NRA-ιστάν

[Costas]

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Ken Pagano, the pastor of the New Bethel Church here, (...) is inviting his congregation of 150 and others to wear or carry their firearms into the sanctuary to “celebrate our rights as Americans!” (...) “God and guns were part of the foundation of this country,” Mr. Pagano, 49, said Wednesday in the small brick Assembly of God church, where a large wooden cross hung over the altar and two American flags jutted from side walls. “I don’t see any contradiction in this. Not every Christian denomination is pacifist.”
(...)
“We have a very active agenda in all 50 states,” said Chris W. Cox, legislative director of the N.R.A., widely considered the country’s most powerful lobby. “We have right-to-carry laws in over 40 states; 20 years ago, it was in just six.” Of the 40 states with right-to-carry laws, 20 allow guns in churches.
(...)
Gun-control advocates say they feel increasingly ineffective, especially after a recent spate of high-profile shootings, including last month’s murder, inside a church in Kansas, of a doctor who performed late-term abortions.
(...)
The celebration will feature lessons in responsible gun ownership, Mr. Pagano said.
(...)
Mr. Pagano said the church’s insurance company, which he would not identify, had canceled the church’s policy for the day on Saturday and told him that it would cancel the policy for good at the end of the year. If he cannot find insurance for Saturday, people will not be allowed in openly carrying their guns.
(...)
“When someone from within the church tells me that being a Christian and having firearms are contradictions, that they’re incompatible with the Gospel — baloney,” [Mr. Pagano] said. “As soon as you start saying that it’s not something that Christians do, well, guns are just the foil. The issue now is the Gospel. So in a sense, it does become a crusade. Now the Gospel is at stake.”

Άρθρο της New York Times.

Υ.Γ. Μήπως το επώνυμο του κυρίου, Pagano, διαψεύδει τον ισχυρισμό του πως είναι Χριστιανός;...

 

[daeman]

[...]
Υ.Γ. Μήπως το επώνυμο του κυρίου, Pagano, διαψεύδει τον ισχυρισμό του πως είναι Χριστιανός;...

Καλή η παρατήρηση! Προσθέτω: ενώ οι απόψεις του είναι πέρα για πέρα χριστιανικές...
Ο ορισμός της οπισθοδρόμησης, αυτή η υπόθεση των όπλων. Αντί να προχωρήσουν, επιστρέφουν ολοταχώς προς το Φαρ Ουέστ. Μακάρι οι συγκεκριμένοι να προχωρούσαν λίγο πιο πίσω, τότε που οι ομοϊδεάτες τους δεν είχαν καν πατήσει πόδι στη νέα ήπειρο. Γαμώ την περιέργεια του Χριστόφορου Κολόμβου, σκέφτομαι όταν διαβάζω τέτοιες αθλιότητες. Άδικη γενίκευση, αλλά νισάφι πια με τους ανεγκέφαλους κοσμοκράτορες!
Και μια επισήμανση: the N.R.A., widely considered the country’s most powerful lobby.
όπως αναφέρεται και στη Wikipedia: The NRA is sometimes said to be the single most powerful lobbying organization in the United States.[4]

 

[Zazula]

Και τώρα η NRA είναι εξαγριωμένη με τον Τζιμ Κάρεϊ λόγω του Cold Dead Hand:
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/0433b30576/cold-dead-hand-with-jim-carrey

 

[daeman]

...
The Second Amendment Scoreboard

Looks like the Second Amendment is winning while we’re losing.

 

[nickel]

Για την ιστορία της έκφρασης From my cold, dead hands:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/From_my_cold,_dead_hands

Και σχετικό βιντεάκι με τον μακαρίτη:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ju4Gla2odw

 

[Zazula]

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/04/17/politics/senate-guns-vote/index.html

 

[drsiebenmal]

Kentucky boy, 5, accidentally shoots to death 2-year-old sister (LA Times)

A 2-year-old Kentucky girl was accidentally killed by her 5-year-old brother who fired a rifle he had been given as a gift, officials said Wednesday.
[...]
The rifle used in the accident is a Crickett designed for children and sold under the slogan “My First Rifle,” according to the company's website. It is a smaller weapon designed for children and comes with a shoulder stock in child-like colors including pink and swirls.
[...]
It is legal in Kentucky to give a child a rifle as a gift, White [the coroner] said. Nor is it unusual for children to have rifles, often passed down from their parents, he said.
Earlier this month, Brandon Holt, 6, was accidentally shot to death by a 4-year-old playmate in New Jersey.

Τέτοια ατυχήματα δεν είναι σπάνια, φυσικά. Δεν έβαλα την είδηση γι' αυτό, όπως καταλαβαίνετε...

 

[bernardina]

Είναι πολύ κακό που μόλις τέλειωσα την ανάγνωση σκέφτηκα: ελπίζω μετά να πήρε το τουφέκι ο μπαμπάς του και να τίναξε τα μυαλά του στον αέρα; Αφού πρώτα σκότωσε την ηλίθια μάνα που του επέτρεψε να κάνει τέτοιο δώρο στο παιδί της;

Είναι κακό, ε;

 

[SBE]

Aυτά τα ατυχήματα είναι της κατηγορίας φυσική επιλογή, το σκεπτικό δηλαδή των βραβείων Δαρβίνου..

