BS: Shooting tragedies and guns

Subject: RE: BS: Shooting tragedies and guns
From: Greg F.
Date: 29 Jan 13 - 12:10 PM

I prefer the right wing shows that limit themselves to 5 lies per minute.

I didn't realize there were any.

Subject: RE: BS: Shooting tragedies and guns
From: GUEST,Stim
Date: 29 Jan 13 - 03:29 PM

According to the Department of Justice, Donnuel, there are about 2,000 gang related murders a year. In Los Angeles and Chicago, they account for about half of the murders each year.National Gang Center Surveys. Most of those killings would have involved a gun.

To my mind, that is not "very small".

We are concerned here, at least according to BillD, with what are now called "Rampage Shootings", and which seem to occur about one every two weeks. USA Today Homicides and Mass Murders 2006-2010. The thing is, according to the USAToday numbers (which look to have come from "Mother Jones") there were 774 victims of Rampage murders during that time. According to the Justice Department, there were a bit more than 10,000 gang related murdered during that time.

So, anybody, which is the bigger problem? And before you answer, remember that the "race card" is already on the table.

Subject: RE: BS: Shooting tragedies and guns
From: pdq
Date: 29 Jan 13 - 04:11 PM

The mayor of Oakland, California, says that 90% of recent murders in her city are gang-related.

The chief of police for Chicago said something similar. About 90% of gun homicides there are gang-related.

Guess each is a talk show host working for the Tea Party?

Subject: RE: BS: Shooting tragedies and guns
From: Greg F.
Date: 29 Jan 13 - 05:27 PM

Who gives a crap what they SAY, Pee Dee? What can they document?

Advice it would do you well to adopt, too.

Subject: RE: BS: Shooting tragedies and guns
From: GUEST,999
Date: 29 Jan 13 - 05:35 PM

PDQ, you and I have been through the 90% stuff before. Your response was, "Pick a number." I do not believe what you said because I think it's bullshit. Back it up from somewhere besides a NRA site and I'll apologize.

PS Where's my CD? Obama won.

Subject: RE: BS: Shooting tragedies and guns
From: Bobert
Date: 29 Jan 13 - 06:02 PM

Cherry picking stats is dishonest...

Of course the NRAers want to put as many murders on gangs as possible and if you go into the worst of the worst neighborhoods, yeah, you find a disproportionate number of gang related murders...

Problem is that those worst of the worst neighborhoods in no way represent America... We have a sleeping little rural town 5 minutes from here... It's Marshville, NC and rural and the home of Randy Travis... Nice little town... Not a lot of fpolks live there but, in spite of the few people who live there there were 6 murders there in the last year... Not one gang related...

If you fly over America and look down from the airplane you see thousands and thousands of Marshvilles... Sand Hook is probably a lot like Marshville...

So, please people... If you are going to use statistics or testimonials, use them honestly... Not too much to ask...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Shooting tragedies and guns
From: pdq
Date: 29 Jan 13 - 06:09 PM

Doug Sovern, CBS San Francisco, January 14, 2013

Two groups are at war with each other on the streets of Oakland, after the murder of woman last summer, and the subsequent feud is responsible for "90 percent" of the violence in the city since then, Oakland Police Chief Howard Jordan said Monday.

City officials held a news conference Monday to discuss the alarming wave of shootings in the city over the weekend. Four people were killed Friday and 11 more were wounded since then.

Oakland Mayor Jean Quan, Police Chief Jordan and City Administrator Deanna Santana joined other local leaders in East Oakland to address a disturbing string of shootings in a city that has been plagued by violence and a soaring murder rate.

Subject: RE: BS: Shooting tragedies and guns
From: pdq
Date: 29 Jan 13 - 06:26 PM

"Cherry picking stats is dishonest..."


No, it is what absolutely everybody does.

To pick "facts" and stats that do not support one's own argument would be a form of mental illness.

Subject: RE: BS: Shooting tragedies and guns
From: Greg F.
Date: 29 Jan 13 - 06:30 PM

Thanks for the self-serviing quotes, PeeDee.

