Distracting discussion at the Washington Post
As the Left begins to lose the debate on guns, as the debate turns to mental health as the real problem, the Washington Post just happens to run two pieces today begging that we don’t pick on crazy people like the Post and the Left have been picking on gun owners. The first, “Predicting violence is a work in progress“, David Brown writes;
It’s now fairly clear, for example, that people with severe mental illness, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and some personality disorders, are more likely to commit violent acts than others. But the risk is small. The vast majority of mentally ill people won’t commit assault, rape, arson or homicide, although the risk rises sharply among those who abuse drugs and alcohol.
Yeah, well, neither will your average gun owner, but that’s not stopping the government and the media from making it appear as if we will and punishing us all for the actions of a statistically miniscule few.
In the other piece, Martin E.P. Seligman, former president of the American Psychological Association writes a similar piece; “Evil vs. crazy: What’s in the minds of mass murderers?“;
Crazy people and evil people can commit mass murder, and they always do it with guns. Our society’s only real leverage, at least in the near term, lies in reducing access to guns. Our national experience with another lethal menace, cigarettes, shows that government regulation massively saves lives. High taxation on cigarettes and restricting access to them has markedly cut smoking rates and improved health. High taxes on guns and strong restrictions on their availability are the only realistic hope for avoiding many more Sandy Hooks.
Yep, it’s always the guns, not the people. The picture at the head of the first article shows Jared Loughner, Adam Lanza and James Holmes – all three were at least recognized as being unbalanced. In the case of Holmes and Loughner, the people who knew they weren’t “right” were silent which allowed the murderers to buy guns. Lanza’s mother was reportedly in the process of putting her son into a treatment facility. In Webster, NY, Spengler was forbidden by law to buy guns because he was a convicted murderer.
All four should have been warehoused, but we can’t say that out loud. Can you imagine the Washington Post running two stories warning readers not to blame gun owners for the actions of a few? But here we have two articles on the front page of the Post warning us to not blame nuts for the actions of a few nuts.
I guess it just makes the liberals at the Post feel better about themselves because they oppose guns and cleave to the mentally ill. Regardless of the fact that criminals and crazy people won’t divest themselves of their guns.
The WaPo can’t piss off to many crazy people. They make up that rag’s core readership.
Sorry. “Too many”. Damn iPhone.
“Our society’s only real leverage, at least in the near term, lies in reducing access to guns.” The operative words are, “at least in the near term.” In the long term, of course, eliminating guns is the goal. There are those who say that gun confiscation is impossible. And I agree that total confiscation is impossible. But, piece by piece, law by law, year by year, there will be fewer and fewer guns. Ultimately, the number will be small enough for the gov’t to suspend the 4th amendment to actively seek and take the remainder. If you think this type of thinking merits an aluminum foil cap with wire clothes hangar antennas, look where we, as a country, have fallen in such a brief time. Look who’s president and vice president.
A few hundred people were killed with rifles (assuming that also means hunting accidents?) but tens of thousands were killed with automobiles.
Why have we not banned those “scary” cars with such accessories as bolt-on spoilers, spinny rims, and exhaust systems that make them “more deadly”?
This statment is completely false: ‘Crazy people and evil people can commit mass murder, and they always do it with guns.’
Oh, REALLY????? Adolf Hitler managed to exterminate 12 million people with something other than guns. He didn’t just kill of Jews, he executed Germans who resisted the Nazis, French resistance, mentally ill, mentally and physically handicapped, gypsies, Catholics, prisoners of war, and he didn’t just use guns for that little episode of mass murder.
These maroons need to get their data corrected.
And while I’m at it, Pol Pot’s Khner Rouge buddies used children as a weapon to exterminate 2 million Cambodian citizens, and not just with guns.
Someone please let me know if anyone in the media ever decides that reporting facts instead of twisting them is the way to do their jobs.
Yeah, I know — don’t hold your breath.
“Crazy people and evil people can commit mass murder, and they always do it with guns”
Timothy McVeigh used guns?
