“In the last five months there have been at least 71 of them. None older than 12, several as young as five or six months, all of their lives ended by a bullet.”
Posts Tagged ‘firearms’
71 More Children Killed By Guns Since Newtown
May 10, 2013God Wants You to Own an Assault Rifle
January 28, 2013
Blessed are the Bushmasters, according to David French. His column on sacred smiting in National Review asserts that “gun control represents not merely a limitation on a constitutional right but a limitation on a God-given right of man that has existed throughout the history of civil society.”
– “Top Conservative Publication: God Wants You To Have An Assault Rifle,” Zack Beauchamp, Think Progress
Of course, some religious people think otherwise.
Shootings at 3 Gun Shows on ‘Gun Appreciation Day’
January 20, 2013
While firearms enthusiasts around the country rallied in support of their gun show loophole, gun owners at three gun shows managed to shoot each other:
“Police say a security guard and two others were wounded Saturday afternoon at the Dixie Gun & Knife Show after a shotgun went off as it was being checked in. The gun owner was planning to sell the weapon at the show, which attracts thousands of people to the fairgrounds in West Raleigh.”
“As part of Saturday’s national Gun Appreciation Day, gun-rights supporters marched around the Legislative Building in downtown Raleigh. State Capitol Police estimated the crowd numbered around 200 people.”
– ”Three wounded at shooting at Dixie Gun & Knife Show,” T . Keung Hui and Hayley Paytes, Charlotte Observer
Las Vegas Tribute to Newtown Victims
January 16, 2013
The city of Las Vegas pays tribute to the slaughtered children of Newtown, Connecticut this week by hosting that New England town’s resident gun lobby, the National Shooting Sports Foundation. 60,000 gun worshippers are expected to attend the memorial for the 20 children and six educators shot to death by a single military-style firearm.
The NSSF represents gun and ammunition manufacturers and dealers, and lobbies against laws banning high-capacity gun magazines, something the Las Vegas police chief favors. The organization also maintains that military-style weapons belong in civilian hands since they drive massive industry profits and are fun to use.
More:
“Gun Group Chief Says Industry Didn’t Cause Newtown,” Ken Ritter, AP via ABC News
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When Is a Gun Not a Gun?
January 7, 2013
Q: When is a gun not a gun?
A: When it’s a hammer.
That’s what Texas Congressman Louie Gohmert (R, TX-1) thinks, anyway. Asked about proposed legislation to restrict the sale of assault weapons, military-style arms like those used in recent mass killings, Mr. Gohmert replied:
“I refuse to play the game of ‘assault weapon.’ That’s any weapon. It’s a hammer. It’s the machetes. In Rwanda that killed 800,000 people, an article that came out this week, the massive number that are killed with hammers.”
Louie Gohmert is an authority on hammers, being dumber than a sack of them. Perhaps he’ll be named Chair of the House Subcommittee on Hand Tool Terrorism.
Firearms kill thousands of Americans each year; blunt objects kill hundreds, but we don’t know how many are committed with hammers, perhaps dozens. We expect Mr. Gohmert to hold fact-finding hearings about that in the new Congressional session.
More:
“Republican Congressman Claims Hammers Could Be Outlawed Under Assault Weapons Ban,” Scott Keyes, Think Progress
“Gohmert: ‘Any weapon’ is an assault weapon,” Justin Sink, The Hill
“Conservatives demand hammer control,” Alex Seitz-Wald, Salon
Related:
“Louie Gohmert: Aurora Shootings Result Of ‘Ongoing Attacks On Judeo-Christian Beliefs,’” Jennifer Bendery, Huffington Post
“Former NRA president compares banning guns to racism,” Jillian Rayfield, Salon
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Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.
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Gun Shows Near Newtown Canceled
January 5, 2013
”Four gun shows, all about an hour’s drive from Newtown, Conn., all canceled.
A show in White Plains, N.Y., — brought back a few years ago after being called off for a decade because of the Columbine shooting — is off because officials decided it didn’t seem appropriate now, either. In Danbury, Conn. — about 10 miles west of Newtown — the venue backed out. Same with three other shows in New York’s Hudson Valley, according to the organizer.
Newtown’s Gun Lobby in DC
December 23, 2012
This morning the NRA attempted to defend its insane proposals to put guns in all American schools and keep military-type weapons and magazines on the streets, the gun lobby’s reaction to the horrifying slaughter of 20 small children and 6 educators in Newtown Connecticut. But Newtown itself is home to another gun lobby group, the National Shooting Sports Foundation, and its last registered DC office is at 20 F Street NW (above) near the U.S. Senate, where it rents space.
The NSSF represents gun and ammunition manufacturers and dealers, so it’s no surprise that it has lobbied Congress against restrictions on military-style weapons and high-capacity magazines. It even claims that the AR-15 is a legitimate hunting firearm.
The NRA Schoolhouse
December 23, 2012
The National Rifle Association has come up with a dubious remedy for school shootings: more guns. NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre wants the government to put an armed guard in every school in the country. The organization that gutted gun regulation and helped flood America with firearms now wants to sell more guns to solve the problem it created, putting schoolkids in the crossfire.
Congress: Heed the Signs.
December 22, 2012
Written and animated by Zina Saunders (via Mother Jones.)
Related:
“How Many People Have Been Killed by Guns Since Newtown?” Chris Kirk and Dan Kois, Slate
“Gun violence, by the numbers,” Jennifer Kabat, Salon
“The Media Myth Of NRA Electoral Dominance Should End With 2012,” Timothy Johnson, Media Matters
“Five Things Every Elected Official Should Know About The NRA,” Ian Millhiser, Think Progress
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The NRA Explains It All To You
December 21, 2012
In memory of the victims of the Sandy Hook school shootings, many Americans observed a moment of silence this morning at 9:30 AM. At 11:00 AM there was talk; the National Rifle Association tried to deflect blame for the massacre from the military-style weapon and high-capacity magazines that enabled it, claiming that violent video games have somehow caused this catastrophe and the mass shootings that occur every two weeks somewhere in the USA. According to NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre:
“And here’s another dirty little truth that the media try their best to conceal: There exists in this country a callous, corrupt and corrupting shadow industry that sells, and sows, violence against its own people.
Through vicious, violent video games with names like Bulletstorm, Grand Theft Auto, Mortal Kombat and Splatterhouse. And here’s one: it’s called Kindergarten Killers. It’s been online for 10 years. How come my research department could find it and all of yours either couldn’t or didn’t want anyone to know you had found it?”
