Following the shooting in Sandy Hook where 20 children were slaughtered by a crazed gunman, the average American felt the need, the urge to do something… anything to make sure this never happens again. Everyone, except the NRA, who came out of hiding a few days later calling for more guns on the streets and in our schools.
And now this. Exactly one month to the day since the tragic events at Sandy Hook, the NRA has launched a new shoot-em-up video game, for kids 4 years old and up. The free version of the game comes with a regular handgun. But a bigger more powerful gun – the MK11 is available for a purchase price of $.99
One month ago we lost 26 innocent lives including 20 kids ages of 6 and 7 years old. According to the medical examiner’s report, each child was shot between 3 to 11 times. But that was a month ago. Today, the NRA is trying to sharpen up the aiming skills of 4 year olds.
This is no joke. With all that has happened recently involving gun violence, conservatives have set aside January 19th to celebrate their guns!
Don’t have plans next Saturday? Well now you do, because January 19 is officially the first annual “Gun Appreciation Day”. Survivalists and serial killers and whoever else owns guns are encouraged to “go to your local gun store, gun range or gun show” and appreciate your gun the best way you know how.
The push for Gun Appreciation Day is similar to Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day and other similar “counter-protests” staged by conservative groups recently. A spokesman for the Second Amendment Foundation does a fantastic job of sounding both paranoid and mildly threatening speaking with The Washington Post about the motivation for the frightful festivities:
“We need to ban politicians who assault our rights, not firearms that are used thousands of times a day to protect lives and property from criminal attack,” said Alan Gottlieb of the Second Amendment Foundation.
In addition to guns, “patriots” are encouraged to bring their American flags, Constitution and a “‘Hands off my Guns’ sign.” Phrasing like this is one of the most common tricks in the conservatives’ wheelhouse: changing a debate from liberals vs. conservatives to traitors vs. patriots.
More than 23 people are killed by guns each day in the United States. In a way, someone out there is appreciating their gun, every single day of the year.
Today was the first day of school for the surviving children of Sandy Hook Elementary. But instead of being considerate to these kids, their families and the staff of Sandy Hook, this Connecticut news paper decided to put an ad for a gun show and a story about these children on the same page.
I can assure you that this gun show will be a resounding success because of its placement in today’s paper. Guess it’s just business as usual.
A soulless Bronx grifter posed as the aunt of 6-year-old Newtown massacre victim Noah Pozner in a twisted scam to collect bogus-charity donations, the feds charged yesterday.
Nouel Alba, 36, even told prospective donors that she had to enter Sandy Hook Elementary School after the bloodbath and identify her “nephew” for police — and said the child had “11 gun shots in his little body.”
Noah was the youngest of 20 first-graders murdered in the Dec. 14 rampage, which also killed six educators. His family has said Alba is no relation.
Alba allegedly sent out her first calls for cash within hours of the shooting.
The next day, she said in an online posting that a funeral fund had been set up “for my brother and families,” according to the complaint in Hartford federal court.
She used Facebook, the phone and texts to solicit donations, and asked that they be sent via her personal PayPal account or direct bank deposit, the complaint charges.
Alba allegedly claimed in a text to one mark that she met President Obama with other family members and he “hugged us even cryd [sic] with us.”
Several people were duped into giving donations, the complaint says, although she refunded them before her arrest. Alba was charged with lying to federal agents and released on a $50,000 bond.
In the latest shooting to rock the U.S. two volunteer firefighters have been shot and killed and two others injured after they rushed to battle a house fire which had broken out in the upstate New York town of West Webster.
The two injured me were taken to hospital in the nearby town of Strong, and were reportedly talking to emergency workers ast they were transported for treatment.
Initial reports from the scene suggested that the men were fired on by an unknown man brandishing an assault rifle and that he has not been apprehended yet.
Monroe County Sheriff’s Deputies say there is not an active search for a shooter right now.
Leave it up to “people” like Rush Limbaugh to use the massacre of twenty-seven people including twenty children and make a dumb political joke out of it. But then again we are talking about Rush Limbaugh, and expecting any level of decency from this man is like selling all your worldly possessions to prepare for the apocalypse on December 21st, only to wake up broke on December 22nd.
A female caller asked if Limbaugh knows Lanza’s political orientation. Limbaugh noted that, in the past, shootings have always been politicized, citing ABC reporter Brian Ross‘s false accusation that Aurora, Co., shooter James Holmes was a Tea Party member.