@4 Sparky, I’ve always considered the cup holder the problem with vehicles in America…we are far more concerned with how many f%cking cupholders a vehicle has than how well it corners or stops on a skid plate. Our licensing structure for drivers is a joke, very few people get in their cars any more and just drive for the pleasure of controlling a high end of piece of machinery on challenging road surfaces. We still have route 2 in north western Massachusetts that’s fun on 2 wheels or 4. But when more folks are worried about their cell reception than how to traverse the proper entrance, apex, and exit on a corner…it’s no wonder automobiles kill so many people. There is virtually no requirement for skill set mastery before we allow people to have access to a ton and a half of complex machinery.
Yeah, the 9/11 hijackers used a bunch of guns. Ditto the folks who blew up the Khobar Towers and the US Embassies in Africa.
It seems like many of the crazy people are killing people by pushing them in front of NYC subways these days.
VOV–I commute on I-95 and the Spaulding Turnpike to get to/from work, unless I take the “back” way home and take Rt. 125, otherwise known as “Head-On Alley.”
I love the number of soccer moms, kids, and other assorted idiots who text and drive, and as a result drift from lane to lane, speed changing from 45 to 75, etc.
But we’re more concerned with a gun that LOOKS scary than habits that have been demonstrated to be more prone to cause accidents, injury, and death than drunk driving.
Yeah, tell me our priorities aren’t screwed up.
@6 Well of course not, but pointing that out, or the Bath School murders by explosive does nothing to advance the anti-gun crowd agenda.
They don’t wish to be burdened by facts, they just enjoy a cacophony of histrionics designed to obfuscate the perverse nature of their intent to bypass a document designed to protect those of us in the minority from people exactly like the anti-gun crowd. Since the left so loves the masses they would have the criminally insane walk free among you to share their unique brand of love for humanity with all of us.
Because warehousing those who would do us harm is a bad thing apparently….so why do we have prisons again?
@5
I wonder what caliber weapon Genghis Khan used.
The links provided are pretty long reads but offer similar perspectives found in previous discussions, provided here:
http://journalistsresource.org/studies/government/criminal-justice/mass-murder-shooting-sprees-and-rampage-violence-research-roundup
That one will lead to an article entitled “Psychological Profiles of School Shooters: Positive Directions and One Big Wrong Turn” and a few others that require an account to access them. I found some of the arguments quite compelling.
Another link that may spark some interest here on this debate can be found here:
http://sociological-eye.blogspot.com/2012/09/clues-to-mass-rampage-killers-deep.html
Having at one point been engaged to a schizophrenic, this shit hits home. I come from a family of competitive shooters, we are responsible, why should WE be punished for the lunacy that causes tragedies like Sandy Hook. The real problem isn’t gun owners or the mentally ill, its the liberals like Lanza’s Mom, who think that coddling their crazy kids and letting them indulge in dangerous behavior will bring them back into the fold. THey think that all people are inherently good, and that no problems will arise from their actions. Its sad really. These are the same type of people who think that if we got rid of Police Departments, there would be no crime…
If people were inherently good, God never would have needed to give us those ten little rules that most Atheists are screaming about. I mean, they might be a little out-dated, but the fact that those Douche Canoes don’t want to be reminded about not committing murder, adultery/sexual assault, and theft really seems more in context. Oh, and don’t even bring up respecting your elders.
Personally, if the Mentally Ill always use guns, then what Caliber did that one guy use to eat the others face? What caliber did that one guy use when he held cops off with a katana? What Caliber did Hitler use when he gassed the Jews.
Oh, no… I brought up Hitler. I must be a racist or something and completely discredited in the Lame Stream Media.
Over the years there hasn’t been too much ammo expended between warring tribes and ethnic groups in Africa, either. Machetes and othe edged weapons are just fine with the blood thirsty on a budget.
@12, Temujin adopted whatever weapons were used by the populations his armies conquered, including Chineses and Muslim siege engines, pike-bearing foot soldiers, and mounted archers.
#14 Lucky
As I understand it, Lanza’s Mom was trying to get him committed, but was not able to because the Progressives (and ACLU?) had blocked a law that would have permitted Mom to commit Junior involuntarily. Junior found out and then went ballistic, with the results that we all know by now.
So don’t blame Mom because she wasn’t able to put Jr in a safe place (hospital), blame the Libtards for 1- blocking a law (see above) and 2- creating gun free criminal shooter emowerment zones.