The Tragedy is Already Politicized
2. Eleven of the 20 worst mass shootings in the last 50 years took place in the United States.
Time has the full list here. In second place is Finland, with two entries.
All a big coinky-dink, I’m sure.
I also I agree with this, indeed as applied to any public figure. Arguments may be more or less effective depending on the context and this shouldn’t be ignored, but there’s no “non-political” reaction of a prominent politician to mass killings. And this very much includes pretending that access to guns and ammunition isn’t a public policy issue with serious consequences.
…”Meaningful action.“ It’s a start.
…Also, I’m sure there will be narrative that Connecticut, being in New England at all, must have incredibly stringent gun control regulations, which shows that gun control doesn’t work. Leaving aside the fact that all state (as opposed to federal) gun regulations are going to be of relatively limited value in a country with open interstate borders, Connecticut does not have particularly stringent gun control laws — they are middle of the road by American standards and extremely lax by international ones.
…There was also a horrible attack on schoolchildren in China today. Two key differences: 1)the perpetrator didn’t have a gun, and 2)the death toll was zero. But I don’t mean to “politicize” the horrible events in Newton by suggesting that firearms might be more dangerous than lawn furniture.
J.W. Hamner:
December 14th, 2012 at 4:04 pm
The fact that over 75% of the guns used in mass shootings in the US are legally obtained is what struck me. I mean people can say that a big part of the issue is that we need to prioritize mental health, but you still have to come around to the fact that east access to guns is the bigger part.
As James Fallows pointed out, when people go crazy in other countries it’s with a knife, not a gun, and those little kids don’t end up dead.
laslo:
December 14th, 2012 at 4:08 pm
The righties began firing off emails and tweets begging for donations to stop the Kenyan’s attempt to repeal Amendment II before Obama had even left the podium. La Pierre must be giddy.
OmerosPeanut:
December 14th, 2012 at 4:09 pm
The list does not include the Mumbai shooting rampage. I don’t think another word really needs to be said at this point.
Davis X. Machina:
December 14th, 2012 at 4:10 pm
Maine’s state constitution, as amended by referendum in 1987: “Every citizen has a right to keep and bear arms and this right shall never be questioned.”
Apart from slavery in the CSA’s constitution, anyone else recall a constitutional right so protected?
mark f:
December 14th, 2012 at 4:19 pm
over 75% of the guns used in mass shootings in the US are legally obtained
Thank you. I thought it must be at least this high but hadn’t looked it up.
Xof:
December 14th, 2012 at 4:20 pm
I look forward to every staff member of every right wing blog explaining to each and every parent in Connecticut why the right to unlimited firepower on demand is more important than their childrens’ lives were.
IM:
December 14th, 2012 at 4:24 pm
Time has not a full list. It just assembled some well known instances.
You can recognize that because they include the Gifford shooting, that with six dead shouldn’t rank high even in a list of (non.terroristic) spree-shootings.
somethingblue:
December 14th, 2012 at 4:24 pm
So does that mean it would be unconstitutional even to propose the repeal of that provision? I mean, does that phrase actually have some special significance in constitutionalspeak, or is it just legalese for “you can pry it from my cold dead fingers”?
JKTHs:
December 14th, 2012 at 4:25 pm
Wow, 58 out of 100 gets you ranked 5th among states?
howard:
December 14th, 2012 at 4:26 pm
this is one issue about which i have next to no hope at all.
putting aside how deeply embedded the right to own a gun is within american culture (that davis x. machina quote from maine is perfect) is just how many guns there are in circulation already.
insofar as i have any hopes at all, it lies in one of two directions: suing the hell out of the gun companies a la the cigarette companies or taxing and regulating ammunition like crazy.
that’s not a lot of hope.
Hogan:
December 14th, 2012 at 4:32 pm
The Mumbai attacks were a paramilitary operation using guns and bombs, carried out by ten people over four days. The only mass shooting on that list with more than one shooter was Columbine. It’s not a reasonable comparison.
Just Dropping By:
December 14th, 2012 at 4:33 pm
Assuming you’re referring to the 2008 Mumbai shooting, it’s of very limited relevance to the question of gun control given that the attackers there were armed for their attack in Pakistan, most likely by Pakistani intelligence and/or the military.
joe from Lowell:
December 14th, 2012 at 4:33 pm
Nor does it include any firefights from Iraq, Afghanistan, or Syria.
And? Are you having trouble understanding the topic?
laura:
December 14th, 2012 at 4:37 pm
Really interesting fact that gun ownership in the US is actually falling (although this could have something to do with declining report rates; I can’t tell if this is factored in). If it’s true, the decline in gun ownership parallels the decline in gun assaults in the past two decades. You would think a decrease in gun ownership and lower and lower rates of “rational” assaults (i.e. assults with a motive of taking stuff or securing territory etc) combined with a relative increase in irrational assults like spree killings would start making gun control look politically appealing.
