TGIF 8/5/22

Let's see if we can find some good week/bad week list makers, shall we?

Trump-endorsed, Big Lie supporting Kari Lake has won the Arizona GOP gubernatorial primary. As did Trump, Lake "on various occasions during the campaign... has hinted at supposed attempts to steal the primary election, but she has refused to provide any evidence to support her claims."  Sound familiar? 

We'll have to wait a bit, probably not long, to see if she'll declare the general election is rigged, too. Her Democratic opponent? Katie Hobbs, the woman who certified Arizona's 2020 vote, something Lake thinks is worthy of incarceration.

My verdict? Lake had a good week; Arizona had a bad week. 

How about Ted Cruz? First,  he got hammered over his 'no' vote on the PACT Act by Jon Stewart; and then, there was this nonsense for FBI Director Christopher Wray. Cruz, you see, "slammed his boot on the table in opposition to FBI guidelines on symbols that indicate extremist groups." Here's what he said to Wray.

Also included on this text that I was particularly struck(by) is the Gonzales Battle Flag – Come and take it – as indicative of being a violent extremist militia. Well, I will self-report right now that every day in the Senate, I wear my boots that have the Gonzales battle flag on the back of them. Director Wray, what are y'all doing? This makes no sense. Do you agree with this FBI guidance? That the Betsy Ross flag, and the Gadsden flag and the Gonzales Battle Flag, are signs of militia violent extremism.

What's this all about, you ask? A document was leaked to Project Veritas by an FBI 'whistleblower. Cruz's outrage is laughable; after all, the leaked document states, in bold font, 

The use or sharing of these symbols alone should not independently be considered evidence of Militia Violent Extremists presence or affiliation, or serve as an indicator of illegal activity, as many individuals use these symbols for their original, historic meaning, or other non-violent purposes.

I'm not sure why Cruz has the Gonzales Battle Flag on his boots; I'd guess it's probably 50/50 original meaning/militia violent extremist; or, maybe it's just because the boots slam better when they're embellished.

My verdict: Cruz is a self-serving jerk and it's against my religion to give him good week. 

Speaking of the PACT Act, here's an excerpt from a WaPo editorial congratulating those who fought for the bill's passage, and blasting the Rs delaying the bill "at the last minute...and used to score political points..."

The objections hinged on a technicality: Sen. Patrick J. Toomey (R-Pa.) had raised concerns about reclassifying existing toxic-exposure benefits from discretionary spending to mandatory. He argued that this move could free up space in the discretionary budget for legislators to spend on other programs.

Officials, including Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough, warned that keeping those benefits in the discretionary budget could force the agency to “ration” care, and pointed out that the measure had bipartisan support in June. That did not stop Republican lawmakers from characterizing the bill as an insidious attempt by Democrats to spend hundreds of billions on unrelated causes.

In the end, only 11 Rs voted against it - fewer than the original nays - and Toomey's amendment failed. 

My verdict: supporters (including Stewart) who fought for the bill, online or while camped out on the Capitol steps, had a good week; the GOP senators who changed their votes in July and delayed the bill, only to pass it anyway? A bad week, all around. 

The jury deciding the fate of Nicholas Cruz, who killed 17 and 17 others at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, visited the high school and walked through the crime scene. I can't imagine what that must have been like, but the author of the linked article captured it well, I think, in these thoughtfully written passages.

In one classroom,

... students had written papers about Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teenager who was shot by the Taliban for going to school and has since been a global advocate for educational access for women and girls. 

One of the students wrote: "A bullet went straight to her head but not her brain." Another read, "We go to school every day of the week and we take it all for granted. We cry and complain without knowing how lucky we are to be able to learn." 

In another? 

... Hanging on a wall inside was a sign reading, "No Bully Zone." The creative writing assignment for the day was written on the whiteboard: "How to write the perfect love letter." 

And, there was this. 

...still gracing the wall of a second-floor hallway was a quote from James Dean: "Dream as if you'll live forever, live as if you'll die today."

My verdict: what a gut-wrenching experience that must have been for the jurors; I give all 22 of them a lot of credit, and my thanks for their service.

There was another trial going on this week, in Texas, where a jury awarded the family of Jesse Lewis, a six-year-old Sandy Hook Elementary shooting victim, $4.11M in compensatory damages. The money is to be paid by right-wing media blowhard Alex Jones of Infowars fame, who spent years saying the shooting was a "false flag operation," the families were "crisis actors," and the children weren't dead. 

My verdict: without sharing all the gory details on why (you can find them here), Judge Maya Guerra Gamble had a good week. Jones had a bad week, obviously. His attorney, who (ahem) 'mistakenly' sent the plaintiff's attorney two years of Jones' texts had a bad week, (unless he did it on purpose). That the January 6th Committee has requested Jones' texts, and the plaintiff's attorney is cooperating, might just be icing on the cake. 

NOTE: the jury has just awarded $45.2M in punitive damages. 

And finally, I must mention Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, my two senators. Gillibrand was one of the senators who introduced a bill to get health care for veterans who were exposed to toxic burn pits; provisions from the original bill were incorporated into the PACT Act.

While she was busy doing that, Schumer was busy working with Sen. Joe Manchin; the two struck a deal on the Inflation Reduction Act, which should come up for vote tomorrow. That's only possible because, after he got Manchin on board, Schumer worked to get Sen. Kyrsten Sinema on board, too. The bill is different from the version before the wheeling and dealing, but if all goes well, it'll pass tomorrow. 

So, perhaps for the first time, both of my senators had themselves a good week. 

TGIF, everyone.

Yes, We Can Do Something (Part 1)

As I mentioned in the Introduction, some friends and I have had running conversations about mass shootings and gun safety legislation since the Sandy Hook tragedy. Honestly, that's way too long for us to be working on this.

Before we dive into our recommendations, there's some ground to cover, including these overarching principles:

We need to change how we talk about the goal. It is not to prevent mass shootings from happening; the goal is to make it harder for someone to commit mass carnage, and to reduce the number of deaths should such an event occur. 

And, gun safety legislation must stand alone, with no unrelated amendments or attachments. Any attempts to attach anything that is not directly related to gun safety shall be considered a bribe.. 

That second one may seem extreme, but one of the problems we have is that literally anything can be attached to a bill, no matter how far removed from the topic at hand. The only way to make sure that doesn't happen is to be absurdly strict.  

For these discussions, the term 'guns' excludes air guns, nail guns, starter pistols, bubble guns, staple guns, Nerf guns, water pistols, etc., and includes handguns, rifles, sidearms, firearms, so-called 'assault weapons,' semi-automatic weapons, 'military-style' weapons', 'weapons of war' and other terms of disgust or endearment. We all know what we're talking about here, and pretending otherwise is merely a deflection. 

What else? These changes would impact all gun sales, not just sales of the type of weapon used in mass shootings, and would standardize processes at the federal level.  States could opt to add additional regs if desired.  I'm aware some progress may have been made in some areas in the years since we first started these conversations. And finally, we tried to take an 'all of the above' approach, to this, addressing key themes from both sides of the argument, in the interest of allowing everyone a victory or two. 

So: here are some recommendations related to legal purchases of guns:

• Raise the legal age for purchasing guns. If it's not safe for kids to purchase alcohol until they are 21, they should not be allowed to purchase a gun until they're 21. If that means the age for voting and being drafted, should the need arise, must be raised to 21, so be it. 

