The Price Of Freedom Again?

“Public safety demands logical gun laws but the issue is so polarizing and emotional that little will be accomplished as there is no common ground. The NRA and its supporters want easy access to weapons, while the left wants them banned. This is the price of freedom. Violent nuts are allowed to roam free until they do damage, no matter how threatening they are.”

 Bill O’Reilly comments after the Las Vegas Massacre in which more than 50 people were killed and more than 500 injured. It is the worst mass shooting event in modern American history.

On February 14, 2018, a man walked into a middle school in Parkland Florida and killed 17 children with an AR-15 semi – automatic assault rifle, military grade weapon. The country went ballistic having to bury another group of children who were killed sitting in a classroom. Their blood soaked bodies were still on the floor, when the politicians vowed this time there will be comprehensive gun control. Well that hasn’t happened. In a televised promise the President said he would stand up to the NRA and deliver to the American what they wanted, common sense gun control. This week the President walked back his promises. Opting for a plan the administration officials described as“pragmatic,” Trump backs legislation proposed in Congress aimed at providing more data for the background check system, a database of people who are not legally allowed to buy guns. I pretty much knew they were going to get here sooner or later, in fact I wrote about it a few weeks ago.

“There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children.” – Nelson Mandela 

According to a study published by the American Journal of Medicine, compared to 22 other high-income nations, the United States’ gun-related murder rate is 25 times higher. Even though it has half the population of the other 22 nations combined, the United States accounted for 82 percent of all gun deaths. The United States also accounted for 90 percent of all women killed by guns, the study found. Ninety-one percent of children under 14 who died by gun violence were in the United States. And 92 percent of young people between ages 15 and 24 killed by guns were in the United States. Murder is the second leading cause of death among Americans aged 15 to 24. Compared to those in the same age groups in other wealthy countries, Americans aged 15-24 are 49 times more likely to be the victim of a gun-related murder. The researchers also point out that numerous studies suggest that reduced access to guns would lower the suicide rate in the United States. David Hemenway, professor of health policy at Harvard University’s School of Public Health, and director of the Harvard Injury Control Research Center and the Harvard Youth Violence Prevention Center said, Many suicides are impulsive, and the urge to die fades away. Firearms are a swift and lethal method of suicide with a high case-fatality rate.” One more thing… for every 1,000 babies born in the U.S., three die on the day of their birth – which is the highest first-day death rate in the industrialized world… the way it treats its children… we will get back to his another time.

From my cold dead hands – Charlton Heston 129th NRA convention, in Charlotte, North Carolina on May 20, 2000.

Well Mr. Heston, if you were still alive, than you might of just got your wish. Roughly 2 in 3 Americans now say gun control laws should be made more strict in the wake of the murder of 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, according to a number of polls, including a new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll that shows support for stricter gun laws among registered voters at 68 percent. A CNN poll released this week recorded support for stricter gun control laws at 69 percent — the highest mark since 1993. It’s up from just 52 percent last October, shortly after the Las Vegas shooting. Nearly half of Republicans, 49 percent, support stricter gun laws, up from 30 percent in October. More than 3 in 4 voters, 78 percent, want to create a national database with information about each gun sale. The same percentage support a three-day waiting period for all gun purchases, and 77 percent support a ban on bump stocks. A little background about my cold dead hands… It is a variation of a slogan mentioned in a 1976 report from the Senate Judiciary Committee Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency: “I Will Give Up My Gun When They Peel My Cold Dead Fingers From Around It.”

Circum et Circum – G. Hill 

This is a vicious cycle where the beginning and ending arrives at the same place. Americans are being killed in the tens of thousands every year, and the only reason we can’t stop it is because of a few people who sit on a non profit board called the NRA. Circum et circum, latin for “around and around.”  

Oct 3, 2017 – Hill1news:  The Price Of Freedom?

Disgraced former Fox anchor Bill O’Reilly said the the killings in Las Vegas last Sunday was the price of freedom. Due to the terms of his sites conditions, Hill1News cannot post a transcript , but if you would like to read it in its entirety you can do so here. The outrage was swift and merciless. One critic tweeted “They’re the price civilians pay so that GOP blood stained pockets remain full from the NRA.” Another wrote ” No, Bill O’Reilly, having to listen to you is the (high) price of freedom. Gun massacres are the price of weak gun laws.” I like so many others wonder, why is the cost so high here than in any other industrialized nation. What in Gods name does anyone need a military styled weapon, that can hold 30 round clips and shoot them off in a matter of minutes. I’m all for the Second Amendment if all people were willing to behave responsible. Unfortunately that’s not happening.  The NRA’s tried and true fall back position is starting to get a little old as the bodies pile up. “If we disarm, only the criminals will have guns.” Frankly the last massacre I heard of criminals being involved in was the St Valentines Day Massacre in in 1929. I am tending to agree with the critic that says the price we are paying is because some people want to keep that NRA money in their pockets. We should not only talk about gun control,  but, term limits too. As long as politicians have the incentive to do whatever it takes to remain in power, then we are going to keep seeing our morgues fill up with people paying for the price of freedom.

 

 

 

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