Pestilence:
December 14th, 2012 at 4:38 pm
So prisoners in their prisons still have an unquestioned right to be armed? or are they deemed non longer citizens?
rea:
December 14th, 2012 at 4:38 pm
14th amendment and US debt.
Cols714:
December 14th, 2012 at 4:45 pm
The problem as with most things politically here is that the Republicans have gone full out for no gun laws at all.
So now it all falls on the Democrats to be the adults and regulate guns. Which will make the right wing even further entrenched.
This is just another example of why it sucks when only one political party in your country is serious about governing.
Logistics:
December 14th, 2012 at 4:48 pm
Gun buy-back. Federal stimulus and fewer guns. Melt them for memorial plaques.
c u n d gulag:
December 14th, 2012 at 4:48 pm
If we can’t outlaw guns, why can’t we outlaw bullets?
There’s no Constitutional right to have a bullet.
If bullet’s were outlawed, only outlaw’s would have bullets.
Another idea:
Since the Bill of Rights was written in 1787, why not limit, for average citizens, replica’s of guns available back then?
Everyone can have as many flint-lock pistols, muzzlebusters, and long-rifles, that they want.
To shoot them, before firing, they’d have to put a ball put in, after having put in the gunpowder, and then tamping it all down, and then pulling the trigger.
That would work for me.
Have fun, try hiding a muzzlebuster in your pocket.
L.M.:
December 14th, 2012 at 4:52 pm
No more questions.
howard:
December 14th, 2012 at 4:53 pm
ok, good additional one, but still unlikely to be of sufficient scale to keep a seemingly sane mass murderer from tracking one down even if somehow all new guns sales were outlawed, which, of course, they wouldn’t be even if we adopted this policy.
Cols714:
December 14th, 2012 at 4:53 pm
There are so many obvious solutions to this. I don’t understand why the NRA and the right has decided to be absolutist on this point.
An easy place to start would be to get rid of everything except for small hand guns. No assault weapons, no high capacity clips, etc.
Jeffrey Beaumont:
December 14th, 2012 at 4:54 pm
Yes, the whole Chris Rock, tax bullets at $1000 per is an interesting idea.
Logistics:
December 14th, 2012 at 4:58 pm
Perfect is the enemy of the good, etc. Holding reforms to a standard of perfection isn’t how we improve public policy. Would raising the costs (broadly speaking) of acquiring guns provides sufficient benefit (fewer gun deaths) to justify the burdens on law-abiding good gun owners, or whatever. There are numerous good policies we could enact.
Karen:
December 14th, 2012 at 5:00 pm
I have nothing intelligent to add to this discussion, but while violent crime in general is in free-fall, this kind of pointless mass shooting seems to be a monthly event. Hell, we had two THIS BLEEDING WEEK. TWO. IN ONE WEEK.
Logistics:
December 14th, 2012 at 5:05 pm
If the tax were too, high, I’m sure the court would determine that this was a sufficient indirect burden on second amendment rights. But I think there is a lot of room to play between cheap and $1000. You don’t need more than a few bullets to protect ya prahpatee or whatever. Non-sporting ammunition should be really expensive or limited in amount per purchase (I’m thinking of how they monitor cough medicine for meth usage).
timb:
December 14th, 2012 at 5:05 pm
The companies who manufacture machines intended to murder must be pumped too
howard:
December 14th, 2012 at 5:06 pm
i don’t think you’re reading me correctly, logistics: i don’t have much hope that there’s much we can do at this late date, but what i actually said was that your idea added a third option to the couple i have that give me any hope at all.
i most certainly did not say “well, that’s not a perfect solution, so we shouldn’t do it,” which is what you appear to have read.
timb:
December 14th, 2012 at 5:06 pm
Bullet prohibition
DocAmazing:
December 14th, 2012 at 5:09 pm
Finland. Hmmm. Could this have anything to do with reindeer?
Count Ulster:
December 14th, 2012 at 5:09 pm
If you live in Connecticut, you don’t need a passport to drive to Vermont or Pennsylvania.
OmerosPeanut:
December 14th, 2012 at 5:13 pm
The insults aren’t needed.
Now, on topic. The list was the “worst mass shootings.” Does a 4 day rampage not count as a mass shooting simply because it’s prolonged? That’s some incredibly fucking obtuse semantics.
But hey, your call.
Hanspeter:
December 14th, 2012 at 5:13 pm
Newtown.
Phoenix_rising:
December 14th, 2012 at 5:15 pm
Good point.
