ONE MORE TAKE ON SENSIBLE GUN CONTROL

The argument that the Second Amendment was to allow citizens to have guns to protect themselves against their own government is blatantly false.  

I know this bothers some gun supporters that have heard this from the NRA and used this as their argument for no gun laws.  But, in 1791 when the Amendment was past, America did not have a standing army and the intent was to guarantee citizens could own guns so in time of crisis a militia could be quickly raised – not armed for an insurrection against the government.

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.

In 1792 the Congress went one step further, passing an act requiring all male citizens to arm themselves in order to be able to quickly raise a militia:

Each and every free able-bodied white male citizen of the respective States, resident therein, who is or shall be of age of eighteen years, and under the age of forty-five years (except as is herein after excepted) shall severally and respectively be enrolled in the militia… every citizen so enrolled and notified, shall, within six months thereafter, provide himself with a good musket or flrelock, and sufficient bayonet and belt, two spare flints, and a knapsack, a pouch with a box therein to contain not less than twenty-four cartridges, suited to the bore of his musket or firelock, each cartridge to contain a proper quantity of powder and ball: or with a good rifle, knapsack ,shot-pouch and powder-horn, twenty balls suited to the bore of his rifle, and a quarter of a pound of powder; and shall appear, so armed, accoutered and provided, when called out to exercise, or into service, except, that when called out on company days to exercise only, he may appear without a knapsack.

Today we have a standing army and the requirement for all citizens to arm is not necessary – neither is the argument that we must arm ourselves so we can overthrow our own government.  

We fought a Civil War against the idea of anarchy – the point should be well established. 

The need to line up at Burger King with assault rifles and pistols defies common sense and places the general public in danger.

The Ol’Buzzard

OLD MEN PACKING HEAT

 

If you are a fat old man packing a gun, you don't look any younger and you don't look macho; you look like a fat old fool with a gun.  

And when the zombies come that gun isn't going to make any difference - they are going to eat you first, because you are fat and old and can't outrun them. 

the Ol'Buzzard

DON’T SHOOT THE WAITRESS IF SHE GIVES YOU BAD SERVICE!

It takes all kinds to make a world; and I am pretty tolerant of people until they get in my space.  I really don’t have a problem with gun ownership and I can even forgive stupid people; but when stupid people are packing firearms in my vicinity I don’t like it. 

I have lived for seventy plus years and I have never felt threatened in a restaurant or a grocery store or Wal-Mart or Home Depot. 

If a person is so insecure they feel they need a firearm just to leave their house, perhaps they should just fortify their home and bunker down.  

It seems to me the real reason for people carrying firearms openly in public places is attention seeking.    Just like the militia, grown men and women pretending to be paramilitary; people carrying guns in public are living in a fantasy world of Road Warrior, where they are waiting for the world to go to shit so they save the day with their gun – automatic badass heroes – and it is all in their head. 

 Most of these people, if not all, are not screwed down tight.   They don’t actually see conspiracy theories around ever corner – they invent them.   It is a mind game.   They are badass wannabees and they think openly carrying a weapon impresses people.   And they are right: but the impression they are making is that of nut case with a gun; somebody best not to be around; an accident looking for a place to happen. 

I live in a community of about six thousand people – a small college town.  It is a quiet, safe and intellectually stimulating place to live.     About four months ago my wife and I went into the local supermarket.  Down one of the isles we happened on a mother and her son: he appeared to be thirteen or fourteen years old.   He was in dress pants, a dress shirt and tie, shined shoes and carrying a holstered Glock on is belt.   What kind of mother takes her armed teenager into a grocery store?  0bviously she was someone not playing with a complete deck of cards.    Considering the unusual way he was dressed, with his mother, and carrying sent up red warning flags and we left our half filled cart and departed the store. 

I have owned guns all my life.   I am probably more proficient than the average gun owner.   I was a member of the Quonset Point Navy pistol team and fired scores high enough to compete in All Navy competition.  I had an allotment of one thousand rounds of 45 cal. per month for practice.  I was awarded Navy Expert Rifle and Expert Pistol ribbons.  So I am not anti-gun: I am anti-gun nut. 