• Require registration of all guns on a federal gun license, regardless of the gun type, and regardless of how bought, sold, or otherwise transferred to a different owner. Everyone who owns a gun must have a license to do so. 

• Mandatory education and training must be provided before every gun purchase or transfer is completed. The training must be specific to the gun, and include all aspects of gun ownership (carrying, transporting, using, and storing the gun and ammunition, etc.). The training must also include reports of gun owners hurting themselves or others, such as when kids and parents accidentally kill children, and accidental shootings in the leg, in the head, in the head, in the testicles, in the testicles, in the testicles, in the penis, in the foot, taking a selfie, defending a Muslim-free gun store, trying out his new holster, in the girlfriend, in the girlfriend, in the girlfriend, etc. It must also include video impact statements from survivors and from families of victims of mass shootings. Proof of successful completion of the training must be documented as part of the sale or transfer transaction. 

• Require mandatory videotaping of all gun sales and require a 'green light' result on a background check, rather than just the absence of a 'red light.' These ideas are good ones, and came from Walmart, after the mass shooting at their El Paso store left 23 people dead. 

• Require yearly renewal of the federal gun license, to include proficiency testing for all guns on the license. Testing should also include an assessment of a person's decision-making ability, such as when to fire vs. when to de-escalate. This training is critical to support the 'good guy with a gun' argument.

• Enhance the federal background check process, to include a check of criminal records, mental health records, and social media posts to identify potentially risky gun owners, and to give them a chance to respond to the findings. The background check must be applied to all gun sales and transfers.

• Implement mandatory reporting into the federal background check system. (a) All law enforcement organizations and security companies must provide timely reporting on all incidents involving all types of guns. (b) All branches of the United States Military must provide timely reporting of relevant data, including all discharge statuses. (c) All social media companies, 'discussion boards,' gaming platforms, etc. must proactively monitor for and report threats of violence, or actual violence, to a designated agency. (d) Requirements will be developed to ensure sufficient but only minimally necessary data is reported. (e) Additionally, all medical facilities and practitioners must provide timely reporting of anonymized data on gunshot victims to the CDC to allow for research, policy development, educational, and legislative purposes. (f) Failure to comply with the reporting requirements will result in an escalated financial and/or criminal penalty process.

• Eliminate state background check systems upon implementation of the enhanced federal system. Historical data from the separate state systems must be incorporated into the federal system before they are shut down.

• Implement a minimum 10-day waiting period on all gun purchases and transfers. One year after implementation of the new background check system, an assessment of the average time to complete a background check will be reviewed, and adjustments to the 10-day waiting period may be considered at that time.

• Attach a federal excise tax to the purchases of guns as we do cigarettes, fuel, airline tickets and alcohol. Taxes collected will be placed in a dedicated fund, used solely in support of gun safety efforts. The fund will be audited annually to ensure the tax is being collected, allocated, and distributed as intended. 

These recommendations pertain to ammunition sales and purchases.

• Require mandatory reporting on large ammunition sales, like the reporting in place today for deposits under federal banking regulations. The definition of 'large' sales will be data-based, and determined by federal regulators. 

• Attach a federal excise tax to ammunition, as outlined above.

• Limit the sale of high-capacity magazines. The definition of 'high-capacity' will be data-based, and determined by federal regulators. 

Coming up, I'll look at things we can do to ensure bad guys with guns are dealt with appropriately; red flag laws; mental health, and more.

Yes, We Can Do Something (Introduction)

Over the years since the Sandy Hook school shooting, I've had many conversations with friends the 'gun problem' we have. 

What gun problem, you ask? 

The mass shooting problem, which happens with an alarming (if statistically insignificant) frequency in our country, at schools and grocery stores and movieplexes and abortion clinics and religious services (of all faiths) and Walmarts and restaurants and music festivals and office holiday parties and social clubs and community centers and nightclubs and, well, you get the drift. They happen everywhere and anywhere, in America - and they don't happen in other countries. 

Some of our conversations got a little contentious; after all, folks argued, and still argue, that we don't have a gun problem. Rather, we have a:

• lack of church attendance problem;
• a violent video game problem;
• a mental health problem;
• a criminal problem;
• a lack of respect problem;
• a missing father problem;
• a bad parent problem;
• a bullying problem; 
• a lack of prayer in school problem; 
• a lack of good guys with a gun problem; and more. 

My friends and I were able to give up our entrenched positions and work together to come up with things that might have a positive impact this issue; that's something that the people we elect to make to do this kind of stuff seem incapable of doing.

When they try to 'do something,' it seems that every conversation begins - and ends - with banning 'assault' weapons, changing the background check process, and implementing so-called red flag laws. Those are worthwhile changes, which they've tried several times, to no avail. And, they're trying again, now that a bunch of little children have been murdered at a school. Again. 

When they start in the same place every single time, knowing that there is virtually no chance of success, it makes me wonder why they do that, and what goal they're trying to accomplish. Whether it's the Dems or the Republicans, 

• Are they really trying to achieve consensus on meaningful legislation, or are they trying to make a point, or to convince us that at least they're trying?
• Do they really think the 2nd Amendment is the be-all and end-all?
• Are they really trying to protect Americans from danger, or are they trying to protect their own longevity in office?
• Are they really so short-sighted as to think there are only three options here?
• Is their loyalty to their PACs and super-donors and the lobbyists, or to the people of this country?
• Do they really believe that doing nothing is better than working together?

Regular readers of veritable pastiche are familiar with my lack of affection for most politicians, particularly those in the Senate, where legislation goes to die. I'm sick of partisan nonsense, of the do-nothingness that we often witness. 

 You may also know that I've written about gun safety or the lack thereof, all too often over the years. You can read those posts here, if you want to get your feet wet. 

And you are invited to stick around for, and chime in on, the posts in this Yes, We Can Do Something series; they summarize (and augment) the recommendations I've batted around with my friends over the years.

One more thing - you may be wondering about the 'And Now for Something Completely Different' meme that accompanies these posts. I included that because what we need now, if we're to accomplish anything at all, is just that: something completely different. 

• It's time for partisan, entrenched positions to be set aside for the greater good. 

• It's time for legislators to stop worrying about their next election, and start worrying about making it harder for Americans to be victimized by their countrymen in these heinous acts of gun violence. 

• It's time to stop deflecting the conversation away from mass shootings by pointing to gang-infested cities and saying "gun control doesn't work." 

• It's time to stop saying that risk is so low, we don't need to worry about it, and to stop making the argument that there are lots of other things that kill and injure more children than school shootings. 

• It's time to find common ground, no matter how hard it is to do that. 

It is time for something completely different. And frankly, if my friends and I can do it, it's long past time for the people we pay to do this to get to work. 

If they need some recommendations, I've got a bunch of them. First up? Guns and ammo, in Part 1. 

I hope you'll stick around.

TGIF 4/5/19

Friday again? Already?

I'm thinking the folks who handle security at the president's private club down there in Florida had a kinda bad week. How else would you describe letting someone into the club just because they had the same name as another member?  Especially after all of the hullabaloo we just went through with a Chinese woman offering photo ops and access to with Trump personally, as well as with other of the rich and famous who hang out at the president's private club.

