Two Years Since Newtown

Memorial in Newtown /Credit: AP (appeared on ABC News website)

Two years ago on December 14, 2012, a disturbed 20 year-old shot and killed his mother, then drove to Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, and killed 20 children and 6 adults before turning the Bushmaster rifle on himself.  This shooting was supposed to be the one that finally changed everything about the availability of guns in the United States and our national epidemic of gun violence.   It has not.  Thanks to a powerful gun lobby and fanatic "gun rights" advocates, very little has changed at the national level.  It is a disgraceful reminder of the power of special interest group money to prevent legislation for the common good from being enacted.

In the two years since Sandy Hook, there have been 21 deadly school shootings in the United States resulting in 37 deaths, including 5 of the shooters.  Mark Follman at Mother Jones analyzes the past two years of these attacks in a December 9 post and adds that "During the same period, there have been dozens of other gun incidents on school grounds that caused injuries, as well as seven additional cases where someone committed suicide with a firearm, but no one else died."

While action has been minimal to non-existent at the national level, there has been some good legislation passed at the state level - most recently, in the state of Washington voters approved a ballot initiative requiring universal background checks in November.  The Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence summarizes the progress: "In the past two years, states have seen historic and unprecedented progress in adopting gun laws to help keep communities safe from gun violence. A total of 99 new laws strengthening gun regulations have passed in 37 states nationwide since December 12, 2012, and 10 states have made major overhauls to their gun laws. 2014 was a remarkable year for smart gun laws, with California’s Gun Violence Restraining Order law, Washington State’s successful ballot initiative for universal background checks, and seven states adopting legislation to keep guns out of the hands of domestic violence abusers."  You can check out its 2014 Annual Gun Laws State Scorecard at http://gunlawscorecard.org/.

In addition to the successful ballot initiative in Washington, gun-control advocates saw a few other victories on Election Day. In Colorado, the two state senators who were recalled in 2013 by a gun lobby funded recall vote won back their seats.  As the LA Times reported: "...in a little-noticed footnote to Colorado’s closely watched gubernatorial and U.S. Senate races, the Democrats won back both of those seats, and it wasn’t at all close in either Pueblo or Colorado Springs."  And, in the midst of what was a Republican rout, the Democratic governors of Connecticut and Colorado won re-election in November despite gun lobby efforts to unseat them.  Connecticut and Colorado passed some of the toughest gun legislation in the country after the tragedies at Sandy Hook and Aurora.

In recent news, the gun lobby suffered a defeat Monday when, in what CNN analysts called "a small political miracle", the Senate approved Vivek Murthy as Surgeon General.  The gun lobby and their allies on the right had delayed his appointment for more than a year because he dared to say that gun violence is a public health issue.

Also on Monday, the families of nine people killed at Newtown filed suit against the maker and sellers of the Bushmaster AR-15 rifle.  The suit alleges "wrongful death and negligence" and seeks unspecified monetary damages.  "The complaint says the gun allows shooters to inflict unparalleled civilian carnage.  'In order to continue profiting from the sale of AR-15s, defendants chose to disregard the unreasonable risks the rifle posed outside of specialized, highly regulated institutions like the armed forces and law enforcement," the plaintiffs wrote in the complaint...A 2005 law shields gun manufacturers from most lawsuits over criminal use of their products, but it does include an exception for cases where companies should know a weapon is likely to be used in a way that risks injury to others. A lawyer for the Newtown families, Katie Mesner-Hage, said the lawsuit appears to be the first of its kind against a manufacturer to claim that exception." [AP/Huffington Post, Dec. 15]

The public is way ahead of the politicians on this issue with overwhelming majorities favoring common sense gun regulations.  Referring to the re-election of Governors Malloy (CT) and Hickenlooper (CO), the Americans for Principled Leadership website notes: "The public polls on gun safety reforms have been proven out in these two gubernatorial elections. By lopsided majorities the voting public strongly favored the gun safety legislation put in place after the Aurora movie theatre and Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings. It’s only a question of time before other states catch on."

Photo Credit: smartgunlaws.org (Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence)

Once the laws are on the books, we can expect attacks from the gun lobby in the courts - usually on the basis of the Second Amendment.  On the district court level, 2014 saw a number of victories for common sense gun laws,  In September. "U.S. District Court Judge John Darrah handed the gun sense movement yet another legal victory by upholding a local ordinance that prohibits military-style assault weapons and large capacity ammunition magazines (“LCMs”) in the city of Highland Park, Illinois. The decision is the most recent in a growing string of cases unanimously finding that prohibitions on assault weapons and LCMs do not infringe on the Second Amendment...This outcome marks the tenth major court victory for common sense gun laws in 2014. Despite a concerted effort by the gun lobby to challenge a host of reasonable firearm regulations, courts have rejected Second Amendment challenges to laws ranging from universal background checks and firearm registration to safe storage and restrictions on assault weapons and LCMs. The message from the courts is clear: the vast majority of sensible gun laws are fully compatible with the Second Amendment."  [Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, Sep. 29]

The positive state and local actions on gun regulation make these communities safer.  But other states have passed laws making guns more readily available and present.  Guns can be transported across state lines as easily as people, and action at a national level is also necessary. Unfortunately, after the midterm elections, action at the national level is now more unlikely than ever.

Then there is the question of the Supreme Court.  What will happen when these lower court cases make their inevitable way to the conservative-majority Supreme Court is anybody's guess.  SCOTUS' infamous District of Columbia vs. Heller 5-4 ruling in 2008 upheld a district court ruling that a Washington D.C. law banning handguns and requiring other firearms to be stored unloaded or locked was unconstitutional.  In so doing, they essentially declared that an individual unconnected to service in a militia had the right to "bear arms" - a first ever and unprecedented interpretation.

But the news at SCOTUS is not all bad.  In the court's last term (2013-4), "despite numerous invitations and opportunities, the justices went out of their way to avoid the right to bear arms.  Signs of this were clear...when the court in a 5–4 ruling upheld a major gun control law, the federal ban on 'straw' purchasing without so much as mentioning the Second Amendment." Justice Kennedy is apparently the swing vote on these issues and neither the conservative or liberal justices appeared willing to bet on which side he would vote if the Second Amendment were brought into the case.  "Kennedy seems increasingly less likely to be a solid vote for expansive Second Amendment rights. Indeed, twice [in the 2013-4] term he voted for expansive readings of gun control laws instead. For the NRA, so used to winning in statehouses around the country, this can't be good news." [Slate, June 19]

Related
Let's Repeal the Second Amendment [March 18, 2014]

The Midterms - the Polls and What's at Stake

It's three months until the midterm elections. Besides the 435 House seats and 36 Senate seats to be decided on November 4, voters will go to the polls to elect 46 state legislatures, 36 state governors, and numerous local officials.  The last midterms in 2010 swept Republicans into control of the House of Representatives and state governments and broke the filibuster-proof Democratic majority in the Senate.   In 2010, Democrats lost 6 Senate seats and 63 House seats. The crushing defeats for Democrats were a primary motivator for writing this blog - my first post was "Anger and Lies in the Mid-terms."  The 2010 midterms were a game changer. They led directly to the governmental paralysis at the national level that continues to this day.  Just as importantly, increased Republican control of state governments resulted in gerrymandered districts and voter suppression laws geared to ensure Republican control of the House and to make more probable their takeover of the Senate.  Supreme Court decisions on campaign finance laws and the Voting Rights Act also aid the Republican cause.

