CONNECT
NationofChange / Op-Ed
Published: Monday 23 July 2012
“One of the guns the shooter used was an AK-47 type assault weapon that was banned in 1994. The ban ran out in 2004.”
The NRA Has America Living Under the Gun
You might think Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of and spokesman for the mighty American gun lobby, the National Rifle Association, has an almost cosmic sense of timing. In 2007, at the NRA’s annual convention in St. Louis, he warned the crowd that, “Today, there is not one firearm owner whose freedom is secure.” Two days later, a young man opened fire on the campus of Virginia Tech, killing 32 students, staff and teachers.
Just last week, LaPierre showed up at the United Nations Conference on the Arms Trade Treaty here in New York and spoke out against what he called “anti-freedom policies that disregard American citizens’ right to self-defense.” Now at least 12 are dead in Aurora, Colorado, gunned down at a showing of the new film, The Dark Knight Rises, a Batman movie filled with make-believe violence. One of the guns the shooter used was an AK-47 type assault weapon that was banned in 1994. The ban ran out in 2004.
Obviously, LaPierre’s timing isn’t cosmic, just coincidental and unfortunate; as Shakespeare famously wrote, the fault is not in our stars, but in ourselves. In other words, people -- people with guns. There are some 300 million guns in the United States, one in four adult Americans owns at least one and most of them are men. According to the British newspaper The Guardian, over the last 30 years, “the number of states with a law that automatically approves licenses to carry concealed weapons provided an applicant clears a criminal background check has risen from eight to 38.”
Every year there are 30,000 gun deaths and 300,000 gun-related assaults in the U.S. Firearm violence costs our country as much as $100 billion a year. Toys are regulated with greater care and safety concerns than guns.
So why do we always act so surprised? Violence is our alter ego, wired into our Stone Age brains, so intrinsic its toxic eruptions no longer shock, except momentarily when we hear of a mass shooting like this latest in Colorado. But this, too, will pass as the nation of the short attention span quickly finds the next thing to divert us from the hard realities of America in 2012.
We are a country which began with the forced subjugation into slavery of millions of Africans and the reliance on arms against Native Americans for its westward expansion. In truth, more settlers traveling the Oregon Trail died from accidental, self-inflicted gunshots wounds than Indian attacks -- we were not only bloodthirsty but also inept.
Nonetheless, we have become so gun loving, so gun crazy, so blasé about home-grown violence that far more Americans have been casualties of domestic gunfire than have died in all our wars combined. In Arizona last year, just days after the Gabby Giffords shooting, sales of the weapon used in the slaughter -- a 9 millimeter Glock semi-automatic pistol -- doubled.
We are fooling ourselves. Fooling ourselves that the law could allow even an inflamed lunatic to easily acquire murderous weapons and not expect murderous consequences. Fooling ourselves that the Second Amendment’s guarantee of a “well-regulated militia” be construed as a God-given right to purchase and own just about any weapon of destruction you like, a license for murder and mayhem. A great fraud has entered our history.
Maybe you remember this video. In it, Adam Gadahn, an American born member of al Qaeda, the first U.S. citizen charged with treason since 1952, urges terrorists to carry out attacks on the United States. Right before your eyes he says, “America is absolutely awash with easily obtainable firearms. You can go down to a gun show at the local convention center and come away with a fully automatic assault rifle without a background check, and most likely, without having to show an identification card. So what are you waiting for?”
The gunman in Colorado waited only for his opportunity. So there you have it -- the arsenal of democracy has been transformed into the arsenal of death and the NRA? The NRA is the enabler of death -- paranoid, delusional and as venomous as a scorpion. With the weak-kneed acquiescence of our politicians, the National Rifle Association has turned the Second Amendment of the Constitution into a cruel and deadly hoax.
16 comments on "The NRA Has America Living Under the Gun"
July 24, 2012 6:34am
How much blood has to be shed before you idiots admit that gun control doesn't work? You loathsome hypocrites will sell the same snake oil time after time after time, and every time it will result in more death. Yet every time you will point to the NRA and people who actually like freedom and say "You have blood on your hands.". Look at the facts, gun control was designed to keep the minorities in line, both ethnic and political. It has done so. If gun control worked everything about violence in the USA would be reversed, murderers and victims would be white, rural and rich, not black, poor and urban. Murders would occur in states with loose gun controls not tight ones. Every known fact proves you wrong, give it up.