Still no documentation, however.

Subject: RE: BS: Shooting tragedies and guns
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 29 Jan 13 - 06:36 PM

2006 - 2010, 774 mass gun murders and 10,000 gang killings out of a total gun related deaths over that four years of approximately 120,000, of wich more than 40,000 were homicides.

So annually, 30,000 gun deaths, 10,000 gun murders, 2,500 gang related and 194 mass shootings, usually at schools and perpetrated by current or ex students.

Kind of puts the difference between gang and rampage more in perspective:-

One twelfth and

Subject: RE: BS: Shooting tragedies and guns
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 29 Jan 13 - 06:45 PM

Dammit!!

That should conclude:-

One twelfth of total gun deaths and one quarter of gun homicides are all that can honestly be laid at the door of gangs.

The number of those killed in random mas shootings is tiny, BUT the total number of gun homicides is huge.

How can Americans accept this carnage as simply the price of doing business?

Don T.

Subject: RE: BS: Shooting tragedies and guns
From: Bobert
Date: 29 Jan 13 - 06:50 PM

I really don't get the NRA/pdq argument??? It's okay for gangs to kill folks is the underlying message here...

Kinda racist, ain't it...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Shooting tragedies and guns
From: pdq
Date: 29 Jan 13 - 06:52 PM

If people accept those numbers as close enough, it means that 13 times as many people are killed by street gangs than by "rampage shooters".

We have also shown that rifles are used in fewer than 5% of gun homicides.

Subject: RE: BS: Shooting tragedies and guns
From: Greg F.
Date: 29 Jan 13 - 06:55 PM

And in your math, that's 90%, right PeeDee?

Subject: RE: BS: Shooting tragedies and guns
From: GUEST,Lighter
Date: 29 Jan 13 - 07:48 PM

> No, it is what absolutely everybody does.

> To pick "facts" and stats that do not support one's own argument would be a form of mental illness.

A popular and serious misconception. That intelligent people believe it is an indictment of our educational system.

Research isn't about scoring points. It's about getting as close to the truth (and to the big picture) as possible.

Real researchers gather and report all the relevant facts, whether they tend to support their preconceptions or not. They at least try to make sense of them without personal bias. (Doing otherwise reminds me of the old saying, "My mind's made up, so don't confuse me with facts.")

Cherry-picking your favorite stats and suppressing the rest brings nobody closer to valid conclusions or helpful decisions. Of course, advertisers, politicians, and propagandists pick their stats all the time. Because they're trying to snow you, not trying to solve problems in the best informed manner.

And, as we all know, "Figures can't lie, but liars can figure."

Subject: RE: BS: Shooting tragedies and guns
From: Bobert
Date: 29 Jan 13 - 08:05 PM

Yup, Don...

The NRA/pdq folk want to make the narrative about gang killings... The underlying thread with that narrative is that gang members deserve to die... There is no other way to interpret why these people are intent on making gun control all about gangs...

Problem is that if you take the number of people killed by gangs then you still have one heck of a lot of folks who aren't... Might of fact, the number of other folks that get killed dwarf the gang war arguments...

That is reality...

So let's just reject the NRA/pdq argument... It is not relevant to the discussion... Just a smoke screen...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Shooting tragedies and guns
From: GUEST,Stim
Date: 29 Jan 13 - 08:11 PM

Just to connect the dots--This much touted "ban on assault rifles" isn't really going to change much of anything, because there aren't really that many people killed with rifles of any sort.

And a big chunk of the our murders are gang-related, meaning that they are connected to organized crime--which, by it's very definition, isn't likely to respond to gun laws (actually, tight gun restrictions, like drug laws, create great opportunities for gangs).

I can't speak for PDQ, but my point here is that these "solutions" some of y'all are getting excercised about are empty gestures, with marginal benefits at best, because they don't even address the facts that we have.