We have let the idiots take over the asylum and they are armed and packing and dangerous.   They are a greater dangerous to public safety that the people they claim they need protection from. 

If you want to go to a grocery store, a restaurant or a movie, leave your fucking guns at home; because you armed presence will definitely run my day and every other person in the area with common sense.   Stay out of my space with your fucking fire arms.   I have a right to live threat free and you are a public threat. 

SECOND AMENDMENT RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS

The recent Yellowdog Granny post contained a clip about the ‘Right to bear arms.”   We constantly hear the idiot right parrot the Second Amendment without actually understanding the context. 

Ted Nugent
Got deferment from military because he craps the bed.

ARTICLE II

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. 

 

Adopted in 1791, the Second Amendment was written for that time and place.   In 1791 the United States did not have a large standing army nor military reserve units as exist today.  In case of military necessity men could be conscripted for a militia and would be expected to furnish their own weaponry.   Thus, in lieu of a standing army it was important that citizens be allowed to own firearms – a right not granted the average citizen of Britain.  

The intention was never to arm citizens for the eventual overthrow of the Constitutional government, but to guarantee the ability to quickly raise an armed militia. 

Today we have a standing Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Coast Guard and Military Reserve Units and a military industrial complex that could easily arm the entire world.      There is no longer a need for the Second Amendment: the need for citizens to own military style weapons does not exist. 

The Second Amendment should be revised to allow citizens to own firearms for home protection and sporting purposes – but restrict all large capacity automatic and semi-automatic military style weaponry. 

It is only common sense: but there is the rub.

the Ol’Buzzard 

THE NAVY YARD SHOOTING AND OUR SECOND AMENDMENT RIGHTS

The Navy Yard shooting

Our Second Amendment Right

13 confirmed dead

Our Second Amendment Right

Big fucking deal

Our Second Amendment Right

Get over it

Our Second Amendment Right

This is the America we live in

And this is our Second Amendment Right

So get use to it.

We have Second Amendment Rights

America is not a safe place

Because of our interpretation of the Second Amendment

I once thought that at some point there would be a heinous, senseless crime of violence committed with firearms; and it would be so blatantly disgusting that America would have to reevaluate its views of the Second Amendment: that Americans have the right to own and carry any type of firearm any place they might choose. 

Then there was Sandy Hook Elementary where 20 children and 6 adults lost their lives to a nutcase with a semi-automatic rife with extended clips.

This surely had to be the incident.

But, I was wrong.

Basically; we just don’t care any more – we accept it as inevitable.

The insane inmates have taken over the asylum, and like stepping off a cliff – we can’t go back.    There is no amount of meaningless killings that will result in a change to America’s gun culture.

The Second Amendment Rights are bullshit and should be rewritten: a new definitive Amendment II-B.   But, this will never happen.   America will go down in history as the gun culture.

I will add an Ol’Buzzard codicil to the Second Amendment: 

1. If you carry a loaded weapon into a variety store, or a grocery store, or a restaurant – you are not a patriot – you are an asshole. 
2. If you feel you should walk around your town with an assault rifle strapped to your shoulder – you are a sick mental moron. 
3. If you feel you must carry a pistol every where you go – you are a pussy – a man wannabe – a coward hiding behind a gun.
4. And if you carry a pistol into a bar, you are not macho – you need to be locked away for the safety of society.

Americans should have the right to own firearms for the purpose of hunting, competition, and protection of their homes – and collection under special license.  The type, transportation and use of firearms allowed should reflect these sensible norms.  

THE OL’BUZZARD'S DISCLAIMER

I am not a liberal anti-gun person.  I have owned firearms all my life.   I still have the first 22 cal. rifle that was given to me when I was fourteen years old.   In the military I earned both the Expert Rifle and the Expert Pistol awards.   I was a member of the Quonset Point Navy pistol team and scored high enough to qualify for all-Navy competition (but was unable to compete because of deployment schedule.)  I have fired practically every type of weapon that was available up until my retirement from the Navy.  I no longer hunt (it is a moral thing with me) but it would be a lethal mistake for anyone to invade my home.

