JUST ANOTHER VET posted this to WordPress BV. It is well worth the read and ponder… :
Add this one to the list:
” A man has been arrested after two Texas cheerleaders were shot, one critically, after one of them mistakenly got into the wrong vehicle, according to police and the owner of the gym where they trained…
So don’t ring the wrong doorbell, or pull into the wrong driveway, or open the wrong car door, or for that matter don’t go:
To the grocery store
To church
To the mall
To school
To work
To a bar
To a birthday party
To a park
To a protest
To a movie
Because you might get shot. This is America. This is what freedom means apparently.
###
Growing up we didn’t have guns in our house. My dad said he had had his fill of them in Vietnam. Fast forward to today: my now mid-70’s parents are going to the gun range and trying to figure out which guns are best for them to carry around. They are caught up in the fear and fantasy genre of the American Vigilante. They are going to blast those bad guys by god, and defend freedom and liberty, something, something.
They have also added cameras all around their house. Mind you they have never been robbed. But they are afraid. Of what? Everything at this point based on the conversations I’ve had with them, or at least everything the television and radio tell them to be afraid of.
All their friends are the same way. Old, angry white folks ready to kill for some made up bullshit American ideal. Geriatric John Waynes with white hats going off to kill the black hats (or just blacks?).
I would feel better knowing they are not long for this world, but I see plenty of my generation out there armed to the teeth as well.
Emotion rules the thinking of those wielding weapons. It would be one thing if we were witnessing a big surge in home invasions. We aren't. It would also be something if the penalty for a home break-in was death. It isn't. The reason gun advocates harp on home invasions is that for them it is an unquestionable reason for self-defense, their idea of a conversation stopper regarding gun control.
Society as a whole has been backing away from capital punishment around the world with the US tagging along. Yet, as you mention, we have individuals intent on handing out a death sentence, in fact eager to do so and for a variety of non-capital crimes such as assault, car theft, even the new "crime" of creating a threat in the mind of the gun carrier as states legislate Stand Your Ground to give it an official OK. To shoot down a person in the driveway or at the front door shows the obsession of the homeowner, vigilant and waiting for the imagined home invader.
As police have shown great difficulty in using their weapons appropriately, we move toward every man making himself a policeman along with the ability to use the standard defenses of the police: "I was afraid". "I thought the suspect had a gun", "I felt threatened"
Meanwhile, the concept of innocent until proven guilty fades into the past. Those damned courts take forever to figure things out and then coddle criminals. Better to have instant justice at the will of one armed person.
As native-Americans faced elimination, there were instances of the fantasy that the white man's bullets would be rendered ineffective with enough faith. Now we have the mirror fantasy from the white man who feels threatened, a faith that imagined bad guys will be eliminated with firearms in the hands of "good guys"
Bill, every one of these shootings is shown dramatically on New Zealand TV.
Hence whenever people in New Zealand find out I lived 41-years in Seattle, the first thing they ask me is.... "Jeez, what was it like to live everyday in fear of being gunned down in the street?"
I always answer that in those 41-years I was never involved in a shooting incident or threatened by a person with a gun. And neither were any of my family, my friends and workmates. And we never even thought about it. And I never felt the need to have a gun.
They don't believe me, and accuse me of putting a pretty face on it.
My point is, this leaves a very false, and bad, impression of life in America.
It always makes me sad, as I am a proud American, though born in New Zealand.
Apparently those in charge of the New Zealand news media don't like the US. Or they are strongly in favor of NZ gun control measures and want to scare the population into making sure they are not relaxed.
And of course, blood and bleeding sells newspapers.
BTW, New Zealand is 100% behind America helping The Ukraine defeat Hitler...oops, I mean Putin. As you know my pro-Russia, anti-Zelenskyy comments in media comment threads get deleted in about 10-minutes.
But on the other hand, the Kiwi's are shit scared that the Americans will get involved in Tawain, and New Zealand will be sucked into a war as an American ally.