And of course, the president isn't the least bit concerned with security at his club - or with stopping the influence-peddling there. So, maybe I'm wrong, maybe the security folks had a good week, if their boss isn't concerned?

Well, maybe not so fast. Because Mike Pompeo, he's concerned, noting that, while he can't talk specifically to the incident, it

tells the American people the threat that China poses the effort they're making here inside the United States, not only against government officials, but more broadly. 

Whew -- that's clear as mud now. I guess we can describe it as a badly good or goodly bad week, or something.

Quick Takes (v30): Guns and Money

Quick Takes

Most of us are familiar with the old adage "all roads lead to Rome." We intuitively know that every single road doesn't lead to Rome, but that there are many ways to get there, some of which require more effort and stick-to-it-iveness than others. 

For the purposes of today's post, let's recognize (and celebrate, in my case) that there's more than one way to 'get thee' and do something about guns in America. Here's a headline that appeared in the business section of my local paper:

Investors push gun industry for reforms

The article, from Bloomberg, talked about a group of 13 investors, including state pension funds in California, Florida and Connecticut, among others, that collectively have trillions of assets under management, and who are

banding together for the first time to pressure gun manufacturers and sellers to make firearms "safer, more secure and easier to trace."

The approach is not to threaten to divest from the manufacturers; instead, it's to apply pressure on manufacturers to encourage them to make changes that comply with five Principles for a Responsible Civilian Firearms Industry which focus on new technology; dealer standards; training and education programs; best practices in background checks, inventory management, and point of sale policies; proactive assistance to law enforcement; and collaboration with the signers of the Principles moving forward.

Christopher Ailman, who's the Chief Investment Officer for the California State Teachers' Retirement System (CalSTRS), said that

As investors, we're focused on taking steps to reduce risks while increasing the long-term value of the companies in which we invest. But as individuals, we are also deeply saddened by the gun-related tragedies our country is experiencing. We hope these principles serve as the start of a new conversation to address gun safety in the civilian firearms industry, and we look forward to progress through the reasonable and broad framework for engagement they provide. 

Ailman also noted that CalSTRS has tried this before. According to this NY Times article from December 2012, after the Sandy Hook shooting, the fund had about $750M invested in Cerberus Capital Management, which in turn was invested in the Freedom Group, which manufactured the Bushmaster rifle used in Sandy Hook. Here's what CalSTRS had to say:

At this point our investment branch is examining the Cerberus investment to determine how best to move forward given the tragic events of last Friday in Newtown, Conn.

Back then, there was little expectation that things would change. The problem? Firms like Cerberus and others are obligated to maximize their investors' funds, even if that means holding positions in 'sin' companies such as guns, gambling and tobacco.

Similarly, it might be a while before any impact from these Principles and these investors is seen. After all, there's long been concern from manufacturers that things could change - and yet... Here's just one example, excerpted from a note to investors about a (shelved) IPO that predates Sandy Hook:

The regulation of firearms and ammunition may become more restrictive in the future and any such development might have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows. In addition, regulatory proposals, even if never enacted, may affect firearms or ammunition sales as a result of consumer perceptions. 

Two manufacturers -  American Outdoor and Sturm, Ruger - both recently had shareholder proposals approved, asking for reports on gun violence and the risks of selling guns. And while the reports didn't spur any changes in product offerings, I think it's safe to say that Americans will continue trying to find ways to deal with our mass shooting problem, whether we call it a gun problem, a mental health problem, a domestic terrorism problem, or something else entirely. A rose by any other name, and all.

Whether it's investment, divestment, or other shareholder actions; changes to the background check process; voluntary changes by manufacturers, perhaps to include limiting sales of ammunition or or eliminating the sale of bump stocks; increased opportunity for mental health treatment; ER research on gunshot victims; or what have you, sooner or later, I think we'll reach some kind of critical mass where common ground can be found.

School Safety, Trump Tweets Style

Ah...  there it is.

It's so much fun when the Republicans slam gun-free zones, as if people who have their minds set on committing maximum mayhem actually wander around looking for a places that have the little "gun free zone" signs up, and pick those places to do the deed.

I'm not pulling an OJ hypothetical thing here or anything like that, and there's a chance I may be wrong. But for the most part, I think if you're bullied at school, or picked on at school, or thrown out of school, if you're mad and want to get back at the people who picked on you, and you've got mayhem on the brain, you're not going to go to go rob a bank - you're going to go not just to any school, but to your own school, the one in your neighborhood, the one where you know the lay of the land, and do what you think, for some sad, sad reason, you have to do.

Columbine. Sandy Hook. Marjory Stoneman Douglas. Red Lake Senior High. And more, elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, community colleges, colleges, universities.

If "it's not the gun, it's the killer," why is the president no less blaming the sign? Is he honestly suggesting that "guns don't kill people, signs kill people?"

And if the president thinks it's the sign, how does he explain this? CPAC was a gun free zone, we're told. You know, CPAC where the president spoke? Where the NRA's Wayne LaPierre went into his dark place?

And let us not forget another dark, big-tent-Republican-and-Conservative gathering that was a gun-free zone?

RECOGNIZE OUR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO OPEN CARRY

FIREARMS AT THE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION AT THE

QUICKEN LOANS ARENA IN JULY 2016

That's right -- someone petitioned to have the Republican National Convention, the one that nominated Trump, be a gun-filled zone, for a whole host of reasons, including that Cleveland is a top ten most dangerous city, they said, and the RNC and the arena were "putting tens of thousands of people at risk both inside and outside the convention site." 

And ISIS. And evil-doers and criminals. And Barack HUSSEIN Obama... those were other reasons why guns were needed.

But here's the thing: the folks who petitioned weren't fighting the arena's gun-free policy as a matter of principle - it's not like they wanted it to be always and forever gun-free. They just wanted it to be gun-free when they were there. Because, well because I have no idea. Either a person at the Q is a sitting duck, or they're not. The pro-guns shouldn't be able to have it both ways.

And yes, I know the Administration did more today than just this idiotic tweet, but JeezPete (as a friend of my brother's used to say), why does he have to tweet this nonsense? 

Oh wait - never mind. It must be to provide cover for the fact that his school safety plan doesn't include all the things he promised?  Yeah, that's probably it.

Wondering on Wednesday (v122)

What are we wondering about today?  Well, let's see...

Billy Graham has passed, at the age of 99. I managed to catch bits and pieces of a few different news stories about Graham and his remarkable career, and there seemed to be a consistent theme: how different things are with Franklin Graham at the helm of the empire than when it was Billy Graham in charge. The difference between ministering to politicians and presidents and preaching politics. The shift between evangelizing the gospel, and evangelizing the political.

What was most interesting was that many of the people talking about these distinct differences were truly fans of Billy Graham, not detractors, people who respected who he was and what he built and what he brought to people as "America's pastor" who seem less enamored of his son's work and path and approach. Interesting stuff, and it made me wonder what Franklin thinks about all of that, and whether he's impacted by how people perceive he's handled his father's legacy. Any regrets there, I wonder?

Also wonder-worthy? The president had a listening session today with families of school shootings.  Folks from Florida, and from Connecticut too, were there, talking to him about wanting change, needing change, wanting this to be the last one, the last time this happened here. Trump promised action, promised good ideas, the strongest ideas that he has or that governors who are coming to the White House next week have and taking the best ones and doing something. Arming teachers is one suggestion; better background checks is another he mentioned

I wonder though, whether there's really any appetite for change in Congress? Will this just be more lip service from the White House, to be ignored by the House and Senate or will Trump be able to accomplish something where others have failed, or failed to try?