A government that can’t regulate how many bullets per time period that a nutcase can buy, but can keep me from what it deems to be excessive use of Sudafed for my allergies, is not doing its job.
Maybe we can convince Congress that cordite is the new thing all the kids are sniffing and that it must be regulated as part of the War on (SCPUS) Drugs.
IM:
December 14th, 2012 at 5:18 pm
in this case a lot of wars should be included and the list would look this:
1. battle of the somme (second day)
You abe to asmit that your broad definition of mass shootings leads to absurd results.
We are obviously talking about spree shootings here
njorl:
December 14th, 2012 at 5:20 pm
The guns you might want to ban can be sold for money, which is valuable to the NRA. The people who are murdered only have lives, which are not valuable to the NRA.
CaptBackslap:
December 14th, 2012 at 5:21 pm
Meanwhile, the magnificently mad Catherine Fitzpatrick decided that space video games are to blame, and the gaming industry is trying to cover it up.
DrDick:
December 14th, 2012 at 5:21 pm
The insults aren’t needed.
Agree and your comment is an insult to our intelligence (and yours). The list also does not include any other terrorist attacks or military/paramilitary operations. You are the one being deliberately obtuse here.
Coastsider:
December 14th, 2012 at 5:23 pm
I posted this in the previous thread, but apparently Patrick Moynihan suggested the same thing when almost 20 years ago – If Guns Do Not Kill, Tax the Bullets
I think going after bullets is the right approach – give very limited allotments to people with each gun, maybe with special disposition for shooting ranges, and control access like pseudoephidrine at pharmacies. I’d love to have gun owners defend their need to extended mags for ‘self defense’.
Davis X. Machina:
December 14th, 2012 at 5:33 pm
My main concern is, if my debate team runs a gun-control affirmative case, do we lose and I go to jail, or do we just lose?
Murc:
December 14th, 2012 at 5:35 pm
If we’re purely discussing policy, I’d actually go the other way around.
Small handguns are shit for defending ones home and person compared to other options. What they’re great for is concealing in your pocket until you’re ready to take it out and do something awful with it.
Similarly, assault weapons are just that; assault weapons. They’re designed to be used to storm places.
If you wanted to prevent gun crime and horrible massacres, but still leave people reasonable options to defend themselves and their homes, you’d want to encourage long arms. Shotguns and rifles. ACTUAL rifles, not assault rifles.
Once upon a time, the NRA encouraged this vision of responsible gun ownership, as opposed to being run by crazy people who think that everyone in the US should walk around with twin Tek-9s and a SAW in their trunk.
OmerosPeanut:
December 14th, 2012 at 5:35 pm
Well, forgive me for thinking of the Mumbai shootings when I hear someone has put together a “worst shootings” list since the last surviving shooter was executed recently.
DrDick, you really are living up to your name and I don’t see why you are going to such lengths to be such a jerk right now. I’m not insulting your intelligence, but I am willing to look past your repeated attacks on me for no reason to all to admit including Mumbai would lead to too wide a definition of “mass shooting” because of
1. Time frame
2. Paramilitary training — but not the weapons used! If you discount an attack simply because the suspect has a semiautomatic then some school shootings in the US are no longer mass shootings.
3. Group of shooters
4. Funded and supported by individuals or groups outside of those taking direct part in the shooting.
#3 is problematic. And if you take a moment to stop insulting me, I think you might even agree. A lone gunman over a few hours max should qualify. Do two? What about three? Mumbai was perpetrated with ten men, which is clearly “a lot.” But where is the dividing line between a terrorist squad and what would qualify as a “mass shooting”?
Bill Murray:
December 14th, 2012 at 5:50 pm
or booze and suicide?
Leeds man:
December 14th, 2012 at 5:52 pm
DrDick, you really are living up to your name
Apparently, the insult embargo has been lifted.
Malaclypse:
December 14th, 2012 at 5:56 pm
The insults aren’t needed.
And yet they are so very, very deserved.
FLRealist:
December 14th, 2012 at 5:59 pm
But… but… GUNS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
FLRealist:
December 14th, 2012 at 6:01 pm
Agreed.
J.W. Hamner:
December 14th, 2012 at 6:19 pm
Uhm, they were from Pakistan?
I guess you could call Columbine “terrorism” if you want, but clearly it’s a different animal from foreign nationals planning and executing a mass bombing and shooting spree.
Anonymous:
December 14th, 2012 at 6:31 pm
what about the invasion of normandy? and guadelcanal, gallipoli, etc. shit, antietam surely qualifies, 20,000 in one day.
