and so few hours in the day. That being said, this is one case out of thousands that deserve attention but in this instance, we’re all familiar with it.
On the topic of “stand your ground” and the misinformation which continues to fly regarding such laws, there are several differences between that statute and what’s commonly considered self-defense.
First and foremost, the Florida “stand your ground” (SYG) statute did not apply in the Zimmerman case nor was it ever argued by the defense to apply. Typically self-defense law holds that if you’re attacked with force and fear for your life or fear great bodily harm, you must attempt to retreat until you can retreat no further, at that point you can use deadly force simply under the banner of self-defense. All states have some form of this dating back centuries.
In Florida, the SYG statute simply removes the victim’s burden to retreat and says that, if you’re the innocent party who has not provoked the attack, you do not have to retreat before deploying deadly force on your attacker. In essence, SYG is a burden-shifting law which empowers the victim in the case of an attack. In Florida there is what is known as a “stand your ground hearing” which allows you to present evidence that you stood your ground in the face of an attacker and if the court agrees, your case is dismissed since you were the innocent victim defending yourself without the need to retreat. There mere fact that George Zimmerman was on trial means that SYG did not apply to this case.
Explanation of Florida’s “stand your ground” statute:
Under Florida law, “[a] person who is not engaged in an unlawful activity and who is attacked in any other place where he or she has a right to be has no duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or her ground and meet force with force, including deadly force if he or she reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony.” § 776.013(3), Fla. Stat. (2007).
Explanation of Florida’s “stand your ground” hearing:
When the defendant files a motion to invoke the statutory immunity, then the trial court must hold a pre-trial evidentiary hearing to determine if the preponderance of the evidence warrants immunity. See State v. Yaqubie, 51 So.3d 474, 476 (Fla. 3d DCA 2010).
At the hearing, the trial court must weigh and decide factual disputes as to the defendant’s use of force to determine whether to dismiss the case based on the immunity. Peterson v. State, 983 So.2d 27, 29 (Fla. 1st DCA 2008). The defendant bears the burden of proof on the issue of whether the “stand your ground” or “castle doctrine” immunity attaches to his or her actions. Id.
During the evidentiary hearing the trial court considers the disputed issues of fact and must make a finding under the preponderance of the evidence standard. The court can either dismiss the charges or allow the prosecution to go forward.
If you apply this to the Zimmerman case it’s clear that because George Zimmerman exited his truck and followed Trayvon Martin, the SYG statute cannot apply to this case. Thus, George Zimmerman waived his right to a “stand your ground hearing” because he knew and his attorneys knew the SYG statute did not protect Zimmerman because he did not act within the confines of the SYG statute since his actions helped lead to the altercation that ended Trayvon Martin’s life.
Therefore, the demands to abolish or curtail the concept of the SYG laws around the country are misguided and do not take into account that it had no effect on the outcome of this case. Around 30 states have a similar SYG statute to Florida. Other states, such as Washington and Virginia, have SYG precedent in Common Law dating back hundreds of years.
As to what actually happened with regard to self-defense law, the jury believed that as Zimmerman and Martin fought on the ground, Martin may have pinned Zimmerman to the ground meaning Zimmerman, under pure self-defense, could not retreat and thus had the right under the law to use deadly force. Again, this scenario has nothing to do with the SYG statute in Florida law. It would have played the same way in nearly every state since it is under the banner of self-defense. Federal Law also holds the same concept of self-defense.
In some states, the burden or description of manslaughter might read differently which could have affected the outcome but in this case, the law as it was written was applied by the jury. Since they believed George Zimmerman’s account and the witness’ account of what they believe happened, self-defense law acquitted George Zimmerman, not the “stand your ground” law.
Had the jury not believed that George Zimmerman feared for his life, self-defense would not have applied either.
After the verdict came in I offered my opinion…….
Trayvon is the price society must pay for allowing morons to legally carry a gun………
If this is unacceptable then GET BUSY!
I guess you would have to be old enough to appreciate this ‘toon………
College of Political Knowledge
Subject: Early American History
We have once again returned to the debate over guns since the horrible shooting deaths of children at Sandy Hook……all the yelling and screaming about guns, all the interpretations, all the threats, all the hoopla…..all this got me to thinking about a paper I wrote back in my college days about the 2nd amendment…..so I started going through my archives, which is in sad shape since Katrina, to see if I could locate the paper…..sad to say the paper is not around….but I did find the notebook that had some of the notes I taken for the paper…….I apologize but this is a re-construction of the paper from notes and recollection….and I am an old fart some my memory is a bit sketchy…….