What else is going on?  There are reports, believable or not, that Trump's General Kelly has to go, because there needs to be a scapegoat after the whole Rob Porter - domestic violence - security clearance debacle.  And the fact that, again according to reports, Kelly wants to take Jared Kushner's security clearance away, even as he expresses confidence in Kushner and that he values Kushner's contributions.  It's just that, you know, he can't get his security clearance straightened out.  We also learned that Kushner is a yuge consumer of intelligence, reportedly asking for more of the good stuff than any other White House staffer.

I have to wonder, does Kelly think he can with this battle? Or, by picking this battle, if he really did, is he looking for his own kind of Brexit? 

And finally, I wonder about Fergie's rendition of the National Anthem at the NBA All-Star Game...

If Only...Except That

If only we let God in schools, this would never happen. God is everywhere you want Him to be, just like Visa used to be, whenever you want Him to be there. He will never leave you alone, I'm told. Besides, God doesn't prevent things from happening, He makes it more bearable when things do happen, I'm told. So you can't blame God not being in schools.

If only we didn't have violent video games, this would never happen. Except that everyone who plays video games doesn't go out and shoot up schools.  It's just fantasy, millions of people are just fine who play these games, they don't have mental health problems, they just like sitting in the dark shooting things. So clearly you can't blame God not being in schools, or the video games.

If only parents acted like parents instead of like friends, this would never happen. Except that many parents do act like parents, and do make their children behave and do have rules and curfews and make their kids do their homework and go to school and go to church and not hang out at the mall playing video games, so you can't blame God not being in schools, and you can't blame video games, and you surely can't blame the parents.

If only someone would say something if they saw something, this would never happen. Except that people do say something, and in the Florida case, they did say something and the ball was dropped, they say, because this kid still did what he did.And so you can't blame God not being in schools, or video games, or the parents, or the community. 

If only this particular kind of gun was harder to get, this would never happen.  Except that there's millions of them out there, and so you can't keep them out of the hands of people who want to get one. If they can't get one legally, they'll get one illegally the way MS-13 gang members do. So you can't blame God not being in schools, or the video games, or the parents, or the community, or the easy access to a very particular gun that is used in so many mass shootings.

If only we had had better background checks, this would never happen. Except that the background check process works just fine, look at all the people who are not able to buy guns, and besides, look how hard it is to get a pistol! So clearly, we can't blame God not being in schools, or video games, or parents, or communities, or the particular gun of choice for shooting up schools and such, and you can't blame the background check process.

If only people who had mental health issues got treatment, this would never happen. Except that this does happen when people are getting help for mental health issues. And at what point did we decide that everyone with dark thoughts has mental health issues? So no, you can't blame God not being in schools, or video games, or parents, or communities, or the gun of choice, or background checks, or mental health. 

If only kids couldn't buy guns before they were old enough to buy a beer, this wouldn't happen. 

Because drinking, you know, that's a serious thing, and society needs to make sure you're protected from a can of Bud Light until you're mature enough to understand the consequences of yelling dilly dilly like an idiot. So you can't blame God not being in schools, or video games, or parents, or communities, or the gun of choice, or the background check process, or mental health, or being able to buy guns before you can buy a beer. 

If only we didn't have half the country wandering around on medication for their mental health issues, this wouldn't happen.  Except that people need these medications to function, to be contributing members of society... pastors and parents and doctors and lawyers and teachers and the rest, and the vast majority of these medicated folks are just fine and never commit mayhem, so no -- you can't blame God not being in schools, or video games, or parents, or communities, or the gun of choice, or the background check process, or mental health, or the age of majority, or prescription drugs either. 

If only people had more respect for each other, this wouldn't happen. Except that there is no law that says you have to be respectful, there's no legal definition of respect, there's open season on anyone and anything you don't like from the top all the way down (and you know what I'm talking about here, right?)  Besides, millions and millions of people who don't respect other people go about their daily lives and never commit a crime, never murder school children. So, don't blame God not being in schools, or video games, or parents, or communities, or the gun of choice, or the process, or mental health, or the age of majority, or prescription drugs, or the lack of respect.

If only teachers were armed, this wouldn't happen.  Except that if teachers wanted to be cops they wouldn't be teachers. Nope - don't blame God not being in schools, or video games, or parents, or communities, or the massacre gun, or the process to keep guns out of the wrong hands, or mental health, or the age of majority, or prescription drugs, or a lack of respect, or unarmed teachers.

If only the NRA wasn't able to buy all those politicians, this wouldn't happen. Except that if  George Soros can buy politicians and unions can buy politicians and everyone else can buy politicians, the NRA has to be able to buy politicians too. So, not you can't blame God for not being in schools and you can't blame video games, or parents, or communities, or the killing gun, or the process, or mental health, or the age of majority, or prescription drugs, or the lack of respect, or unarmed teachers, or the NRA buying politicians.

If only people cared as much about their children as they did about their own rights, this wouldn't happen. Except that rights are rights, and children aren't. Or are simply, sadly, collateral damage for us having rights. Don't blame God for not being in schools. Don't blame video games. Don't blame parents. Don't blame communities. Don't blame the gun. Don't blame the process. Don't blame mental health. Don't blame the age of majority. Don't blame prescription drugs. Don't blame the lack of respect. Don't blame unarmed teachers. Don't blame the NRA.Don't blame people not caring about kids, and don't blame my rights.

If only thoughts and prayers kept us safe, this wouldn't happen.  Except that they don't and this does. 

The Speed of Safety

Beginning in late September 1982, the Chicago area, and in fact the entire country, was on edge as seven people died after taking Tylenol laced with cyanide.  Tens of millions of packages were recalled; people were afraid to take any medicine for a while, fearing they could suffer the same fate.

Less than a full year later, the NY Times published an article about industry-wide efforts to develop truly tamper-proof packaging.

Companies that make over-the-counter drugs and other consumer products are still struggling to cope with the packaging worries that began with the contamination of Tylenol capsules last year, resulting in the death of seven people.

Since then, over-the-counter drug makers have spent $173 million to meet the requirements of the Food and Drug Administration for tamper-resistant packaging, according to the Proprietary Association, a trade group of non-prescription drug makers. 

The article noted some of the challenges in coming up with something that was truly tamper resistant, and also the challenges faced by consumers trying to get into the new packages to use the products. This is still an issue today, I can attest, as I'm currently battling the flu with both prescription and non-prescription medicine, and it takes several minutes of meditation, a pair of scissors, and often a knife to get the meds out of their protective covers. I surely would have a drink to help steady my nerves before attempting to get the pills, if alcohol weren't contraindicated.

We also learned from the Times article that the original deadline for the entire non-prescription drug industry to be 100% compliant with  the tamper-resistant packaging rules was February 6, 1984 - a mere 495 days from the first Tylenol death.

On December 22, 2001, Richard Reid tried - and failed - to light a fuse in his sneaker, hoping to take down a plane flying from Paris to Miami.  On July 10, 2003 - only 565 days later - the TSA issued a press release attempting to clarify what they had been doing with shoe screening for months.

