A few stories of late have really shown the superficial veneer of intellect behind gun control proposals.
Part I: Texas
Following the mass killing of a family by an angry, violent loser with violent tendencies down in Houston almost a week ago, the big gun control and the victim disarmament lobby have been working overtime to spin this into a win to promote gun control.
Here’s what happened, in short. The murderer desperately wanted to kill his ex-wife. He went to the ex-wife’s sister’s house and when they told him to pound sand, the killer slaughtered their family.
Here’s a very gun-control friendly Slate‘s take on the story:
On Wednesday, Ronald Lee Haskell allegedly broke into his former sister-in-law’s home in Spring, Texas and killed her, her husband, and four of her five children. (The fifth was also shot, execution-style, but survived, and reportedy saved her grandparents’ lives by calling 911 before Haskell could get to their house.) After a three-hour stand-off with police, Haskell surrendered and has been charged with the murders.
From the reporting of the past few days, the spree appears to have been Haskell’s attempt to get revenge on his ex-wife’s family. To no one’s great surprise, Haskell had been arrested for domestic violence in 2008, and his ex-wife filed a protective order against him in 2013. All of which leads to the question: Considering the laws put in place, both on federal and state levels, to prevent domestic abusers from getting guns, how did Haskell get one?
While we don’t know yet if the gun Haskell used was legally obtained, Hannah Levintova and Dana Liebelson put together a chilling report at Mother Jones that shows that, due to multiple loopholes that the NRA fiercely lobbies to protect, “his case appears to be the latest example of how easy it remains for domestic abusers to possess firearms, thanks to weak legislation.”
So, we’ve got a guy who was willing to kill his ex-sister-in-law, her husband and execute their children and would have gone on to extinguish the rest of the ex-wife’s family, but he was going to be thwarted by laws against gun possession by someone with an order or protection or laws against violent domestic abusers possessing guns?
The only thing that was going to thwart this loser was a good guy with a GUN.
Not a law.
The Brady folks have been quoted as writing (hat tip to Days of our Trailers):
Last week, the nation watched in horror as six children and two adults were shot to death execution style and another 15-year old was critically wounded in the suburbs of Houston, Texas.
The accused shooter was an enraged ex-husband and serial abuser who had been arrested for assaulting his wife and who TWICE had temporary restraining orders filed against him. Still, our federal laws failed to protect these innocent victims.
This man was blind with rage.
Who, except the most superficial among us, would think a mental case bent upon violating society’s most fundamental prohibitions against murder would be somehow thwarted by additional laws?
The only thing that stops bad guys with evil in their heart is a good guy with a gun.
Part II:
Chicago.
Chicago: home of some of the nation’s strictest gun control laws.
And home of the nation’s most violent streets and neighborhoods – hence its nickname among locals as “Chiraq”.
Yet, the Chicago Sun-Times calls for more of the same failed policies which keep the law-abiding stripped of their ability to meaningfully fight back.
Oh yeah, did we mention four dead and dozens hurt by violent thugs shooting at people last weekend? We were busy and that body count wasn’t really quite as sensational as the Independence Day weekend carnage.
Keep up the pressure for sane gun control laws
We could throw up our hands after a brazen gunman killed a photographer and then kept shooting at other people on a Saturday afternoon on a busy street in a neighborhood where shootings aren’t common.
The shooting added to a ceaseless toll of horror that seems to flow like a river of blood. Three others died and 29 were hurt by gunfire over the weekend. The Independence Day weekend before: 16 dead, more than 60 wounded. Tragedy compounding tragedy. Families burying their loved ones, children gunned down, all after a concerted effort by Chicago police to reduce the bloodshed.
As though people bent on trying to kill others are going to care about a local, state or national rule or regulation on gun ownership?
By the way, who was it that said the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result?
The Sun-Times closes with:
In a sane system in which guns were not so readily available, fewer people would die. And Devon Avenue could go back to being a quiet street where citizens could go about their Saturday business without fear of flying bullets.
We’ve seen a system where guns are not so readily available for the good guys. And each day we get to see the carnage it causes.
Part III: Archie.
Archie comics kills off Archie (we predict he pulls through by some miracle down the road) with a gunshot as Archie is about to reveal the secret to fixing Global Warming.
Archie comics, along with most comic books, are on their death bed.
Can you say “desperately seeking relevance”?
Someone should have told them the Air America agenda leads to bankruptcy. It might play among a handful of low-information voters (and non-voters), but the mainstream America has no use for those failed ideals. We instead prefer the ideals advocated by our nation’s Founding Fathers.
That is IT. I am officially boycotting Archie comics.