The left calls the NRA thugs and cowards !!

[waltky]

Granny says, "More guns'll make us safer makes about as much sense as more debt will reduce the deficit...

‘Testosterone-Laden Individuals Who Have Blood on Their Hands’ Say More Guns Will Make Us Safer
December 19, 2012 – Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) said on Wednesday that Republican Gov. Rick Perry of Texas is among the “testosterone-laden individuals who have blood on their hands” for arguing that more guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens would make the country safer.

“The notion that more Americans, quote-unquote in the words of Gov. Perry, ‘packing heat,’ will make us safer is not founded in reality in facts or in history,” Himes said at a Capitol Hill press conference to call for gun control in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in Newtown, Conn, which left 20 children and 6 adults dead. “It is founded in the fantasy of testosterone-laden individuals who have blood on their hands for articulating that idea,” Himes said. “We will not fail because there are good arguments standing against us; we will fail because of the inevitable drift of attention,” he added.

Himes joined House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and other congressional Democrats attending the press conference who called for a ban on high-capacity “assault” magazines, as well as a ban on "assault" weapons. Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.) said, “This time is different,” in making the case for stricter gun laws. On Monday, Gov. Rick Perry said he hoped there would not be a “knee-jerk” reaction by politicians following the tragedy in Newtown. "One of the things that I hope we don’t want to see from the federal government is a knee-jerk reaction from Washington, D.C., when there is an event that occurs, that they can come in and think they know the answer,” Perry said. Sandy Hook Principal Dawn Hochsprung reportedly died after confronting shooter Adam Lanza, during the attack. Governor Perry said he would support allowing teachers and administrators to carry concealed handguns, but that local school districts should set their own policies.

Himes said this type of thinking is “pernicious.” “If six months from now we gather and we’ve done nothing, it won’t be because the arguments against doing something have been good,” he said. “There are no arguments against doing something and part of the point of our being here today is to ask not just our colleagues but the American people to join us in this effort.” “And there are no arguments against doing so, starting with the pernicious argument most lately articulated by Gov. Rick Perry of Texas,” Himes said. “This argument that more guns in a nation awash in guns will make us safer--the facts, the history, the data show that that is not true.” “A gun in the home is 22 times more likely to be used in a suicide or a murder, than it is to be used in self-defense,” he said. “A study by the Rand Corporation of trained officers of the law in a situation of an exchange of gunfire found that those officers hit their intended target less than 2 out of 10 times.”

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Tarantino on Gun Violence: ‘Actually, the Issue is Mental Health’
December 19, 2012 -Hollywood director Quentin Tarantino said, in light of recent gun violence the real issue is “mental health.”

During an appearance on Tuesdays broadcast of NBC's “Tonight Show” Tarantino said, “that in the midst of this tragedy it’s actually disrespectful actually to bring up these side issues when actually, the issue is mental health.” Host Jay Leno had asked the director, “Let me ask you about violence, gun violence, that’s a big issue today. This comes up with you a lot.”

“Yeah it sure does,” Tarantino replied, “I mean, it’s one of those things that’s like –this is just a real national tragedy that ended up happening, but I’ve been – I’ve been making these movies for 20 years now. I’ve been - doing it - this is what I do. This is my way for 20 years now. You know what you get when you see my films. “ “And you have to be an adult,” Leno interrupted.

“And you have to be an adult to see them,” Tarantino continued, “So I actually think, dealing with entertainment like this, that in the midst of this tragedy it’s actually disrespectful actually to bring up these side issues when actually, the issue is mental health.”

President Barack Obama is expected to discuss possible new gun control measures on Wednesday in light of the recent shootings at Sandy Brook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut that left 26 dead, 20 of them were children, mostly ages five and six. Tarantino was a guest on the "The Tonight Show" to discuss his new movie “Django Unchained”. The award-winning director is known for his over-the-top portrayals of violence in films such as “Pulp Fiction”, “Reservoir Dogs” and “Kill Bill”.

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[occupied]

The only thing I blame the NRA for is poisoning the debate with paranoia and enabling the most paranoid people in the country to feel as they are the only sane ones in the debate. I also despise them for branching out into lobbying for and against things that have little of nothing to do with guns.

 

[tjvh]

I would never blame the NRA, that would be a true lesson in futility. The NRA is for the most part a decent organization.

Where I would bring the NRA into this is why do they need to be involved with the federal government, they have on of the biggest lobbies in Washington. There is no need for that as the 2nd amendment is very clear as to our gun rights.

