Gun Nuts in the Home of the Brave

=

Kids and staff get slaughtered by a gun wielding nut a few months ago in just the latest of a list of massacres across the country stretching back more than thirty years. Any new proposals on how to deal with the epidemic of butchery are met with mass hysteria from those who think their right to own a gun outweighs our right to live free of mass shootings. Only in America do we ban toy assault rifles and keep the real ones legal. Why? Where does this come from? Fear plays a big part and if you have been reading this blog, you know the next most important thing is of course money. Once you get beyond our pretend democracy and realize everything here is solely about making the rich richer the seemingly crazy things our government does makes sense. A lunatic wants to blow up a plane with a shoe bomb (not successful)  and now we spend millions taking off our shoes and getting them screened at airports across the country. Twenty plus kids get blown away in class, movie goers shot dead, death stalking collage campuses; so what happens? Well... nothing. My favorite question. Why is that, man?

We call ourselves the home of the brave but I think nothing could be further from the truth. We are actually pretty chicken shit. In the course of making more money for those who don't need it a nice healthy dose of fear is necessary. Call it economic fear. Fear of losing your job, fear of losing health insurance if you are lucky enough to have any and fear of keeping a good credit score all come to mind. I have to keep my job for security for myself and my family and there are people out there who want not only take my shit but hurt us as well. Watch any local news channel you want and pay attention to how they reinforce our collective fears. First will be some unfortunate bloke who was murdered (most likely by a gun) followed by other assorted crimes and on to economic worries such as plant closings and the like. But it is not enough to have us all scared to death of each other. Let's also fear the government! After all they are out to take our shit too; "freedom," guns and even our damn money. There are people around that literally stockpile assault weapons and ammunition for who know what reasons but it is not because they are free from fear. These people would do well to remember Uncle Sam wins every time. The people at Waco had their own guns. So did the people at Ruby Ridge. More recently, Christopher Dorner tried to take on the government / police and he too lost. If Uncle Sam comes calling you and your bushmaster are up shit creek. What the hell are you gonna do against his gun ships and M1 Abrams Tanks?  Too many harbour dark fears of an evil government, people of other races, different religions or a take over by skinny uptight fashion models. I'm not sure why but it is too bad they don't put their time and cash into something more positive for society than hoarding guns and ammo. Who benefits? So lets look at this through a profit motive prism.  

Where does the money lead? Fear generates revenue. Check it out.  Here and here too. And one more for good measure. This is not rocket science people. Just normal operation procedure in our casino capitalist country. If you took a moment to check out the links or better yet, found your own seeing how government serves the wealthy every time becomes painfully obvious. So we lose thirty thousand a year to gun related deaths, there is money to be made!  $11.7 Billion is not a small number. These companies are not in it to protect lives or defend  rights, they are in it to make money for themselves and their share holders. Like Steve Martin says so eloquently in The Jerk "...It is a profit deal!" You may want to keep this in mind the next time you are watching some blow hard on TV talking about second amendment gibberish or self defense bullshit.

Look at the numbers. 

Consider the following from The National Center for Biotechnology Information advances science and health by providing access to biomedical and genomic information.

OBJECTIVE:

Determine the relative frequency with which guns in the home are used to injure or kill in self-defense, compared with the number of times these weapons are involved in an unintentional injury, suicide attempt, or criminal assault or homicide.

METHODS:

We reviewed the police, medical examiner, emergency medical service, emergency department, and hospital records of all fatal and nonfatal shootings in three U.S. cities: Memphis, Tennessee; Seattle, Washington; and Galveston, Texas.

RESULTS:

During the study interval (12 months in Memphis, 18 months in Seattle, and Galveston) 626 shootings occurred in or around a residence. This total included 54 unintentional shootings, 118 attempted or completed suicides, and 438 assaults/homicides. Thirteen shootings were legally justifiable or an act of self-defense, including three that involved law enforcement officers acting in the line of duty. For every time a gun in the home was used in a self-defense or legally justifiable shooting, there were four unintentional shootings, seven criminal assaults or homicides, and 11 attempted or completed suicides.

CONCLUSIONS:

Guns kept in homes are more likely to be involved in a fatal or nonfatal accidental shooting, criminal assault, or suicide attempt than to be used to injure or kill in self-defense.        

Don't like the source? Then find your own. The results will be pretty much the same. Having guns does not make you safer PERIOD. Get over it and take up reading instead.