That's easy enough to understand: New Zealand is a hell of a lot closer to Taiwan and more subject to collateral damage from a war between the US and China than it is to Ukraine and fallout from the war between the US and Russia.
i'm curious: Has New Zealand sent any money, military gear, or anything to Ukraine?
As part of New Zealand’s ongoing response to the war in Ukraine, New Zealand is providing further support and personnel to assist Ukraine to defend itself against Russia’s unprovoked and illegal invasion, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced today. (May 2022)
“We have been clear throughout Russia’s assault on Ukraine, that such a blatant attack on innocent lives and the sovereignty of another country is wrong, and our response has not only included the condemnation of Russia, but practical support for Ukraine,” Jacinda Ardern said.
“A New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) artillery training team of up to 50 personnel will be deployed to the United Kingdom to help train Ukrainian military personnel in operating L119 105mm light field guns,” Jacinda Ardern said.
“Our training team has been requested to help train members of Ukraine’s Armed Forces in the use of the weapon systems"
“This new support comes in addition to the extensive assistance we have already provided to Ukraine, which encompasses the military, humanitarian, legal, and other aspects of the conflict."
New Zealand has also donated approximately $15.7 million to purchase military equipment for Ukraine, and commercial satellite access for Ukrainian Defence Intelligence, and has rolled out sanctions targeting those associated with Russia’s invasion.
If the right-wing party gets in, which is looking more and more likely, I don't think our policy will change Jeff.
New Zealand is in pretty deep with the Yanks. You probably know this. Wikipedia......
The Five Eyes (FVEY) is an intelligence alliance comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. These countries are parties to the multilateral UKUSA Agreement, a treaty for joint cooperation in signals intelligence.
As the Cold War deepened, this intelligence sharing arrangement was formalised under the ECHELON surveillance system in the 1960s. This was initially developed by the FVEY to monitor the communications of the former Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc, although it is now used to monitor communications worldwide.
In the late 1990s, the existence of ECHELON was disclosed to the public, triggering a major debate in the European Parliament and, to a lesser extent, in the United States Congress and the New Zealand Parliament. The FVEY further expanded their surveillance capabilities during the course of the "war on terror", with much emphasis placed on monitoring the World Wide Web.
Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden described the Five Eyes as a "supra-national intelligence organisation that does not answer to the known laws of its own countries". Documents leaked by Snowden in 2013 revealed that the FVEY has been spying on one another's citizens and sharing the collected information with each other. It has been claimed that FVEY nations have been sharing intelligence in order to circumvent domestic laws.
In spite of continued controversy over its methods, the Five Eyes relationship remains one of the most comprehensive known espionage alliances in human history.
Since processed intelligence is gathered from multiple sources, the intelligence shared is not restricted to signals intelligence (SIGINT) and often involves defence intelligence as well as human intelligence (HUMINT) and geospatial intelligence (GEOINT).
In mid-April 2021, the New Zealand Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta issued a statement that New Zealand would not let the Five Eyes alliance dictate its bilateral relationship with China and that New Zealand was uncomfortable with expanding the remit of the intelligence grouping. In response, the Australian Government expressed concern that Wellington was undermining collective efforts to combat what it regarded as Chinese aggression.
In 2014, the NZSIS and the GCSB of New Zealand were asked by the New Zealand Parliament to clarify if they had received any monetary contributions from members of the FVEY alliance. Both agencies withheld relevant information and refused to disclose any possible monetary contributions from the FVEY.
The Americans have a large satellite tracking station in the South Island of New Zealand. Off limits to New Zealanders. Over the years there has large protests at the site.
Let me ask You a question, Dennis: Exactly what about America are You proud of? What was going on during those 41 years and since that gave and apparently still gives You reason to be proud?
And was the impression that Your friends in New Zealand have about America actually false?
My guess is that if, instead of Seattle, You had lived in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, DC, or any other major metropolitan area, Your thoughts and feelings about America would be considerably different.
But you know, I ran jobs in Alaska, WA, OR, CA, Louisiana, Hawaii, Minnesota, Florida and South Carolina. (And The Bahamas and Mexico) From 1974 to 2015.
Spending a lot of time in those states on big projects. Employing the locals.