The fact that there exists organizations like the NRA to protect our Freedoms from tyrannical clowns who profess to have our interests in mind ought to tell people something about the despicable tyrannical clowns who want to hand our Freedoms away so we can all tell each other how safe we are from criminals who wont surrender their unregistered guns. Sorry... But regardless of the outcome this anti gun movement playing on people's feelings over this tragedy will not change the fact that the Second Amendment says very clearly that the Right to keep and bear arms... "Shall not be infringed".

 

[occupied]

I would never blame the NRA, that would be a true lesson in futility. The NRA is for the most part a decent organization.

Where I would bring the NRA into this is why do they need to be involved with the federal government, they have on of the biggest lobbies in Washington. There is no need for that as the 2nd amendment is very clear as to our gun rights.

The fact that there exists organizations like the NRA to protect our Freedoms from tyrannical clowns who profess to have our interests in mind ought to tell people something about the despicable tyrannical clowns who want to hand our Freedoms away so we can all tell each other how safe we are from criminals who wont surrender their unregistered guns. Sorry... But regardless of the outcome this anti gun movement playing on people's feelings over this tragedy will not change the fact that the Second Amendment says very clearly that the Right to keep and bear arms... "Shall not be infringed".

Thinks corporate lobbyists protect freedom. LOL.

 

[Wehrwolfen]

Likely they will re-instate the assault weapons ban with a cartridge limit on the number of bullets and possibly a ban on armor-piercing bullets also...

In Shift, Pro-Gun Democrats Signaling Openness to Limits
December 17, 2012 WASHINGTON — Demonstrating rapidly shifting attitudes toward gun control in the aftermath of a massacre in a Connecticut school, many pro-gun Congressional Democrats — including Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader and a longstanding gun rights supporter — signaled an openness Monday to new restrictions on guns.

White House officials remained vague and noncommittal about how President Obama would translate into action his soaring rhetoric Sunday in Newtown, when he appeared to presage an effort to curb access to guns. But many Democrats, including several from conservative states, said Congress should take up the issue next year, and one Senate chairman promised hearings. Senator Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, an advocate of gun rights who drew attention in 2010 by running a commercial that showed him firing a rifle into a piece of legislation serving as a target, said “everything should be on the table” as gun control is debated in the coming weeks and months.

The receptiveness to new gun laws from figures like Mr. Manchin suggested the National Rifle Association, long one of the most powerful lobbies in Washington, would face a strong test of its influence in the coming months if it sought to fend off tougher restrictions. Leaders of the organization have declined interview requests since the shootings, the group’s Twitter account has gone silent, and it has deactivated its Facebook page. As the criminal inquiry proceeded, investigators studying a computer taken from the house of the Connecticut gunman, Adam Lanza, said it was so badly damaged that they were not optimistic that they would be able to get any information from it, a law enforcement official said Monday.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, which has more expertise in computer forensics than Connecticut’s state forensic laboratory, has been part of the effort to recover data from the computer, the official said. A federal law enforcement official said the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives had determined that Mr. Lanza and his mother, Nancy Lanza, visited firing ranges together and separately in recent years, with one known occasion of their going together. It was not clear whether they had both fired weapons on that visit.

The White House offered no elaboration on Monday of the president’s thinking or the options he would consider; it tried to tamp down expectations of quick action. In part, that reflected the complicated politics of gun control, as the president’s advisers weighed whether the horror of Newtown had changed the dynamics in Washington enough to make possible measures that were earlier deemed very unlikely to pass.

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... one needs to keep in mind that in the days of our founding fathers the one shot-musket was the state of the art weapons technology.

An soon that was replaced by the cap instead of flint. You also forget that our founding fathers made use of their own technology of that of the "Pennsylvania Rifle" known commonly as the "Kentucky Rifle", aka the 'Jaeger Rifle'. According to you the West would never ahve been settled and America would now be part of Russia, or Germany, perhaps even Japan had we just relied on the musket. BTW, the technology of firearms was developed by civilians.

 

[tyroneweaver]

surprise,surprise,the left is blaming conservative organisations like the NRA for the NEWTOWN shootings !!! Martin Bashir and other left wing commys are blaming the right for the killings !! a dispicable, shameless ,attempt by the left to attack the second amendment !!

and the american spokesman for the taliban martin bashir can thank barack obama for being the greatest gun salesman of all time

 

[squeeze berry]

The NRA is making a huge mistake. They should be taking this opportunity to turn the light on what the real problem is. It's not guns, it's the mentally ill who are allowed to posess them. Move the focus onto the mentally ill, that we can do something about. If the NRA was to meet the issue head on and then take over and then help pass BS legislation, they would look so much better.