Green Caboose:
December 14th, 2012 at 6:32 pm
Because ammo is so cheap now (but ironically often hard to get due to wingnut panic the last 4 years) not many gun owners make their own ammo, but just a few decades ago such a practice was common. My step father, a part-time gunsmith, routinely made his own ammo long after it stopped saving him money just because it’s what he always did, and also because his stuff was more reliable than most brands of ammo. (Yes, there is a big difference in ammo reliability depending on the brand.)
Even now the equipment is relatively inexpensive. Casings can be re-used in most cases, both for bullets and shotgun shells. The rest is just a matter of buying common items like lead bars and shot.
So, even if you found a way to make bullets ultra-expensive people would find a way around it.
Look, I support gun control laws in principle, but in order to address America’s illness in this matter we probably have to address the root cause as well as reduce the availability of these tools of mass murder. Reich wing media – which went from the fringe to mass media following the death of the Fairness Doctrine in 1986 – is probably one of the biggest contributors to this culture because it has created a massive violently paranoid population by preying on the minds of those who are predisposed to believe that shit. Note that other countries in the “first” world that experience these kind of incidents are not coincidentally countries that also have a strong presence of Murdoch Media – countries like Australia and the UK. The neonazi mass killer in Sweden was also a steady consumer of reich wing propoganda.
Yeah, I know, dealing with that root cause means you now have to fight the first amendment as well as the second. It’s not an easy solution – but if you won’t solve the problem without addressing that cause.
Anonymous:
December 14th, 2012 at 6:37 pm
or more detached, take your pick.
Leeds man:
December 14th, 2012 at 6:38 pm
The neonazi mass killer in Sweden
Norway. You must be American.
Davis X. Machina:
December 14th, 2012 at 6:38 pm
As Tertullian of Carthage said: “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.”
20 more witnesses to the faith today.
Semanticleo:
December 14th, 2012 at 6:45 pm
In Scotland the guns per 100 people is 5.5
US, it’s 88.8
Yet this happened…..http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunblane_school_massacre
The issue is how to spot the nuts, preemptively.
Anonymous:
December 14th, 2012 at 6:47 pm
you left out the wad:
should be: gunpowder, wad, ball, tamp. then, pull back the hammer, powder in the flash pan, aim, fire. all done standing up. repeat as necessary, or until you’re shot.
OmerosPeanut:
December 14th, 2012 at 6:54 pm
Which is why I’m backing up from saying Mumbai should be on this list.
OmerosPeanut:
December 14th, 2012 at 6:54 pm
So his every post can be insulting, but if I take offense I’m in the wrong?
GeoX:
December 14th, 2012 at 7:03 pm
Did anyone anywhere ever try to claim that strict gun control would prevent all gun massacres ever?
joe from Lowell:
December 14th, 2012 at 7:05 pm
Nobody but you seems to be having any trouble getting the difference.
joe from Lowell:
December 14th, 2012 at 7:08 pm
Also not spree shootings.
Go ahead, name another military assault. Let’s see what the answer is.
TT:
December 14th, 2012 at 7:15 pm
How many mass-shooting massacres have occurred in Scotland since 1996?
How many mass-shooting massacres have occurred in the United States since 1996?
Nobody argues that spotting the nuts won’t help. But easy individual access to firearms combined with lax regulation of manufacturers and dealers has something to do with it.
Leeds man:
December 14th, 2012 at 7:16 pm
In the US, gun deaths per 100,000 in 2011 were 9.0. In the UK, they were .22 per 100,000. Any thoughts?
DrDick:
December 14th, 2012 at 7:22 pm
You are certainly in the wrong if you start off with “The insults aren’t needed” and then proceed to insult people who point out the stupidity of your statement.
Semanticleo:
December 14th, 2012 at 7:28 pm
Nobody is arguing for easy access. I just don’t want access removed, or punitively proscribed, for everyone else.
joe from Lowell:
December 14th, 2012 at 7:30 pm
The NRA is a fundraising organization.
As for the right, a decade ago, being against gun control was winning wedge politics in the “heartland vs. coastal elites,” Republican-majority structure of American politics. In a situation like that, the incentive is to turn anything, in matter how reasonable, into an opportunity for us-vs-them.
Malaclypse:
December 14th, 2012 at 7:31 pm
If my favorite toy kept being used, over and fucking over, to kill people, then even if I myself had never misused that toy, I’d like to think I’d be okay with giving it up. I’d like to think I’d want to give it up. I’d like to think most people are not selfish assholes.
Anonymous:
December 14th, 2012 at 7:31 pm
Why? What other purpose is there for a semiautomatic weapon than to kill people? Why should any civilian own one?
joe from Lowell:
December 14th, 2012 at 7:36 pm
Or a really old-fashioned Swedish nationalist.
Swede-perialism is due for a comeback.
Leeds man:
December 14th, 2012 at 7:36 pm
Nobody is arguing for easy access.
