Monday, July 23, 2012

This is not being safer, and it certainly is not being more free

Our gun culture is a massive failure.  We are neither more free nor more safe from tyranny or violence or crime.  We are simply more exposed to danger and to death.

It is time we re-examine our assumptions and take an honest and analytical look at firearms, not the myth or heroic stupid fantasies, but the realities.

These are the realities - that guns do far far more harm than any good.  I don't care about the excuses, the coulda woulda shoulda's of this.  Too many guns are killing and injuring too damned many people, and the massive restriction, and in many case removal of guns would dramatically reduce the problem.

There is no 'upside'; we aren't safer, we do not have less crime, we do not have an protection with personal firearms from 'tyranny' or from foreign invasion or terrorism.  We simply have avoidable deaths and injuries like these.
4-year-old boy shot dead on NYC playground
By NBCNewYork.com
A 4-year-old New York boy died after being struck in the head by a stray bullet on a Bronx playground Sunday evening, police say.

Authorities say gunfire erupted at about 9:30 p.m. at the playground in the Forest Houses in Morrisania, and the child got caught in the crossfire.

For more visit NBCNewYork.com

The boy, identified as Lloyd Morgan, was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.
“When my friend didn’t see her kid, she panicked,” a woman who said she was a friend of the Morgans told the New York Daily News. “Then she saw him on the floor, shot.”

Authorities say two men were also shot. A 27-year-old was shot in the stomach and a 21-year-old was shot in the arm. Both are expected to survive.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether the two men were innocent bystanders or targets.

Residents described chaos as people began running throughout the park and parents grabbed their children.
No arrests have been made. Police continue to investigate.
Lawmakers, clergy and residents in the community planned to rally Monday afternoon to call for an end to the violence that has plagued playgrounds and basketball courts throughout the city in recent weeks.
Bronx Assemblyman Eric Stevenson called the most recent incident frustrating and urged anyone who knows who pulled the trigger to step forward.
"We can't tolerate this any longer. Those who know these people need to step forward," Stevenson said. "It's not about snitching. It's about protecting lives of 4-year-olds. And those who know in this community need to step forward."

"Those who are doing these horrendous crimes are going to be caught and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," he added. "You're taking the lives of young people. You will be taken out of this community."

How Easy Is IT?

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Mitchell and Webb--Pompeii

The 2nd Amendment is a Cruel and Deadly Hoax

Accidental Shooting Death of Illinois 10-Year-old by His Little Sister - No Charges


local news reports

A ten-year-old Granite City boy is dead following an accidental shooting in rural Dix involving his seven-year-old sister.  Jefferson County Sheriff Roger Mulch says the body of 10-year-old Christian Clark was found lying inside of a motor home recreational vehicle located in a wooded area adjacent to the Modert Clark residence in the 13,000 block of Baseline Road. 

The initial investigation indicates the victim and his seven-year-old sister, Halee Clark, were inside the motor home that is used as a hunting cabin when young Halee picked up a long gun.  Jefferson County Coroner Eddie Jo Marks says a round accidentally discharged and struck Christian in the head, resulting in his death. 

Marks says there were a few guns laying out and the one the young girl picked up contained just the one shell that resulted in her brother's death.  Marks reported the girl immediately left the vehicle to tell family members that her brother had been hurt.  Christian was pronounced dead on the scene.

This is the disgraceful business that goes on day in and day out. The equivalent of 10 Aurora Shootings every single day go largely unnoticed as we keep rehashing what young Mr. Holmes did.

I say enough is enough. What's your opinion?

Please leave a comment.

Cenk and Colin on the Shooting

No One Would Ever Accuse Madonna of Good Taste or Good Judgment

It wouldn't bother me in the slightest if the police in the UK gave Madonna a free jail cell sleepover for ignoring their requests regarding guns, real or replica, unless she has permits for them.


I guess when you're on the slippery slope of becoming irrelevant, you have to try to be more sensational and less substantive; (it certainly would explain Bachmann, Coulter, and the other right wing media whores and horrors).


From MSN.







© AP/ Madonna


Madonna defies police, takes guns onstage during Scotland show


July 22, 2012, 6:09 PM EST

WENN

Madonna ignored pleas to tone down her MDNA show at a concert in Scotland on Saturday and brandished a machine gun and pistol onstage.


Police officials advised the pop superstar not to include images of firearms and weapons themselves during the Murrayfield Stadium gig in Edinburgh in the wake of the Colorado cinema massacre on Friday.


But she defied the local authorities and hit the stage with pistols and an AK47 assault rifle -- as she has at all the shows on her MDNA tour.


A spokeswoman for the Mothers Against Guns organization tells local newspaper the Daily Record, "Madonna and her dancers using replica guns was always in bad taste but given what happened in Colorado it is even worse. She should know better."


Meanwhile, fans arriving early at the stadium caught the Material Girl and her band completing rehearsals onstage.


The pop star told the surprised concertgoers, "I'm just running through some songs early."