The question is….why was the 2nd amendment put into the Constitution? Since there is NO one left that can answer that question we need to look at events, situations and issues of the time of the writing of the Constitution…….I’m sure we will hear from someone that will quote the Jefferson thing about the tree of liberty…..let’s put that to rest now…..that was NOT a public statement he made, it was written in a private letter to a close friend and was never intended to be published……now that is out of the way……
First, we need to examine the conditions in the country……….Let’s begin at the end of the war……Cornwallis surrenders at Yorktown on October, 1781……..once the hostilities had ceased the Brits did not immediately leave……and the Continental Army dwindle down to about 1000 men….most of the fighters had left to return to their families and their businesses which had suffered much during the war……..by 1783 when the Treaty of Paris was signed the American army sole purpose was to keep an eye on the remaining Brit troops until they were removed……….
The Continental Army had been officially disbanded in November of 1783………
The year is 1783 and the troops that remained were disgruntled….disgruntle about the lack of back pay or the pensions they were promised if they continued the fight…….ever hear of the Newburgh Conspiracy? (That is a rhetorical question)……..the Continental Army was camped near Newburgh, New York their mission was to watch the Brits in NYC…….during this time officers became disgruntled with the Congress and were threatening to march on Washington and bringing the rest of the Army with them…..the whole affair was settled by compromise but the Army had made a statement that they would do whatever necessary to get their way and their demands…….
After the ceasefire there was a concern that the Tories that had not fled back to England would re-group and form some sort of 5th column to undermine the government of the newly independent America…….
1786, there was a conflict between Maryland and Virginia called the “Oyster War”……….this conflict had raged for many years before the revolution and picked up again once the shooting had ceased……basically, it was a quiet war fought over control of the Potomac and at times was a bloody conflict…….
And then in 1786 was Shay’s Rebellion……..named for a Mass. rebel named Daniel Shay……..Seeking debt relief through the issuance of paper currency and lower taxes, they attempted to prevent the courts from seizing property from indebted farmers by forcing the closure of courts in western Massachusetts. The participants in Shays’ Rebellion believed they were acting in the spirit of the Revolution and modeled their tactics after the crowd activities of the 1760s and 1770s, using “liberty poles” and “liberty trees” to symbolize their cause.
Then there are the usual culprits post war…….Americans suffer from post-war economic depression including a shortage of currency, high taxes, nagging creditors, farm foreclosures and bankruptcies…………these problems effected all 13 states……and in doing so the population was becoming more and more resentful……..in short times were tough and government was not really helping as much as the people had wanted……..
The year is now 1787 and the new country was living under the Articles Of Confederation……..and a convention was convened to draft a new constitution…..which would become the law of the land…….and this is where our story grows to the analysis on my part…….the convention by September of 1787 had a written document and was waiting for the states to ratify it. Now the first 10 amendments were known as the Bill of Rights, which were proposed to a joint session of Congress in 1789 and formally became part of the Constitution in 1791, December to be exact…………(Another rebellion in the making was the Whiskey Rebellion of 1791)……..
Like I said, NO one can say for sure what the Founding Fathers were thinking at the time….but a check of the events proceeding the constitution leads me to believe that the 2nd amendment was put in to make up for the lack of a standing army…..the government did not have the manpower to enforce many of its new laws….and for that reason the 2nd was inserted to make sure that there would be a well armed pool from which to draw from in the event of rebellion……I mean Jefferson conned Washington into staying another 4 years because he was worried that if Washington left it would leave a void and might incite rebellion……and end this country short history of independence………..
We all know the interpretations by the Left and the Right…….but the problem is it is their opinions which are no more valid or silly than anyone else…..do I think that the 2nd was suppose to be a permanent thing….nope, I feel that the Founders thought that when the country was stabilized and at real peace the amendment would be modified…….personally, I do not believe the 2nd was about protecting citizens from the government but rather protecting the government from its citizens……….