The midterms have historically led to losses for the President's political party.  In the twenty-six midterm elections held since 1910, the President's party has lost, on average, 32 House seats and 4 Senate seats.  Money and turnout determine elections.  Money favors Republicans and turnout favors Democrats.

Thanks to the Roberts Supreme Court, the 2014 midterms will be the most expensive in history.  The Open Secrets.org website tallies the financial activity for House and Senate races in 2013-2014.  House races have generated $424 million for Republicans and $316 million for Democrats.  Senate races have generated $207 million for Republicans and $197 million for Democrats.

Anyone doubting the influence of money on policy decisions will find it hard to explain policies that are opposed by the vast majority  or that are morally bankrupt.  We need only to look at the contributions to political campaigns and the amount spent on lobbying by, respectively, the pro-gun lobby ($4.3 million in political contributions in the 2012  election cycle; $22.2 million in lobbying for 2013-2014)  and the pro-Israel lobby (Sheldon Adelson doled out $92.8 million to Republican super PACs in 2012;  other pro-Israel groups contributed $16.1 million to the federal campaigns of both parties in the 2012 election cycle.) Anyone hoping for a change in policies that contribute to the income and wealth gap in the United States need only reflect on the contributions to political campaigns by the finance/insurance/real estate sectors ($228 million in campaign contributions to candidates and parties so far in the 2013-2014 election cycle).

Congressional disapproval ratings and the voter suppression laws increase the probability of low voter turnout.  As of 2011, there were 42 million registered Democrats, 30 million registered GOPers, and 24 million independents.  According to census figures, there are over 200 million people in the voting eligible population. About half the US voting population have not registered with a party or as independents. Turnout in midterm elections is even worse than that - the 2010 elections saw just 41% of the voting eligible population show up at the polls.

Both the money figures and the expected low turnout promise continued Republican control of the House and a loss of Democratic seats in the Senate.  But where do the polls say we stand three months before the mid-term elections?  Here's a look at the latest poll results for some specific races. (Data are from the Real Clear Politics website)

Governors
Florida - Charlie Crist (D) 43.8% v. Rick Scott (R) 42.5%
Wisconsin - Scott Walker (R) 47.0% v. Mary Burke(D) 46.3%
Texas - Greg Abbott (R) 50.5% v. Wendy Davis (D) 36.8%
Ohio - Jim Kasich (R) 47.0% v. Ed FitzGerald (D) 38.8%
Pennsylvania - Tom Wolf (D) 52.0% v. Tom Corbett (R) 39.0%

Two toss-ups, two Republican likely's and one Democratic likely in some of the most important Republican held states - some small gains in state governments but not a lot to cheer about here.

Senators 
This is the key group.  There are 21 Democratic seats and 15 Republican seats to be decided.  Loss of the Senate majority would ensure an end to what's left of Obama's agenda and to any hope for progressive or even moderate appointments to the judiciary.  These are the key seats in play in red or swing states currently with a Democratic incumbent Senator and/or with a retiring Democratic Senator:

Louisiana - Cassidy (R) 46.8% v. Landrieu (D) 45.8%
Alaska - Begich (D) 44.0% v. Sullivan (R) 41.0%
Arkansas - Cotton 47.4% (R) v. Pryor (D) 43.8%
North Carolina - Hagan (D) 45.8% v. Tillis (R) 44.0%
Virginia - Warner (D) 51.0% v. Gillespie 33.7%
Montana - Daines (R) 51.7% v. Walsh (D) 38.0%
South Dakota - Rounds(R) 44% v. Weiland (D) 29.5%
Iowa - Ernst (R) 44.8% v. Braley (D) 44.0%
Michigan - Peters (D) 43.8% v.  Land (R) 39.2%

It's still early and many of the key races are toss-ups.  But, if the vote were held tomorrow and the current poll figures held, Democrats would lose 5 Senate seats, making for a 50-50 split.  Democrats would technically retain the majority only because of the Vice President's tie-breaking role in votes brought to the Senate floor.

Representatives
The composition of the current House of Representatives is 233 Republicans, 199 Democrats, and 3 vacancies.  The most recent RealClearPolitics polling analysis shows 230 seats going to Republicans, 188 going to Democrats and 17 tossups.  Splitting the tossups roughly in half makes for a Republican majority of 239 to 196 Democrats.  In the best of all possible worlds - all tossups going to Democrats - the Republican majority would still be 25 seats - 230 to 205.

Finishing James Brady's fight for gun background checks [Newark Star Ledger editorial, Aug 4]
James Brady, Ronald Reagan's press secretary, died Monday at the age of 73.  Brady was shot in the head during the attempted assassination of Reagan in 1981.  He was permanently disabled and lived with constant pain but remained, until his death, "a tireless fighter for gun safety laws -- particularly the most common sense reform of all, universal background checks."  The "Brady Law" passed in 1993 made background checks "a requirement for gun purchases from licensed dealers."  It  is credited with stopping the sale of "more than 2 million illegal firearms sales -- half of them attempted purchases by convicted felons."  But Brady knew the job wasn't finished.  The loopholes that allow 40 percent of gun purchases without background checks have never been closed.  "Universal background checks are now supported by 90 percent of Americans, 84 percent of gun owners and 74 percent of NRA members.  They don't march in line with industry lobbyists. We can only hope that eventually, the political class will yield to a public opinion that James Brady started to shift."

Sunday Roundup - August 3, 2014

This is the weekly selection of news and opinion from sources outside the US corporate mainstream media. Today we look at Gaza, Ukraine, Russia, and US gun laws. 

“Last night, children were killed as they slept next to their parents on the floor of a classroom in a UN-designated shelter in Gaza. Children killed in their sleep; this is an affront to all of us, a source of universal shame. Today the world stands disgraced."

- UNRWA Commissioner General Pierre Kahenbuhl, 

after the Israeli shelling of a sixth UN refugee shelter Wednesday

Gaza
After two brief lulls in the fighting in the past week, Israel's siege of Gaza continued. Palestinian civilian casualties continue to rise and the devastating destruction of Gaza by Israeli military strikes continues. As of Saturday, August 2, the Palestinian death toll now exceeds 1600; more than 8300 have been wounded. UN sources estimate 80 percent of the Palestinian dead - more than 1200 - are civilians.  300 of the dead are children.  Israeli deaths stand at 67, including 64 soldiers and 3 civilians. 

