Gun Control

[lensperson]

Re: Gun Control

Just a year or so ago, some lunatic came swaggering down the home street of my town with a powerful rifle.

The local police had to take him out.

Enforcement of state statutes is the job those gentlepeople sign up for.

I am glad that somebody else packs all that heat.

[Kaonohi]

Gun Nuts vs. Patriotic Citizens

Just a year or so ago, some lunatic came swaggering down the home street of my town with a powerful rifle.

The local police had to take him out.

Enforcement of state statutes is the job those gentlepeople sign up for.

I am glad that somebody else packs all that heat.

Yes, there ARE some "GUN NUTS," but Matapule demeans the terminology when he throws Constitutional Protectors in the pot.

Matapule doesn't know the difference between a "Gun Nut" and a Patriot.

So sad.

[Kaonohi]

Re: GE is onboard

GE Capital has moved to stop all loans to gun shops. It is nice to see that even corporate giants see how out of control the gun nuts are in the US.

STRICT gun control NOW!

STILL no sensible solutions????

Just some minor commercial support and more whining?

What do you propose for "strict gun control?????" Wishing? Prayers? Magic?

[Kalalau]

Re: Gun Control

Is everybody diagnosed with PTSD banned from owning guns? Do they do some kind of assessment, or is it just a blanket ban?

[matapule]

Re: Gun Control

Is everybody diagnosed with PTSD banned from owning guns? Do they do some kind of assessment, or is it just a blanket ban?

One of the many symptoms of PTSD is, "Feeling that one can never relax and must be on guard all the time to protect oneself." If one experiences this symptom and has access to a gun (or any weapon), this could (might, maybe, perhaps) lead to a lethal combination which may manifest itself by harming oneself or others. The fact that one may experience a paranoid or unrealistic or irrational need to protect oneself does not give that person the right or obligation to own a weapon, especially a gun. The condition is a mental illness and needs to be treated as such with medication and counseling, not guns.

[Kaonohi]

Re: Gun Control

Is everybody diagnosed with PTSD banned from owning guns? Do they do some kind of assessment, or is it just a blanket ban?

If a person is diagnosed with PTSD by the Veteran's Administration, they are automatically put on the "deny purchase" list for the NICS, much the same as a felon would be (if the police were as competent, which they are not). This occurs for ANY PTSD diagnosis, no matter how slight.

According to the Vietnam Veterans Association, most PTSD symptoms are mild and ultimately non-violent. These include:

Memory Impairment

Hyper-vigilance (tendency to notice more things than the average person, this can range from noticing tools discarded by the roadside to awakening from a small sound)

Mild paranoia, mostly manifesting as excessive caution.

Flashbacks (which range from feelings of being in Vietnam to simply remembering what it was like - usually triggered by familiar conditions)

Reacting to a situation if it were a wartime danger; protecting potential victims.

Taking chances where one should be more careful (in rescuing others, performing difficult tasks, etc.)

Though these are the most common, there are also other symptoms, including withdrawal, self-medication, and others.

Not all people with PTSD should be denied firearm ownership; each case should be evaluated on its own merits rather than a blanket denial. Veterans in general are well-trained in the use of firearms, and can be a benefit to their community and country should the need arise.

In fact, it makes more sense to demand a blanket denial for individuals who continually rant about a single subject on the Internet. I believe Timothy McVeigh fell into this category. I think Matapule does, as well, but I will offer him the benefit of the doubt until he is assessed by a competent mental professional. His angry and often irrational rants against the Second Amendment to the US Constitution reveal an unstable personality that could prove to be dangerous - or not. Dismissing well-established historical events that disagree with his worldview is troubling, at the least.

I'm glad I have a measure of confidentiality here in HT, so I may speak my perception of the truth without worrying about reprisal.

[Kaonohi]

Re: Gun Control

One of the many symptoms of PTSD is, "Feeling that one can never relax and must be on guard all the time to protect oneself." If one experiences this symptom and has access to a gun (or any weapon), this could (might, maybe, perhaps) lead to a lethal combination which may manifest itself by harming oneself or others. The fact that one may experience a paranoid or unrealistic or irrational need to protect oneself does not give that person the right or obligation to own a weapon, especially a gun. The condition is a mental illness and needs to be treated as such with medication and counseling, not guns.

