Perhaps the most frightening aspect

Perhaps the most frightening aspect regarding the control of weapons of mass destruction amongst our citizenry at present is that the same group that insists on no control or regulation of weapons seems to be the same group which have an irrational hatred toward the President of the United States. In fact, this group has been irrational about a lot of things, including their support for the Tea Party intimidated House of Representatives which has been totally neglectful in their responsibility to govern. It seems that there is a faction of the population, which, although perhaps small in percentage, is extremely loud and threatening in influence. Goaded on by the Limbaugh types, which are plentiful throughout the nation on local AM radio, they seem to be living in their own reality, where taking up arms against the duly elected officials of this nation if they don’t like the result of elections is a real possibility. In support of such positions, they argue as reasonable that the founding fathers intended that the citizenry be armed and ready to overthrow the legally constituted government of the United States of America, and use as support such an outlandish interpretation of the second amendment that it is beyond belief. Contrary to the fable of the NRA, the second amendment clearly states that the purpose of having weapons in the hands of the citizenry was to have a militia capable of defending the nation against very real enemies of the time, including the British, who still had a strong presence in the New World, and there were no guarantees that the British would remain defeated and allow the fledgling nation to continue without hostile action against it. The fact is that it remains a treasonable offense to advocate the overthrow of the government of the United States by force and violence, and the penalty is still death. These people who trumpet their super-patriotism are in fact in violation of the laws of the nation they swear to uphold. There is no question that the idea of a group of people whose irrational hatred and anger is so strong against the President, who think nothing of speaking of his death, who have no regard for the truth when speaking of him, who insist on brandishing weaponry as they please, and who speak of overthrowing the government without apology, are, in fact, a threat to domestic tranquility and to the rights of all of us to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and, as such, should be facing federal sedition charges instead of holding the nation hostage.

AR-15 Not an Assault Rifle? Give me a break!

The NRA wants you to believe that a Bushmaster is not an assault rifle because a). It only shoots a .223 caliber bullet, and b). You have to pull the trigger each time to fire.

First of all, the Bushmaster is an AR-15. The M16 (officially Rifle, Caliber 5.56 mm, M16) is the United States military designation for the AR-15 rifle adapted for semi-automatic, three-round burst and full-automatic fire. Colt purchased the rights to the AR-15 from ArmaLite, and currently uses that designation only for semi-automatic versions of the rifle. The M16 fires the 5.56×45mm NATO cartridge. The .223 Remington is a cartridge with almost the same external dimensions as the 5.56×45mm NATO military cartridge. The name is commonly pronounced either two-two-three or two-twenty-three. It is loaded with a 0.224-inch (5.7 mm) diameter jacketed bullet, with weights ranging from 40 to 90 grains (2.6 to 5.8 g), though the most common loading by far is 55 grains (3.6 g). When loaded with a bullet that expands, tumbles, or fragments in tissue, this cartridge is capable of delivering devastating terminal performance.

The M-16 rifle entered United States Army service and was deployed for jungle warfare operations in South Vietnam in 1963, becoming the U.S. military’s standard service rifle of the Vietnam War by 1969, replacing the M14 rifle in that role. Since the Vietnam War, the M16 rifle family has been the primary service rifle of the U.S. armed forces. The M16 has also been widely adopted by other militaries around the world. Total worldwide production of M16-style weapons since the design’s inception has been approximately 8 million, making it the most-produced firearm of its caliber. In 2010, the M16 began to be phased out in the U.S. Army and is being replaced by the M4 carbine, which is itself a shortened derivative of the M16A2.

So we need to keep in mind that for all intents and purposes, the Bushmaster, or AR-15, sold by the millions by Walmart, and the number one selling civilian rifle in the world, is an M-16, the most used military weapon in the world for the last 40 years. The difference is that the AR-15 has been modified so that it does not operate in semi-automatic or automatic mode. Nevertheless, with a clip of 60, for example, it takes less than one minute to fire 60 shots. And these are shots that are accurate over long distances, and when hit in the head, the bullet, rather than passing through the brain and exiting, will rattle around inside the skull, turning the brain to mush.