Monday - Missiles...struck several sites in Gaza, including a park inside a refugee camp and an outpatient building of the strip's largest hospital, disrupting a relative lull at the start of the Muslim Eid al-Fitr holiday. The IDF denied responsibility.  Hamas denied it had fired any rockets in the area and said it was "categorically an airstrike by Israel". It said it had collected schrapnel from the scene that it could prove was from an Israeli munition.  Medics said that an Israeli missile also hit a building, believed to be an outpatient clinic, close to the main gate of Shifa hospital, the same hospital where the victims of the playground strike were taken.  [Al Jazeera, July 29]

Tuesday - Israel broadened its assault on Gaza on Tuesday, wrecking the region's only power plant and killing more than 125 Palestinians.  Barrages "destroyed Hamas's media offices, the home of a top leader and what Palestinians said was a devastating hit on the only electricity plant," The New York Times reports....With Tuesday's bombings, which the Guardian described as "the most relentless and widespread" of the three-week-old conflict, the Palestinian death toll has exceeded 1,200. The shelling of the power plant, which Palestinian officials described as taking a devastating hit, will bring additional hardship. The lack of electricity will make existing problems with water and sewage far worse. "We need at least one year to repair the power plant, the turbines, the fuel tanks and the control room," Fathi Sheik Khalil of the Gaza energy authority told the Guardian. "Everything was burned."  [NPR, July 29]  The lack of electricity also boosts the need for increased fuel in Gaza to power water and sewage pumps and run backup generators, the U.N. said. Hospitals are especially vulnerable to electricity and water cuts as they try to cope with the influx of the injured and dead in addition to medical supply shortages.  Ninety percent of the population is without electricity, sharply affecting water and sanitation services, with only 5 percent of Gaza’s water fit for drinking. This has raised fears of an imminent public health crisis, according to the United Nations...And without electricity, communication with the outside world for many Palestinians in Gaza has slowed to a trickle....Some 20 percent of Gaza’s population has been internally displaced by the crisis. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) is housing about 220,000 of them, according to Chris McGrath, its Washington liaison. But it’s unclear how much more the agency can do. “We’re stretched thin, and our supplies are running out,” he said. “There’s very little space left in our facilities.” [Al Jazeera, August 2]

Aftermath of the strike on a UN school in Gaza City.
Photograph: Marco Longari/AFP/Getty Images
Image appeared in The Guardian

Wednesday - At least 19 Palestinians were killed and about 90 injured early on Wednesday when a UN school sheltering displaced people was hit by shells during a second night of relentless bombardment that followed an Israeli warning of a protracted military campaign.  Pierre Krahenbuhl, commissioner-general of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, condemned “in in the strongest possible terms this serious violation of international law by Israeli forces”.  He said in a statement: “Last night, children were killed as they slept next to their parents on the floor of a classroom in a UN-designated shelter in Gaza. Children killed in their sleep; this is an affront to all of us, a source of universal shame. Today the world stands disgraced." [The Guardian, July 30]

A cease fire failed after just several hours on Friday morning.  The West blames Hamas for the collapse of the cease fire and, as usual, says little about the gross overreaction by the Israeli military.  The current cause for the intensification of the assault against Gaza is a missing Israeli soldier that Israelis believe was captured by Hamas.   Around 100 people have been killed and hundreds more injured in Rafah since fighting restarted following the collapse of an internationally brokered ceasefire Friday morning. At least a dozen have been killed elsewhere in Gaza and scores wounded. Health officials said the main hospital in Rafah had to be evacuated because of shelling on Friday afternoon....Early on Saturday, the Hamas military wing said in a statement on its website that it was "not aware until this moment of a missing soldier or his whereabouts or the circumstances of his disappearance". The group said it believed the soldier might have been killed in a clash with Hamas fighters about an hour before the start of the ceasefire...The United States and the United Nations supported Israeli accounts that Hamas had taken advantage of the 72-hour humanitarian ceasefire to ambush IDF soldiers near the entrance to a tunnel outside Rafah, on the southern end of the Gaza Strip on the Egyptian border, killing two soldiers at the same time as seizing Goldin.  [The Guardian, August 2]
Update:  Israel confirmed on Saturday August 2 that the soldier presumed captured had been killed in action. 

Why the Ceasefires Aren't Working
International efforts to secure a cease fire in the current conflict have failed repeatedly.  The only way to secure a lasting cease fire is to end the blockade on Gaza and for the Israeli troops to return home.  This is something that Israel, Egypt and the West so far have refused to consider.  The world has rightly condemned the Hamas rocket attacks into Israel, which have killed 35 Israelis in the past 10 years.  However, the rocket attacks, according to Britain Eakin, a symptom of deeper issues that must be addressed as part of a comprehensive peace process. In that regard, any cease-fire that does not contain provisions to end the blockade will merely be a Band-Aid.  In an opinion piece for Al Jazeera, Eakin quotes Chris McGrath, the UNWRA liaison in Washington.  “The situation [in Gaza] was bleak before this conflict, and if something is not done to address those longer-term challenges,” McGrath cautioned, “conflict is likely to flare up again in the future...Is Gaza going to be a place where people can actually live in 2020?” McGrath asked. “The answer under current circumstances is no.”  Eakin notes, Hamas has recently signaled its willingness to consider Israel’s legitimate security concerns. It put forth conditions for a 10-year truce that would allow for international monitors in areas of concern for Israel, including at border crossings, along the borders and at Gaza’s yet-to-be developed airport and seaport. Now is the time for cooler heads to prevail. Palestinians, like Israelis, deserve to live in peace and security and must be allowed to develop their economy. Any cease-fire that does not treat the parties equally will fall far short of addressing the legitimate security needs of both people — and consequently won’t be sustainable.

Links
The Nation, "Five Israeli Talking Points on Gaza - Debunked" - a good article to keep in front of you as you watch network and cable news "coverage".