My experience with gun violence in those states, with the exception of So CA, was about the same as in Seattle.
Unfortunately, my friends in New Zealand tar all of America with the same brush as New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, DC etc. Why I say they have a generalized false impression.
I am proud of the opportunities America afforded me. Opportunities I would not have had in little New Zealand. And proud of the system that enabled me to put my two daughters through the best medical schools in the world and become doctors.
Got it. i wonder if instead of being "proud" of those opportunities and that system, maybe what You really are is "thankful." Which is how a lot of people who end up in America from overseas feel. And justifiably so.
Just out of curiosity, which 41 years were You in America? i know You've told me in the past, but i forget.
It would be interesting to go back and check the numbers on Gun Violence in those places You worked and lived in then, Dennis, as compared to their numbers today, eh? It would also be interesting to see if and how those numbers have changed over time since You returned to NZ; and if they have changed, how.
In any event, here is a very sobering statistic that i just stumbled across: MORE AMERICANS HAVE DIED FROM GUNSHOTS IN THE LAST 50 YEARS THAN IN ALL OF THE WARS IN AMERICAN HISTORY.
Since 1968, more than 1.5 million Americans have died in gun-related incidents, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. By comparison, approximately 1.2 million service members have been killed in every war in U.S. history, according to estimates from the Department of Veterans Affairs and iCasualties.org, a website that maintains an ongoing database of casualties from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In terms of gun violence, 2015 now seems like ancient history, Dennis. Columbine happened 24 years ago, and at the time, it was a profound national shock. To date this year, there have been some 150 mass shootings in this country. In 1999, there were four others besides Columbine. So, a 30-fold increase for less than the first third of this year. I don't think the NZ media are exaggerating.
Cleveland is a backwater, compared with L.A., NYC, Philly, and Chicago. And yet, we've seen gunplay in our little neighborhood, and within a mile of our house, a serial killer was discovered and captured a few years ago. Even the more upscale areas aren't immune from gun violence, and on the east side of town, in gang central, it's a war zone. Over 20 years ago, when I worked at the hotel over there, I was warned never to drive down certain streets at night. So....yeah, the guns are, in fact, out of control in many parts of the country. If anything, media coverage here downplays the situation.
You cannot divorce the love of guns in the US from people so saturated with pro-gun entertainment. Movies, TV shows and video games are all focused on the wonderfulness of guns. This is where your "fun" element comes in. If all of Hollywood and TV were saturated with the reality of guns (actual wounded and dead people shown in graphic detail) rather than the Dirty Harry variety, things might be at least a bit different here in the US. The gun love indoctrination has been going on for a long time in this country (I even watched the early Bonanza, Rifleman and Gun Smoke shows when they first came out on TV). The people in this country have been marinating in that fantasy land my entire life.
The worship of guns and gun ownership is an American pathology that is joined at the hip with "American Exceptionalism." Unless and until both are eradicated and excised from the body politic, the USA will remain a toxic outlier/rogue state.
Scroll down to get graphs and maps. As can be seen, the number of incidents is creeping up each year. Just the other day there was a disturbance on Michigan Avenue where a person was shot and there was property damage.
My experience in the city has been free of any incidents of violence or witnessing any gun fire and this included being in the black neighborhoods walking or on a bike and daily use of the rapid transit for 23 years. But that ended over 20 years ago with retirement. Last week there was a kid killed by gunfire at a beach two miles from me. Killed by another teen.
And Ray is absolutely correct: As the bottom falls out of the American [and the Global] economy and financial system, and the "American Dream" morphs into a Nightmare, what we have seen so far is just the beginning of a very long, dark, and ugly manifestation of the American Empire's ~ and with it, this Nation's and this People's ~ descent thru "Decline" into, thru, and beyond "Fall," all the way to chaos and collapse, and ~ as the only alternative the politicians and media can come up with ~ a totalitarian regime from Hell.
The questions are: What is to be done? And more importantly, what actually CAN be done? And most importantly, exactly Who is supposed to be going to do it?