The caller then stated her belief that 2011 Arizona gunman Jared Loughner was originally considered a “Republican,” but was later found to be “quite liberal.”
“They all are liberal,” Limbaugh said, eliciting a hesitant laugh from the caller.
“If they’re mentally disturbed,” he added.
“Oh, that’s not fair,” the caller interjected.
“You’re right. That was — I’m sorry. You’re terribly right,” Limbaugh replied, seemingly taking the remark back, before adding: “That’s one of those things you just can’t tell the truth about. You’re right. I should not have said it. I take that back.”
By now you’ve all heard about the insanity that took place yesterday on a podium and then transmitted nationwide, possibly worldwide for all to behold. You watched in utter amazement as the NRA’s CEO called for more guns in schools to stop school children from being murdered. And you’ve shared your feelings on this issue with those close to you and even on social media with people you haven’t even met.
It’s understandable. You’re shocked. You simply cannot believe or accept the fact that in one incident, twenty innocent lives between the ages of six and seven were violently slaughtered, and you looked for solutions. The NRA promised that solution would come at that podium and when you listened to what they had to say, you walked away more bewildered and angered than ever before.
Well have no fear, you are not alone.
Please allow me to suggest this video. It is sure to bring you some level of comfort knowing that there are still some sensible, levelheaded people out there, and it is sure to give you hope for the future.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Lawrence O’Donnell of MSNBC’s The Last Word, says all the things you wanted to say or all the things you’ve probably said, but he does it in a more… dramatic way.
Michael Steele was once the Chairman for the RNC, and after hearing what the NRA had to say in today’s press conference, Michael Steele said, “I don’t even know where to begin. As a supporter of the Second Amendment and a supporter of the NRA, even though I’m not a member of the NRA, I just found it very haunting and very disturbing that we are a country now that are talking about arming our teachers and principals in classrooms. What does that say about us?
“The idea that the message, the top line message coming out of this press conference is, ‘lets put a gun in the hands of our teachers in the classrooms,’ I do not think that’s where rank and file NRA members expected this to go to.”
Steele was a guest on MSNBC Live, and his disgust with what the NRA had to say in their press conference was apparent.
Wayne Lapierre, the CEO and Exec. VP of the NRA began his press conference by expressing his and his organization’s sorrow over what happened in Newtown Connecticut, where twenty children and six teachers were killed by a crazed gunman. After spending about five seconds acknowledging the horror of the shooting, Lapierre began pointing the fingers of blame at everyone else, while calling for even more guns… in our schools.
Lapierre blamed the media, the entertainment industry, the media, the politicians and the media. He even showed a video of a game where someone with a gun is shown shooting kids at their school. “It’s called Kindergarten Killers” Lapierre said, failing to see the obvious fact that even in the game, the player was using a gun.
“As parents, we do everything we can to keep our children safe. It’s now time for us to assume responsibility for our schools.” Laierre went on,”the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.”
Trying to make his case for more guns on our streets, Lapierre points out that the President is protected by Secret Service with guns, and that the military uses guns to protect this nation. He then asked, “why is the idea of a gun good when it’s used to protect the President of our country or the police, but bad when it’s used to protect our children in our schools?”
The NRA’s solution to stopping these of mass murders in the United States is putting more guns in the hands of the average civilian. Lapierre even mentions the name of the Sandy Hook shooter, saying, “what if when Adam Lanza started shooting his way into Sandy Hook Elementary school last Friday, he could have been confronted by qualified armed security. Would you at least admit it’s possible that twenty six little kids, that twenty six innocent lives might have been spared that day?”
But this is an old argument from the NRA.
“It is old news,” says John Rosenthal, founder of Stop Handgun Violence. In his appearance on News Nation, Mr. Rosenthal points out that “there were two armed guards at Columbine High School. They were outgunned by the shooters with assault weapons and high capacity ammunition clips.” Rosenthal continued, “the FBI was even outgunned at Waco by David Koresh with a Tennessee made Barrett 50 caliber assault rifle that he blew up a tank with an killed police officers.”
Mr. Rosenthal concluded that Congress should “find their backbone, stand up the the dangerous NRA policies and enact an assault weapons ban and a background check for all gun sales.”