TSA's increased focus on screening shoes in recent months reflects a necessary reaction to information gathered by federal intelligence agencies. But just as TSA, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security, achieved consistency last fall by clarifying procedures for the screening of drinks carried through security checkpoints, the agency is moving now to make sure its shoe policy is implemented consistently from coast to coast. 

"Our screeners have always worked hard to make sure a 'shoe bomb' does not get on an aircraft," Admiral Loy said. "Now we must make sure our security process is consistent so air travelers know what to expect at every airport in the country." 

The shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School occurred on December 14, 2012. The shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School occurred 1,888 days later.

Still too soon?

Wondering on Wednesday (v121)

You may have heard in the reporting on the horrific shooting in Florida that it was the 18th school shooting this year; I heard that, and I wondered about it: how could it be true, first of all, and how did we not hear of all of these shootings?

I found a list of the shootings - it has everything from 2013 to the present, and you can click on each to see the details. I think the statistic is slightly misleading -- in the first shooting of 2018, for example, a man called 911 from the parking lot of a school saying he was suicidal. After a long standoff, he eventually did commit suicide.

At no point were any students in jeopardy, as the school was closed at the time of the incident. And students in jeopardy is the very first thing most of us think of when we hear 'school shooting.'

That said, it's still a shocking number of incidents of gun violence taking place at schools -- from elementary schools to well known universities and everything in between. The highlighted links are described as "attack on other persons(s) resulting in injury or death."

• East Olive Elementary School, St Johns MI 1/3/18
• New Start High School, Seattle WA 1/4/18
• Cal State University, San Bernardino CA 1/10/18 
• Coronado Elementary School, Sierra Vista AZ 1/10/18
• Grayson College, Denison TX 1/10/18
• Wiley College, Marshall TX 1/15/18
• Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem NC 1/20/18
• Italy High School, Italy TX 1/22/18
• The NET Charter High School, Gentilly LA 1/22/18
• Marshall County High School, Benton KY 1/23/18
• Murphy High School, Mobile AL 1/25/18
• Dearborn High School, Dearborn MI 1/26/18
• Lincoln High School, Philadelphia PA 1/31/18
• Salvador B. Castro Middle School,  Los Angeles  CA 2/1/18
• Harmony Learning Center, Maplewood MN 2/5/18
• Oxon Hill High School, Oxon Hill MD 2/6/18
• The Metropolitan High School, New York NY 2/8/18

That same description will be used when today's shooting is added to the list; at least 17 people were killed and another 14 were injured, five of whom are in critical condition now.

• Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Parkland FL 2/14/18

As the investigation continues, we'll learn more about the accused shooter - a former student, expelled from school for disciplinary reasons, considered by other students interviewed today to be perfectly capable of doing exactly what he did.

We'll be reminded that it's "too soon" to talk about anything, whether it's mental health or gun control.

We'll be reminded that atrocities like this should never be politicized, even as the people who remind us of that do exactly what they're reminding us to never do.

We'll be reminded that schools would be a whole lot safer if only there were more guns in the hands of teachers, secretaries, janitors and cafeteria ladies.

We'll be reminded, as we were today by the president, that no child should feel unsafe at school.

Maybe we'll be told that this shooting, like Sandy Hook, was a 'false flag' and never happened.

And, we'll be reminded that this happens only here.

This happens only in America.

Why is that, I wonder?

What Kind of Problem Do We Have? Pick One.

I've had lots of gun conversations in this blog, and with friends around the lunch table, with family at the dinner table, and with total strangers on comment boards and the like.

Generally, my positions and beliefs are as follows:

• I believe that having as many guns as people in America is a problem; I don't know who has 'my gun' but I've never met them, I have no idea what their intentions are, and I wish they had asked me first. 
• I believe in reasonable gun control, including background checks for all gun sales at gun shows, stores, and online.
• I believe you should have more magazines on your coffee table than bullets in your magazine. 
• I believe that, if  you have a family member with a mental illness, you should know better than to keep guns in your house. 
• I would not for a single moment feel more comfortable if every Tom, Dick and Harry was wandering around wearing a sidearm in plain sight, much less carrying it in their shorts or their socks or their shoes or wherever one conceals a weapon.

I don't like that people kill police officers. Ever.  I also believe that probably 99% of police officers would like to go through their entire career and never shoot, much less kill anyone - black or white, Christian or Muslim, child, teenager or adult, armed or unarmed, on drugs or stone cold sober.

I truly believe that some people are too foolish or stupid to be allowed anywhere near a firearm of any kind, and that we should have a way to weed them out and prevent them from owing guns.

• I think it's ridiculous that so many people get shot in or around Walmarts.
• I believe we have a problem when kids and parents accidentally kill children with guns. 
• When a person accidentally shoots himself in the leg, in the head, in the head, in the testicles, in the testicles, in the testicles, in the penis, in the foot, taking a selfie, defending a Muslim-free gun store, trying out his new holster, in the girlfriend, in the girlfriend, in the girlfriend, etc., I admit to less-than-charitable name-calling and a lack of compassion, as I shake my head.

So, if we don't have a 'gun problem' in America, what kind of problem do we have, that other civilized countries don't seem to have?

(1) I think the publicity we give people who commit heinous crimes like the Roanoke murders, the Houston police officer execution, the Sandy Hook shootings, the movie theater killing, and on and on, does more harm than good. If you're a wanna be famous nutjob, this is a surefire way to get what you're looking for.

I would prefer we never show the name or face of the person who committed the crime on television, in magazines, or anywhere else; instead, we should flood the airways and pages and the cloud with pictures and stories of the victims, whether police officers or television reporters or folks on dates or innocent children in school.

(2) Further, the lengths to which we go to 'define' these shootings, or the bastards who commit them, makes the situation worse.  Channeling Hillary Clinton here,

Was it racially motivated, or was it because the person was mad at his mother and father, or was it because of violent video games or television shows, or was it because the guy liked to play with guns, or had a mental illness, or thought the gun wasn't loaded, or had a grudge against his employer, or had a hatred for Muslims or Christians, or didn't like the military, or had a run-in before with one of the victims, or thought the best defense against a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun, or because of guys out for a walk one night and decided they'd go kill someone?

What difference - at this point, what difference does it make?

We struggle to determine whether we should call something terrorism, or a hate crime, or workplace violence, or domestic violence, or some other identifier. Who benefits from that? Not the victims, not their families and loved ones, and frankly not the rest of us. In reality, all it does is make excuses for people who have committed very bad acts.

(3) Even if we know, or think we know, or believe we have ascertained the 'reason' for the crime, we respond in ways guaranteed to inflame.

Case in point? The Charleston shootings.  The killer has racist tendencies, so the obvious answer, of course, is to remove the Confederate Flag from the grounds of the South Carolina statehouse. Because no one will ever shoot up a black church again, now that the offending flag is down.

Case in point?  New York's SAFE Act, after Sandy Hook. Some good ideas, some not so good - but crammed down everyone's throat, because Governor Andrew Cuomo knew there was no other way to get something passed. In the aftermath, we have calls for full repeal, even from people who agree with much of what's in the law, because of how it was done.

Case in point? The NRA declaring that the reason why people get killed in these horrific shootings is not because someone pulled a trigger, but because we have 'gun-free zones.' (Except, of course, when they thought it was OK that we had gun free zones.)