July 25, 2012 11:08am
Hey "beer swilling, pork-bellied, quasi-racist yahoo," if you pull your head out of your butt long enough, you'll see that every other industrialized nation has both strict gun control (Britain bans gun ownership) and a FAR, FAR lower homicide rate than the crazy assed US. Get it moron, guns facilitate violent people to kill people and other living things. The need for you and others like for a "piece" to compensate for your small "pee-pee" doesn't justify the rest of society living under the terror of violence wrought by a lust for the objects that make that violence possible, easy and imminent.
July 24, 2012 1:15am
“the number of states with a law that automatically approves licenses to carry concealed weapons provided an applicant clears a criminal background check has risen from eight to 38.” And over the past 30 years, the violent crime rate has declined. Could there be a connection?
“America is absolutely awash with easily obtainable firearms. You can go down to a gun show at the local convention center and come away with a fully automatic assault rifle without a background check, and most likely, without having to show an identification card. So what are you waiting for?” This is completely untrue. In order to purchase a machine gun legally (as opposed to a semi-auto lookalike), you must purchase through a Class III dealer, pass a background check, register the weapon with BATFE, pay a significant transfer tax, keep the weapon in secure storage at all times (the government defines what is secure), and agree that your premises and storage may be inspected by ATF agents at any time.
Furthermore, with a very few exceptions, the sale of any machine gun made after 1986 is completely unlawful.
I do not doubt that there are those who traffic illicitly in genuine assault rifles and machine guns, or who convert semi-auto weapons to full-auto capability. But that is already unlawful. If laws could stop this sort of thing....it would not exist.
July 23, 2012 10:36pm
I think it is safer to go on holidays in Mexico than the U.S.
July 23, 2012 4:55pm
There is no legal definition of "Arms." Why? We need to go back to a "Militia" system like Switzerland where the government gives you a gun, trains you how to use it, then insists that you come and protect your country in order to have it. Sounds right to me. Want a gun for the "security of a free State" put your ass on the line, and let's see how many of you are ready to go to war to protect freedom! Switzerland has more guns per capita than any other nation, but at the above requirements. The NRA doesn't tell you that part! They also are a neutral non-aggressor nation with virtually no gun killing.
July 24, 2012 6:39am
@Tearlach Uisnec
Yeah that's how it works in the USA too. If you're between the ages of 18 and 45, able-bodied and a citizen you are a part of the militia and required to defend the state when the militia is called. That's true regardless of whether you own a gun or not. And the NRA does tell you that part, moron, try actually doing your research.
July 24, 2012 9:22am
"If you're between the ages of 18 and 45, able-bodied and a citizen you are a part of the militia and required to defend the state when the militia is called." Please cite an example, just one will suffice, where this "call-up" has been employed. In point of "fact" it NEVER has. The United States has something you may have heard of called "The National Guard." THAT, is our "well-regulated militia" invoked by the framers in the 2nd Amendment; NOT a consortium of "beer swilling, pork-bellied, quasi-racist yahoos," in camouflaged fatigues running around the nation's backwoods "playing" army and then going home to pray to Jesus on Sunday. You feel the "compulsion" to kill wildlife that's your affair sport. You DON'T need an automatic weapon, never envisaged by the framers, to do so. And in the near impossible likelihood of citizens being asked to defend our country from within, I'm reasonably certain that the military will NOT desire every card carrying member of the pernicious NRA to be out there shooting at everything in sight. "Civilized" countries with low gun related deaths, take
many steps to ensure that they remain so. With over 30,000 of those deaths occurring in the U.S. EVERY YEAR, do you actually believe that a return to the "wild west" is the answer? Does a sportsmen or hunter NEED sixty to 100 rounds per minute to indulge his fantasies or protect his home? The continual necessity of man to "hide" behind the shadow of a weapon is continued proof of his inability to evolve into a more advanced species. Count yourself in.
July 25, 2012 11:00am
Very good post!!! Hits the bulls eye of what this supposed "right" really is, not what its regressive thugs claim it to be. The post should be broadcast nationally.
July 23, 2012 3:53pm
From "SCOTTMGHILL@GMA:" Spout all the statistics you want, and I'll match them point for point - guns also prevent violent crime and save lives."
Okay, some statistics on this, please, with citations to all supporting studies and evidence to your claims. (Note: I won't hold my breath waiting. Gun nuts are liars by genetic disposition.)
Beyond that, we need to start calling out the NRA for exactly what it really is, an American terrorist organization.
July 23, 2012 2:27pm
The first thing I thought of after this deranged maniac committed this crime was the goddamned U.S. military!!!! They're always "getting away with murder,"
saying we're on "this mission, that mission." I think they're about the worst influence on America's youth! Then I thought, what about capital punishment for the creep? Why should such a sicko be allowed to live, after that? Putting him on a deathrow would discourage anyone else who thinks they might "get away with" such a crime!!! Really , when there is ample evidence of WHO committed the heinous act, why not capital punishment?