That may be true. One can always cite examples that would support either stance on the question. What I've read is that guns are used between one and two million times a year to prevent a personal injury crime. Perhaps one answer is for those in charge of cities that seem to allow rioting to do what they can to stop it. But for some reason those in charge prefer to do the opposite. And so citizens respond to the lack of police protection by buying more guns. It's a cycle. I would mention Chicago and L.A. as two examples. Portland. etc.
And do You have source on that claim that "guns are used between one and two million times a year to prevent a personal injury crime"? That's a pretty broad and wide range of numbers for a specific activity, isn't it?
.........Cook told The Washington Post that "a more reasonable estimate" of self-defense gun uses equals about 100,000 annually, according to the NCVS data.
Even if someone wanted to use a gun in self-defense, they probably wouldn't be very successful, says Mike Weisser, firearms instructor and author of the blog "Mike The Gun Guy." He says many people who carry a gun aren't properly trained to use it in this way..."
"The latest data show that people use guns for self-defense only rarely. According to a Harvard University analysis of figures from the National Crime Victimization Survey, people defended themselves with a gun in nearly 0.9 percent of crimes from 2007 to 2011."
David Hemenway, who led the Harvard research, argues that the risks of owning a gun outweigh the benefits of having one in the rare case where you might need to defend yourself. "The average person ... has basically no chance in their lifetime ever to use a gun in self-defense,"..... "But ... every day, they have a chance to use the gun inappropriately. They have a chance, they get angry. They get scared."
Well the mass media brings disaster into our living rooms regardless of where we live. So we are made to feel afraid even if we don't live in Chicago, etc. Isn't that the point of their reporting?
The American People have been made by their government and its media to be afraid ever since 9/11, Alex. First there was Saddam's "WMDs." Then there was the too-big-to-fail 2008 financial "¢risi$." Then there was Trump. Then there was The COVID Event, Election2020, and January 6. Then there was and is World War III with Russia over Ukraine. Now it's a second front in WW III with China over Taiwan, a looming Pandemic just waiting to be hatched and released to go along with inflation, a Debt Ceiling crisis, and the end of the US Dollar as the "Petro Dollar" and global reserve currency. And the fact that the leading candidates to be the next President of the United States are Trump, DeSantis, and Biden.
Fear is not just the point of the media's reporting. It is the point of virtually everything this government has done and is doing for the last 22 years this coming September 11.
JUST ANOTHER VET posted this to WordPress BV. It is well worth the read and ponder… :
Add this one to the list:
” A man has been arrested after two Texas cheerleaders were shot, one critically, after one of them mistakenly got into the wrong vehicle, according to police and the owner of the gym where they trained…
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/texas-cheerleaders-shot-wrong-car-practice-rcna80366
So don’t ring the wrong doorbell, or pull into the wrong driveway, or open the wrong car door, or for that matter don’t go:
To the grocery store
To church
To the mall
To school
To work
To a bar
To a birthday party
To a park
To a protest
To a movie
Because you might get shot. This is America. This is what freedom means apparently.
###
Growing up we didn’t have guns in our house. My dad said he had had his fill of them in Vietnam. Fast forward to today: my now mid-70’s parents are going to the gun range and trying to figure out which guns are best for them to carry around. They are caught up in the fear and fantasy genre of the American Vigilante. They are going to blast those bad guys by god, and defend freedom and liberty, something, something.
They have also added cameras all around their house. Mind you they have never been robbed. But they are afraid. Of what? Everything at this point based on the conversations I’ve had with them, or at least everything the television and radio tell them to be afraid of.
All their friends are the same way. Old, angry white folks ready to kill for some made up bullshit American ideal. Geriatric John Waynes with white hats going off to kill the black hats (or just blacks?).
I would feel better knowing they are not long for this world, but I see plenty of my generation out there armed to the teeth as well.
###
A good essay.
Emotion rules the thinking of those wielding weapons. It would be one thing if we were witnessing a big surge in home invasions. We aren't. It would also be something if the penalty for a home break-in was death. It isn't. The reason gun advocates harp on home invasions is that for them it is an unquestionable reason for self-defense, their idea of a conversation stopper regarding gun control.