(4) We treat guns differently than anything else that threatens us. One person tries a shoe bomb, so everyone takes off their shoes before getting on a plane.  Heaven forbid we talk about closing loopholes in gun laws - because while we have no problem stripping in front of strangers at every airport, don't dare make us prove we're OK to purchase or own a gun.

(5) The Colorado movie theater killer was just sentenced, after what's been described as a parade of pain, to a term of life in prison for each of the 12 people he murdered, plus 3318 years in prison for wounding another 70 people.

The crime occurred three years ago; there was no doubt about his guilt, and whether he was sane or suffering from mental illness, there is no excuse for what he did, and he does not deserve rehabilitation. Should it take three years (sometimes longer) for the outcome to be known? Should we have an option for juries and defense attorneys, one that allows for a verdict or plea of 'guilty, but insane' which will guarantee the person never sees the light of day?  And does anyone really benefit from a sentence, and a sentencing production, like this, or does it just add to the murderer's fame?

(6) We have a huge 'us vs. them' mentality in America: rich vs poor, citizen vs. immigrant, Christian vs. everyone, state vs. federal government, black vs. white, this 'life' vs. that 'life', government vs. teacher, suburb vs urban, gun owner vs. non gun owner, pro-birth vs. pro-choice, reporter vs. interviewee, and so on. We seem to thrive on our differences, and forget our similarities.

Combine that mentality with our time where anyone, (like me, and this blog), can say anything we want, any time we want, and find an audience for whatever we say. This gives equal voice to ideas from the fringes as to those from the mainstream, and I think ultimately contributes to the general lack of respect and increased vitriol that we see these days.

What does all of this do? Individually we might be able to counter the effects of these issues, but when taken together, they paralyze us from actually doing anything about gun violence, or preventing the wrong people from getting guns, or doing anything about mental health, or about our frequently slow and prodding system of justice. In the end, is that what we really want? I honestly don't know.

Do we have a gun problem in America? We can, and will, continue to disagree on that, I'm sure. But one thing I do know is, no one has ever committed a similar mass murder with a bathtub.

Wondering, on Wednesday

If you're the loved ones of Lauren Bacall (or, similarly, Farrah Fawcett), do you welcome the opportunity to grieve out of the limelight, while everyone else is focused on the death of someone more fascinating?

What the heck is going in in Ferguson MO?

What do you think Andrew Cuomo, Sheldon Silver, Jeff Klein and  Dean Skelos talked about on their trip to Israel?  The next phase of Albany-style ethics reform, maybe?

Will we ever get to the point where the assumption is that there will be debates between candidates in primaries, rather than that there won't be? Or will incumbents continue to get away with not engaging their opponents?

After Sandy Hook, we were going to "do something" about mental illness. After Robin Williams, will we?

Did you get your Board of Elections mailing this week, telling you where to vote in the primary and general election?  And did your polling place change this year?

How does Rush Limbaugh stay on the air?

Legal marijuana or lottery games: which is the better (least objectionable?) way to fund education?

When was the last time you were required to show ID, for anything?

The Sandy Hook Anniversary

Take time today to remember the names of those who were
so senselessly and tragically lost in the
Sandy Hook tragedy:

Charlotte Bacon, 6

Daniel Barden, 7

Rachel Davino, 29

Olivia Engel, 6

Josephine Gay, 7

Ana M Marquez-Green, 6

Dylan Hockey, 6

Dawn Hochsprung, 47

Madeline F Hsu, 6

Catherine V Hubbard, 6

Chase Kowalski, 7

Jesse Lewis, 6

James Mattioli, 6

Grace McDonnell, 7

Anne Marie Murphy, 52

Emilie Parker, 6

Jack Pinto, 6

Noah Pozner, 6

Caroline Previdi, 6

Jessica Rekos, 6

Avielle Richman, 6

Lauren Rousseau, 30

Mary Sherlach, 56

Victoria Soto, 27

Benjamin Wheeler, 6

Allison N Wyatt, 6

If you're interested in learning more about many of the folks whose names you see above, you can visit a new memorial website, mysandyhookfamily.org.

To learn more about initiatives aimed at preventing the causes of gun violence, please visit www2.sandyhookpromise.org. 

If you're so inclined, some of the families have asked for random acts of kindness today, as a way to honor the memories of their loved ones. 

And don't forget Nancy Lanza, 52, who also lost her life that day.

Thanks.

What Scares You More?

The bombs that went off near the finish line at the Boston marathon, or the people who believe that the government did it?  For me, it's the latter - definitely.

I've written before about rabid Palinites who believe that President Obama killed a Navy Seal. But I've never invested a whole lot of energy into conspiracy theories.  I try not to quickly judge people, and admit that I could be better at that than I am today. But in all honesty,  I don't have any use for people who actually believe, or pretend to believe, that our government is running around willy-nilly killing Americans in order to push an agenda.

Particularly when the person who's considered the "killer in chief "is the only one of our elected federal officials who has a term limit and who must get his agenda past Congress.  The idea of him being the one to put this kind of action into motion is beyond absurd.  But he must be the one, because it's all over the Internet, right?

Here's a sampling from comments on various articles at infowars.com, one of the strangest web sites I've ever visited.

I believe this is a “false flag” The end goal to me would be the need for Martial Law. It is tragic that we have such a low stooping government. But ‘rightwing” as Obama and his cronies like to say have more patriotic sense in one little toe, than Obama does in his entire body. This also giving an opportunity to cast doubt or blacken the name of republican conservatives.

If it were Tea Partiers, they would not attack innocents, they would go after politicians and they won’t miss and won’t cause that kind of collateral damage. The fact that it was at an event like this eliminates them as a possibility and certainly implicates the government. Qui Bono? How would this benefit any right wing group or Tea Party? It does benefit the police state. Don’t be fooled folks. 

A supernatural prophetic warning appeared in the BOSTON GLOBE in 2001, a pix of Tom Ridge & George W Bush in front of a flag and what appeared was not an American flag but a swastika - a warning about the fascist spirit behind DHS (that's the Department of Homeland Security) and also that 911 was a FALSE FLAG. Both 911 and this bombing were psy ops to traumatize the public to bring in martial law...BUT I predict there will be a new revolution against this martial law starting in Boston. This happened on TAX DAY - and the Boston Tea Party started the American Revolution against an unfair British Tax, in Boston with Paul Revere's Ride...Also the Illuminati social engineers who want martial law are trying to label patriots as terrorists - they have been doing it -- this bombing happened on PATRIOTS DAY - so it is a psy op to conflate in the public's mind the word PATRIOT with Terrorist - to mind control them to support this slander.  

And there's this, from NaturalNews.com, a site I've never visited before:

The bottom line in all this is that the mainstream media has already decided who's guilty for everything bad that happens in America. It's right-wingers...gun owners...white people...patriots...veterans...conservatives. Sure, there's no logic to it, but the leftist media doesn't operate from logic. It simply picks a group to vilify and goes on the attack. Somehow, they will find a way to blame patriots for the bombings, even it means fabricating evidence and ignoring reality. If for some reason they can't blame patriots because overwhelming evidence points to a foreign terror cell, they will still exploit the tragedy to call for DHS agents on the streets of America, with police state security at every sporting even from here forward. When it comes to the rise of tyranny, the left is blind. They literally can't see it unfolding right before their eyes. In their minds, there's never enough "security" and there's always too many "rights" in America. Their utopia is an Orwellian 1984 military police state where everyone is kept safe because the entire country is transformed into a "Constitution-free zone" where TSA agents reach down your pants and no citizens are allowed to own weapons of any kind. 

