Swallow This

Here we go again with
Mickey Mouse and Rin-Tin-Tin 
--Old Army Cadence Call 

I'm crazy for trying and crazy for crying
And I'm crazy for loving you 
--Crazy, Patsy Cline 

No escape from the mass mind rape
Play it again jack and then rewind the tape
And then play it again and again and again
Until your mind is locked in 
--Bullet in the Head, 
Rage Against the Machine
  ___________________

Is gun control a real life issue or just another hot-button topic used by both parties to keep We the People in a constant state of emotional upheaval?  The issue serves to polarize and harden the plaque in our partisan arteries, without demandingd any rigorous proof which might substantiate the taking of one side over the other.

Meanwhile, our national "debate" hinges on the straw man argument: You are for gun control, or you are for unfettered Wild West violence.  Good, compassionate limp-wristed liberals vs. insane, gun-toting bloodthirsty tea baggers.  Only, the reality is not so facile. Who speaks for common sense today?

Let us use the figure of 30,000 annual gun homicides in the United States (this figure includes justifiable use of firearms).  30K is a lot of dead people, but so what?  Dead folks are helpful to society in many different ways; in fact, they are essential lest we deplete our raw resources. Requiescat In Pace.

Why do we get crazy about gun deaths but barely raise a whisper about the approximately 100,000 annual U.S. deaths due to  wrongly prescribed pharmaceutical drugs and drug reactions and interactions?  There is one death (accidental or intentional) every 24 minutes in the U.S. due to drugs found in our own medicine cabinets; 61 deaths per day, on average, or 22,265 deaths per year.  How do you legislate drug safety?

Good liberals decry the gun lobby and take easy pot shots at those who embrace their guns, but a far bigger and more nefarious lobby is that of Big Pharma, whose products will kill every one of us far more efficiently and in larger numbers than will guns any day of the week.  Insidiously, too.

If gun deaths are unacceptable, then so too are prescription drug deaths, or tobacco-related deaths, or alcohol-related deaths.  We tried to legislate the latter with the Eighteenth Amendment and the Volstead Act but found out that our citizens have a remarkable facility for circumventing the law.  Banning things rarely works in a free society, though legislation may. The caveat is that a free society must sign on to the strictures. We abide by a Bill of Rights which accords us the right to weapons ownership.

The issue comes down to power and control of our lives. Are we a liberal or a conservative society?  Is the Federal government  allowed or legally able to force background checks and then to use these as investigative and intelligence tools?  Why and how can the government use private legal purchase of firearms to establish a national database for firearms purchasers?  Further, is such a warrantless intrusion into our rights of privacy and ownership consistent with what we are as Americans?

Why do we have a Fourth Amendment?  We should get clear on this when discussing Second Amendment infringements.

Guns look scary and go "BOOM!", and when used destructively, the results can be spectacular.  Because it is a simple, discrete item, it is easy to focus on.  We are susceptible to being riled up by the press and our leaders like marionette puppets chittering on about the latest train wreck dujour, whether personal or political (or best -- a combination of both).  Yet we ignore the many other forms of death which stalk us every day of our lives, some of which may be as easily legislated as gun ownership and may be more productive in terms of protection.

It seems that we have an unspoken covenant that condones certain methods of self-destruction, while opposing gun violence. But why is the death wrought at the end of a gun any different from that caused by any number of other mundane modalities?

What are willing to swallow? At the current mortality rate from prescription drugs, we have more dead bodies stacked up every 11 days than we do victims of all spree shootings since 1980.  Where is our sense of perspective?  All of this death without one extended magazine or assault rifle.

Guns are viewed as symbols of freedom by many Americans.  In fact, we would not have our nation had the citizens not owned firearms; it was not via mediation that the Brits decided to leave us to our own devices.

We are also a nation of death, and one form is as serviceable as the next.

Rational Thought

  We don’t need no truthless heroes 
--The Spy Hunter, Project 86   

Christ was crucified for preaching without a police permit 
--Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert Heinlein 

___________________________

In 2011, out of 12,664 homicides, 6220 people were killed in the United States with handguns versus 323 killed with rifles (Obama's Potemkin Gun Plan); the 323 figure includes all rifles, including the so-called assault rifles. 

The proposed gun control aimed at these military look-alike rifles is pure theater, much like the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).  Neither address a significant threat or make us safer, while both serve to irritate law-abiding citizens. We accept the idea that limiting magazine capacity is reasonable and rational (A Rational Response to Sandy Hook), but lack statistics to verify the effect.

Since 1982 the U.S. has suffered at least 62 mass shootings, leaving 543 dead.  During the same period there were 564,452 homicides, which means that .01% of all murders in the US are due to mass or spree shootings.  We are reacting to the grand spectacle of the spree shooting event, when regular workaday homicide is the real problem. Why do we not have data on the types of weapons used in these murders?

George Gascon at Politico (Time to Ban Assault Magazines) notes that between 1984 and 2011, the killers used a magazine that carried more than 10 rounds.  He claims 1,500 rounds were used to kill 225 people and wound 242 others.  If true, this means that the killer in each episode fired approximately 70-75 rounds.

It is clear that neither the Gun Control Act of 1968, the George W. Bush assault weapon import ban, the Bill Clinton assault rifle ban nor the Brady bill has had any effect upon the criminally-minded shooter.  The laws only harass legal gun purchasers.

In addition, The New York Times reports that 80,000 people were caught lying about prior criminal records when attempting to buy a gun in 2010 ( Lie and Try), while only 44 were charged with a crime.  It makes one wonder why people lose their voting and gun rights after they have served their complete sentences, to include probationary time -- especially when their crimes are not violent?