July 23, 2012 1:00pm
Let's look at Amendment 2 - Right to Bear Arms, ratified 12/15/1791. "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."
Why is a part of our Constitution written so poorly? It is not a proper and intelligible sentence. If it were a law, a court would throw it out for being ambiguous. Obviously such an ambiguous statement is wide open to interpretation. he NRA and the courts have given it meaning - if you want an arsenal you can have it. The Amendment says the right shall not be unabridged. Does that mean no limits? Can I purchase 500 RPGs and 100 anti-aircraft missiles and carry them in my truck? The word "unabridged" means "not reduced in scope", "not diminished" and "not shortened by omission of words". (That last one is funny, since the 2nd Amendment seems to have been abridged by omission of necessary words prior to ratification.) A conservative view would say you can have a musket (or pistol or rifle) to defend your home and family and to support a state militia. A liberal view is much more expansive. (It's peculiar how politicians use "conservative" and "liberal" in the opposite way.) Clearly there are limits, and we as a society can define those limits. In lieu of that, the 2nd Amendment should be amended to make it relevant to modern society. And the NRA members can have their double-shot hunting rifles. Limit one registered rifle per person, please.
July 23, 2012 12:14pm
Until violent gun deaths eclipse the number of suicide shootings, you'll never convince me we have a significant gun problem. What we actually have is a social problem - an overwhelming number of people who feel entitled to resolve disputes with a gun, a gang problem fueled by the prohibition against drugs, and a perpetual economic underclass who feel locked into poverty by a ruling elite that simply doesn't care. Spout all the statistics you want, and I'll match them point for point - guns also prevent violent crime and save lives. Misrepresent the second amendment all you want - the simple fact is that we have the legal right to arm ourselves, and whining about it will change nothing. You want to lower the number of non-suicide gun deaths? Legalize drugs, make all judge positions elected positions (including the Supreme Court) and force the major media outlets to stop lying and calling their lies "news".
July 23, 2012 11:32am
Since the "concealed carry" and "castle" laws have been on the books here in Florida, violent crime is down over 30%.
As a 64 year old bicyclist, I scared off two menacing young thugs by just smiling at them. More of a leer, really. The one with a big mouth nearly wet his pants. And that was without producing a weapon, which I may or may not have had.
On the bus, I overheard two youths, " Don't mess with those old people, man. They'll kill you."
July 23, 2012 7:14pm
A letter I sent to my local paper. Yet another stomach churning massacre in gun crazed, violence idolatrous, "can't connect the dots" America.
The reactions to the Colorado theater shootings are emblematic of the disconnect. President Obama and GOP hopeful Mitt Romney essentially echo one another in calling for prayer, denouncing evil and speaking of the "unfulfilled dreams of those killed" amidst feckless entreaties to "appreciate life and show compassion to one another." The "blood gluttonous" entertainment industry, in complete denial of complicity, will "increase security at theaters." The Governor of "lightning strikes twice" Colorado intones "we won't be defined by this." Fascinatingly and horrifically futile. From The Stockton Record's front page, June 6, 1968; "Sen. Robert Kennedy Dies." Then "three" articles; "LBJ Names Commission to Seek Cause of Violence;" "Senate, House Pass Bills for Candidate Protection;" and, as you might expect, in any "sane" society, "LBJ Gets Gun Control Measure." Times have changed obviously. Japan and the U.K., with some of the strictest gun laws, have approximately 0.07% and 0.4% "intentional gun deaths per 100,000 people" correspondingly.
The U.S., approximately 13.47% per 100,000 people. In terms of gun related homicides we keep fatal company with the likes of S.Africa, Columbia, Thailand, The Philippines and Mexico. Yet the entertainment industry will continue to produce ensanguined forays into mayhem with "improved graphics" for video games, "3-D (with Dolby Surround Sound)" for movies and "coercive lyrics," particularly in Rap and Heavy Metal music. All the while our leaders and prospective leaders will continue to issue vapid statements as they are politically compelled to pay fealty to essentially one of the largest "terrorist" organizations in the world. One that "insists" that hunters and sportsmen have a "constitutional" right to "high volume drum magazines capable of 50 to 60" rounds per minute. Why not change "USA" to "NRA." Dave Waldon
July 23, 2012 10:55am
Every household should be able to have one or two guns, according to the constitution--one or two muskets.
July 24, 2012 6:36am
@Ger320 So then you're happy to write whatever you like, but only with quill pens and 1700s printers? This has to be the most assinine argument I've heard in the entire debate.