It seems that the NRA is foolishly choosing to disregard this fact: that the U.S.,accounts for 5% of the world’s population, but owns 50% of the world’s guns. With this knowledge, calling for more guns seem pointless.
Mass killers target Americans once every two weeks on average, in attacks that range from robberies to horrific public shooting sprees like the massacre Friday of 27 people in Newtown, Conn., a USA TODAY examination found.
Using news accounts and FBI records from 2006 through 2010, the most recent years for which complete records were available, USA TODAY identified 156 murders that met the FBI definitions of mass killings, where four or more people were killed.
All told, the attacks killed 774 people, including at least 161 young children.
The review offers perhaps the most current, complete picture yet of a crime that is both frighteningly common and not widely understood.
Gunfire broke out at a San Antonio movie theater late Sunday, leaving two people wounded and sending panicked moviegoers rushing for the exits and ducking for cover, according to CBS San Antonio affiliate KENS, which cites police and witnesses.
Witnesses tell kens numerous shots were fired inside and outside the Santikos Mayan Palace 14 theater complex around 9:25 p.m., setting off the scramble to safety before police and EMS arrived. The complex was evacuated and sealed off for several hours.
Bexar Xounty Sheriff’s spokesman Louis Antu says the incident started when the man fired shots inside a nearby restaurant “and carried on into the theater.” It’s not clear what led to the shooting.
Antu says the man headed toward the theater and shot a male in the lot. The age and condition of the victim wasn’t immediately known, but Antu says his injuries did not appear life-threatening.
The gunman entered the theater, Antu says, where he fired a shot but did not hit anyone. An off-duty sheriff’s deputy working security then shot the gunman.
At one point, the suspect also fired at a San Antonio Police Department patrol car, Antu said.
“He was shooting at a marked unit,” Antu said. “He knows he was shooting at an officer, so that’s (an) automatic (charge of) attempted capital murder.”
The suspect was taken to a hospital but was not immediately charged.
Why are we still having this conversation? Why are we still debating whether we should regulate assault and military style (whatever that is) weapons and limit large purchases of ammunition? Why are we still beholden to an organization that believes that the United States Constitution guarantees an unlimited, unfettered, absolute right to a gun, despite a giant clause at the beginning of the Second Amendment that clearly refers to militias? Do we have absolute free speech rights? Religious rights? Rights to assembly? No. These are all regulated activities. We need to regulate guns.
I’ve read the arguments about how a weapons ban or more regulation would not have stopped this horrific shooting. I’ve listened and watched as talking head after talking head drones on about how politically difficult it is for a Democratic president to pursue controls on weapons because it would be political death.
I’ve had conversations in person and on social media with people for whom their weapon seems to be their most cherished possession.
“If they come for my gun I’ll give them the bullets first!”
“Over my dead body!”
“From my cold dead hands!”
“First it’s my gun, then they’ll come for my house and my family!”
“What we need is for every teacher and principal to be trained in how to use a gun and to be issued one for their classroom.”
Clearly I don’t understand the mania, the attachment, the fear, the anger, and the entitlement that many people have with their guns. I’m not advocating taking anyone’s gun away who can’t prove that they’re responsible enough to carry one. I’m questioning the idea that we don’t have to ask more questions, or do more background checks or limit what kind of gun people can buy and how much ammunition they can get at one time. There are responsible ways to do this. We regulate so many things in our society from marriage to driver’s to pet licenses, from who can be a teacher and a police officer to how fresh the meat and dairy has to be in our food stores.
But guns? Weapons that can destroy lives? Kill children? Apparently not more than the way we regulate them now, despite the fact that the system doesn’t work. When a system doesn’t work and results in people’s deaths, you fix it. That’s what we need now.
Are there ways around these proposals? You bet. And people will find them. But the point is to put them in place and see how they work because what we have now has led to one of the bloodiest, tragic, heartbreaking years this country has seen in quite a while. Gun deaths are preventable. Let’s prevent them.
A heartbreaking story of a 6 year old girl. She was in one of the classrooms when the shooter Adam Lanza, entered and began shooting. The little girl laid among her classmates as they were being killed. She pretended to be dead herself and after it was all over, she ran out of the building covered in her classmates blood.
When she got to her waiting mother she said, “Mommy, I’m okay, but all my friends are dead.”
Her story was retold by a pastor, who offered grief counseling the little girl’s mother after the incident. The other 15 students in her class were all killed.
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