Americans for Peace Now's  Alert and Petition Supporting John Kerry's Efforts to Obtain A Ceasefire

Hamas conditions for a 10-year truce with Israel


Ukraine
Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko ...announced a unilateral cease-fire in a 20 km radius of the crash site of the MH17 flight in a telephone conversation with the PMs of Netherlands and Australia, according to his press-service.  Earlier in the day [July 30] US Secretary of State John Kerry claimed Kiev was ready for a cease-fire “now,” following a meeting with Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin in Washington. Kerry added that President Poroshenko is also ready to start talks with the militia in the southeast of the country. Russia has called on Kiev numerous times to establish a cease-fire and start talks. The local militia in the south-east offered a bilateral cease-fire last week. Kiev refused. [Russia Times, July 30]

Russia
On Tuesday, the EU and the US announced new sanctions against Russia for its support of the Ukrainian separatists.  The EU has agreed on a package of "significant" additional restrictive measures targeting Russia's finance, defense and energy sectors, said the European Council in a statement....These decisions will limit access of Russian state-owned financial institutions to EU capital markets, impose an arms embargo, establish an export ban on dual-use goods for military end users, and curtail Russian access to sensitive technologies particularly in the field of the oil sector, according to the statement....Following its European allies, Obama announced an expansion of U.S. penalties targeting key sectors of Russia's economy.  Building on measures unveiled two weeks ago, the United States expanded its sanctions to more Russian banks and defense companies, and blocked the export of specific goods and technology to Russia's energy sector. [Xinhuanet, July 30]

Guns and Domestic Violence

On Wednesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee is holding its first-ever hearing on domestic violence and guns...Several Democrat-backed bills that aim to strengthen federal law when it comes to gun ownership and domestic abuse are languishing in Congress...The gun lobby has fought back against [Sen. Klobuchar's] bill...But not all gun-owners are siding with the NRA to fight these stricter gun controls. "I am a gun owner. I was shot and left for dead by my own gun," says Christy Martin, a former championship boxer whose ex-husband was sentenced in 2012 to 25 years in prison for attempting to murder her with a firearm....Elvin Daniel is a gun-owner and self-described NRA member who is testifying at the hearing in support of efforts to curb gun ownership for stalkers and abusers. He accuses the NRA of employing "a scare tactic" to prevent Klobuchar's bill from advancing. His sister was shot and killed by her estranged husband in 2012. [Mother Jones, July 30]

Stop the Madness

“I don’t care about your sympathy. I don’t give a s--t that you feel sorry for me...Get to work and do something. I’ll tell the president the same thing if he calls me. Getting a call from a politician doesn’t impress me.” - Richard Martinez, Santa Barbara gun victim's father

This weekend's tragedy in Santa Barbara leaves us wondering what will it take to get the country to confront the widespread availability of guns that lies at the heart of our developed-world-leading murder rate.  The craven toadies in Congress beholden to the NRA have done nothing - not after Sandy Hook, not after Gabby Giffords' shooting, not after the D.C. navy yard, not after any number of other recent mass shootings.  Gun lobby apologists and paranoid wing-nuts stifle any discussion of our unreasonably lax gun laws.

Comprehensive Federal gun control laws are a must if we are going to ever stop the ongoing killings in our communities.  The first and minimum step is a universal background check law with no loopholes, with annual renewal requirements for possession of a gun combined, and with severe civil and criminal penalties for non-compliance.  I'm amazed to read officials and pundits decrying how helpless we are in "identifying potential killers".  Well, if the mentally unstable and violent felons couldn't get their hands on weapons under any circumstances, you would eliminate that concern, wouldn't you?

And if the NRA complains about a national gun registry - well, tell them to go screw themselves.  That is exactly what is needed.  I mean if you have nothing to hide, why would you be against it?  If we require car registrations and driver licenses to be renewed, why shouldn't we require the same of guns and gun owners?

Then there's the disturbing trend of gun extremists threatening women.  Mother Jones reports on the attacks against paralyzed gun reform advocate Jennifer Longdon in a May 15 post and notes that these attacks are not isolated incidents:  "Ever since the Sandy Hook massacre, a small but vocal faction of the gun rights movement has been targeting women who speak up on the issue—whether to propose tighter regulations, educate about the dangers to children, or simply to sell guns with innovative security features. The vicious and often sexually degrading attacks have evolved far beyond online trolling, culminating in severe bullying, harassment, invasion of privacy, and physical aggression."

"Mother's Day" video aimed at women calling for gun reforms

(There are other videos and photos in the Mother Jones article.  This one is, believe it or not, one of the less offensive.  These videos and photos add a whole new dimension to the phrase "gun nut".)

Kudos to Chipotle and Starbucks and the others who've taken a step towards sanity by discouraging or prohibiting guns from being brought into their establishment.  But individual, private actions will never be enough to stem the country's gun violence.  Comprehensive Federal action is needed and it is needed now. Maybe there will be some movement on meaningful gun legislation in the coming days or maybe the NRA and its apologists will once again thwart even a minimal step towards restoring sanity to our gun laws.

Links
80 killed by guns in week prior to Santa Barbara

Let's Repeal the Second Amendment

One of the many pieces of legislation bottled up by the do-nothing-Republican-controlled-and-Republican-filibustered Congress is gun control regulation.  Even after Sandy Hook, Republicans managed to prevent meaningful Federal gun legislation from being enacted - not even the requirement for universal background checks or a ban on assault rifles.  Recourse to the courts for a common sense interpretation of the Second Amendment for the common good is useless.  The Republican majority on the Supreme Court refuses to recognize "A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State" as the clearly dependent introductory clause that it is.

While some states have advanced tougher gun laws, others are moving into the deep end of the bizarre.  Georgia's State House of Representatives has drafted what's been called the "most extreme gun bill in America" by Americans for Responsible Solutions.  "Georgia lawmakers could soon make broad changes to the state’s gun laws to allow firearms in bars, churches, airports, and certain government buildings." [MSNBC/March 14]  What in hell could these fools be thinking?  In Georgia, no permit is needed to purchase a handgun and the state has the 9th highest firearm homicide rate in the country. 

NRA money continues to flow into Colorado to upend the stronger gun laws passed there last year.  The NRA has been able to defeat two state senators instrumental to the passage of the gun legislation in recall elections.  But so far they have had little success in overturning the laws as Democrats are holding on to a majority in the state legislature.  Seven of the eight bills introduced by the pro-gun industry  have been defeated - Concealed Handgun Carry without a Permit, Ammunition Magazine Prohibition. Concealed-Carry in Public Schools, Governor Cannot Restrict Firearms During Emergencies, No Background Check for Step-Relations, Concerning Background Checks and Fees for Gun Transfers, Repeal Large-Capacity Ammunition Magazine Ban.  One (Repeal Regulations on Firearms Purchases in Contiguous States) passed the State Senate and is pending in the House. This last bill, according to John Morse of Americans for Principled Leadership. "actually addresses an outmoded 1969 state statute that has subsequently been eclipsed by the Brady Bill and other federal legislation passed more recently....No harm is being done with this clean up measure."

According Slate.com's gun death tally, more than 12,000 people were killed by guns in the US between the time of the Sandy Hook shooting and Dec. 31, 2013.  Add to this the 20,000 suicides per year and the need for common sense regulation of guns becomes clear.  Mental illness, socio-economic factors, gang violence, guns in the hands of felons - these all contribute to the totals. But taking guns out of the hands of those prone to use them against others or themselves and taking assault rifles out of everybody's hands would make the totals significantly lower.

