It’s not my intent dwell on the Colorado shootings. It is a tragedy. Thoughts and prayers, please for the victims and their families. Mr. Moyers does come down hard on the NRA and rightly so. But I don’t want to place blame politically. Both sides fall short. Republicans are in bed with the NRA, and far too many Democrats are afraid of the NRA. I do not support taking people’s right to bear arms away, nor do I believe that there is a a conspiracy to do so. I do favor a few common sense regulations.
Bill Moyers offers his cogent thoughts on the role of gun-rights outfits like the NRA (and its many, often more rabid, imitators), all of whom in the end are really the well-financed arm of weapons manufacturers, and how they have polluted not just American discourse, but our very way of life itself.
They have done this by several means. One, as Moyers notes, is the legal fraud they have foisted onto the public (and now the courts) with their insistent claim that the Second Amendment confers an individual right to own any weapon a person likes. But the other, perhaps more significant, and decidedly more toxic, pollution of American life has been the gun fetishists’ violent worldview, manifested in the permeation of guns into all corners of our modern culture — particularly those where males are involved.
We’ve written previously about the paranoid fantasizing that is a product of this worldview, and how it translates into cockamamie conspiracy theories that the black President of the USA is secretly plotting to take away all Americans’ guns. And we’ve talked about the deadly consequences of the NRA’s incessant weapons-mongering. Obviously, after yesterday’s rampage in Aurora, it’s even more germane… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <Crooks and Liars>
Picture Credit: On Being Notorious
Here’s Bill’s Video.
As always, Moyers is spot-on.
I’d like to see the assault weapons ban reinstated, but make it possible to get a permit for one. I’d like to see a ban on the oversized clips. There is no reason a sports shooter needs 30+ rounds capacity in a pistol. I’d like to see the gun show loophole closed, because even people for whom guns are now illegal can buy one easily. I’d like to see shooting licenses. Like a driving license requires someone to show basic knowledge of laws and vehicle safety, a shooting license should only require someone to show a basic knowledge of laws and gun safety. Finally, people on a terrorist watch list, and people with documented mental health issues should not be armed.
This should not be a Republican vs Democratic Party issue. Political party does not follow those killed in senseless gun violence to the grave. Whether Republican or Democrat makes no difference in the degree of death.
11 Responses to “Bill Moyers on Gun Nuts”
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Two sites with interesting maps detailing gun violence:
[1] The most interesting fact from this site, to me, was that "Gun Deaths per 100,000 Population" had the HIGHEST correlation with "McCain Vote Share" and "Poverty" …
And the LOWEST correlation with "Obama Vote Share" and "College Graduates"
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/01/the-geography-of-gun-deaths/69354/
[2] This site provides an interactive map of at least "36 Mass Murders in the Past 30 Years" (they're updating).
You do have to zoom in quite a bit before you can easily click on the location for details.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/07/mass-shootings-map
Thanks Nameless. Both worth the time to visit.
TC your conclusion and recommendations are 100% on target– I like and own guns- I have an Illinois gun owners card– We have taken gun safety courses-I strongly support making it much more controlled as to who can buy and own assault type weapons and such supplies–I believe Individuals with a legitimate reason for owning such weapons should be able to obtain them legally- I do not believe guns should be registered– i do however think gun owners should be ; I have heard no convincing arguments to the contrary–
Gun collectors are most often legitimate– so license — I have family members who are collectors or were– they are and were licensed—
The NRA power is out of control- their screams of conspiracy senseless-part of the problem seems to be the issue is so political and so emotional that reasonable people and reasonable opinions go unheard-
I could go on– Your right on Target TC !! Thank you
Thanks Phyllis. Extreme solutions are not needed.
Spot On… sigh
Thanks, Richard.
When I was a young teen, 11-13 years, a friend and I were very much into WWII movies and TV programmes such as COMBAT. We would go down to a very large wooded park bordering the river with our knapsacks (every soldier needs rations) and our plastic pistols and run through the woods either chasing or being chased by 'German soldiers'. But after a few years, we put away our childish dreams and toys. I have not looked back on those times. Guns have never been a way of life in Canada as they have been in the US.
But on 20/07/12, both countries experienced mass shootings — Scarborough, Ontario (part of Toronto) where 2 were killed and 23 injured at a community bar-be-cue, and Aurora, Colorado where 12 were killed and 59 injured at a theatre playing the new Batman movie.
Both incidents have enraged people and brought the gun ownership provisions up for debate.
The Canadian Press has quoted Dalton McGuinty, Premier of Ontario when he called on the federal government to ban handguns.
And I would say that the greater percentage of Canadians would agree with this.
But the debate in the US is taking a different route. The 2nd amendment to the US constitution guarantees the right to bear arms. But should there be regulations around this guarantee?
There was a story of a Baptist minister wanting to be able to carry his handgun in church and challenging the constitutionality of not being able to do so. Why, in the name of all that is holy, does the preacher need to carry a concealed in handgun in church? Shoot Satan if he should darken the doorway? Are his sermons that long and uninteresting? Or fire a warning shot as grandpa starts snoring during the sermon? And the NRA hasn't wasted any time promoting their gun toting agenda either, radical as it is.
As Bill Moyers says "Violence is our alter ego. Wired into our stone age brains. …"
As Anthony Robinson put it in his article 'A New Kind of Gun-toting American' on 30/05/12 in Crosscut.com out of Seattle
Somewhere between the NRA's total unrestricted freedom and the Canadian "ban handguns" is your proposal TC.
Our two countries will go two different ways, but I hope and pray that the regulations put in place, and the sensibilities of both our citizens will mean less gun violence. Fewer husbands and wives, mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, aunts and uncles, grandparents and friends mourning their loved ones.
Lynn, I could not agree more.
The Democrats don't dare go against the NRA right now and advocate for better gun control. It's too close to a major election and the NRA has a very nasty habit of distorting the truth to make it seem as though we want all guns taken away from law-abiding citizens.l They couldn't be further from the truth but that never stopped them from spreading their propaganda before.
Mike Bloomberg was on Morning Joe this AM advocating gun control reform but he doesn't care what anybody says about him, ever!
That's true. Republicans love to lie.
Bloomberg does not need anyone to finance his campaigns. I wish he were this sane on more issues.