Oh, fuck off. Just fuck the fuck off.
Semanticleo:
December 14th, 2012 at 7:38 pm
Let me, anecdotally answer your question…
Little Bill; “you cowardly sonofabitch, you just shot an unarmed man”
Muny: “Well, he shoulda armed himself”
Malaclypse:
December 14th, 2012 at 7:42 pm
Let me, anecdotally, reply.
Semanticleo:
December 14th, 2012 at 7:46 pm
Touche
Leeds man:
December 14th, 2012 at 7:47 pm
Yeah, I always thought Wallander and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo were just their unsubtle way of softening us up.
arguingwithsignposts:
December 14th, 2012 at 7:47 pm
Yes, no mention even of Brenda Ann Spencer.
Desenada:
December 14th, 2012 at 7:48 pm
There were anti-choice activists outside my metro stop on the way home with signs comparing abortion to the Cambodian genocide. Usually I ignore or simply glare at these people, but I’d been reading about Newtown on the train, and I just said without being able to stop myself “Jesus Christ, people, there was a REAL massacre today.” One of the men said “What’s fake about this one?” Ummm… I just kept walking.
arguingwithsignposts:
December 14th, 2012 at 7:49 pm
or Larry Gene Ashbrook.
Pretty shoddy list.
joe from Lowell:
December 14th, 2012 at 7:51 pm
They had a union jack.
Historically, the correlation between imperialism and having a union jack is statistically significant.
arguingwithsignposts:
December 14th, 2012 at 7:52 pm
It’s always teh vidya games. And teh moosick.
Speak Truth:
December 14th, 2012 at 7:55 pm
@Semanticleo
Let’s be clear. This event is being used as a tool for the left’s long standing agenda of more and more gun control.
I can remember perusing through the Sear & Roebuck catalog and looking at pistols and high power rifles that would ship directly to your home no questions asked, acreoss state lines and with no registration whatsoever. And yet, few of these events happened during that period.
So, one must conclude that although access was easier, mass murders such as this one in Conn. were much more rare.
More and more gun control is treating the symptom, and not the disease. History has demonstrated that it will not work.
What we should be focusing on is why individuals are raging more now than they have in the past against strangers if you truly are interested in solving the problem.
If you’re just interested in pushing your agenda, then this is probably your opportunity to rile the masses.
arguingwithsignposts:
December 14th, 2012 at 7:56 pm
Stopped reading right there, mouth-breather.
Anonymous:
December 14th, 2012 at 7:58 pm
To hold the views that you hold, one must believe that firearms have no value in society. That they don’t protect property or lives and that that they’re just a net negative.
Not that many people hold those views.
Speak Truth:
December 14th, 2012 at 8:00 pm
You must be new here.
Erik Loomis:
December 14th, 2012 at 8:03 pm
Firearms hold no value in society. I am happy to say it.
Malaclypse:
December 14th, 2012 at 8:08 pm
You should invite him over for pancakes, Jennie dear.
Leeds man:
December 14th, 2012 at 8:09 pm
Never mind my views, or anyone else’s. What about the numbers? Is the UK condemned to some sort of horrible fate because they have 98% less gun deaths per capita than the US?
GeoX:
December 14th, 2012 at 8:12 pm
Space Invaders was a slippery slope.
Leeds man:
December 14th, 2012 at 8:18 pm
Luckily, they never had many Highlanders, Wild Geese or Hessians. You’re Union Jackshit without them.
Semanticleo:
December 14th, 2012 at 8:25 pm
I deal with information, but when information is sparse, I deal in heuristics, which to Old Schoolers, means brainstorming. I start with the concept of
cui bono, then proceed from there. It cannot be
proven beyond a shadow, but those who want to see
the truth will understand there is an overarching agenda to everything we see happen. Be wary. Be circumspect. And by all means, be self-aware
That is all. Carry on.
Semanticleo:
December 14th, 2012 at 8:26 pm
It’s your loss.
arguingwithsignposts:
December 14th, 2012 at 8:30 pm
and 9/11 was an inside job.
Your loss.
Malaclypse:
December 14th, 2012 at 8:32 pm
Okay, when the person who gets his nym out of Illuminatus! tells you that your conspiracy theory is trite, overwrought, and seriously fucking mockable, you should perhaps rethink the path you are on.
Semanticleo:
December 14th, 2012 at 8:38 pm
Again, I say; self-awareness.
Malaclypse:
December 14th, 2012 at 8:39 pm
Again, I say; self-awareness.
Irony is dead, and you are now buggering the rotting corpse.
Semanticleo:
December 14th, 2012 at 8:40 pm
Sounds like you are spoiling for an argument. I was commenting on his snark.