Every study and every statistic point to the connection between the availability of guns and gun-related deaths.  The gun homicide rate in the US with its relatively lax gun laws is vastly higher than that in other developed countries - 10 times that of Italy and 90 times that of the United Kingdom, for example.  [Wikipedia]  The largest study of gun violence in the United States, released in September 2013, "confirms a point that should be obvious: widespread American gun ownership is fueling America’s gun violence epidemic...[The authors found] “for each 1 percentage point increase in proportion of household gun ownership,...firearm homicide rate increased by 0.9 percent." [Think Progress website]  A Harvard study found that states with the strongest/most gun laws had a firearms death rate 42% lower than the states with fewest controls on guns.  The authors take pains to note that "You can’t necessarily say one absolutely led to the other … but you can say those things are related.”   I found one of the reasons for their hesitation absolutely incredible.  “One of the major challenges that has existed over the past 15 years is that basically all avenues of federal funding – either the CDC or the NIH – have been cut off from studying firearm fatalities,” [the author Dr. Eric] Fleegler said. ”I’m a pediatric emergency medicine doctor. If there are ten children who die from a toy or some sort of injury, there is an incredible human cry that we make sure that we stop those types of deaths. Here on the other side you have 31,000 people who die every single year from firearms. That is a number of deaths on virtually an unprecedented level, and nothing is being done to understand this or reduce it.” [Here & Now webpage, Boston Public Radio website]

I cannot get the objection of those who oppose universal background checks.  If you personally have nothing to hide, why are you reluctant?  I cannot get the point of those who would make possession of high capacity magazines and assault rifles the right of every mentally unstable American.  Under what circumstances other than mass murder or civil insurrection would you ever need these?  Please don't say hunting.  And I really can't get why Federal funding has been cutoff from studies of gun violence. What are they afraid we'll find out?

Maybe it's time to repeal the outmoded second amendment or at least interpret it in a manner consistent with the amendment authors' intent.  It was written at a time when muskets had to be powdered and reloaded after every shot, when America was a rural nation, when some were worried that the country would be reclaimed by Great Britain and, probably most importantly, when the militia were the only means of defense.  As Dan Heaton writes at Yahoo Voices: "After the Revolutionary War, the standing army of the new country essentially ceased to exist and the various state militias were again the primary means of national defense." .In other words, the militia granted the right to bear arms was the equivalent to today's armed forces.  No other Western democracy has anything like this enduring anachronism from the eighteenth century and they are surviving just fine, thank you.

In Brief - Updates on Issues We've Been Following
U.S. Accidental Shootings mid-February to early March

Oregon and Montana became the fourth and fifth states to restore Congressional food stamp cuts. They joined New York, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania.  Of the 14 states and the District of Columbia affected by the cuts, at least seven states (Connecticut, Montana, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont) plus D.C. are moving or have already moved to block them, according to a Stateline survey. The remaining "heat and eat" states  — California, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin — are considering doing the same.

Senate negotiators struck a bipartisan deal on March 13 that would renew federal unemployment benefits for the long-term jobless.  The bill could come up for a vote in the Senate by the end of March but its fate in the Republican-controlled House is up in the air.

President Obama rolled out his plan to "force American businesses to pay more overtime to millions of workers, the latest move by his administration to confront corporations that have had soaring profits even as wages have stagnated."

The people of Crimea voted overwhelmingly to rejoin Russia on Sunday.  On Monday the US and EU announced announced personal sanctions against Russian and Crimean officials.

Louisiana's lawsuit against MoveOn's billboards advocating Medicaid expansion

Gun Deaths, the Second Amendment and the NRA

The shooting tragedy at the Nevada middle school this Monday has brought gun violence back to the nation's attention.  A twelve year old, a seventh grader, wounded two students, killed a teacher and then killed himself.  It's not a mass shooting (there have been 16 mass shootings since Newton) so it won't stay in the news cycle for long.  But it's the kind of tragic event that should give us all pause to think what the American attitude towards guns is costing the nation.  Scott Sonner (AP/Huffington Post) reported Tuesday that the student got the gun from his home: "Washoe County School District police said they are still working to determine how the boy obtained the 9mm semi-automatic Ruger handgun used in the Monday morning spree at Sparks Middle School. The boy's parents are cooperating with authorities and could face charges in the case, police said."  The teacher who was killed, 45-year-old math teacher and former Marine Michael Landsberry, was approaching the boy asking him to hand over the gun when he was shot fatally in the chest.  Michael Landsberry's heroic actions allowed students to run to safety and saved lives.  So we have two more deaths that may have been prevented with stricter laws to prevent gun violence.

Slate reports that from an analysis of the "most recent CDC estimates for yearly deaths by guns in the United States, it is likely that as of today, 10/23/2013, roughly 28,177 people have died from guns in the U.S. since the Newtown shootings."  There is so much that can be done to reduce the deaths but it is stymied by the guns lobby, led by its well-funded mouthpiece, the NRA.  They had a recent success in Colorado in the recall of two State legislators involved in the passage of Colorado's tough new gun law.  People can still get wound up by the NRA's fear-mongering.  The NRA and other right-wing funding sparked the voter turnout of gun rights advocates and destroyed any chance that the Colorado legislators would be able to keep their seats. 

The gross misinterpretation of the Second Amendment given by SCOTUS (what part of "well-regulated militia" did they not understand?) is part of the problem.  Maybe that out of date amendment, written at a time when you had to re-powder and reload your musket with each shot, really should be repealed or, at the very least, modified.   Stricter licensing - at least as stringent as we do for driving licenses - may be one way to modify it so that it serves the common good.  The Second Amendment, as currently interpreted is part of the problem but the gun lobby and its deep pockets are the main issues here.

We know the elements of reducing deaths caused by gun violence - better mental health monitoring, universal background checks, strict licensing procedures, strong enforcement of gun laws, prohibition against high capacity weapons and magazines, gun safety education.  But these will never happen as long as the gun lobby's fear-mongering goes on.  Mike Bloomberg's organization, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, is making a valiant effort to counteract the right-wing noise but I'm afraid that they are no match for the NRA.  It is always easier to stir up irrational fears and people hear what they want to hear.  Case in point - FOX News gives right-wingers what they want to hear so they tune in to hear the latest right-wing bias.  So, here's a message for the NRA -  shut the f**k up for the foreseeable future.  Stop your fear-mongering, erroneous Second Amendment waving, and blatant lies.  Maybe we can stop the gun madness that's afflicting the nation.

Some Updates on Previous Posts
Voter Suppression -  [Think Progress] The Texas Voter ID law, a common voter suppression law that disproportionately targets students, low-income voters and people of color, went into effect Monday as early voting begins for next month's election.  Because of its requirement that valid ID must include your current name, married women will also be affected if their ID has not been updated.  It's estimated that 2 to 3 percent of voters are disenfranchised by voter suppression laws in the various states.