Furthermore, and, for me, this is the kicker, BillD himself says "There are myriad, complex, interrelated problems!!" which means that he knows that simple "solutions" like banning certain rifles and limiting clip size, and even tighter registration and enforcement aren't really going to do much.

Subject: RE: BS: Shooting tragedies and guns
From: Bobert
Date: 29 Jan 13 - 08:16 PM

Yes, Stimz... It's all about a lot of things that need to be done... Tinkering ain't goin' to fix squat... What we are going to get this tie around is tinkering...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Shooting tragedies and guns
From: pdq
Date: 29 Jan 13 - 08:22 PM

Almost 60% of gun homicides in cities of 100,000 or more in population are gang-related.

More than 95% of gun homicides are by some form of weapon other than a rifle. Almost always a handgun.

So, what does Obama and the Feinstein do first? Go after everything else. Clever, eh?

Why? Because it would be dirty and dangerous to go after the gang thugs. Cost money, too.

Much easier to take the custom-balanced skeet shooting rifle away from the local real estate agent. Real gutsy move, eh?

And Bobert: knock off the "talking points" crap and talk. You are starting to sound as lame as Greg F'ing Moron, and that is real lame.

Subject: RE: BS: Shooting tragedies and guns
From: Bobert
Date: 29 Jan 13 - 08:27 PM

"in the cities"...

(((yawn)))

More rigging the stats...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Shooting tragedies and guns
From: Bill D
Date: 29 Jan 13 - 08:28 PM

Stim said: "We are concerned here, at least according to BillD, with what are now called "Rampage Shootings", ..."

Where did you get that? I never defined the issue narrowly like that! That is only one concern! Making up your own data now?

In some urban areas, a large % of deaths are gang/drug related. So what? Many of those gang members are using guns for other purpose than to shoot each other. They use guns to rob stores and people on the street, even when the don't shoot them! Making guns harder to obtain for gangs is a good idea, don't you think? Many gangs GET guns thru straw purchasers who but guns at shows, then resell them. They prefer handguns with large clips for holdups and some of those AR-15s and similar for serious disputes among themselves. What average citizen needs either one?

Stim... you are arguing from what sounds like a standard premise of "we have a right to them, and we NEED them because 'they' have them." That position is full of holes, but the idea seems to be that if enough people repeat a mantra, it becomes true.

Subject: RE: BS: Shooting tragedies and guns
From: Greg F.
Date: 29 Jan 13 - 09:07 PM

Damn, PeeDee! You shoot skeet with a rifle? Ever kill any innocent bystanders with those high-angle shots?

Subject: RE: BS: Shooting tragedies and guns
From: GUEST,Stim
Date: 29 Jan 13 - 10:43 PM

You're not listening to me, BillD. I am not a "gun rights" person. I am tired of people who know damned well where most of the murders occur, and who commits most of the murders, and who are the victims of most of the murders, and prefer to offer high profile bandaids and to point their fingers at the NRA instead. And that is the name of that tune.

Subject: RE: BS: Shooting tragedies and guns
From: Bobert
Date: 30 Jan 13 - 09:18 AM

Yeah, I agree Stimz... Seems that rather than put some common sense gun controls in place the NRAers want to pollute, yes pollute, the discussion with bad stats and fear and not much more... Today the NRA will their smoke and mirrors show to Capitol Hill... Why they are invited is well beyond comprehension... We all know what they have to say because they have had the microphone going back 3 or 4 decades...

I wish that the Senate would invite the CDC people who were in midst of completing a study on the correlation between having a gun in the house and being shot by a gun but the NRA ***stopped*** that study years ago by telling their puppets in Congress that they wanted the study stopped... Yes, have the CDC people testify... But that won't happen because, well, we all know (wink, wink)...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Shooting tragedies and guns
From: GUEST,Stim
Date: 30 Jan 13 - 10:17 AM

The NRA have deliberately made themselves into a cartoonish WWF-style bad guy in all this. Have you ever wondered why? Why did Wayne LaPierre, who has an in house PR staff who prepare all his talking points and strategies, make the rounds saying all the wrong things after the Newtown shootings? Keep in mind that, all appearances aside, he is not a stupid man, and he has a very large, well-paid staff of people who are not stupid.