So when you assured by LaPierre and the NRA and your rifle toting friends that the friendly sounding Bushmaster is nothing like an assault rifle, they are in fact lying or they have been misinformed. The number one used rifle in war and peace in the world today is the AR-15/M-16, and it is the same rifle that has been used repeatedly to perform mass murders in this country.

Gun control may not solve all our problems. But making it next to impossible to get your hands on weapons of mass destruction, making it a crime to lose control of your weapon, and taxing the hell out of purchasing and possessing one is just pure common sense!

I should add here – there are those, of course, who will immediately say, “I have a right…blablabla…!!!” All I can say to that is that those of you who insist that you have a right are starting to really irritate the rest of us, because we have a right to live, to liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We have run out of patience with those who insist that their right to play with weapons of mass destruction outweighs our children’s right to live, to grow up, and fulfill the promise of their young lives. We have a right not to wake up in the morning and hear that another school full of children, of teachers, another theater full of people just living their lives, etc., have sacrificed their lives for your right not to control the weapons you do have, to keep them locked up in a safe place, or to ensure that they do not fall into the wrong hands. You expect society to forebear with these minor “inconveniences” and to come up with ways to protect ourselves from you irresponsibility. Any human being with an ounce of decency would be horrified that your right to a hobby has cost others their lives!

I’M DISCOURAGED TODAY

I’m discouraged today. We seem to have lost the ability to reflect in a sober and responsible manner as a society. Everyone has their sacred cows, and they will stand for them to the death of all of us rather than look for ways that everyone’s interests can be accommodated. It doesn’t matter what subject we talk about, everyone seems to take the most extreme position possible and then stand pat and hold their hands over their ears. It reminds me of a bunch of children who were raised without parents. The issues on the table right now in the political realm are concrete; mass maniacal murders are taking place in our society because of the easy availability of repeating weaponry which are capable of taking out large numbers in a very brief period. Whether you have to pull the trigger each time or if the weapons do it all automatically, no one can ever explain any need for such weapons to be available to ordinary citizens for any purpose. Yet, a segment of our society will fight to the death to keep any kind of responsible regulation on them that might save a classroom full of kids or a theater full of kids and adults. Our politicians are fighting about who is going to pay for government. A reasonable person would agree that those who benefit the most from the amenities of a developed society would contribute the most to supporting that society. The super-rich en masse have gone to Washington and begged the politicians to tax them more and the middle class less for the good of all of us. But for some reason, those who have the most contribute the least in our society. At a time when both parents have to work, sometimes two jobs, to make ends meet in the middle class, their are those in positions of leadership that they are not contributing enough, and that the very richest corporations and the super-rich are contributing too much when they often contribute a very tiny fraction already, or not at all. There are those who would go after the social safety net, claiming that it is too generous, when, in fact, we have entire families living in their cars in the dead of winter in the richest country in the world. We have millions of children in our society who go to bed hungry most nights, while corporations and the super-rich experience earnings from their investments that break all records. There are those who would try to gouge those who have contributed to the Social Security Trust Fund by limiting their ability to access those promised benefits when needed when they have contributed all their working lives on the promise of having something at the end of their lives. This, despite the fact that we already know that the government has been “borrowing” the surplus in the fund for decades. Now they want to rob the entire thing. We have had a jobless recovery in this society, where those who have the most have made record returns while highly qualified and educated people are unable to find employment, or are dramatically under-employed, and are labeled unemployable by the very corporations who have trained and worked them thousands of uncompensated hours on the thin promise that better days were ahead when things got better, and then were rewarded with layoffs – staff-reductions – down-sizing, and exportation of their jobs to the other side of the world. Those who played the game as it was defined, getting educated and working night and day for decades are now dependent on often non-existent unemployment and training programs, and end up settling for jobs which pay a third of what they were making, if those are even available. It seems as though somewhere in here, would be an opportunity for some of these smart politicians to step forward and do something good for the people of this country. But we don’t see any of that. Instead we see the peoples representatives who are bought and paid for by special interests. I go to my church seeking some solace, and I hear right wing political speech from my priest, instead of words of spiritual comfort and perspective. I turn on the news, and I find that all there is is propaganda, a channel for each sub-group of political elite. The late night comedians make jokes about the end of the world, and the failings of mighty generals who have been taken down by their own lack of character, senators destroying careers devoted to public service for frivolous political gain. But hey – Happy Holidays! Right?