Medicaid Expansion - The expansion of state Medicaid programs under the Affordable Care Act is an important part of the program since it extends help to those unable to afford it.  Thanks to the SCOTUS ruling, though, this expansion is voluntary and many Republican-controlled states are not offering this important piece of the social safety net to its residents. Republican Governor John Kasich of Ohio wanted to buck the trend.  He backed the Medicaid expansion and turned to the Ohio Controlling Board for approval after the GOP-controlled state legislature balked on the issue. But, as the Huffington Post and the Columbus Dispatch reported, "A group of [six] Republican lawmakers has filed a lawsuit over the Ohio Controlling Board's decision to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act."  This lawsuit is being filed in spite of the $400 million the state would save as a result of the expansion because of Federal assistance.  The savings were to be used as a four percent state income tax cut. 

Sunday Round-Up - September 22,2013

This is the weekly selection of news and opinion from sources outside the US mainstream media.  Today's topic is gun violence.  Sources include Mother Jones, Salon.com, the Daily Kos, and The Guardian.

Earlier this month, NRA-backed candidates won recall elections in Colorado against two state legislators who were instrumental in passing Colorado's tough new gun control law.  On Monday, a deranged shooter, who was able to purchase a gun legally in the state of Virginia, killed 12 people at the Washington Navy Yard. 

Take a look at the Mother Jones special report: "America Under the Gun: A Special Report on Gun Laws and the Rise of Mass Shootings."  It is perhaps the finest piece of research journalism on the subject that I've seen.  The report features "A Guide to Mass Shootings", a profile of the 62 mass shootings that occurred in the last 30 years ("Of the 143 guns possessed by the killers, more than three quarters were obtained legally."); "More Guns, More Mass Shootings—Coincidence?" ("In not a single case was the killing stopped by a civilian using a gun. And in other recent (but less lethal) rampages in which armed civilians attempted to intervene, those civilians not only failed to stop the shooter but also were gravely wounded or killed. Moreover, we found that the rate of mass shootings has increased in recent years—at a time when America has been flooded with millions of additional firearms and a barrage of new laws has made it easier than ever to carry them in public places, including bars, parks, and schools."); 151 Victims of Mass Shootings in 2012: Here Are Their Stories; The NRA Myth of Arming the Good Guys; Mass Shootings: Maybe What We Need Is a Better Mental-Health Policy  .  In addition, there are links to other relevant MoJo articles and the report is packed with information-rich graphics and data to rebut all of the fallacious arguments proposed by gun lobbyists.

On September 18, The Daily Kos had a short post reporting columnist Frank Rich's grim assessment: "After being asked if there is any way to end the gun violence, his answer: Essentially, no. Perhaps the best thing we can do is at least call out the problem for what it is: state-sponsored terrorism. The American people and their elected representatives allow our own homegrown equivalent of suicide bombers — suicide shooters — legal access to weapons with which they can mow down innocents almost anywhere they please." Rich goes on to say that guns are ingrained in American culture and stopping gun violence may take as long as it took to end slavery.  The blogger concludes: "A grim assessment but I think Frank Rich might just have found the one argument that can move politicians back to reality "So you are saying that you are soft on domestic terrorism?"

Brian Beutler in his September 17 post "How to silence the NRA" on Salon.com writes of the "calculated strategy" by gun lobbyists used after mass shootings. "There’s one time, and only one time, you can count on the NRA to be more subdued than your average gun obsessive, and it’s the 24 to 48 hours after a mass shooting....Two entwined calculations motivate the temporary silence. The first is simple self-preservation. The gun lobby is at its weakest when crazy people use the weapons it has made so easily obtainable to slaughter innocents in public places. The second is more oblique. Mass shootings breathe new life into arguments for gun control, and one way to suffocate them is to feign propriety and indignation — to shame adherents into saying nothing until the public has moved on."  Beutler concludes his post with a comparison between two relatively rare events - mass shootings and airline accidents. " If fatal airline accidents became much more common in the U.S. than they are right now...it would be bizarre for a political movement to rise up after each tragedy to shout down anyone demanding tougher FAA safety inspections. But that’s about where gun obsessives in this country are right now."

The Guardian featured an emotional appeal from the chief medical officer at a Washington, D.C., hospital that treated victims of the Washington navy yard shooting.  Janis Orlowski "has become a rallying point for gun campaigners, calling on Americans to eradicate the 'evil in our society' that led to the tragedy.  'I would like you to put my trauma center out of business,' Janis Orlowski, chief medical officer at MedStar Washington Hospital Center, told reporters in the aftermath of the massacre. 'I would like to not be an expert on gunshots. Let's get rid of this. This is not America."
In an emotional address to the cameras, she added: "We just cannot have, you know, one more shooting with, you know, so many people killed. We've got to figure this out. We've got to be able to help each other.'  The Guardian September 17 post has a video of Orlowski's comments.

Masters of War

[Click here for a Pearl Jam rendition of Bob Dylan's "Masters of War". ]

[Sorry, folks, I couldn't find a video of Dylan performing the song.]

Come you masters of war

You that build all the guns

You that build the death planes

You that build all the bombs

You that hide behind walls

You that hide behind desks

I just want you to know

I can see through your masks.

You that never done nothin'

But build to destroy

You play with my world

Like it's your little toy

You put a gun in my hand

And you hide from my eyes

And you turn and run farther

When the fast bullets fly.

I've been a Bob Dylan fan for many years. The places he went with his music spoke to me from the time of his earliest recordings. I especially appreciated his sense of outrage at the injustices in society in those early years. I did however think that his anti-war song "Masters of War", the first two verses of which are given above and that is now 50 years old, was a bit naive. It seemed to lay blame more at the feet of the arms manufacturers than at the feet of the politicians that lead us into wars. Well, I no longer feel that way. To varying degrees, both are to blame.

Look at armed conflicts in Africa, military interventions in the Middle East, US gun homicides, international arms trade, terrorist attacks ...what do these have in common? Two things: the resort to violence as a means to an end and the availability of weapons to carry out this violence.

We may be unable to change a predilection to violence but we sure can do things to decrease the availability of weapons. Okay, maybe not anything as dramatic as the Overlords in Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End, who made a nuclear missile already in flight simply disappear..but surely something more than the machinations of those US Senators who blocked a background check bill designed to keep guns out of the hands of felons, the mentally ill and, yes, terrorists.

The human toll due to war and war's after-effects are enormous. Not all wars make non-stop headlines in the United States. The Second Congo War (1998-2003), also known as the Great African War, is one example. Besides the deaths of tens of thousands of combatants, it has been estimated that the war has caused betweeen 2.7 and 5.4 million excess civilian deaths (through the present). This includes more than 350,000 violent civilian deaths (through 2001) with the remainder dying from hunger and disease unleashed by the war. [Wikipedia]

As the worst of the hostilities of the Second Congo War were coming to an end, the United States was beginning to gear up for the war with Iraq. That totally unnecessary invasion against a country that was no threat to us, that had zero WMD's and no connection to the 9/11 attacks resulted in more than 600,000 excess deaths according to a 2006 Lancet study. [Washington Post] During the time it was waged, the Iraq War became one of the biggest Al-Qaeda recruiting tools of all time. 