Ranger is against gun control and believes that such laws are ineffective at best, and unconstitutional at worst.  Guys like me are not National Rifle Association weenies who have never seen military service, nor are we politicians who have no experience with violence. We who have served in the military have been acutely trained in all things weaponry, yet we are being told we may not own a weapon with more than rounds in the magazine (11 rounds, since I will have one up the snout).  And you think limiting our magazine capacity is all that it will take to keep you safe?  From us?!?

We used our skills to defend you, the citizens, and now Ranger takes offense that he will be told in what manner he may defend his body and his home.  If my government does not trust me now, then why did they trust me when I was a soldier?  Please, America, don't tell me that I may defend democracy with a real assault rifle but cannot defend my home with an ersatz version. 

Ranger finds himself a stranger in a strange land when he is barraged in the creative media by the ubiquitous terror threat wreaking mayhem and death, countered by well-outfitted Jack Bauers, yet is told to stand down by the same actors who peddle this brand of paranoia.  Does this hypocrisy gall anyone else? 

In a nation of limited economic resources, from where will the funds for enacting the new laws come?

--Who will pay for private gun sales background checks?

--Who will be tasked with the record-keeping?

--Doesn't requiring private background checks trun every private owner and seller of a firearm into a "federal firearms dealer"?

--If the buyer or seller must pay for this required back, does this mean that gun rights are subject to a form of taxation in order for the gunman to exercise his civil rights? If Poll Taxes are illegal, then would this constriction upon a civil right be commensurate?

The U.S. already has the largest prison population in the world, and the new gun laws will add a new category of criminal to that mix: A normal citizen selling a gun to another citizen sans background check.  This type of criminality is the basis of most totalitarian regimes, and will require secret police and agents to ferret out miscreants who disobey the new laws.  Along with the informants will arise a thriving new black market. 

There is nothing good to expect from the proposed laws, other than a temporary soothing of the madding populace which is now being treated to a constant news feed which keeps their collective mind in a Tourette's-like state.  The new proposals will be a feint and a ruse, but it will not address our high homicide rate.

 The gun control rules will not keep guns out of the hands of bad guys.

Sticker Shock and Awe

--Think About Those Who are Starving!
1920's Soviet propaganda

The eagle watches from the mountain

As the warriors turn into fools

And the dice are thrown on sacred ground

And they move closer to the truth

--Closer to the Truth, Tony Joe White

are [sic] there justice and conscience in the USA?

And who are the people that

really respect justice and conscience?

Dr. Nguyen Trong Nhan

Agent Orange and the Conscience of the USA

A soul for a piece of bread.
Misery makes the offer; society accepts.
--Les Miserables, Victor Hugo
_______________________

When discussing warfare, Americans often use the imagery of guns and butter when reckoning costs. We are now so affluent, or at least so able to borrow funds, we think that we can have both guns and butter without sacrificing either. We cannot, however.

Federal poverty guidelines for a family of four is $22,350, and you can bet that income doesn't allow for much butter on the white bread. Consider survival for your family of four at that level of income: That is $5,588 per person per year, $465 per person per month, or $18 per day.

Contrast that with the $800,000 expended per year per perpetually incarcerated prisoner at Guantanamo Bay (the Cuban Club Med), which is approximately $2,100 per prisoner, per day. We bet that they eat better and get better medical care than do our poorest American citizens. Halal food is better than the E. coli tainted tubes of Smithfield Farm turkey the Walmart denizens may choose.

An MRAP costs anywhere from 400,000 to $800,000 (depending upon Bluetooth and Sirius radio compatibility.) The cost is before theatre-level upgrades, organic weapons and commo gear. We have at least 10,000 MRAPs in Afghanistan, not counting those left in Iraq. A Humvee goes for $140,000, leaving Ranger with sticker shock.

His original thought was to compare poverty guidelines with the cost of a single machine gun, but that cost is not readily available. A 2005 figure of $4,080 for a Minimi purchased from Belgian conglomerate FN is much less than a previous figure of $15,000 for the 7.62 version, but cost were not readily available online. (Any knowledgeable cost estimates would be appreciated.)

Contracts total 100's of Billions, but as the number of guns are not listed, unit prices are unknown. But to the basic weapon, one must add the price of assault packs, top-end optics, telescoping stocks, lightweight bipods and shorter barrels. All involve separate retrofit contracts which went to FN, an off-shore company with U.S. factories. Other contracts went to Colt, HK, Glock and Baretta, all foreign-owned.

Provenance matters: Why does a Superpower buy foreign weapons to fight its wars? Our needy citizens get minimal financial assistance while our war profits go overseas.

What happened to U.S. arsenals like Springfield and Rock Island, to include arsenal ammunition production? What of Winchester, Remington, H & R, Inland Division G.M. and all the other U.S. weapons designers and producers? These firms kept money in the U.S. to finance butter while churning out the weapons systems.

When the cost of a single machine gun can exceed a year's poverty-level income for a family of four, something is rotten, and it's not in the state of Denmark. That country and its neighbors do not seem to suffer the social ills that perpetually eat away at our bottom half.

When a machine gun fires and will not stop, it is called a "runaway gun"; expending the belt or twisting it is the only way to shut the gun down; a straightforward fix for an attentive gunner. But how do we stop the downward spiral of someone in the beaten zone of long-term poverty?

The Russian Revolution was founded on the slogan, "Peace, Bread and Land". People were tired of war and they were hungry.

Are we close to being animated by that slogan, yet?