And that's from the article, not the comments. Here are some of those:

...actually I refuse to live in fear. Fear is a tactic used by governmental terrorist control freaks to break the American spirit and force us to cry TAKE AWAY OUR RIGHTS, PLEASE MR. PRESIDENT! If you think Pearl Harbor, 9/11, Aurora, Sandy Hook and now Boston happened without prior knowledge of or direct involvement with the US government, you need to turn Off fox and CNN and stop drinking fluoridated water. Wake up fellow American, Obama is NOT your daddy.

Someone that is not in tune to certain manipulative tactics would just think it is a coincidence. I have also observed that multiple times (coincidence or not) when some false flag attacks happen there seems to be a drill of the same scenario going on in the vicinity that the false flag occurs. 9/11(NORAD Drill) and Sandy Hook(safety drill) to name a few. I see people focusing on the fact, that bomb squads and bomb sniffing dogs are always used at the Boston Marathon(since 9/11). That may be a fact, on the other hand "Drills" being performed on the same day of the event seems to be an ongoing "coincidence". Drills should be performed to their fullest extent prior to and leading up to the specific events so that at the time of the event the parties involved(law enforcement, military etc.) can be on alert and ready to go.  What happened yesterday was a tragedy. Unfortunately these events will continue because they are needed to push a certain agenda. One of them being "National Security", which has become a multi billion-dollar industry. That comment will not sit right with a lot of people but it is a seed that needs to planted. 

And then there's this: all the news you can imagine about how the Sandy Hook killings were orchestrated by the government and the media, or didn't exist or whatever...

Sadly, these people are not alone. In a recent press release, Public Policy Polling offered these delightful statistics:

• 29% believe aliens exist; 
• 28% believe in a secret power elite looking to create a new world order;
• 20% of Republicans, 13% of Independents and 6% of Democrats think Obama is the Anti-Christ;
• 7% think the moon landing was a fake;
• 6% of voters think Osama bin Laden is alive;
• 5% think that Paul McCartney died back in 1966;
• 4% think shape-shifting reptilians in human form control our world.

No, these folks will never be alone.  And if I can possibly help it, I'll never be alone with any of them.

The One in which We Agree...

As I mentioned the other day, a friend and I have carried on a lengthy conversation on gun control, some of which was admittedly emotional and reckless, some of which was argumentative and challenging. 

To be sure, we did not agree on everything -- there were many sticking points, among them whether or not we even need to do anything.  In the post which sparked our conversation, I tried to get my head around some of the key points raised by folks who do not support additional gun control legislation, including what Wayne LaPierre, the NRA's spokesman, put on the table after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings. 

I admitted that I'm not a gun lover, but also affirmed my belief that gun ownership is a right, albeit one that I believe can be reasonably 'controlled', just as our right to free speech is 'controlled' by legislation designed to protect me and others from irresponsible speech.

Here are a few of the areas where we struggled, at least initially:

• whether there's a need to respond to 'outliers' such as Newtown, Aurora, Tucson, VA Tech, Columbine and the like, given that they account for such a small percentage of gun crimes and deaths.
• what to call the weapon of choice in these mass shootings. I conceded the term 'assault weapon' was misunderstood, poorly defined in legislation, and inflammatory. I declared my preference for the term 'the gun that an evil sick bastard just used to kill a bunch of innocent people' which admittedly is more inflammatory but also more to the point and not as open to confusion.
• whether it was logical to include things such as death by high school sports injury, death by drowning, death by poisoning, etc. as more dangerous than guns because more people are killed by them each year. I thought this was silly; he thought it pointed out the need for a discussion on where we apply our limited resources.
• whether any legislation would have an impact on criminals, who ultimately are the ones who use guns for the wrong purpose. 
• whether it would be reasonable to put any restrictions on the news media, relative to how they report on crimes of this nature.  
• whether or not we could collectively rise to the challenge, assuming that agreement could be reached that something needed to be done.

In the end, we ended up agreeing, in large part, on a number of things that seem reasonable, not overly burdensome on current and prospective gun owners, and which might be achievable:

1. People choosing to exercise their right to bear arms need criminal and mental health clearance. Yes, this is background checks, and yes, it's intrusive to a certain degree, but it doesn't feel unreasonable to me. 
2. Registration of all gun purchases on a federal gun license. I'm okay with a federal license; I appreciate states having different tolerances for gun legislation and ownership, but certainly in the case of concealed carry permits, we need one law, not many.
3. Mandatory safety training for each type of firearm purchased. This is so simplistic it's ridiculous, and I'm not sure whether it's already the law of the land, but if not it certainly should be.
4. Yearly renewal of the federal gun license, including proficiency testing.  Again, not rocket science. He suggested not only proficiency, but also moral simulation, to gauge a person's decision-making ability, such as when to fire vs. when to de-escalate, which I think is a fascinating approach. 
5. Reducing the price of ammunition, thereby making it more readily available so people can practice with their weapons. I had a hard time with this one, but coupled with all of the other things we'd change, and a couple of qualifiers, I decided I could live with it. My qualifiers? Eliminating Internet ammunition purchasing and adding mandatory reporting of large volume ammo purchases, similar to how banks are required to report large cash deposits.
6. We agreed we need to eliminate black market gun sales, but neither of us offered anything here. I'm not sure how to do it, other than good old fashioned police work, finding out who's selling guns illegally and stopping them. It'll take quite a bit of effort, but coupled with other changes, it may be possible to make a dent.

I'll add a few other things to the list:

1. Require states to submit all necessary information into the background check system, so that it's truly viable and prevents criminals from getting guns.
2. Enforce gun laws already on the books, including prosecuting people who attempt to buy guns when they know they legally can't, and prosecuting people who have other people purchase their guns for them, regardless of the reason.
3. If a gun - handgun, rifle, 'gun that an evil sick bastard just used to kill a bunch of innocent people' or anything in between - is used during the commission of a crime, there needs to be a minimum mandatory sentence for using the gun.  And, that sentence gets served first, before the consecutive (not concurrent) sentence for the other crime. We need to make the criminal use of a gun very unattractive.
4. Gun legislation cannot have anything unrelated added to it. Politicians cannot attach a jobs bill or welfare benefit or unemployment changes or tax cuts or anything else to gun legislation. Period. If they try to do it, charge them with bribery.
5. People with family members with mental health problems should not be allowed to legally posses guns. If you buy into the theory that the reason Adam Lanza did what he did was because he had mental health issues, and his mother knew about them, you should be furious that she not only kept guns in the house, but taught him how to use them.

Reasonable? Unreasonable? Let me know what you think.

Are You Feeling SAFE?

Early in January I wrote a post, One More Stab at Having a Gun Conversation, in which I expressed my willingness to try to understand some of the positions of the anti-gun control side, including those of the NRA as expressed by Wayne LaPierre after the Sandy Hook shootings.