 

[Alexandra]

Άλλο ένα βήμα στη διαδικασία της φυσικής επιλογής. Οι κρετίνοι που αγοράζουν όπλα στα παιδιά τους πρέπει οπωσδήποτε να είναι οι πρώτοι (μακάρι και οι μοναδικοί) που πεθαίνουν από αυτά.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2319514
Father thought text message from son, 13, saying 'I killed mom' was a joke and sent a reply which read: 'OK, just throw her in the grove. We'll take care of her later' before her body was found
Son Noah Crooks, 14, stands accused of murdering and attempting to sexually assault his mother, William’s wife, 37-year-old Gretchen Crooks in 2012
She was the one who bought the .22 caliber Ruger as a present for Noah in 2010 when he was about 11 years old.


.

 

[bernardina]

stands accused of murdering and attempting to sexually assault his mother

Μ' αυτή τη σειρά;

 

[Zazula]

stands accused of murdering and attempting to sexually assault his mother

Μ' αυτή τη σειρά;

Ενώ η αντίστροφη σειρά θα ήταν φυσιολογικότερη;

 

[bernardina]

Ενώ η αντίστροφή σειρά θα ήταν φυσιολογικότερη;

Όχι, βέβαια. Απλώς θα ήταν στατιστικά πιο συνήθης.

 

[SBE]

Από την άλλη βέβαια σκέφτομαι μήπως παραείμαστε αυστηροί με τους γονείς που παίρνουν όπλα στα παιδιά τους. Άμα μεγαλώνεις σε οικογένεια κτηνοτρόφων π.χ. που κάθε Πάσχα σφάζουν δεκάδες αρνιά (το ξέρω ότι δεν τα πυροβολούν) ή οικογένεια κυνηγετική, που κάθε Σαββατοκύριακό την εποχή του κυνηγιού τρέχουν στα βουνά για μπεκάτσες, σε ποιά ηλικία είσαι αρκετά μεγάλος ώστε να μάθεις τα εργαλεία της δουλειάς; Γιατί είναι περίεργο να θεωρούν οι γονείς ότι είναι χρήσιμη γνώση η σκοποβολή, όπως είναι π.χ. το πλέξιμο; Αυτοί που κάνουν σκοποβολή τους Ολυμπιακούς κι έιναι 20 χρονών, σε τι ηλικία αρχίσανε;

 

[Alexandra]

Αφού ξεκαθάρισες ότι άλλο κτηνοτρόφος και άλλο κυνηγός από χόμπι, πάμε παρακάτω: Για μένα, το κυνήγι από χόμπι είναι αποκρουστική συνήθεια. Οι άνθρωποι που σκοτώνουν από χόμπι ζώα, και κατά συνέπεια διδάσκουν στα παιδιά τους αυτό το χόμπι, ανήκουν για μένα σε μια αποκρουστική κατηγορία ανθρώπων. Αλλά και πάλι, στη συγκεκριμένη περίπτωση δεν μιλάμε για ατύχημα που έγινε επειδή υπήρχε στο σπίτι ένα κυνηγετικό όπλο. Μιλάμε για "εγκληματική" (με όλων των ειδών τα εισαγωγικά, λόγω της ηλικίας του παιδιού) ενέργεια, με ένα όπλο που δεν βρέθηκε τυχαία στα χέρια του, αλλά είχε αγοραστεί για να το χρησιμοποιεί το συγκεκριμένο παιδί. Ε, πώς να το κάνουμε, δεν βρίσκω ελαφρυντικά για τους γονείς.

 

[Alexandra]

Another “Accidental” Shooting. Another Child Dead. Another State Claims, Wrongly, That No One Is at Fault.

In May, a 10-year-old Virginia girl named Margaret “Maggie” Hollifield was accidentally shot and killed at her home by an unnamed boy. While details of the incident were initially scarce, an official reporton the shooting is in, and it’s heartbreaking. As it turns out, Hollifield was shot by her 13-year-old brother, who had been fixing his shotgun in the family’s living room when it suddenly discharged. Though the boy had forgotten to remove a shell that was in the chamber, the report notes that he was normally very cautious with his gun—he had received it as a present from a relative after completing a hunters’ safety class—and concludes that there was no reason to bring charges against anyone involved, as it was obviously just a “tragic accident.”

Given my frequentharpingonthis subject, it will not surprise you to learn that I disagree with this conclusion. I don’t doubt that the brother was conscientious about gun safety. According to the report, he had even “corrected the father on handling the weapon on occasion.” But what that tells me is that the boy may have cared more about gun safety than his father did. And that’s the problem.