The ongoing gun slaughter on our streets is appalling. There is an undeniable correlation between gun ownership, gun laws and gun deaths. 10 times the number of people who died in the terrorist attacks of 9/11/2001 die each year in the US from guns. By 2015, annual gun deaths in the United States are expected to exceed deaths caused by automobiles. We license and test people before they can drive cars, which is, after all, just a means of transportation. How much more so should we demand background checks on people who want to own guns, the purpose of which is to kill? Sadly we are treated to a spectacle of the NRA contributing to Congressional campaigns and lobbying against not only an assault weapons ban but also against universal background checks and for cutting funding to research gun violence.

Like Judas of old

You lie and deceive

In this January article, Mother Jones destroys 10 gun myths perpetrated by gun-rights groups and lobbyists. Here's one myth: "Guns don't kill people, people kill people. " Fact: "The states with the highest gun ownership rates have a gun murder rate 114% higher than those with the lowest gun ownership rates."

Let me ask you one question
Is your money that good
Will it buy you forgiveness
Do you think that it could

The arms lobby's money may not buy forgiveness but it sure can influence votes...at least in the United States. Fortunately, not so in the United Nations. On April 2, 2013, delegates from 154 nations, including the US,the largest arms exporter in the world, voted to adopt the first-ever international Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). Per the UN ATT Conference webpage, the ATT will regulate "the international trade in conventional arms, from small arms to battle tanks, combat aircraft and warships. The treaty will foster peace and security by putting a stop to destabilising arms flows to conflict regions. It will prevent human rights abusers and violators of the law of war from being supplied with arms. And it will help keep warlords, pirates, and gangs from acquiring these deadly tools." Let's hope the US Senate will approve this treaty when Obama presents it...else the Senators join North Korea, Syria, and Iran in voting no to the ATT. [See Oxfam America and UN ATT Conference webpages.] 

 

Sunday Round-Up April 21. 2013

This is the weekly selection of news and opinion from sources outside the mainstream media. Today we look at the Senate vote on universal background checks for gun sales and, on a more pleasant note, Earth Day 2013.

US Gun Control

What can you say about a political system where the will of 80-90% of the country is thwarted by a minority filibuster vote ? In one of its more gutless acts, the US Senate was unable to muster the required 60 votes to pass universal background checks designed to keep guns out of the hands of felons and the mentally disturbed. The lies and robocalls of the NRA did their job. But why? The huge amount of money the NRA spent trying to defeat Obama in 2012 was ineffective. He won. They lost. What are the Senators afraid of ?

Mother Jones has a series of excellent short articles related to the debacle:

Here's their main article on the failure of the measure to pass the filibuster limit.

Cerberus Capital Management is trying to sell its ownership of  Freedom Group, the manufacturer of the gun used in the Newton CT tragedy.  Relating the difficulty of finding investors to buy them out MJ writes:  "In this case, it seems that Wall Street has a better sense of American public opinion than the Senate, which failed to pass a bipartisan background check bill on Wednesday."

They also look at the four Democrats who voted no on backegroundchecks - turns out they are all up for election in 2014 and all hail from states that went for Romney in 2012.  [Kudos on the other hand to John McCain and the other 5 Republicans who votesd for the background checks.]

 

MJ then takes on the gun lobby myth that guns stop crime. Charts are provided that show, among other myths, that "that less than 3 percent of gun-related homicides are committed in self-defense " and that the "typical gun is more likely to be stolen than to be used in an attempt to stop a crime".

 

They then give you some screen shots of the Mitch McConnell Facebook Page posted "after the defeat of the watered-down Manchin-Toomey background checks compromise".

Finally there's an update on other gun bills soon to be voted on (or not).

 

This TomDispatch article explores the actual causes of violent crime as opposed to the fear-mongering of the right. "To acknowledge what really threatens us is to upset two of the most guarded citadels in this country: the military and masculinity. They are perhaps the same force on different scales. Armed intervention is imperial machismo in the same way a raging husband or father is the military dictator of a household."

 

 

Earth Day 2013

 

News from Europe, Asia, and Africa on plans for Earth Day 2013...

The town of Cefalu on the north coast of Sicily is organizing three days of activities - among them "a Conference on sustainable issues, guided excursions on the rock of Cefalù, concerts, wine tasting of organic products, sports performances, environmental awareness-raising campaigns also at the various schools, and a photographic exhibition on planet Earth, designed as a multi-sensory experience (images, sounds, scents '), which will be held at the St. Catherine's Octagon."

[From the Earth Day Italia website as translated by Microsoft Bing.]

 

 

 

In Japan Kids Weekend at Earth Day Tokyo is again organizing a recreational tour for children from Fukushima (the site of the 2011 tsunami-caused nuclear accident).

And in South Africa, the day is being used to raise environmental awareness. The Greenworks South Africa website asks people to commit to "a billion acts of green" while nicely summarizing the world's and South Africa's environmental challenges: "Earth Day is a global movement to highlight and address environmental issues. These are just some of the major environmental issues our Planet faces: global warming and climate change... destructive energy sources... toxic waste... groundwater contamination, abuse of water resources, wetland destruction, and pollution of waterways and the oceans... litter... overfishing and unsustainable fishing...destruction of rainforests...and expanding deserts."

 

A Good Start On Gun Violence

President Obama unveiled the recommendations from the Joe Biden-led commission formed to reduce gun violence in the wake of the massacre in Newton, Connecticut.  In what has been called "the biggest gun control push in decades", the President urged Congress to reinstate the assault weapons ban, tighten up and close loopholes in background checks, and pass a new Federal gun-trafficking law.  In addition, he announced "23 steps he intends to take immediately without congressional approval. These include improving the existing system for background checks, lifting the ban on federal research on gun violence, putting more counselors...in schools and better access to mental health services." [Reuters]  I didn't even know there was a ban on federal research on gun violence.  It is a really sad statement on the power of the gun lobby and arms dealers in our political process.

The proposals are a good start but will need to be pushed against the fierce opposition of the NRA and their supporters in Congress.  As a sign of things to come, the NRA, in one of its most despicable ads in years, attacked Obama for proposing gun control legislation while his daughters were being protected by the Secret Service.  The legislative proposals will also soon be competing for legislative attention with the debt ceiling negotiations and the automatic budget cut discussions ("the sequester"). 

The rabid reaction of the pro-gun wing of the American public to these modest proposals gives one cause to fervently hope that the laws are enacted with all due haste.  Anyone who can react so bizarrely should probably not have access to assault rifles and armor-penetratrating ammunition.  In fact there is no reason on earth why any Joe Average Citizen should own high capacity weapons.  But such is the level of fear stoked by the gun lobby and the fear-and-hate-mongering crowd that those I would consider normally sane people argue that there should not be an assault weapons ban in the United States.  The fact that we are having a debate on this at all is shameful.  No other developed country would even consider allowing such armaments in the hands of ordinary (and sometimes deranged) citizens.  Then again no other developed nation has a death penalty.  But that's for another time.