Society as a whole has been backing away from capital punishment around the world with the US tagging along. Yet, as you mention, we have individuals intent on handing out a death sentence, in fact eager to do so and for a variety of non-capital crimes such as assault, car theft, even the new "crime" of creating a threat in the mind of the gun carrier as states legislate Stand Your Ground to give it an official OK. To shoot down a person in the driveway or at the front door shows the obsession of the homeowner, vigilant and waiting for the imagined home invader.
As police have shown great difficulty in using their weapons appropriately, we move toward every man making himself a policeman along with the ability to use the standard defenses of the police: "I was afraid". "I thought the suspect had a gun", "I felt threatened"
Meanwhile, the concept of innocent until proven guilty fades into the past. Those damned courts take forever to figure things out and then coddle criminals. Better to have instant justice at the will of one armed person.
As native-Americans faced elimination, there were instances of the fantasy that the white man's bullets would be rendered ineffective with enough faith. Now we have the mirror fantasy from the white man who feels threatened, a faith that imagined bad guys will be eliminated with firearms in the hands of "good guys"
In today's New Zealand online newspaper Clif...
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/us-canada/300856830/could-us-man-who-shot-black-teenager-ringing-doorbell-plead-selfdefence
Yup you're Rooting tooting bet ya; Americans love their guns to death.
Yosemite Sam from Bugs Bunny comes to mind.
Was Yosemite Sam from Florida?
This about says all that can or needs to be said about this: https://www.reuters.com/news/picture/our-top-photos-of-the-week-idUSRTSIDOCO
Bill, every one of these shootings is shown dramatically on New Zealand TV.
Hence whenever people in New Zealand find out I lived 41-years in Seattle, the first thing they ask me is.... "Jeez, what was it like to live everyday in fear of being gunned down in the street?"
I always answer that in those 41-years I was never involved in a shooting incident or threatened by a person with a gun. And neither were any of my family, my friends and workmates. And we never even thought about it. And I never felt the need to have a gun.
They don't believe me, and accuse me of putting a pretty face on it.
My point is, this leaves a very false, and bad, impression of life in America.
It always makes me sad, as I am a proud American, though born in New Zealand.
Apparently those in charge of the New Zealand news media don't like the US. Or they are strongly in favor of NZ gun control measures and want to scare the population into making sure they are not relaxed.
The later I think, Alex.
And of course, blood and bleeding sells newspapers.
BTW, New Zealand is 100% behind America helping The Ukraine defeat Hitler...oops, I mean Putin. As you know my pro-Russia, anti-Zelenskyy comments in media comment threads get deleted in about 10-minutes.
But on the other hand, the Kiwi's are shit scared that the Americans will get involved in Tawain, and New Zealand will be sucked into a war as an American ally.
That's easy enough to understand: New Zealand is a hell of a lot closer to Taiwan and more subject to collateral damage from a war between the US and China than it is to Ukraine and fallout from the war between the US and Russia.
i'm curious: Has New Zealand sent any money, military gear, or anything to Ukraine?
As part of New Zealand’s ongoing response to the war in Ukraine, New Zealand is providing further support and personnel to assist Ukraine to defend itself against Russia’s unprovoked and illegal invasion, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced today. (May 2022)
“We have been clear throughout Russia’s assault on Ukraine, that such a blatant attack on innocent lives and the sovereignty of another country is wrong, and our response has not only included the condemnation of Russia, but practical support for Ukraine,” Jacinda Ardern said.
“A New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) artillery training team of up to 50 personnel will be deployed to the United Kingdom to help train Ukrainian military personnel in operating L119 105mm light field guns,” Jacinda Ardern said.
“Our training team has been requested to help train members of Ukraine’s Armed Forces in the use of the weapon systems"
“This new support comes in addition to the extensive assistance we have already provided to Ukraine, which encompasses the military, humanitarian, legal, and other aspects of the conflict."
New Zealand has also donated approximately $15.7 million to purchase military equipment for Ukraine, and commercial satellite access for Ukrainian Defence Intelligence, and has rolled out sanctions targeting those associated with Russia’s invasion.