We have had days of news mania coverage focusing on the Naval Yard shooting.   I am sick of the news hype when these shootings happen.   Nothing will result from any possible gun tragedy; so the news media should just mention it in a sidebar and move on so people can watch America’s Got Talent and Honey Boo Boo. 

 the Ol'Buzzard

SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS OF AURORA, COLORADO MASSACRE

In the wake of the Aurora, Colorado shooting news pundits and blogs are postulating causes, conditions and incidents that may have led to this senseless mass killing. 

The normal lunatic fringe is adding their conspiracy theories to the mix; but few, except their ilk, are paying attention to them.

There is no one reason that we can attribute to this particular attack or other similar unprovoked attacks on the general population.   The causes are unfathomable but many conditions exist that act as a catalyst. 

There have always been people that live on the edge of sanity, and the propensity for violence has always been there.   Conditions that can trigger these antisocial meltdown include depression, paranoia, extreme stress, sexual deviance, religious mania, schizophrenia, low IQ, a need for acceptance (cults,) – and the list continues. 

I have lived for seventy-plus years (and been conscious for most of that time.)   Looking back, I perceive a societal trend that seems to lend itself to the mix.

These kinds of atrocities were not common fifty years ago.  Of course, the U.S. population has almost doubled since 1960; so the numbers of people capable of these actions have increased proportionally.

The main trend I see is that over the last fifty years we have moved into an era of social isolation.   People with problems use to interact with society in order to function in their daily life.  To communicate you had to speak to friends, family and other people.   You had to constantly interact on a personal basis. 

During the fifties and early sixties there were ‘action’ movies and TV shows, but the violence was regulated.   Interaction with people on a daily basis kept you grounded so that fantasy worlds were recognized as fantasy. 

Today’s population is inundated with images of extreme graphic violence and as a results we have become somewhat deadened in our emotion toward actual killings.  Many young men after work or school immediately plug into video games.  Research has shown that boys by the age of 21 have spent 10,000 hours playing video games.  All of these games are violent, and participants vicariously kill or be-killed.  These games roll play carnage; and for some obsessed young people the line between reality and fantasy becomes blurred.

During the fifties and sixties there were a few mass killings (suicides,) but they were the results of religious cults.   Individual acts of mass violence were rare; and when these occurred the general population felt a personal revulsion.

We have been desensitized.   It seems that among the general population, the killings at Columbine High School and in the theater at Aurora have taken on the quality of a reality show.   We have become a voyeur nation. The feeling of personal loss and compassion would have been much more genuine fifty years ago. 

We live in a world of social media resulting in social isolation.   Young people’s brains are becoming digitally rewired. Where we once spent hours interacting directly with people we now spend hours on the computer.  Talking to people, even on a cell phone, is rare – now we text or tweet.    I have seen young people at the local college sitting at a table together texting rather than talking.  

There are catalysts to these senseless killings.   The availability of guns, fantasy role-play, violence in media, the opportunity for instant fame and recognition via the twenty-four hour news networks all have their place in the execution of acts of carnage by unhinged individuals; but they are not in themselves the cause. 

In closing, it is my belief that society is following technology, and as a result the individual is becoming more isolated.  Because of this social isolation society has moved to a point of apathy toward others.  We are seeing in these killings a Darwinian adjustment of society and a rewiring of the individual’s brain to function in the new techno-environment.   The result of this new environment is an acceptance that this type of violence is the norm, and though regrettable will continue. 

Or as Yellow Dog Granny might say: we’re all fucked.

the Ol’Buzzard

  

    

WE MUST PROTECT OUR SECOND AMENDMENT RIGHTS

When a young man carried an assault rifle, a shotgun and two pistols into a movie theater he was exercising his Second Amendment Rights.

When a man with two pistols with extended ammo clips attended Gabby Giffords’ political meeting he was exercising his Second Amendment Rights.

When a man patrolled his neighborhood while carrying a handgun; and decided it is necessary to accost a young black teen who is talking on a cell phone and drinking a soda – he was exercising his Second Amendment Rights.

And who knows when it will be necessary to overthrow our government that is becoming too inclusive of minorities, or to repel alien attacks?    So we need to protect our Second Amendment Rights.

Really?

the Ol'Buzzard