After that post, I received an email response from a friend who is conservative, former military, a husband and father, married to a teacher, and one of my favorite people for deep conversations and thinking. Our conversation took a few weeks to play out, and ended up being well over 15,000 words (including the original post), but was interesting because while we started quite a bit apart from each other's opinion, we ended up with a significant amount of common ground.

And that was really the point of the post in the first place: people who actually are willing to struggle through a discussion on an emotionally-charged topic to find out whether there is any common ground may actually find some.  Jay and I got there, to common ground, because we respect each other and because we were willing to play it out until the end.

While we were having our own gun legislation debate, our governor Andrew Cuomo managed to rush through gun control legislation, either because he wants to be President (say the Republicans and their pundits) or because he wants us to be safe (say the Dems and their pundits). The bill is is the NY Secure Ammunition and Firearm Enforcement (SAFE) Act of 2013.

The SAFE Act includes many things and touches many areas of existing legislation, as illustrated by the bill's title (emphasis added):

An act to amend the criminal procedure law, the correction law, the family court act, the executive law, the general business law, the judiciary law, the mental hygiene law, the penal law and the surrogate's court procedure act, in relation to suspension and revocation of firearms licenses; private sale or disposal of firearms, rifles or shotguns and establishing a minimum age to possess a firearm; to amend the family court act, the domestic relations law and the criminal procedure law, in relation to providing for the mandatory suspension or revocation of the firearms license of a person against whom an order of protection or a temporary order of protection has been issued under certain circumstances, or upon violation of any such order; to amend the penal law, in relation to community guns and the criminal sale of a firearm and in relation to the definitions of aggravated and first degree murder; to amend chapter 408 of the laws of 1999 constituting Kendra's Law, in relation to extending the expiration thereof; and to amend the education law, in relation to the New York state school safety improvement teams; and in relation to building aid for metal detectors and safety devices.

All that sounds quite lofty, as these bills typically do.

In a nutshell, the bill limits ammunition clips, increases background checks on guns and ammo, adds penalties for shooting first responders (the Webster provision), increases requirements on gun owners, including some misdemeanor charges if these are not followed, redefines 'assault weapons' and bans future sales (but allows folks to keep them if they register them), and goes a long way towards trying to keep guns out of the hands of those with mental illness. It also increases penalties for gun crimes, bans some Internet sales, and requires renewal of permits.  And, it creates a review process for school safety programs, as well as providing for enhanced reimbursement for schools that purchase certain security devices.

The law is widely and ongoingly criticized, with nearly half of all counties in the state officially voicing their disapproval (Onondaga County, where I live, has not yet done so but likely will). For the most part, even people who believe in many of the provisions are appalled at the process and the speed with which the legislation was passed.

I share that concern; I agree conceptually with much of what's in the bill, particularly increased background checks, doing something to limit access by those with mental illness, and increasing  penalties for criminal use of guns, but I don't believe we needed to get a bill written, voted on, and signed all in a matter of hours.

In the coming days, I'll share some of the conversation I had with my buddy on guns and common ground. In the meantime, here's a thought for New York's Legislature and Governor Cuomo: being first out of the gate isn't what's going to get us to the finish line -- and by that I mean having viable, enforceable legislation that actually helps keep us safe.

After all, medals are given at the end of the race, not at the beginning.

Obama kills Navy SEAL.

Retired Navy SEAL and author Chris Kyle was killed Saturday at a Texas shooting range by another former soldier, Eddie Ray Routh, who reportedly suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Until this morning, I I had never heard of Chris Kyle, never heard of his storied military career, never heard of his book, "American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in US Military History" and didn't know that he had over 150 confirmed kills.  Highly decorated (two Silver Stars and five Bronze Stars with Valor), after leaving the military Kyle formed Craft International (a security training company) and helped start the FITCO Cares Foundation to help fellow former service men and women who suffer (ironically) from PTSD.  He also apparently was one of the favorites on the TV show "Stars Earn Stripes" (which I didn't watch).

I learned about Chris Kyle this morning when a friend shared Sarah Palin's Facebook post on his passing. Here's her heartfelt post, which at the time I read it this morning had around 41,000 likes and now has over 77,000:

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family and many friends of former Navy SEAL Chris Kyle tonight. Todd and I first met Chris in Pella, Iowa, when he helped out with security for the premiere of the film "The Undefeated."  And later we became friends with Chris when he was on "Stars Earn Stripes" with Todd.  Chris was a wonderful man, a good friend, and a true American hero who loved our country and served honorably.  He was loved and admired by so many, and he will never be forgotten. -Todd and Sarah Palin 

There was nothing political in Palin's comments. Not so, however, some of the comments posted in response. There are apparently a number of people who are convinced that Kyle's murder was a government action, ordered by President Obama (and his faithful sidekick Hillary Clinton).

I'm going to protect the people who made these comments, but you can see them for yourself on Palin's page.  There were a whole mess of general conspiracy theory posts, and then there were these specific to Obama and Clinton:

Obama minions at work they are prepping us. Tell us about all the military actions across the U.S in cities. It's coming!

And he was murdered by a President and Secretary of State.

Someone needs to check into whether this was a hit from the Obama administration. Sounds like Chicago to me. 

I agree I wouldn't be surprised if Obama's administration had something to do with it.

Probably one of Obama's Islam hit men. 

I feel this is a conspiracy by the Obama administration.

I agree Obummer had his hands on this somewhere.

Do we have another Whitewater scam going on here?  

Some folks went a little more into the weeds with their comments, men (and women) offering these gems for our consideration: 

We need an investigation into these executions of so many anti-Obama Patriots. Breitbart, Noveske, gun shop owner of FPSRussia, and now Kyle.  

I'm proud of all the soldiers past and present and future they stand for what this country is and OBAMA is ruining it which is I feel all these deaths of these soldiers are all because of him if he ain't behind it he knows something about it or its because of what he is doing to our country we as AMERICANS need to stand up and fight together just as our military does to get this so-called president out of our country where he belongs. 

Governor Palin, you seem to be the only one with balls in this pussified nation anymore. The SEALS are being murdered and I believe it has to do with the fake Bin Laden job and Obama and Clinton are behind it.  

Our Navy SEALS are being murdered, who do you think has ordered these murders? I am sick to think that our own government is probably behind these events. Think about how many have been killed and how many generals are being relieved of their duty. We need answers.  

I agree...sounds like another planned killing from the Feds...too many people getting killed lately.  Makes me wonder if Sandy Hook and that movie theater was in that planned killing from the Feds to have everyone agree with them to eliminate our guns.

I'm not so sure this was accidental. He was heavy against the government and they are really digging in on those who speak against the current administration. Just sayin.

His family deserves to know who the shooter met with prior to the incident and his political affiliations.  Too many SEALS are being eliminated.  

As I stated on a veteran's site, sounds like a set up to me with this Gun Ban issue. A top lethal sniper just killed on a Saturday practice at a Gun Range... Come ON.

Clearly this man along with other outspoken Americans have been gunned down in the last two months. What are YOU and the rest of the Tea Party going to do. ENOUGH already...take a real stand...call for action Sarah PLEASE.  The American people need someone to bite the bullet and stop what we all know is going on.

His death is very suspicious with the very timely opening of the movie just out...smells like a hit to me and our government is not above doing just that. The truth will probably never come out.  

Right. "The truth will probably never come out." Nor will a statement from me announcing I understand what the hell these people are thinking.