Subject: RE: BS: Shooting tragedies and guns
From: Bill D
Date: 30 Jan 13 - 10:46 AM

?? Ok, Stim... I am confused. You say you are not a gun rights person... fine. But you spend a lot of time criticizing others who are also not gun rights people....seemingly over fine points of data. You did summarize MY position incorrectly, as if I was the one being careless in my analysis.
   You accuse others like this:
"... prefer to offer high profile bandaids and to point their fingers at the NRA ..."
Now... what 'bandaids' do you mean? And what counts as a worthy step towards a solution? The NRA (excuse the emphasis) IS a problem, as they try to derail ANY solutions that alter their cozy status quo. They are not the only problem... but they are the face of many of the underlying problems. I and others have listed many of those underlying problems, from long standing cultural ones to detailed technical ones on weapon type & design. In some sense, any single proposal to confront any single item IS a 'bandaid'... but if you cut your hand deeply and can't get 'real' help immediately, a bandaid is better than nothing! (weak metaphor? maybe..but I hope you see the point).

One of the problems with tackling this issue is that there are so many people denying that it needs to be tackled. They don't even want to supply bandaids! One thing that is really needed is to keep the issue alive and keep the pressure on those who are in denial, for whatever reasons.

Subject: RE: BS: Shooting tragedies and guns
From: GUEST,Lighter
Date: 30 Jan 13 - 10:46 AM

Er...is it because the NRA desperately wants stricter laws but is too scared of it's heat-packin' membership to say so? So, by using reverse psychology, they can finally get Congress to act and dues-paying NRA members to resign in droves?

Or is it because they want angry fools to deluge Congress with one-line emails saying, "Touch my gun and you're out of office, Commie fascist"?

Subject: RE: BS: Shooting tragedies and guns
From: Bill D
Date: 30 Jan 13 - 11:14 AM

Yes, Lighter... there IS a lot of pressure on various members of congress who treat 'keeping their jobs' as a higher goal than 'doing the right thing'.
In doing so, they probably convince themselves, in a roundabout way, that they ARE doing the right thing. Hard position to overcome.

Subject: RE: BS: Shooting tragedies and guns
From: GUEST,Stim
Date: 30 Jan 13 - 12:06 PM

You're right, BillD, I am one of those people who is obsessive about factual details. The thing is, though you may not notice it, it doesn't matter which side someone is one, if they've got the facts twisted or confused, I go to pains to find the right ones. Whether its PDQ or Bobert, whether it's about gun deaths or Leslie Caron. I'm just like that.

Given that (I tend to use "Given that" as a transition, too), I think that there is a big disconnect between the rather abundant information that we have about our problems with violence, and the rather partisan solutions that are thrown around. I am particularly put off by the "waving a bloody shirt" posture, claiming that something needs to be done immediately, even if it doesn't actually solve the problem.

The thing is, all though there have been many "gun control" measures enacted into law, and although there has been a remarkable decline in homicides since say, 1993, the shirt-wavers behave as if things are worse than ever(both sides), and the public perception is that it what we tend to call a "zero sum game", so people cry and wring their hands when the opportunity arises, and then go back to whatever they were doing.


Sorry if you feel that I've mis-represented your position.

Subject: RE: BS: Shooting tragedies and guns
From: Ebbie
Date: 31 Jan 13 - 12:03 PM

As they say, the NRA has shifted from being primarily a gun owner's agency interested in the outdoors, gun safety and creating good memories, to being a marketing tool for gun manufacturers.

Maybe that is where we need to look.

Subject: RE: BS: Shooting tragedies and guns
From: Bill D
Date: 31 Jan 13 - 12:13 PM

Well... I have no problems with facts and accuracy-- but which ones one chooses from long lists and how they are presented can be crucial. It goes to the old remarks about "lying with statistics"
You note that the overall number of *homicides* has decreased... and that is a genuine fact. However, when you look at types of homicides and overall totals in various categories as a % of population and related to urban vs. rural and other categories, it is hard to be very optomistic.


