Pink is the New Black

["Hello...Kitty."]

While the crux of this guy's argument is clearly absurd ("We should increase regulation on toy guns, rather than on the ones that actually kill people"), he raises an interesting point: Perhaps we should make it a requirement that all lethal firearms are produced in shades of pink, thus reducing the manly allure of the dumb things.

#gunfail

A few days back I posted a sarcastic piece suggesting that, since the Newtown massacre had failed to sway gun-rights advocates toward more gun control legislation, perhaps "a mass-shooting in a maternity ward might do the trick." We're getting there.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Authorities say a 4-year-old boy grabbed a loaded gun at a family cookout and accidentally shot and killed the wife of a Tennessee sheriff’s deputy.

Kind of puts a new spin on the NRA's proposal to arm every teacher, custodian and lunch lady at your kids' schools, don't it?

But wait, there's more:

A 6-year-old New Jersey boy is reportedly in serious condition after being accidentally shot in the head by a 4-year-old boy on Monday. 

Authorities at the Toms River Police Department said that the two were among many children playing in the Cedar Grove Road neighborhood on Monday night when the 4-year-old boy went inside and retrieved a .22 caliber rifle, according to the Star-Ledger. The 6-year-old suffered a single gunshot wound to the head from a distance of about 15 yards. 

Police said that parents were “nearby."

What Will It Take?

Since it’s now been shown that even the violent massacre of 20 five- and six-year-old children is not enough to prod our nation’s leadership into standing up to the NRA and actually doing something about America’s deadly obsession with guns, I suppose we’ll have to wait and wonder if perhaps a shooting rampage at a maternity ward might do the trick.

Shorter Bob Costas

How ya like me now?

Bears Repeating

Twenty first-graders got mowed down by machine-gun fire, and about this our nation will probably do nothing. 

Would love to be surprised by some real action on gun control, but I'm not holding my breath.

Casual Observation

There have been a lot of people since last Friday making the argument that the Newtown Madman could just as easily used some other "tool" to unleash his mayhem at Sandy Hook School (the knife being the most common item thanks to this), but I'll guarantee you, if we were losing 40,000 lives a year to knife attacks, we'd be taking action today to put a end to that.

Regulation, modulation, classification, or confiscation.

Something has to be done.

Tragedy Gets Around

"I been everywhere, man. I been everywhere." ~The Man in Black

Columbine, CO/Atlanta, GA/Ft. Worth, TX/Wash. DC/Chicago, ILL/Birchwood, WI/Brookfield, WI/Nickel Mines, PA/Blacksburg, VA/Dover, DE/Omaha, NE/Carnation, WA/Chicago/DeKalb, IL/Phoenix, AZ/Alger, WA/Conway, AR/Covina, CA/Santa Clara, CA/Hampton Univ. VA/Binghampton, NY/Houston, TX/Fort Hood, TX/Tuscaloosa, AL/Tuscon, AZ/Aurora, CO/Oak Creek, WI/Clackamas, OR/Newtown, CT.

Death toll = 250.

Breaking Point

Those of a certain age can surely remember when cars didn't come standard with safety belts. Yes, there was such a time. Thousands of people died needlessly every year in crashes, and finally America got sick of the carnage and mandated that all vehicles come equipped with what is now a ubiquitous safety feature: the seat belt.

The car manufacturers howled at the intrusion on the free-enterprise system, and lots of freedom-loving Americans chafed at the imposition of laws requiring them to wear their safety belts. Notably, the same sequence of outrage, acceptance and increased safety holds true for motorcycle helmet laws as well. 

In both instances, the death and injury toll took a precipitous decline once the nation decided it had endured enough misery and took action to enforce responsible behavior.

One can only hope today is the day America decides it has endured enough when it comes to guns and the deaths of innocents.

Argumentum ad Absurdum

If only some nearby had been carrying a hammer, then this crime could have been prevented.

Daily Show on Aurora and Gun Control

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
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Expanding the discussion on gun control...If not now, when?

2nd Amendment: "A Cruel and Deadly Hoax"

Comma Sprinklers

As in, if only the Founding Fathers weren't such profligate comma sprinklers, we might have a more definitive understanding of what this phrase actually means:

"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

I'm pretty sure they didn't have lunatics in movie theaters in mind when they wrote it up.

AZ Designates "Official State Firearm"

Some states have "Official State Songs" and "Official State Rocks" and even "Official State Flowers" and "Animals" and "Trees" and such. Now gun-loving, trigger-happy legislators in Arizona are moving forward with a plan to designate an "Official State Firearm." Small thanks, we suppose, though still surprising, that the firearm being honored is not a Glock 19 9mm with an extra-capacity 30-round magazine.

Feeling Safer?

The world would be a safer place if we were all packing heat.

Post-Apocalyptic Survivalist Yahoos

Here's a good piece on Second Amendment fanatics, better known as "gun nuts," or "post apocalyptic survivalist yahoos." Truly, they are worthy of our contempt and ridicule:

DMOP likes to keep herself in a “self-defense mindset.” Why? Are there scary monsters lurking behind the bushes of her house? Have the terrorists already succeeded in taking out New York, Washington, Chicago and every other major American city and are now moving in on suburban Tennessee? Is American civilization teetering on the brink of total collapse and about to be overrun by marauding biker gangs a la The Postman?



And what does she do to keep herself in a self-defense mindset? Does she take kick-boxing lessons? Does she shoot targets on the firing range? Do she and the Ole Perfesser take bows and arrows with them on a canoing trip into the wilds of the Deep South? No, no and no. She instead goes down to her basement and reads a book. A BOOK. This has to be the least self-defense-y thing I’ve ever seen anyone do. What is she going to do when those Mexican-Arab biker gangs storm into her condo and demand that she hand over her entire stash of ice creams? Will she be like, “Hey, buttholes, you don’t know who you’re messin’ with! I JUST READ A FUCKING BOOK!!! OOGAH-BOOGAH-BOOGAH!!!!!”

Read the whole thing here.

Sad Nation

Gunman's Rampage Baffles Friends....

Six dead, 18 wounded. We are doomed.


Update: Turns out the fool bought the gun from the same guy as the VA Tech shooter. Ain't it about time for some gun control, people?
Can I get a witness?

America the Well-Armed

"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

CNN) -- A gunman killed four people at Northern Illinois University's DeKalb campus outside Chicago Thursday, and then fatally shot himself. Seventeen people were injured, authorities said, at least three gravely.



The shooter, dressed in black, walked out from behind a screen in a geology ocean sciences class in a 600-seat lecture hall and opened fire a little after 3 p.m. (4 p.m. ET), NIU president John Peters said. [More details....]

The Second Amendment to the US Constitution, Exhibit A for the perils of poor comma placement.

If That's His Baby, He Needs Help

Joe Biden gives one of my favorite answers of the Youtube debate: