Guns Again, Again

We are all very well aware of the children's crusade in support of "ending gun violence". Is there any sane person who would prefer the perpetuation of gun violence? I know, but they can be forgiven for failing to see the obvious. They are, after all, children who by definition know very little about anything. Which explains why we call them "children" not "adults".

The gun control advocates, adults who are enabling and using them, are not so blameless.

Typical among the signs these poor kids are being told to carry is the evergreen "Ban Assault Rifles". There is no weapon that is so described by weapons manufacturers.

It is almost impossible for a US resident to buy a firearm of any description that fires more than one bullet per trigger pull.

"When silly people like Seth MacFarlane and Susan Sarandon say they want to ban “automatic weapons,” what they mean is that they want to ban guns that look scary. They don’t understand that you can’t walk into a gun store and walk out with a military-style assault weapon (one that can fire multiple rounds with a single trigger pull). That’s because 1) most gun dealers don’t carry the military version of the scary looking gun, 2) you have to jump through an obscene number of hoops with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to even obtain a tax stamp that says you may purchase such a weapon (a process that takes months, if not years), and 3) the actual versions of rifles used by the military are really expensive and unaffordable for the vast majority of prospective gun owners.

What you can buy from your local gun dealer, after that licensed gun dealer has confirmed that you passed a federal background check (yep, that’s required by existing law), is a semi-automatic rifle. And now, a bunch of gun controllers who don’t understand the slightest thing about guns have decided that rifle needs to be banned. Not because it’s more deadly than a typical hunting rifle (it’s absolutely not), but because it looks scarier."

In 1994 Bill, Clinton signed into law a federal "assault weapons ban".

"...The 1994 assault weapons law banned semi-automatic rifles only if they had any two of the following five features in addition to a detachable magazine: a collapsible stock, a pistol grip, a bayonet mount, a flash suppressor, or a grenade launcher."

All of the items listed are cosmetic. They do not alter the operation of the device. They don't make it shoot any more than one bullet per trigger pull which is the only metric by which a semi-automatic gun becomes more destructive than it already is. Try getting your hands on a grenade to mount on the launcher. No, gun dealers do not sell those either.

There is a device called a "bump stock" which allows for much more rapid fire of a semi-automatic (one bullet per trigger pull) rifle. The Las Vegas shooter is said to have used these devices to increase his rate of fire and destruction. President Trump has called for their banning and I see no reason to disapprove of that position. Unlike the list of items referred to above, this one actually does make a rifle more destructive and does not appear to serve any useful purpose.

17 people really did die as a result of a gunman's attack in Florida last month. A tragedy of impressive proportion even though no bump stock was used. Examination and evaluation are required by any responsible society in the face of such carnage.

In order that useful conclusions are reached the examination and evaluation of policies which made this disaster possible must be conducted in good faith and those participating must have some understanding of what they are talking about.

Such good faith and knowledge are in extremely short supply among the advocates of more anti-gun laws.

For example.

As I wrote in my previous post, that tragedy was completely preventable. Every single adult with responsibility for the shooter and those murdered failed completely, for years in many cases. There are no gun laws that will fix this.

The only fix is to refuse to be side tracked into a discussion  of just how much we should deprive law abiding Americans of their 2nd Amendment rights and demand that the people responsible for promoting the culture in which this shooter and so many like him evolved are held accountable. That might prompt others pursuing similarly stupid policies with respect to school discipline and gun free zones to re-think their positions.

As we are only too aware the Florida shooter was spared from responsibility for many of his previous transgressions by the Obama administration's "guidance" on discipline.

Note how this absurdity begins,

"The Office for Civil Rights together with the Dept of Justice released a Dear Colleague letter on January 8, 2014 on (sic) to help schools administer school discipline without discriminating on the basis of race, color or national origin."

So now we are to believe that teachers and school administrators, among the most liberal people in the country, are racists. Right. Here is a link to the causes their union, NEA, supports. Obviously a bunch of racist rednecks.

The "guidance" produced by Obama's department of Justice  had a single goal. Force schools to stop disciplining minority students, consequences be damned.

Well now you have your consequences and somehow I am to blame for that lunatic..

I am not his parent, his teacher, his social worker, the local cops who failed to arrest him, the FBI agents who failed to act on information they received or the idiot who suggested that it is racist to discipline students or the even bigger idiots who bought into such nonsense.

I will  not be shamed into accepting the narrative that guns are the real problem here. You shouldn't either.They are not.

You have heard no doubt of a term made popular recently; Intersectionality.

Here is a great example of it. We find ourselves at the intersection of mind-numbingly stupid politically correct policy choices and the carnage their pursuit predictably produces.

It really is not that complicated after all. Too bad 17 people had to die to prove it.