Will Congress pass the required legislation including the much-needed assault weapons ban? (I'm talking to you, House of Representatives majority, filibuster-abusing Senate Republicans, and gutless pro-gun Democrats.)   Or will we let the deaths of innocents again be in vain?  We'll need to keep the pressure up over the next weeks and months if there is to be any chance at all for comprehensive reform.

I wish I could agree with former Republican Congessman/now MSNBC political commentator Joe Scarborough that either Republicans get in touch with reality on this issue or they will lose control of the House.  On Andrea Mitchell Reports today, Scarborough "laid out what he saw as the GOP's two choices in the House of Representatives. 'They can either pass a comprehensive gun control package right now and shape it under Speaker Boehner, or they can wait two years when they lose the majority and have Nancy Pelosi write that bill...there are no other choices.' " [Huffington Post]  Unfortunately, with the post-2010 gerrymandered Congressional districts providing a majority of safe districts for Republicans, Scarborough's projection appears to be unrealistic. 

So convinced are they of the "safety" of  their Congressional districts, some Republican strategists are proposing changes to the way Electoral College votes are counted.  Several Republican-controlled swing states that voted for Obama in 2012 are considering proposals that would award an electoral vote to the winner of  the Congressional district. The primary objective is to allow a Republican to win the Presidency in 2016.  Perhaps because they think they waited too long with their voter suppression laws (the "strategy" for 2012), they are getting an early start for 2016.   [Mother Jones]

Kudos to the State of New York for passing the toughest gun control legislation in the country this week.  But state laws can only do so much - it's a short hop down I-95 to areas where guns can be purchased more easily. 

As for the Second Amendment, if the Supreme Court cannot figure out how to parse subordinate clauses (as in "A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State"), maybe it's time to repeal this albatross from the eighteenth century.  Let's just hope the right wing bozos on the Court don't overturn New York's tough new gun law before then. 

Gun Madness

Sportscaster Bob Costas ignited a firestorm when he referenced a piece by former NFL player Jason Whitlock on the murder-suicide by a Kansas City Chief linebacker.  Whitlock's primary point was that the Chiefs' game should not have been played the day after the tragedy.  His secondary point was that our gun culture is out out of control.  Costas, paraphrasing Whitlock, said during his halftime editorial: "“If Jovan Belcher didn’t possess a gun, he and Kasandra Perkins would both be alive today.”  The response from the right-wing echo chamber and Second Amenment rights nuts was as expected.  Outrage.  Costas knows nothing. He should be fired.  Etc. Etc. Etc.

Actually Costas was just stating a fact.  It's easier to kill someone and yourself with a gun than almost any other weapon.  Domestic disputes, arguments - these can escalate easily.  That the ready availability of guns increases the murder rates is uncontestable.  A 2003 study of gun violence in 23 populous high- income countries found the following:

• The United States has more firearms per capita than the other countries, more handguns per capita, and has the most permissive gun control laws of all the countries.
• Among the 23 countries studied, 80% of all firearm deaths occurred in the United States; 86 % of women killed by firearms were U.S. women, and 87% of all children aged 0 to 14 killed by firearms were U.S. children.
• U.S. homicide rates were 6.9 times higher than rates in the other high-income countries, despite similar non-lethal crime and violence rates. The firearm homicide rate in the U.S. was 19.5 times higher. 
• For 15-year olds to 24-year olds, firearm homicide rates in the United States were 42.7 times higher than in the other countries.
• For U.S. males, firearm homicide rates were 22.0 times higher, and for U.S. females, firearm homicide rates were 11.4 times higher.
• U.S. suicide rates overall were 30 percent lower than the other countries, but the U.S. firearm suicide rate was 5.8 times higher.
• The U.S. unintentional firearm death rate was 5.2 times higher than that of the other high-income countries combined.

Need a gun for protection?  Think again.  A family member is twelve times more likely to die than for you to use it on a violent intruder. 

Somewhere in the ballpark of 10,000 murders per year in the US are caused by guns, NRA money bankrolls elections, and gun nuts control the national conversation on this deadly issue.  There was hardly a whisper about the inadequacy of our gun control laws during the Presidential campaign.  Senator Frank Lautenberg's bill to reinstate the assault weapons ban didn't even make it to the floor of the Senate. 

December 8 marks the 32 nd anniversary of John Lennon's murder by a crazed gunman in New York.  By my count, that makes more than 300,000 gun murders committed since then.  It's time to stop the madness.

Links

Useful organizations
Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence
Mayors Against Illegal Guns

What the Rest of the Civilized World Thinks and How It Acts
A Land Without Guns: How Japan Has Virtually Eliminated Shooting Deaths
The Rest of the First World Is Astounded by America's Enduring Gun Culture



  

  

A Deafening Silence

If there was ever a time that spoke to the intimidating power of NRA money, this is it.  If there was ever a time when the poisoning influence of political funding was apparent, this is it.  NRA's millions in campaign donations over the years have effectively silenced all debate on rational gun laws in this country.  Even after this weekend's tragedy, only a few politicians, such as New Jersey's Frank Lautenberg, are calling for tightening the nation's gun laws.  Even in something as basic as renewing the ban on assault weapons, Congress is intimidated. 

You can pretty much expect the Republican choir to sing out variations on the insane refrain that "guns don't kill people, people kill people."  Frankly, I'm not sure how 70 people would have been stabbed and 12 of them killed in Colorado if the deranged young man had attacked with a knife.  Many leading Democrats are also sitting this out for now.  An aide to Senate Majority Leader Reid says that the press of other business may prevent the Senate from taking up Lautenberg's legislation in the immediate future.  President Obama, whose ever shrinking lead over Romney has to be a cause of concern, has asked that we not "politicize" this tragedy. An Obama aide said that the focus should be on keeping guns out of the hands of people who shouldn't have them by enforcing the existing gun laws.  Evidently this was not sufficient and did nothing to prevent the Colorado tragedy.

 In a hard-hitting HuffPost blog on Saturday, Cenk Uygur asks if we do not "politicize" guns now, then when?  What can you say about a country that's number 1 in per capita gun ownership, in child deaths by gunfire, and in overall gun violence?

Maybe politicization is not the right word.  We are long past that point.  The NRA has politicized gun control over the past few decades and they will not stop sending their millions to those that oppose gun control legislation.  Mayors Against Illegal Guns  stand in opposition to the NRA but have had only limited success in achieving any legislative victories. 

Maybe leadership is the right word.  That is what is needed now.  A leader shows people the way when they do not see it for themselves.  A leader stands up to moneyed interests and calls them out on their self-serving claims.  So far though...a deafening silence.