You should either get serious about current events, or develop a sense of humor.
Cynicism and rejection of context is a killer.
Hogan:
December 14th, 2012 at 8:56 pm
I can remember perusing through the Sear & Roebuck catalog and looking at pistols and high power rifles that would ship directly to your home no questions asked, acreoss state lines and with no registration whatsoever.
Yeah, they used to do that with dynamite, too. Even if you were anarchist or Muslim. You down with that?
Hogan:
December 14th, 2012 at 9:03 pm
but not the weapons used!
Bombs, fuckwit.
English! Do you speak it?
Hogan:
December 14th, 2012 at 9:05 pm
I deal in heuristics, which to Old Schoolers, means brainstorming.
I can’t tell you how grateful I am for this clear indication that I should never read your comments again. Life is short.
Erik Loomis:
December 14th, 2012 at 9:06 pm
I deal in beer, which to Old Schoolers, means alcoholism.
swearyanthony:
December 14th, 2012 at 9:07 pm
As said – gun buy back. After Port Arthur, Australia did it. World didn’t end.
arguingwithsignposts:
December 14th, 2012 at 9:12 pm
Gateway drug, I believe, is the terminology in vogue.
Semanticleo:
December 14th, 2012 at 9:16 pm
Please refrain from comments, if you find the Right-Brain to be similar to the appendix/
Semanticleo:
December 14th, 2012 at 9:18 pm
Loomis has already shown his preference for inebriated conclusions. Why should I stand in the way of Beer-Pong logic?
Erik Loomis:
December 14th, 2012 at 9:20 pm
You should show off your vocab more obviously. It’s very Old School.
Semanticleo:
December 14th, 2012 at 9:25 pm
So that’s it. jealous of a vocabulary which extends beyond two syllables.
If you study hard, you may find it helpful for yourself, hard on the blog.
Erik Loomis:
December 14th, 2012 at 9:27 pm
It’s true. As a college professor, I wish I could have a vocabulary like yours. My students couldn’t understand me, but I’d feel so superior to everyone else.
Semanticleo:
December 14th, 2012 at 9:29 pm
That explains the superior attitude.
Erik Loomis:
December 14th, 2012 at 9:30 pm
It’s an Old School attitude.
Hogan:
December 14th, 2012 at 9:31 pm
“He should have armed himself if he’s gonna decorate his saloon with my friend.”
Funny how you left that last bit out.
Semanticleo:
December 14th, 2012 at 9:32 pm
Yes. Many professors are good at stealing the ideas taken from papers they’ve assigned without any attribution.
Then the superior attitude reaches Zenith.
Erik Loomis:
December 14th, 2012 at 9:35 pm
I steal all my blog posts from my students. How did you know?
Semanticleo:
December 14th, 2012 at 9:37 pm
Why should you be different?
Oh yeah. You are a Professor, and your cat-bird seat is the tenure principle of superiority.
Anonymous:
December 14th, 2012 at 9:38 pm
Can you give me a heuristic to follow so I too can learn this Old School vocabulary?
Erik Loomis:
December 14th, 2012 at 9:39 pm
My vocab ain’t over good. Could you explain some of your new-fangled terms like “cat-bird” and “the”?
Semanticleo:
December 14th, 2012 at 9:40 pm
I’m glad you’re out of ammo, because you are becoming trite and boring.
Cheers
Erik Loomis:
December 14th, 2012 at 9:41 pm
Trite? Is that an Old School term?
Semanticleo:
December 14th, 2012 at 9:44 pm
I bet this is the same power trip you use with students.
Aren’t you just a little ashamed of the way you throw your lightweight pugilism around with those who have no recourse but to suck on your knocked-knee caps”
Erik Loomis:
December 14th, 2012 at 9:47 pm
Actually I just grade my students based on how closely their political positions align with my own.
John Protevi:
December 14th, 2012 at 9:47 pm
Ah yes, the old “I’ll bet you treat your students the way you treat anonymous Internet assholes” ploy. That’s as Ols School as it gets, right there.
Speak Truth:
December 14th, 2012 at 9:48 pm
I deal in beer, which to Old Schoolers, means alcoholism.
Be more honest.
You deal in propaganda. You’re a cheerleader and little else.
Speak Truth:
December 14th, 2012 at 9:52 pm
Thank you Semanticleo for your most reasoned comments.
Most here do not wish to discuss the issues. It’s “more waffles” as if that’s a real response to your positions. Pretty sad, really…
John Protevi:
December 14th, 2012 at 9:52 pm
He deals in waffles is more like it. Me, I deal in pancakes.
Semanticleo:
December 14th, 2012 at 9:54 pm
I’ll take that as a conclusive truism.
Erik Loomis:
December 14th, 2012 at 9:55 pm
Sometimes I also deal in hash browns.
Speak Truth:
December 14th, 2012 at 9:57 pm
Thank you, Green Caboose, for your well reasoned comment.
The responses were sad. Most had nothing to add or no viewpoint to propose. Just blather….
And while I might not agree with everything you say, I appreciate your honest opinon. It’s refreshing here at LGM.
Thank you again. Please come back.
Erik Loomis:
December 14th, 2012 at 10:00 pm
Are you aware that this is not Yelp and you shouldn’t be reviewing your favorite pancake houses in this forum?
Speak Truth:
December 14th, 2012 at 10:02 pm
It’s true. As a college professor…
I was waiting for this.
What a pantsload
Speak Truth:
December 14th, 2012 at 10:03 pm
…Jennie dear…
GAY
John Protevi:
December 14th, 2012 at 10:04 pm
Future historians will date the end of reasoned discourse in American civil society — nay, the end of thr Enlightenment itself — to the way JenBob was treated on LGM.
Speak Truth:
December 14th, 2012 at 10:05 pm
The guns just pulled their own triggers….
We all saw it!
The Old Schoolers:
December 14th, 2012 at 10:05 pm
Semanticleo!!!!
What you have labelled a “conclusive truism” is most obviously a suggestive aphorism!
You are forthwith forbidden from using the heuristics until your vocabulary returns to its former Zenith!
Speak Truth:
December 14th, 2012 at 10:09 pm
Let’s qualify that.
I would like to see fewer *innocent* gun deaths…more deaths of those who harm others would be OK as well.
Speak Truth:
December 14th, 2012 at 10:12 pm
Again, Erik, is that all you got? “Pancakes” and “Waffles”?
That seems to be the extent of your ability to make your points…
Semanticleo:
December 14th, 2012 at 10:16 pm
What you have labelled a “conclusive truism” is most obviously a suggestive aphorism!
Since I have no idea wtf you are talking about. I must say my professorial bona fides are no match for the Legendary Loomis, and let it go at that.
John Protevi:
December 14th, 2012 at 10:17 pm
I DEMAND TO BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY!
Erik Loomis:
December 14th, 2012 at 10:17 pm
Is “wtf” one of those multisyllabic Old School words you like to throw around?
Could you please let us proles know what it means?
Erik Loomis:
December 14th, 2012 at 10:17 pm
Whoa whoa whoa motherfucker.
Let’s not forget hash browns.
Semanticleo:
December 14th, 2012 at 10:28 pm
Still here? It must be frustrating that you can’t fail me. Power is a drug, and you seem susceptible to it’s charms.
DrDick:
December 14th, 2012 at 10:30 pm
Personally, I believe in statistics and facts. You are more likely to get killed or injured if you are carrying a gun. Having one in the home also increases your chances of being a homicide victim.
Erik Loomis:
December 14th, 2012 at 10:31 pm
Power may be a drug. But waffles with good Vermont maple syrup is a far better drug.
DrDick:
December 14th, 2012 at 10:32 pm
So you are finally admitting it? Congratulations! Coming out is so liberating.
DrDick:
December 14th, 2012 at 10:34 pm
Jennie is just waffling again.
Pestilence:
December 14th, 2012 at 11:17 pm
Pepperpot
caffeinated grad student:
December 14th, 2012 at 11:18 pm
…and on the other hand, you have Michigan looking at taking it’s own version of meaningful actions:
Lovely.
Pestilence:
December 14th, 2012 at 11:23 pm
what is this, Oppress Crepes week?
dbag:
December 14th, 2012 at 11:50 pm
If you think a gun is a toy, you shouldn’t have one to begin with.
tool:
December 14th, 2012 at 11:59 pm
Either everyone in Oregon is an archer or even in your hardscrabble upbringing no one you knew relied on hunting to help feed their families or dispatch an injured animal.
William Berry:
December 15th, 2012 at 12:30 am
I’ve long thought that requiring gun-owners and would-be gun purchasers to take the MMPI (and getting a good mental health score) would be helpful.
A delicious irony would be that those really, really wanting a gun would be the ones most likely disqualified from owning one.
DocAmazing:
December 15th, 2012 at 12:32 am
That said, guns do have some uses apart from murder. That’s why you have one. (Mine are merely hobbyist’s playthings.)
Wintemute:
December 15th, 2012 at 1:21 am
Some one who believes in data and facts would not continue to link to popular reporting on the incredibly flawed Branas study for support. Comparing those who were assaulted and shot to a control group of people in Philadelphia who answered their phone is incredibly flawed.