This will be my last post on this subject……no matter what is said….it is wrong….depending on where you stand……
Because the crazies on both sides of this issue are trolling the internet…..I thought I would give them something to do……….the question is…..what is all this gun BS about? First, NOTHING will be done other than some band aid like background checks and that will be it…….so stop whining! Second, NO one is coming for your guns and that includes Obama……if you think so name one law he enacted that jeopardized your guns…….Dems do not have the nuts to take on gun issues and neither do the Repubs……not even common sense solutions will be dead on arrival…….Third, even if some law was enacted it would not get past the states…..look at abortion or voting rights or pick a subject……the state legislatures will find a way around any federal law that they do not agree with…..so stop whining there is No way any guns will be confiscated from “law abiding” citizens…….
I have had a couple of my right wing friends say that I bitch a lot but offer no solutions……first, that is bullshit! I have offered solutions they just either disagree or do not read enough of this blog to make an accurate assumption…….
My most extreme solution to gun ownership is that No one can own a gun if they have not served in the military……if a person has put their life on the line for their country then they should have some special dispensations……Now I realize this is a “no fly” and like I said it is my most extreme solution……
Everybody is entitled to hunting guns, shotguns and handguns…….no assault weapons….but if we must have assault weapons in the hands of civilians then No magazine over 12 rounds…….if a person needs more than 12 shots then they are a menace to society or flipping blind! And if they need more than 12 shots to defend themselves then buy a shotgun because you are a moron and a danger to yourself…….okay then we will have the ea brains that say they hunt with an assault weapon……..if you are that bad of a shot then do your hunting at Winn-Dixie……..
Finally, all this accusations of people coming for your guns is nothing but a way to sell more guns…….it is propaganda that is preying on people’s fear and paranoia……I reiterate….NO ONE IS COMING FOR YOUR GUNS! Stop whining and get a grip!
I guess it is no secret that my conserv friends think I am a Liberal…..I am more than that because to me a liberal is just a conserv that has been arrested….I am progressive meaning I want the country and government to progress forward to the future….and yes I am a radical….meaning I want real change to improve the country, not this willy nilly reform that we have had for the last 50 years…….but for some reason when I mention guns or the 2nd amendment all my friends get their conserv hackles up and tell me about how much safer the country with guns, or how much crime rate falls with the ownership of guns, or how it will be unconstitutional for any messing with gun laws……
Okay let me be clear! Even though I am on the Left politically….I have NO problem with gun ownership and I in NO way condone the “take my guns away” laws that some see lurking everywhere….In fact I have guns….blackpowder, shotgun and a pistol….I hunt but prefer bow hunting to guns…..so please believe me that I do NOT want to take your beloved guns away and would not support any action to do so….
I do have a problem with assault weapons and extended magazines…….there is NO need for either! And NO one needs 20 or 30 weapons….if they are for a collection then lead the barrels and hang them on the wall!
I mean if one wants such for “home protection” and needs multiple bullets to get the job done…… then I suggest that if they are that bad of a shot to spend a little cash and get a shotgun….you get more coverage for the bang. And if one would use such to hunt then I also suggest the local supermarket and save themselves the aggravation of trying to bag the game.
There is NO logical need for assault weapons and extended magazines in society…..if one feels that they cannot exist without these weapons then I have another suggestion…and if one wants to play Rambo…..JOIN THE MILITARY and live out your perverted fantasy.
See! Not all us Lefties want to steal your cherished guns!
I just wished ALL Americans were as paranoid about the other amendments and their possible loss as they are over the 2nd.
His name is Jared Lee Loughner….the man that killed many and critically wounded a US Congresswoman, Giffords in Arizona……….But why?
A note written by Jared Lee Loughner ahead of his shooting rampage in Tucson appears to show that he made careful preparations to assassinate Gabrielle Giffords, the congresswoman gravely wounded in the attack that also killed six other people.
The existence of the note is revealed in court papers filed after Loughner, 22, was charged on Sunday with murder and attempted assassination. The FBI document says that Loughner wrote on an envelope the words “I planned ahead”, “My assassination” and “Giffords”. He then signed the note.
Someone needs to pay attention! Flying the flag at half-mast or postponing government or writing about one’s outrage at the act…is NOT enough!
Some so-called experts have shown that this man’s words are very telling of what he was thinking and that it could be politically motivated…….
The Southern Poverty Law Centre, one of America’s leading trackers of hate crimes, said there are signs in some of Loughner’s writings of far-right influence. Mark Potok, the director of research on hate groups at the centre, drew attention to Loughner’s online ramblings that reject the US currency.
“At one point, Loughner refers disparagingly to ‘currency that’s not backed by gold or silver’. The idea that silver and gold are the only ‘constitutional’ money is widespread in the anti-government ‘Patriot’ movement that produced so much violence in the 1990s,” he said.