Take a look at these statistics. It requires some careful investigation to sort out the relevance, but they are not pleasant in their implications.

The author says what I have suspected for awhile now: "Levin said mass killers are often copycat killers who feed on the public outrage over domestic killing.

"The copycat phenomenon is real and, unfortunately, these things come in clusters," Levin said.


If that IS true, then there can be little doubt that disturbed individuals who have easy access to guns will continue to USE guns to express their frustration with family,life and society. Because a significant % of these commit suicide or expect to die in the process, it is even difficult to analyze motives.
I see the pressures of society and the bombardment of already shaky minds with violent games and stories of others "going out in a blaze of [glory]?" as a recipe for more mass shooting as long as the means is easily available.

That obviously affects MY opinion about how to address the overall problem.

Subject: RE: BS: Shooting tragedies and guns
From: GUEST,Lighter
Date: 31 Jan 13 - 12:39 PM

The NRA is arguing (among many, many other things) that the decline in gun homicides over the years proves that no new measures are needed, because Americans are shooting each other less anyway.

They might argue just as cogently that gun laws already in place are responsible for the decline and that more controls will cause an even greater decline. Maybe without laws that NRA lobbied against long ago, the toll would have been higher.

The statistics are evidently true. They do not, however, have a crystal-clear meaning.

Subject: RE: BS: Shooting tragedies and guns
From: Greg F.
Date: 31 Jan 13 - 01:13 PM

Or is it because they want angry fools to deluge Congress with one-line emails saying, "Touch my gun and you're out of office, Commie fascist"?

Yes.

Subject: RE: BS: Shooting tragedies and guns
From: Donuel
Date: 31 Jan 13 - 02:09 PM

I have been searching for ideas, scenarios or facts that will give the most traction and pathos to a poster I am making about the gun issue.

No real response to my suggestions so far and I havent seen/found good examples here of late.

Any pointers from you*


*the universal collective you.

Subject: RE: BS: Shooting tragedies and guns
From: Ebbie
Date: 31 Jan 13 - 03:43 PM

I am not all certain that video games and violent movies are without blame. We believe in advertising and rely on it, don't we?

Do you remember 'Dungeons and Dragons'? I don't know if it is still around, although I would guess that its graphics are mild compared with today's games.

More than 20 years ago I had a co-worker who spent hours in its bowels. We would see him practicing his moves, silent and absorbed in them.

Two years or so after that, he told a couple of friends of his how to get into his grandfather's apartment, that his grandfather had money stashed there.

The 'friends' shot and killed the old man. To this day I believe that my co-worker had lost contact with reality. This young man was Native Alaskan and allowing or causing harm to an elder was totally against his beliefs.

Subject: RE: BS: Shooting tragedies and guns
From: Bill D
Date: 31 Jan 13 - 04:21 PM

Violent games DO give kids a different perspective on what is fun, fair and 'normal'. It is hard to believe that blasting away dozens of 'pretend' enemies doesn't nudge the consciousness of someone who already has issues with adjustment to society.
Of course, it is VERY hard to assert any direct, causal link..."after all, people have free will, and ought to know you just can't do that stuff in real life!".... right...

Yes, 'Dungeons and Dragons' is a lot calmer in general... my son played it a lot, but his group never even tried to inject violent aspects into it.

My view is that the creators of those 'games' have a lot to answer for. I really doubt that anyone ever called or wrote the early video game designers and said: "Hey, why don't you make a game where people get shot and chopped up with lots of blood & body parts!"...same with movie/TV program writers. They learned that a 'little' mayhem soon gets bland, and each tried to offer more mayhem in order to compete.... much like nudity grew gradually from those fairly tame early Playboys. There's no easy way to 'draw a line' on any form of entertainment, just as there's no easy way to pin down when guns crossed the line... but it's easy to see that they ARE way over the line of sanity now!

