Sunday, April 21, 2013

Exercising 2nd Amendment rights

The Republican party of Bentonville County, Arkansas cuts through the obfuscation and explains their understanding of the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution:
So what do we do?  While I believe that we as a party are done in Arkansas after this, if there is ANY hope of our survival, it is going to take not being forgiving.  Not only for past actions, but to show those who will come in the future that the cost of failure to do the thing they were elected to do will be significant.  We need to be making a point of this failure from this moment on.  We need to make a public statement from our groups that we no longer support those who turned on us, that we will NOT be working to their re-election, that we will be actively seeking replacements, and perhaps even working towards recall.  We as the Party have to stand up and say ‘no more – you were given a job, you campaigned on the promise to do this job, you had the ability to do this job, you had the votes each time to do this job, and yet for no legitimate reason you betrayed the trust put in you by the electorate and you are now completely and permanently politically finished.’
We need to let those who will come in the future to represent us that we are serious.  The 2nd amendment means nothing unless those in power believe you would have no problem simply walking up and shooting them if they got too far out of line and stopped responding as representatives.  It seems that we are unable to muster that belief in any of our representatives on a state or federal level, but we have to have something, something costly, something that they will fear that we will use if they step out of line.  If we can’t shoot them, we have to at least be firm in our threat to take immediate action against them politically, socially, and civically if they screw up on something this big.  Personally, I think a gun is quicker and more merciful, but hey, we can’t.
Have unpopular beliefs? Lost the political debate? Still believe that you can impose your particular policy preferences on the rest of the population? Why not go on a killing spree?

The NRA has enabled this conspiratorial, anti-democratic delusion that a priveleged, unhinged few get to determine the course of our society. Gun-rights supporters are quickly crossing the line from being a well-funded fringe into being a loose association of terror apologists.

Friday, April 19, 2013

Marathon Bombing and Shooting Spree

The shocking bombing of the Boston marathon has now devolved into a predictable series of firefights between police and two heavily armed suspects. The two suspects shot and killed an MIT police officer, and engaged in a firefight consuming more than 200 rounds, one of which wounded an MTA police officer.

They have been described as armed and extremely dangerous. This turned out to be an understatement; they were heavily armed and reckless. Their access to ammunition and firearms has effectively shut down the city of Boston for a second day this week. If we are to prevent attacks like these in the future, we have to answer some questions.
  • Did these men acquire their guns legally? 
  • What kind of weapons did they possess?
Suspect #2, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, is currently cornered, likely with a high powered gun and a cache of ammunition. Pray for the police officers that are charged with disarming and capturing this murderer.