Land of the free
April 17, 2012 12:23 PM Subscribe
90 guns per 100 people, 85 fatal shootings per day... America's deadly devotion to guns.
This post was deleted for the following reason: I get why people think this is important but on a topic that goes as badly as this topic always does here, a single link op-ed isn't really going to cut it. Sorry. -- jessamyn
I read this yesterday -- really an excellent piece.
posted by modernnomad at 12:33 PM on April 17, 2012
posted by modernnomad at 12:33 PM on April 17, 2012
"None of us in the free world would have what we have if it were not for guns," says Britt. "It's about freedom, it's not about violence."
***PAINFULLY LOUD FEEDBACK***
Man, you gotta hold the microphone farther away with that much dissonance!
posted by Celsius1414 at 12:35 PM on April 17, 2012 [1 favorite]
***PAINFULLY LOUD FEEDBACK***
Man, you gotta hold the microphone farther away with that much dissonance!
posted by Celsius1414 at 12:35 PM on April 17, 2012 [1 favorite]
I've always wondered how it would affect the gun control debate when/if a prominent gun-control opponent, or someone closely related to one, was killed in a school or workplace shooting. Would there be some kind of change of heart, or would they just double down?
posted by gottabefunky at 12:36 PM on April 17, 2012
posted by gottabefunky at 12:36 PM on April 17, 2012
They'd just say that a well-armed populace could have prevented the massacre. :(
posted by steinsaltz at 12:37 PM on April 17, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by steinsaltz at 12:37 PM on April 17, 2012 [2 favorites]
Halfway through the session a slide displays the four people they consider the most important obstacles to their cause. Obama, Hillary Clinton (sitting in front of a United Nations flag), Eric Holder, Obama's black attorney general, and Sonia Sotomayor, the Latina supreme court judge. All, by their titles, are legitimate targets for the NRA. And yet one could not help sense the symbolic significance. Two women and three people of colour in positions of authority, in a country where women are becoming more politically assertive and white people will be in a minority in 30 years, looking down on a room of overwhelmingly ageing white men defending their right to bear arms.
Bingo.
posted by gottabefunky at 12:37 PM on April 17, 2012 [5 favorites]
Bingo.
posted by gottabefunky at 12:37 PM on April 17, 2012 [5 favorites]
How many iPods are there per 100 people?
posted by cjorgensen at 12:38 PM on April 17, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by cjorgensen at 12:38 PM on April 17, 2012 [1 favorite]
"We think the government should be subservient to us."
No doubt.
I suppose this post may be deleted, but it was nice to see if only for a moment a flicker of reason about guns in the US. I feel like most Americans are living in terror at these mostly older white male gun owners, who have taken the US down a road of madness.
posted by washburn at 12:39 PM on April 17, 2012
No doubt.
I suppose this post may be deleted, but it was nice to see if only for a moment a flicker of reason about guns in the US. I feel like most Americans are living in terror at these mostly older white male gun owners, who have taken the US down a road of madness.
posted by washburn at 12:39 PM on April 17, 2012
Well, people who own iPods are less likely to own multiple iPods than gun-owners are. (Or so I would propose.)
posted by maryr at 12:40 PM on April 17, 2012
posted by maryr at 12:40 PM on April 17, 2012
They'd just say that a well-armed populace could have prevented the massacre. :(
This is why screening for guns at airports is a dangerous idea. In a perfect world, you would look around on your airplane and worry about being shot by any number of the people there. Also, children at school should be required to carry firearms. Think of all the safety!
posted by shakespeherian at 12:41 PM on April 17, 2012 [3 favorites]
This is why screening for guns at airports is a dangerous idea. In a perfect world, you would look around on your airplane and worry about being shot by any number of the people there. Also, children at school should be required to carry firearms. Think of all the safety!
posted by shakespeherian at 12:41 PM on April 17, 2012 [3 favorites]
How many iPods are there per 100 people?
How many people are killed by iPods every day? I believe 5-10 children are killed by guns every day ... sorry, 30.
shakespeherian, there are definitely people who seriously support that idea.
posted by mrgrimm at 12:43 PM on April 17, 2012 [1 favorite]
How many people are killed by iPods every day? I believe 5-10 children are killed by guns every day ... sorry, 30.
shakespeherian, there are definitely people who seriously support that idea.
posted by mrgrimm at 12:43 PM on April 17, 2012 [1 favorite]
85 fatal shootings per day...
You speak like that's a bad thing. I mean, it can't be 85 Trayvon Martins a day, or else we'd hear about it, so all those others must be bad guys.
posted by oneswellfoop at 12:44 PM on April 17, 2012 [2 favorites]
You speak like that's a bad thing. I mean, it can't be 85 Trayvon Martins a day, or else we'd hear about it, so all those others must be bad guys.
posted by oneswellfoop at 12:44 PM on April 17, 2012 [2 favorites]
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posted by Xurando at 12:28 PM on April 17, 2012