Subject: RE: BS: Shooting tragedies and guns
From: GUEST,Lighter
Date: 31 Jan 13 - 04:59 PM

I tend to agree with Ebbie and Bill, but the influence on society may be far more subtle and not directly related to violent behavior.

Consider: Japanese "graphic novels" (i.e., expensive comic books with more pictures and less talk than when they cost 1/10 the price) are relentlessly, horrendously violent in comparison with ours - and incredibly popular. Yet the Japanese murder rate is minuscule (they don't have guns, but they could find other ways to kill one other if they really wanted to.)

There have been numerous studies carried out since the '60s. Kids and grownups are shown violent films, etc., then their behavior is monitored in various ways. One experiment staged a fistfight a minute or two after exposure. In that one, it was discovered that people who'd watched the violent videos were actually more passive in a sense than those who hadn't: those who hadn't tried more often to stop the fight, while those whose brains were filled with violent images tended just to watch.

Tests with kids showed that watching violent cartoons seemed to have no overt effect. Watching violent actors made them more aggressive - but aggression is often defined as yelling or pushing, not getting truly violent like punching or kicking or even fighting.

If I recall correctly, there was a '70s study of men who preferred sadistic pornography over the other kind. Turns out they weren't notably more violent or aggressive than anybody else. IIRC.

I don't know about long-term studies. You'd think that watching 20,000 acts of murder and violence on TV alone by the time you're 18 (as was estimated in the '70s - it's probably more now) would have *some* kind of effect. But what? And on whom?

...if on anyone at all. Somebody must know more about this topic than I do.

Subject: RE: BS: Shooting tragedies and guns
From: Bobert
Date: 31 Jan 13 - 05:22 PM

So, it seems that the NRA is using the "There are already __________ (pick your own number) gun laws on the books" defense...

That's no defesnse... If all these laws are on the books then they are junk laws 'cause they ain't doin' squat...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Shooting tragedies and guns
From: freda underhill
Date: 31 Jan 13 - 05:34 PM

I've previously published info from the Australian Bureau of Statistics which demonstrated a greatly reduced murder rate after the gun buy-backs in Australia. Here is a recent article on the impact of gun buy backs in Australia.

Shooters in Australia are becoming politicised and we now have a Shooters and Fishers party in NSW which holds the balance of power. They have negotiated with government that licensed shooters can hunt in national parks, putting at risk the lives of bushwalkers and native animals.

Here is an article about the head of the NSW Game Council,who was suspended last week for trespass and illegal and cruel hunting practises

All confiscated guns should be replaced by musical instruments, and ten free lessons.

Subject: RE: BS: Shooting tragedies and guns
From: Bill D
Date: 31 Jan 13 - 10:30 PM

"... confiscated guns should be replaced by musical instruments.."

Not bassoons... looks too muck like bazookas. Maybe harmonicas...

Subject: RE: BS: Shooting tragedies and guns
From: GUEST,Stim
Date: 01 Feb 13 - 12:25 AM

An interesting article, BillD. I think it is important to note that the dramatic decline in murders since 1993 (or whatever year the peak was), came after an equally dramatic increase in murders leading up to 1993-there was a "crack epidemic", and of course, we were at the at the end of the Reagan-Bush era, so you can sort the causes out however you want. Now, murder rates have fallen to where they were in the early 1960's, which is about where they had been for decades.

Actually, it appears that when the regular murders spiked, the "mass murders" remained at the normal rate, which is where they are now. The regular murders are back at their normal level now--wo when you look back twenty years, there's been a sharp decline, but if you look farther back, they are about the same as they've been for a long time.

That's what is called "cold comfort'...

Subject: RE: BS: Shooting tragedies and guns
From: GUEST,Stim
Date: 01 Feb 13 - 12:46 AM

As to the "copycat" factor--that pretty much implicates the media, doesn't it? Without the elaborate media coverage, they wouldn't know what to copy, would they?

So we've got to ditch the First Admendment, the Second, and so maybe we ought to take a look a the Third, if anybody can remember what it is...

