256 Comments

When I was a kid my grandfathers both taught me how to shoot with a bolt action 22 and later a 38 revolver. 6 shots and then a clunky reloading process later made easier by a speed loader.

A few decades later came the pervasion of the 9mm pistol with 17 rounds and a 1-2 second magazine swap, increasing the lethality significantly. Then larger magazines for pistols to reduce reloads. Still, these were pistols which started to become wildly inaccurate at 30-40 feet.

And now like the boiling frog, the gun flying off the shelves delivers a round at much higher velocity, greatly increasing the damage done by a bullet, in ever increasing magazine capacity. Add today's optics and lasers, and the use of both hands, and you have far more accurate and deadly lethal force at a level that is exponentially greater than what was considered very dangerous in less than one lifetime.

Add youthful rage fueled by cyber-bullying and years playing Call of Duty and we act surprised.

President Bush had it right, so long ago and was well ahead of his time. One of the grandfathers, who was an NRA member, would be so disgusted were he here today.

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Americans own 42% of ALL privately owned guns in the WORLD.

68% of Americans own NO guns.

32% of Americans own guns.

9% of Americans own HALF of the guns in America.

It is clear that gun manufacturers see a HUGE untapped market and is relying on the NRA and their Republican representatives fear campaign to expand their market share.

This is really a tail wagging the dog situation.

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I suggest campaign against guns and gun violence similar to ban against smoking. Ban all advertisements, especially thise that target children-- yes, children. Ban guns being used on TV . There can be exceptions although there are some really brilliant writers who could make exciting shows without guns. Run anti gun ads, i.e. Guns are sexy, and show some Gomer with no teeth slinging his rifle. Or pictures of gun victims. I think it would take a long time, but we already know they'll never stop pushing guns as long as Republicans can use it as a wedge issue.

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My take is a bit different. Start a public safety campaign. Illustrate the laws about driving a car or any other activity that we all do to keep us safer and ask, why not guns? Secondly, attack the problem like we attacked smoking. Show gruesome pictures of people's bodies torn apart by guns in our urban settlings. Drag the gun makers in front of Congress to testify. Hold them accountable for the gun violence by suing them to kingdom come. It has been done already with Sandy Hook. Bring back the public service announcements. Bring back the Fairness Doctrine. Stop allowing Fox News to be shown at any government office/military base. But at the same time neuter the Electoral College one way or the other. Campaign on getting rid of the filibuster that allows tyranny of the minority, get rid of lifetime appointments. Pass the ERA. Codify abortion as a right for women. Charge the elected Reps that participated in the attempted overthrow of the government. This is a multi-prong effort that we must get done. Oh, and take away the tax exempt status of the NRA, the churches that espouse politics, and the Super Pacs that break the laws. The rule of law is evaporating before our very eyes and if we don't have that, we don't have anything.

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We can't even get Rs to DEBATE anything relating to gun control. Every single damn R voted against it! Some of them were supposed to be sane, like Romney, Collins and a few others. Even they voted no!

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Just got finished listening to the Podcast with Tim (most of it, that is), and I want to push back on one thing. Tim talked about the people who want locked doors and single egress points, saying he supports that but it's going to be too expensive and not realistic; if you want to do it fine, but it's not going to be the ultimate solution.

I think Tim is maybe giving this viewpoint a bit too much credit because he's ultimately dismissing it. Single egress points are a *terrible* idea. The solution is precisely the opposite: *more* doors, unlocked, and *numerous* points of egress.

Imagine how different things would have turned out, in Uvalde, Sandy Hook, Columbine (among others) if each classroom had an outdoor exit in addition to an indoor entrance. The problem in most of these cases is that once the shooter gets into the school, everyone is more or less trapped. People hunker down in classrooms and pray the shooter doesn't come their way. A single egress point means that a shooter need only get past one point. The Uvalde shooter had no problem doing this.

This is one place where a conservative's instinct is the wrong one: lock things down and attempt to maintain control. No. There's nothing that a spree shooter wants more than sitting ducks. The best bet is to do exactly what your body, not your ego, tells you to do - *run away*. If you're in charge of people's safety, you encourage *them* to run. The only question is which direction constitutes *away*, and if the shooter is roaming the halls, that direction is clear. Those drills that they give kids should be very simple: once a shooter is *in the building*, the kids should bolt out the exit and not look back. If they're on upper floors, you want a back stairwell accessible from the classrooms to a ground floor exit.