In Virginia you can’t drive until you’re 16, plus three months. You can’t drink until you’re 21. But for some reason you can own a basic shotgun at any age. That blows my mind. Anyone who has ever had or been a child knows that no matter how well-intentioned or cautious they may be, children are impulsive and scatterbrained. And so are some adults, sure, but the difference is that adults are supposed to know better. Kids aren’t. Kids are irresponsible because their brains and bodies haven’t fully developed yet. They lack the judgment, experience, and perspective that comes with age.

According to the Hollifield report, the boy’s father “stated that he trusted his son with the firearm and that his son was knowledgeable about maintenance and care of the firearm.” But no matter how responsible and knowledgeable your kids might seem, they’re still kids. They’re going to make mistakes and forget things because that’s what kids do. If you’re going to let your kid have a gun, then you can’t assume that they won’t do anything stupid with it. You have to assume that they will do something stupid with it, and you have to do everything in your power to make sure they don’t. That means caring more about gun safety than your kid does, not less.

Some readers have emailed me questioning why I’m fixating on accidental child shooting deaths, given how relatively rare they are. And they’re right. The absolute number of children who are killed in accidental shootings is low. But these incidents could almost all have been prevented if the parents or guardians in these cases had been more attentive. The primary purpose of a gun is to shoot small holes in things, and if a boy shoots a small hole in his sister because he forgot there was a shell in his shotgun’s chamber, it is the fault of the parents. They were the ones who allowed him not only to have the gun, but to attempt to fix it, alone and unsupervised, in the freaking living room. An adult who gives a kid a gun needs to bear responsibility for what the kid does with it. Prosecuting the parents of the children in these incidents sends a clear message that society expects those parents to take care of their guns, and their children.
​

 

[SBE]

Ουφ, νόμισα στην αρχή ότι θα έλεγε ότι πρέπει ο μικρός να πάει μέσα ισόβια (υπάρχουν στις ΗΠΑ ισοβίτες σ'αυτή την ηλικία, δυστυχώς).

 

[daeman]

...
A Brief History of The United States of America - Michael Moore in Bowling for Columbine

 

[Costas]

(NYT)
SAN ANTONIO — Angela L. Pena brought her family to the Alamo on Saturday. She also brought her black assault rifle, a .223-caliber LWRC M4, and had it strapped across her back. Her daughter brought her M&P rifle; her son-in-law carried his .308-caliber Remington R-25; and her 8-year-old grandson, Sebastian Gonzalez, had his Ruger 10/22 rifle.

For tourists, it was a startling sight: men, women and children openly carrying loaded and unloaded shotguns, hunting rifles, AR-15s and AK-47s as if they were purses or backpacks. A young man in jeans ate a breakfast sandwich with his assault rifle resting behind his back. A rally speaker with his own assault rifle confronted and quizzed police officials about their views of the Second Amendment, and the officials calmly looked on.

Fathers and sons, husbands and wives, teenagers and retirees all had their guns out, as visitors to San Antonio came and went from the Alamo. Police officers monitored and filmed the rally from a building across the street.

Demonstrators were exercising a little-known privilege of Texas gun culture; Texas law allows people to walk down the street with an assault rifle, shotgun or other type of long gun. A state-issued license is required to carry a concealed handgun.

Gun advocates in Texas have started using their right to carry rifles publicly as part of a push to expand handgun laws. They want Texas to join several states that have allowed people licensed to carry concealed firearms to wear their weapons on their hips, unconcealed, if they wish.

Rally organizers and participants said they wanted to remind San Antonio that the carrying of rifles was not only legal but normal, and that the carrying of unconcealed weapons in public was no cause for alarm. But at the request of organizers, most at the rally stuck plastic straws or strips into the chambers of their rifles to show that though there might be bullets in the clip, there were none in the chamber.

Ms. Pena and her family, including Sebastian, had straws sticking out of their weapons.

Scott Gibbons had a pen in the chamber of his AR-15 rifle, which was strapped across his back as he stood next to his wife, Mandy. “Our children have been shooting guns since they were 8 and 9, and they’re now 28 and 29,” Ms. Gibbons said. “We want our grandchildren to also have that right.”

 

[Alexandra]

Top New York Post columnist Fredric Dicker calls Newtown shooting 'little convenient massacre'; Sandy Hook families demand apology

Dicker, who made the comment Monday on his WGDJ talk show, said that Gov. Cuomo was able to push anti-gun legislation after 'he had a little convenient massacre that went on in Newtown, Conn.' Families of those killed in the school shooting called for an apology from the gun enthusiast. 'There’s nothing ‘convenient’ about 26 lives being gunned down in an elementary school,' one relative said.

The remark came while Dicker was discussing Gov. Cuomo’s State of the State address with political satirist Randy Credico. The subject turned to the governor’s SAFE Act gun-control legislation, passed in the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting.
“That was his anti-gun legislation, which he had promised not to do, but then he had a little convenient massacre that went on in Newtown, Conn., and all of a sudden there was an opportunity for him,” Dicker said.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nat...ient-massacre-article-1.1578598#ixzz2qMjQ4Ep6