Instead they will dig in their heels and take what is going to be rammed down their throats. Don't be stupid just to prove them right.

the NRA has kept silent out of respect for the dead and their fasmilies unike some that are trying to make mmediate political hay.

Look for Wayne to make a statement soon.

 

[waltky]

Mass gun attacks are unpredictable...

Predicting who's at risk for violence isn't easy
22 Dec.`12 — It happened after Columbine, Virginia Tech, Aurora, Colo., and now Sandy Hook: People figure there surely were signs of impending violence. But experts say predicting who will be the next mass shooter is virtually impossible — partly because as commonplace as these calamities seem, they are relatively rare crimes.

Still, a combination of risk factors in troubled kids or adults including drug use and easy access to guns can increase the likelihood of violence, experts say. But warning signs "only become crystal clear in the aftermath, said James Alan Fox, a Northeastern University criminology professor who has studied and written about mass killings. "They're yellow flags. They only become red flags once the blood is spilled," he said. Whether 20-year-old Adam Lanza, who used his mother's guns to kill her and then 20 children and six adults at their Connecticut school, made any hints about his plans isn't publicly known.

Fox said that sometimes, in the days, weeks or months preceding their crimes, mass murderers voice threats, or hints, either verbally or in writing, things like "'don't come to school tomorrow,'" or "'they're going to be sorry for mistreating me.'" Some prepare by target practicing, and plan their clothing "as well as their arsenal." (Police said Lanza went to shooting ranges with his mother in the past but not in the last six months.) Although words might indicate a grudge, they don't necessarily mean violence will follow. And, of course, most who threaten never act, Fox said.

Even so, experts say threats of violence from troubled teens and young adults should be taken seriously and parents should attempt to get them a mental health evaluation and treatment if needed. "In general, the police are unlikely to be able to do anything unless and until a crime has been committed," said Dr. Paul Appelbaum, a Columbia University professor of psychiatry, medicine and law. "Calling the police to confront a troubled teen has often led to tragedy." The American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry says violent behavior should not be dismissed as "just a phase they're going through."

More Predicting who's at risk for violence isn't easy - Yahoo! News

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Parents hesitant about NRA armed schools proposal
Fri, Dec 21, 2012 — The nation's largest gun-rights lobby called Friday for the placement of an armed police officer in every school, but parents and educators questioned how safe such a move would keep kids, whether it would be economically feasible and how it would alter student life. Their reactions ranged from supportive to disgusted.

Already, there are an estimated 10,000 sworn officers serving in schools around the country, most of them armed and employed by local police departments, according to a membership association for the officers. Still, they're deployed at only a fraction of the country's approximately 98,000 public schools, and their numbers have declined during the economic downturn. Some departments have increased police presence at schools since last week's shooting rampage at a Connecticut elementary school that left 26 dead, but say they can only do so temporarily because of funding.

The National Rifle Association said at a news conference that it wants Congress to fund armed officers in every American school, breaking its silence on the Connecticut shootings. The idea made sense to some anxious parents and teachers, but provoked outright anger in others. "Their solution to resolve the issue around guns is to put more guns in the equation?" said Superintendent Hank Grishman of the Jericho, N.Y., schools on Long Island, who has been an educator for 44 years. "If anything it would be less safe for kids. You would be putting them in the midst of potentially more gunfire." Where school resource officers are already in place, they help foster connections between the schools and police, and often develop a close enough relationship with parents and children that they feel comfortable coming forward with information that could prevent a threat, said Mo Canady, executive director of the National Association of School Resource Officers.

But an Oklahoma educator who teaches at a school with armed officers described the NRA's proposal as a "false solution," though she's not opposed to the presence of more police. "I teach at a school that has four armed police officers on campus every day, but it's more than a quarter of a mile from the main office to my room, and I'm not even the farthest room away," said Elise Robillard, a French teacher at Westmoore High School. "If (a student) put a loaded gun in their bag and came to my classroom and pulled it out and started shooting, by the time the police officer figured out what was going on and got to my classroom, we'd all be dead. This whole hallway could be dead before a policeman got here."

Around the country, school systems sometimes rotate armed officers through schools or supplement them with unarmed safety agents. New York City's school district is the largest in the country with more than 1 million students. The NYPD has 350 armed officers who rotate throughout the school system, and they're supplemented by unarmed safety personnel who also report to the department. In Philadelphia, school officials have rejected armed patrols in city schools and instead use unarmed school police.

More Parents hesitant about NRA armed schools proposal - Yahoo! News

 

[waltky]

Granny says gun control isn't the only issue...

