From the Brady campaign---"32 dead: what are we going to do about it?"

[billbuckhead]

32 dead: what are we going to do about it?

Paul Helmke

Some people don't want to have this conversation. They're content to repeat platitudes, make excuses, nitpick proposals, and postpone taking action. They accuse the rest of us of "politicizing" the issue, while they hide behind the gun lobby's talking points.

The first comments from President Bush, through a spokeswoman, were that he "believes that there is a right for people to bear arms," but then later said that now was not an appropriate time to discuss policy. If not now, when is it time?

It is not "politicizing" the tragedy to ask what we can do to make ourselves and our families safe from gun violence. When politicians and pundits deny that a problem exists and that is susceptible to policy revisions and cling to their ideological fenceposts instead of coming to the table with honest ideas, it is they who must stop the political posturing. They have to ask themselves how they can help keep our communities and our schools safe.

We have to insist that they respond when we ask them, "What are you going to do about this?"

(Note to readers: This blog entry, as well as past blog entries, are co-posted on www.bradycampaign.org/blog and www.huffingtonpost.com)
--------------snip---------------------------
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-helmke/32-dead-what-are-we-goin_b_46222.html>

Maybe if liberals took on this gun lobby crowd earlier like it was life and death we wouldn't be in Iraq.

[Fresh_Start]

1. if Congress has its way, stick our heads in the ground

and pretend that if we don't acknowledge the danger, the danger does not exist.

[billbuckhead]

2. What' its going to take? Triple digit numbers? Dead celebrities?

Some suggested publically financed elections would allow the majority to end this antidemocratic opprssion of our people by the gun lobby and it's neoCON corporate masters.

Maybe, it's time for liberals to reach out to the "Pro-life" community? At lot of them are loose from the reichwing reservation because of Iraq, the environment, the page scandal, corruption in fundie churchs, etc. Maybe if we won't do the right thing for our children, we'll do it for Jesus?

[Fresh_Start]

5. thats won't do it

only a massacre within the Capital itself will make a difference.

Cause if it doesn't affect them personally, the NRA money looks very nice thank you

[Solo_in_MD]

7. How about some intelligent discourse, but that rules out the Brady Bunch

[billbuckhead]

9. Why don't you make some intelligent discourse instead of name calling

I don't think the American people are the problem, the problem is very easy access to guns.

Here's a Harvard study to support my position

"Statistically, the United States is not a particularly violent society. Although gun proponents like to compare this country with hot spots like Colombia, Mexico, and Estonia (making America appear a truly peaceable kingdom), a more relevant comparison is against other high-income, industrialized nations. The percentage of the U.S. population victimized in 2000 by crimes like assault, car theft, burglary, robbery, and sexual incidents is about average for 17 industrialized countries, and lower on many indices than Canada, Australia, or New Zealand.

"The only thing that jumps out is lethal violence," Hemenway says. Violence, pace H. Rap Brown, is not "as American as cherry pie," but American violence does tend to end in death. The reason, plain and simple, is guns. We own more guns per capita than any other high-income country—maybe even more than one gun for every man, woman, and child in the country. A 1994 survey numbered the U.S. gun supply at more than 200 million in a population then numbered at 262 million, and currently about 35 percent of American households have guns. (These figures count only civilian guns; Switzerland, for example, has plenty of military weapons per capita.)

"It's not as if a 19-year-old in the United States is more evil than a 19-year-old in Australia—there's no evidence for that," Hemenway explains. "But a 19-year-old in America can very easily get a pistol. That's very hard to do in Australia. So when there's a bar fight in Australia, somebody gets punched out or hit with a beer bottle. Here, they get shot."

In general, guns don't induce people to commit crimes. "What guns do is make crimes lethal," says Hemenway. They also make suicide attempts lethal: about 60 percent of suicides in America involve guns. "If you try to kill yourself with drugs, there's a 2 to 3 percent chance of dying," he explains. "With guns, the chance is 90 percent."
------------snip-------------------
<http://www.harvardmagazine.com/on-line/090433.html>

[Solo_in_MD]

21. When you start from Brady Bunch propaganda, how is intelligent discourse possible, unless you start

with debunking them and stipulating they have nothing relevant or worthwhile to say on the matter

[karlrschneider]

3. Don't be offended, but would you care to say why you're so obsessed with this crusade?

Thank you.

[sendero]

4. 40,000 dead..

... each year from traffic accidents. What are we going to do about it?

[Fresh_Start]

6. 400,000 violent crimes with firearms in the USA each year

seems at least 10x the problem.

[sendero]

13. Can you read?

I said DEAD. There are not 40,000 dead from firearm each year in this country.

[Fresh_Start]

15. I can read better than you can think

how many of your 40,000 was purposeful slaughter?

[sendero]

19. when you are dead..

... it doesn't really matter much whether it was murder or accident.

[billbuckhead]

8. Airbags, stiffer DUI laws&enforcement, anti-lock brakes, NHTSA crash tests

HERO trucks, seatbelts, child safety seats, drivers training, backup warning systems and camera, Onstar, traction control and more coming.

European cars now have pedestrian safety factors built in.

Thanks for asking

[sendero]

14. Yes...

.. and all of these measures have made incremental improvements without taking anyone's rights.

Gun control makes NO improvement while infringing only on law-abiding citizens' rights.

[billbuckhead]

17. Along with ACLU I don't believe you have the right to a gun

[Critters2]

11. More laws that need to be enforced. nt

[TahitiNut]

10. Thanks for the heads up. I think I'll visit the gun store tomorrow.

Never know when I'll need it. :shrug:

It seems liberties are being whittled away on both the autocratic right and the autocratic left.

[aikoaiko]

12. Do about it? Apparently both sides are perfectly willing to exploit this for political ends.

I can't deny I've done so too.

[jmg257]

16. I did something - after seeing the possibility of more do-nothing gun laws, I bought more ammo

and mags. I imagine semi-autos would be a good purchase too.

[Man_in_the_Moon]

18. Paul Helmke is a lying demogoguing repuke!

Thanks for posting his screed.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

20. The answer will be "little or nothing".

There is far too much opposition to gun control in America for the kind of laws that would make things like this less frequent to be passed.