Well, golly, ain’t this awful. Let me guess: If Ms. Pendleton had an assault weapon, she could have shot the assailant. Better yet, if all dozen teens had a machine gun they could have really cut the bad guy in half. But they didn’t. That’s what you get for being a communist lib.

Why not write him and find out? Gun violence in Chicago is a real tragedy and I’m sure is being addressed. But hey, don’t let the brutal murder of an innocent teen go to waste, make a political statement about it.

The congressional committee hearings were broadcast today. NRA’s LaPierre sounded like a lobbyist. His contentions that bans “have no impact” and universal registration “doesn’t work” were (intelligently)challenged by Sen. Lehey. A police chief agreed. No response, not yet anyway, from LaPierre.
That doesn’t mean everything LaPierre said should be dismissed. He did cite some scary stats regarding gun registration laws not being enforced.
Gabby Gifford made a short statement which normally would be a poster-girl appearance. However, what she presented was effective beyond an emotional level.

I’ve had similar thoughts Mach. Even with an assault weapons ban, most of the violent crimes are being committed using firearms that have been and will continue to be perfectly legal under the ban. Handguns and shot guns seem to be the firearms of choice in these crimes.IT doesn’t change the fact, however, that the handful of most deadly incidents HAVE involved firearms that would be illegal under the AR Ban; Sandy Hook, Aurora, Columbine (I believe). While more incidents do occur with handguns, it could be reasonably argued that these incidents have proven much less deadly than the mass murders we’ve seen committed using AR’s. However, no amount of laws would be enough to even cut gun violence in half. But, perhaps the incidences may be less deadly. I’ve used the illustration of driving a car. No amount of traffic laws can guarantee 100% safe roads. However, I wouldn’t argue that traffic laws ‘don’t work’. People will take liberties with driving just as they take liberties with guns; both with tragic consequences. However, such laws reduce the likelihood of tragedy.

The dialogue over violence needs to extend, however, beyond gun control. We are living, IMO, in a very broken world with very broken people. We have have to tackle the relational issues and attitudes in American Culture in order to get to the heart of the violence problem. We have to find a way to fundamentally change our attitudes about power, justice, and mercy. As long as we persist in believing that reciprocity is strength while forgiveness and reconciliation are weakness, violence will persist. Its means will just evolve.

Well, we could outlaw sex or make birth control compulsory for anyone on public assistance, or forced vasectomy for deadbeat dads.

Cat and Groucho-madatory sterillization? Intriguing! That delves philisophically into the debate over reproductive rights; a touchy political issue, would you say, not?

Mach-those are examples of what I consider symptoms of a much larger issue. Fundamentally, IMO, there is no difference between entitlement to a welfare check and entitlement to a gun. Both relate a common problem in our society-distorted senses of self importance, rather than seeing ourselves as more than individuals, but as a cog in a complex machine. We live in a society that has placed obscene amounts of importance on self to the point it is easy to depersonalize your environment. Your needs and your feelings and your welfare are all that matter. From that we see what you speak of, Mach; breakdown of the family, generational poverty, undesired pregnancy, violence, etc.

America is, I’m afraid, is far from the mass attitude ajustment I speak of. The best example of what I’m talking about and the perfect microcosm was how New Yorkers pulled together following 9-11. So many people, big and small, played an integral role. There was no ‘me’. Just ‘we’. As utopian as this may seen, it goes to the heart of America’s social problems; their more than political problems. They’re relational problems. The question to ponder is America too fargone to give a darn about their fellow man (or woman) if it means letting them cut in front of you.

From 2003 to 2011, there were 4265 murders in Barak Obamas home town. That is an average of 473 murders per year. More American lives have been lost to murder in Chicago than in the same time period in Afghanistan. And those lives in Chicago have not been taken out by AR’s and AK’s.

38 lives were claimed in Aurora and Newton. Chicago AVERAGES that death toll every month. And guns are banned in Chicago. Pick any other major American city and the story is the same. And the mayor that has failed miserably in protecting the citizens of Chicago thinks he has the answer? What arrogance.