It's why, while I understand people who carry guns for safety, I think they're deluding themselves. I don't feel I'd be any safer with a gun. Anything that encourages you to go reaching in your pocket instead of getting the f*ck away from an assailant is only putting you in more danger. If you go walking around wherever you want thinking "hey, it's cool, I'm armed", you are asking for trouble. Trouble you don't need. I say this as someone who has been mugged a couple of times in my life. The mistakes I made were failing to avoid bad situations, not being insufficiently prepared for conflict. Most of us aren't naturally built for conflict; we have to be trained, and training for a circumstance that will only ever happen maybe once or twice in your life is a crapshoot. As we've seen, even the cops get it wrong. So whenever I'm somewhere that I feel unsafe, I don't look for a weapon; I scan for the exits.

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"This is one place where a conservative's instinct is the wrong one..." One place?

I so agree with your observations here re: exits and retreating from danger. This whole stand your ground mentality is lethal in and of itself.

It would make more sense to build walls with concertina wires and a sally port entry where only students and teachers can pass, with metal detectors and K9 units and a guard tower at each school than to arm school personnel. If we are going to be armed like Afghanistan we might as well adapt Afghan strategies of defense.

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Read Tim Miller's article in today's Bulwark. He makes the point that there will always be mistakes made in the most carefully secured environment: a door left unlocked, a police force making wrong decisions, etc. The only thing that will for sure help is making it much less possible for people bent on murder to get the guns in the first place.

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The borderline psychopath Trump sucks up to the NRA for the only reasons he ever does anything - money and political advantage. Trump doesn't hunt or shoot, and as far as anyone knows, doesn't own a gun. That's why his political whoring on this day, in the aftermath of 2 mass shootings where the victims were people of color and totally innocent is so utterly repugnant.

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I had been a life member since 1984, but my breaking point was 2017. Not only had the NRA laundered Russian money to elect TFG, they were silent over the police killing of Philando Castile. This CCW permit-holder, gunned down by an agent of the state, would have been a rallying flag for the lobby had he not been inconveniently Black. Seditionist AND racist is no way to go through life.

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Maybe an alternate strategy to deal with the reactionary GOP. If Dems and liberals widely pushed gun ownership to their own party and particularly to POC and LBGTQ democrats we would probably have federal and state gun control regulations from republicans in about 10 seconds. Maybe push the body armor too.

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I've seen a few people suggest to start having the Black Panthers walk around armed again in these Constitutional Carry states. That would get some movement.

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Leftist groups actually do this at LBGTQ or other liberal protests/events as support and sometimes as counter protest against white supremacy events.

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Actually, I saw an article yesterday - please don't ask me where, I was skimming a number of sites - that said that the NRA had actually pushed for gun control back in the day because Black Panthers, extreme leftists, etc. were actually doing that. How times have changed!

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And now, despite this 19 dead children, the NRA convention will continue in (relatively) nearby Houston, they will preach fire & brimstone, Republicans who are talking the bare minimum of gun reform (expanded background checks, red-flag laws) will return to the trough, and nothing will change. Because this has all happened before, and will all happen again.

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And BTW, guns were banned at that convention!

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I'm a septuagenarian. On my first visit to Latin America as a kid I was surprised to see men with guns outside banks and businesses. In the US, that was unheard of, even in the big cities. Nowadays it's common to see security personnel (often with guns) at banks and businesses and public events. Is the US on its way to becoming a lawless, ungovernable banana Republic?

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Everybody needs to read Ryan Busse’s book “Gunfight”. Extremely well-written & illuminating, if not in a scary way.

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“Constitutional Carry” - more like Any Crazy Can Carry. My husband tells me about movements to legalize “CC” and I scold him to not allow them to control the language narrative like that.

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No doubt the Southwest passenger was relieving his ( I assume it was a male) fear of flying.

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I haven't seen any recent reporting on the condition of the disgraced and---what I think is--a bankrupted NRA? Are they still surviving (thriving?) on member dues? Who are the players at the NRA today? I doubt they have any real pull themselves, but they certainly launched millions of gun zealots that still has a lot of craziness in them.

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The article I glanced through said that their source of money is gun manufacturers, as their membership has dropped rather precipitously.

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I have also wondered about this. This is their first conference in over 2 years, which tells me their finances are better. And they moved their HQ to Texas during that time. I have no doubt they are being subsided by the state in one way or another.

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Elephant in the room: I'm wondering how many of the parents of the children slaughtered in these senseless attacks were proud NRA members beforehand, were against reasonable restrictions on gun ownership such as background checks and waiting periods, and cited the Second Amendment as gospel in defending virtually limitless gun owner's rights, before tragedy came to their own homes. And how they feel about it afterward. Asking for a friend. And for myself.

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