True, this is one of the many symptoms of PTSD, and not all who suffer from PTSD manifest this symptom. In fact it occurs only in a minority of Veterans with PTSD, usually in those who were in extremely unusual conditions of eminent danger during their experience.

This tactic of attributing one rare symptom to all with PTSD is a new kind of disability discrimination, as insidious as racial, religious or cultural discrimination.

[Kaonohi]

Re: Gun Control

Hijacked from Tunnl:

"We can’t be so fixated on our desire to preserve the rights of ordinary Americans.

— U.S. President Bill Clinton
USA TODAY, page 2A
11 March 1993"

From our favorite anti-gun, assault-weapon banning president.

OK to give forgiveness to illegal immigrants, torture suspected terrorists, ban access to medically-efficient herbal remedies (marijuana) and force most every retail outlet to be bi-lingual, but to support constitutional freedoms? Naaah! Get OUTA here!

[Walkoff Balk]

Re: Gun Control

http://www.odditycentral.com/news/re...st-biceps.html

Now, these are some guns.

[Kaonohi]

Re: Gun Control

Unsure where this had come from. But I appreciate its inclusion.

Sssssssnake

[Kalalau]

Re: Gun Control

In the news today, a 5 year old Kentucky boy accidentally killed his 2 year old sister with a rifle he had been given for a present. Mom stepped out for a few minutes and the sad deed was done. Its not nice but I gotta ask...this was obviously a pro gun family, I mean giving a rifle to a 5 year old shows a particular mind set about guns, and now that this horrible tragedy has happened, how do you think they are dealing with it? Do they accept that they made a mistake, a very bad mistake, or just chalk it up to bad luck. Do you think they are, or will be, questioning their pro gun values? These sad stories happen kind of like clockwork, a bit more often than the massacres.

When people get personal experience with an issue they seem to get a more realistic understanding of it. I doubt if Jim Brady's family cared much about the gun issue until he was shot and his life changed so much. To Nancy Reagan's eternal credit Ronald's Alzheimers Disease acquainted her with the need for stem cell research into the disease, I recall her plea to a Republican convention to abandon their opposition to stem cell research and they blew her off still claiming to love and adore Ronny. Maybe this Kentucky family will have a different take on guns after this tragedy. Maybe not.

[matapule]

Re: Gun Control

In the news today, a 5 year old Kentucky boy accidentally killed his 2 year old sister with a rifle he had been given for a present.

"A 5-year-old boy who shot and killed his 2-year-old sister Tuesday near Burkesville, Ky., used a special, child-sized rifle he got in November for his birthday.The fatal shell was fired from a Crickett — "a rifle for a little kid," said Cumberland County Coroner Gary White."


This incident shows how cynical gun manufacturers have become, - marketing to 5 year olds. Anything to make a buck. This is like the cigarette manufacturers who marketed candy cigarettes to kids when I was young, in a successful attempt to get many of them "adjusted" to cigarettes at a young age.



There is a special place in hell for the gun manufacturers, the NRA, and their supporters. Here is a picture of the Crickett "my first rifle" manufactured by Keystone "Sporting Arms."



Check out the pictures of these innocent kids who have been corrupted and co-opted by the Keystone Gun Violence Company. I wonder if any of them were first grade students at Sandy Hook Elementary School?

STRICT gun control NOW!

[Kaonohi]

Re: Gun Control

There's NO EXCUSE for tragedies like this. Children should not have weapons of any kind. Banning weapons from non-adults is something I can easily support; children do not have the judgement required... come to think of it, this child's parents evidently don't either.

I don't generally persecute people based on where they live, but I must note that Kentucky, West Virginia and Tennessee are some of the most likely places where things like this could happen.

Never underestimate the value of education.

[Kalalau]

Re: Gun Control

Long, long ago demented friends & I cooked up an admittedly weird idea for a Drugs For Teens program. FOR teens. It was for laughs, just the incongruity of it. As weird as it was I gotta admit, Guns For Tots beats it hands down.

A Link with the story: http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2013...marketing-kids

[lensperson]

Re: Gun Control

Still blasting away after all these years.

Gun toting kids are natures way of applying birth control.

Its a Darwinian thang.