Subject: RE: BS: Shooting tragedies and guns
From: Bill D
Date: 01 Feb 13 - 12:12 PM

"cold comfort" Yes indeed! Succinctly put.

And "The Media" can't seem to just report that X-Y-Z events happened.... they have to milk the details, interview the victims families and ask them "how they **feel**"....as if that will help.

Certain events are big enough and iconic enough to need follow-ups in order to remind us what the situation is,... like Sandy Hook.. but my local news has the policy: "If it bleeds, it leads", and any local shooting or car crash requires a reporter and camera crew and interviews with the neighbors...etc.

I don't know how I would balance the need for relevant news coverage of significant events with the tendency to run manic, overblown hype designed to feed the morbid curiosity of the drooling public. I do know it would be toned down if I were in charge.
Ah well, god gave me 100 channels and a remote control.

Subject: RE: BS: Shooting tragedies and guns
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 01 Feb 13 - 02:02 PM

""So we've got to ditch the First Admendment, the Second, and so maybe we ought to take a look a the Third, if anybody can remember what it is...""

The NRA have already abolished the first and completely misinterpreted the 2nd. Still when they've made real the largely mythical Wild West and turned the USA into a place of equal danger for all, they can always plead the 5th.

They don't need to know any of the others.

Don T.

Subject: RE: BS: Shooting tragedies and guns
From: Wesley S
Date: 01 Feb 13 - 02:32 PM

"No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law."

Subject: RE: BS: Shooting tragedies and guns
From: GUEST,Lighter
Date: 01 Feb 13 - 04:26 PM

According to the NRA, a half million new dues-paying members have signed up since Newtown.

True or false? Sane or mad?

Subject: RE: BS: Shooting tragedies and guns
From: Donuel
Date: 01 Feb 13 - 05:27 PM

"The NRA is arguing (among many, many other things) that the decline in gun homicides over the years proves that no new measures are needed"
Sorry       but that nra premise is false, untrue and a lie.
This year we have more shooting deaths than auto accident fatalities.
The rates are up, in case you haven't noticed.

a republican congressman who carries water for the nra has made it illegal for our national institutes of health to copile and research gun death data that could ever be used to encourage gun control.
This law is not water tight but it discourages scientists from doing work in the gun area since it would mean the grant money would be challenged right off the bat.

The DAT&firearms is likewise bound by similar barbed haywire laws that prevents even basic knowledge and meaningful statistics to be gathered, sice it could be used to encourage gun control.

machavellian ain't it?

Subject: RE: BS: Shooting tragedies and guns
From: GUEST,Stim
Date: 01 Feb 13 - 11:41 PM

Since you make up a lot of stuff, Donuel, I was a bit dubious about your shooting deaths/traffic fatalities claim--However Bloomberg had an article in December that said that the two would converge in 2013.

It is true that traffic fatalities have taken a huge drop over the past few years-from around 43,000 in 2005 to 32,000--and, as we have discussed before, shooting related deaths have stayed constant.

However, most of the "shooting deaths" are suicides, and by most, I mean by about 2 to 1, and, given that murder and suicide are very,very different, it is a bit deceptive to lump them together. For almost every purpose other than "the gun debate" they are dealt with as separate issues.

At any rate, the decline in traffic deaths is most likely related to the shrinking economy, because, what with the price of gas being what it is, most of us drive a lot less theses days. If the economy perks up, we're likely to hit the roads again, and those numbers will pop back up, because if there is anything we Americans love more than guns, it's cars.

Subject: RE: BS: Shooting tragedies and guns
From: bobad
Date: 03 Feb 13 - 07:32 AM

The NRA's "enemy list" Mudcat didn't make it.....c'mon guys, we gotta do better.

Subject: RE: BS: Shooting tragedies and guns
From: GUEST,999
Date: 03 Feb 13 - 08:53 AM

bobad, the NRA put a helluva lotta work into compiling that list. Lets us know who out friends are. I think I'll send them a thank you.