Potok said the Patriot movement believes that paper money issued by the government is not legal tender. He said there were also clues to Loughner’s thinking in his internet postings in which he accused the government of “mind control on the people by controlling grammar”.
Potok said that fits with the theory of a Patriot conspiracy theorist who claims that the government uses grammar to “enslave” Americans.
But make NO mistake! This guy is a deranged crazy……no matter of accusation will change that…..
But the national conversation will be more about the rhetoric and NOT about ease of which this person or anyone like him can obtain a firearm and achieve the same results…..while I agree that the rhetoric could well be at the heart of this man’s actions and it should be addressed….but the way firearms are obtained needs to be the focus of this debate and possibly find a way to slow the whack jobs from getting their demented little hands on implements of destruction……If only!
Sadly to say that in a month all this concern will be just a memory on facebook and nothing will be done about the ease at which lunatics can obtain a firearm……ain’t democracy great?
Ignorant a/holes!
With the shooting of Dem Rep. Giffords more and more idiots come out of the wood work……now here is a really good idea….(sarcasm, if case you were confused)……
Instead of taking guns out of American hands, some frightened politicians will start packing heat themselves for protection. “After the elections, I let my guard down,” NC Democratic Rep. Heath Shule told Politico. “Now I know I need” to have my gun “on me. We’re going to need to do a much better job of with security at these events.
Members of Congress can be appointed special deputy marshals if the US Marshals Service determines they’re in danger, reports the New York Daily News. They can then carry a concealed handgun anywhere, including into the Capitol. Sen. Orrin Hatch was granted deputy status after receiving death threats in the ’90s.
Really? A good idea! Put hundreds of people in the middle of the gunfight at the OK Corral…..BRILLIANT!
And then there is the Church that hatred built…..the religious zealots that spend their time protesting at funerals of fallen soldiers with signs saying God kill the person because of the government’s support of gay rights…..mental midgets!
Westboro Baptist Church, the church of hate that pickets funerals to highlight its vile attacks, will picket the funeral of the little girl and five others who were killed in Saturday’s shooting rampage.Fred Phelps, in an offensive press release you may not want to read in full, announced Sunday he will bring his tiny band of followers, fresh from last month’s Elizabeth Edwards funeral, to this wounded city because, “That’s how God the avenger rolls,” he says.
Are these people smoking crack?
There comes a time when people need to remove their heads from their butts….and use a little common sense …..I know it can be difficult to remove one’s head but it can be done if one truly wants to…….two cases that illustrate the sheer lunacy of the American people…like I said “more moron than human”!
Recall back in the day, back in the young days of 2010? All the hate and Obama scare tactics? Recall the mental midgets totting guns and a implying some form of violence? First there was a member of the House of Representatives that said some of her Democratic colleagues should be investigated as un-American. There were some that called for the Right to “reload” or the mindless quote from Jefferson about the “Tree of Liberty” and then there was another that said that the people needed to use their “2nd amendment solution”…..well has all their vile and hatred of the democratic process given us our answer to whether these cretins were serious or not? Don’t look now…but you asked for and now you have it!
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords remained heavily sedated and in critical condition Sunday as investigators sought to understand what motivated a gunman to carry out an assassination attempt on the Democratic lawmaker in a rampage that killed six people. Authorities said Gifford, 40, was targeted at a public gathering by a man with a semiautomatic weapon around 10 a.m. Saturday outside a busy Tucson supermarket. Arizona’s chief federal judge and five others were killed and 13 people were wounded, including the Democrat lawmaker.
Giffords is a moderate Democrat who narrowly won re-election in November against a tea party candidate who sought to throw her from office over her support of the health care law. Anger over her position became violent at times, with her Tucson office vandalized after the House passed the overhaul last March and someone showing up at a recent gathering with a weapon.
Of course people like Palin, McCain, and others have posted just how outraged they are at the violence….but what did these mental midgets think was going to happen with all the looneys out there with guns and NO making them leave them at home? What did you f*cking morons think was going to happen?
It is time to crack down on the possibility of more of this type of “political action” from occurring again……there is a time and a place from you dick brains with guns and a political gathering is NOT the best place for you…
If you extreme Righties want to really improve the political system….then the next time you feel like using your gun…why not turn it onto yourself and do all of us a FAVOR!