No Consensus on US Gun Measures After School Rampage
December 23, 2012 WASHINGTON — Staunch U.S. gun rights defenders and gun control advocates show few signs of finding common ground on ways to prevent mass shootings following an armed rampage at a Connecticut elementary school that killed 20 small children and several adults.

National tragedies can sometimes force political and ideological opponents to unite for the common good. The United States witnessed such a coming together after the terrorist attacks of 2001. But the mass shooting at Sandy Hook elementary school seems to have done little to bridge differences between ardent defenders of gun rights and those who want to restrict access to firearms. “A gun is a tool. The problem is the criminal. Criminals operate outside the [justice] system," he said.

Wayne LaPierre, head of the National Rifle Association, America’s biggest gun rights lobbying group, spoke Sunday on NBC’s Meet the Press program. Friday, LaPierre made headlines when he advocated posting armed guards at every school across the nation. On NBC, he pointedly refused to consider any limits on gun ownership, from restricting access to assault weapons to banning high-capacity ammunition clips. “We do not think it [gun control] works, and we are not going to support it," he said.

Democratic Senator Charles Schumer ridiculed gun rights absolutism. “Trying to prevent shootings in schools without talking about guns is like trying to prevent lung cancer without talking about cigarettes," he said. Schumer's fellow Democratic Senator Kent Conrad was equally dismissive of LaPierre’s suggesting of arming America’s schools. “It is pretty empty, is it not? That is the only answer? To put more guns in schools?” Appearing on Fox News Sunday, Conrad said the cost of putting armed guards in each of America’s schools would be prohibitive, and still might not prevent all mass shootings.

Gun rights advocates point to the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which proclaims the right of the people to bear arms. America’s judiciary has long wrestled over the constitutionality of limiting or restricting that right. Some pro-gun rights legislators have said the Sandy Hook elementary school shootings have caused them to reconsider long-held positions. But Republican Senator John Barrasso says infringing on Second Amendment rights is not the answer. “We need real solutions to a significant problem in our country, and I am not sure that passing another law in Washington is going to actually find a real solution," he said.

Last week, President Barack Obama said a national dialogue on firearms is long overdue. He appointed Vice President Joe Biden to lead a federal commission on preventing gun violence, but stressed that the American people will have to demand action and remain engaged for change to occur. There are an estimated 200-to-300 million privately-owned firearms in the United States.

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Shooting Renews Concern About Movie, Game Violence
December 20, 2012 - The shooting of 20 young children and seven adults has renewed discussions about gun control in the United States.

Many say the availability of guns, however, is not the only factor that could trigger a deadly act. Though the industry disputes it, some experts say films glorifying violence and video games rewarding death can be equally lethal, especially in the hands of people with mental health issues. When "The Dark Knight Rises" opened in July, the on-screen carnage served as the backdrop to a mass shooting in an Aurora, Colorado, theater. The shooter, James Holmes, 24, had dyed his hair red to resemble the Batman character, the Joker. Holmes killed 12 people and wounded 58.

Hollywood violence

Production of violent films continued after the massacre. The graphic drama, "Killing Them Softly," about a hired gun with feelings, was released in late November. The Hollywood premiere this week of Quentin Tarantino’s bloody western, "Django Unchained," was canceled out of respect for those killed in Connecticut. However, the movie will be released. Criminal defense attorney Rene Sandler said on-screen gunfights can inspire real-life shootings. “The perpetrator becomes a character, takes on the persona of an aggressive, violent individual or superhero," Sandler say, "and in Aurora, it’s a perfect example of just that.”

Video game carnage

But, even more than films, Sandlers thinks violent video games are at the core of brutal behavior, and believes they should be regulated. “I have seen clients who have engaged in that interactive video experience where they are killing, where they are using guns, where they are gaining points and winning given the more bodies that they amass," she says. "In this country, we can ban sugary drinks for children because it’s unhealthy. We have done nothing to stop violent video games for children and adults.” While on-screen violence itself is not dangerous, Sandler says it can be "weaponized" in the hands of people with mental issues.

Mental health issues

Law enforcement authorities in the Connecticut shooting have said very little about the 20-year-old shooter Adam Lanza's mental health. But the elementary school attack has raised the issue and many are calling on society to be more vigilant. A game industry group calls any link between video games and violence a myth. Following the movie theater massacre in July, a movie industry mogul suggested a summit on violence and film, which has not yet occurred. Still, an Oscar-nominated movie last year, "We Need to Talk About Kevin," eerily mirrors the Newtown shooting. The upper-class Kevin, 16, goes goes on a killing spree at his high school after murdering his family. The movie raised compelling issues about teen mental health, family breakdown and violence in American society.

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