According to the authors of the paper,
“shooting case participants were significantly more often Hispanic, more frequently working in high-risk occupations1 or unemployed, less educated, and had a greater frequency of prior arrest. At the time of shooting, case participants were also significantly more often involved with alcohol and drugs, outdoors and more likely to be located in areas with illicit drug trafficking.
The only meaningful take away from that study is being involved in the drug trade in Philly is dangerous.
From the Wonkblog (Ezra Kleins Blog) and remember please…this NOT about any cause of it but, here are twelve facts about guns and mass shootings in the United States; When we first collected much of this data, it was after the Aurora, Colo. shooting:
December 15th, 2012 at 7:35 am
[...] The Tragedy is Already Politicized (lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com) [...]
Speak Truth:
December 15th, 2012 at 9:03 am
That’s a stunningly dumb statement.
Most research shows that 800-2.1 million crimes are prevented each year with defensive use of firearms…400,000 of them involved saving lives.
More than 20,000 deaths are due to prescription drugs, but it would also just as little sense to say they, too, have no value because they are misused by a few.
But beyond that, the political value of firearms is material. It’s the last option of the people against a tyrannical government. This was the basis for the second amendment…not hunting and not crime prevention.
Before the US entered WW II and was in a support role, there were programs where the Brits would beg for guns…any guns…hunting rifles, handguns..pretty much anything…because they had tried to suppress firearms and upon entering the war, couldn’t crank up their manufacturing fast enough so here they were begging the people of the US for guns.
It’s a fair argument to weigh the value of guns to society to the damage, but your blanket statement is just goofy.
I thought I had seen you make some goofy statements in the past, but your thoughtless and purely emotional statement about guns above takes the prize.
Give that man a cigar (exploding).
Speak Truth:
December 15th, 2012 at 9:07 am
This coming from a someone calling himself “DrDick”??
heh
Malaclypse:
December 15th, 2012 at 9:09 am
It’s the last option of the people against a tyrannical government.
Cracker, please.
Speak Truth:
December 15th, 2012 at 9:10 am
This is a fair question. In most state, convicted felons lose some of their rights. And this really makes sense because a crime is a wrong against society. Some cannot vote and yes, some cannot possess guns.
Do you want convicted felons to have guns? Is that what your complaining about?
Speak Truth:
December 15th, 2012 at 9:19 am
And when you can’t make your argument with the commenter…
Green Caboose apparently got the best of you.
Malaclypse:
December 15th, 2012 at 9:20 am
your
English, Jennie! Do you speak it?
John:
December 15th, 2012 at 9:24 am
Indeed, this. People should be allowed to buy the kind of guns used for hunting. Handguns and assault rifles should be banned.
John Protevi:
December 15th, 2012 at 9:28 am
I AM THE VOICE OF REASON!
John Protevi:
December 15th, 2012 at 9:33 am
Considering that any likely tyranny here will be fascist, and that JenBob, for one, would like to be the first to welcome our new fascist overlords, this is particular ironistical, in the Alanis Morrisette sense of the term.
Davis X. Machina:
December 15th, 2012 at 9:37 am
Maine felons, even if incarcerated, still have the vote.
Davis X. Machina:
December 15th, 2012 at 9:38 am
It’s just a gulag with koalas now, though. Gotta admit that.
DrDick:
December 15th, 2012 at 10:00 am
Indeed. I am just popping the delusional balloon about guns and self-defense (against other people). As I have said, I do not object to guns in principle, but certainly think we need to regulate them much more stringently than we do now. It is also the case that buying a gun for defense is generally a waste of money.
DrDick:
December 15th, 2012 at 10:05 am
And you totally ignore the study about guns in the home, which suffers none of those supposed defects. You also provide no contrary evidence. The US has the 12th highest rate of gun deaths in the world, putting it in third world territory and far higher than any other developed country.
DrDick:
December 15th, 2012 at 10:42 am
There is also this. Now you need to provide actual evidence that guns really do make you safer and not just nitpick the evidence which shows otherwise.
Speak Truth:
December 15th, 2012 at 10:44 am
Mr. Nadler was asked whether the Newtown tragedy could be the turning point in many Democrats’ longstanding struggle to enact stronger gun laws.
“I think we will be there if the president exploits it, and otherwise we’ll go on to the next” incident, Mr. Nadler said.
Malaclypse:
December 15th, 2012 at 11:00 am
You’re right, Jennie – best to do nothing.
Manta:
December 15th, 2012 at 12:33 pm
What criterion do they use to classify something as “mass shooting”?
DrDick:
December 15th, 2012 at 2:18 pm
Funny how nothing happens if people pull triggers with no guns attached to them.
DrDick:
December 15th, 2012 at 3:53 pm
My mama always said, if you got it, flaunt it. Not something you will ever have an opportunity to do, as you seriously got nothing.