And am i correct in assuming that NZ's new government will continue what the old one did?
If the right-wing party gets in, which is looking more and more likely, I don't think our policy will change Jeff.
New Zealand is in pretty deep with the Yanks. You probably know this. Wikipedia......
The Five Eyes (FVEY) is an intelligence alliance comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. These countries are parties to the multilateral UKUSA Agreement, a treaty for joint cooperation in signals intelligence.
As the Cold War deepened, this intelligence sharing arrangement was formalised under the ECHELON surveillance system in the 1960s. This was initially developed by the FVEY to monitor the communications of the former Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc, although it is now used to monitor communications worldwide.
In the late 1990s, the existence of ECHELON was disclosed to the public, triggering a major debate in the European Parliament and, to a lesser extent, in the United States Congress and the New Zealand Parliament. The FVEY further expanded their surveillance capabilities during the course of the "war on terror", with much emphasis placed on monitoring the World Wide Web.
Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden described the Five Eyes as a "supra-national intelligence organisation that does not answer to the known laws of its own countries". Documents leaked by Snowden in 2013 revealed that the FVEY has been spying on one another's citizens and sharing the collected information with each other. It has been claimed that FVEY nations have been sharing intelligence in order to circumvent domestic laws.
In spite of continued controversy over its methods, the Five Eyes relationship remains one of the most comprehensive known espionage alliances in human history.
Since processed intelligence is gathered from multiple sources, the intelligence shared is not restricted to signals intelligence (SIGINT) and often involves defence intelligence as well as human intelligence (HUMINT) and geospatial intelligence (GEOINT).
In mid-April 2021, the New Zealand Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta issued a statement that New Zealand would not let the Five Eyes alliance dictate its bilateral relationship with China and that New Zealand was uncomfortable with expanding the remit of the intelligence grouping. In response, the Australian Government expressed concern that Wellington was undermining collective efforts to combat what it regarded as Chinese aggression.
In 2014, the NZSIS and the GCSB of New Zealand were asked by the New Zealand Parliament to clarify if they had received any monetary contributions from members of the FVEY alliance. Both agencies withheld relevant information and refused to disclose any possible monetary contributions from the FVEY.
The Americans have a large satellite tracking station in the South Island of New Zealand. Off limits to New Zealanders. Over the years there has large protests at the site.
Let me ask You a question, Dennis: Exactly what about America are You proud of? What was going on during those 41 years and since that gave and apparently still gives You reason to be proud?
And was the impression that Your friends in New Zealand have about America actually false?
My guess is that if, instead of Seattle, You had lived in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, DC, or any other major metropolitan area, Your thoughts and feelings about America would be considerably different.
Can't disagree with any of that Jeff.
Chicago in particular is a shocker as we speak.
But you know, I ran jobs in Alaska, WA, OR, CA, Louisiana, Hawaii, Minnesota, Florida and South Carolina. (And The Bahamas and Mexico) From 1974 to 2015.
Spending a lot of time in those states on big projects. Employing the locals.
My experience with gun violence in those states, with the exception of So CA, was about the same as in Seattle.
Unfortunately, my friends in New Zealand tar all of America with the same brush as New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, DC etc. Why I say they have a generalized false impression.
I am proud of the opportunities America afforded me. Opportunities I would not have had in little New Zealand. And proud of the system that enabled me to put my two daughters through the best medical schools in the world and become doctors.
Got it. i wonder if instead of being "proud" of those opportunities and that system, maybe what You really are is "thankful." Which is how a lot of people who end up in America from overseas feel. And justifiably so.
Just out of curiosity, which 41 years were You in America? i know You've told me in the past, but i forget.
1974 -2015
And yes, you are right, "thankful" is a better word.
There are a lot of things about the US I am not proud about. Iraq, Libya etc.
It would be interesting to go back and check the numbers on Gun Violence in those places You worked and lived in then, Dennis, as compared to their numbers today, eh? It would also be interesting to see if and how those numbers have changed over time since You returned to NZ; and if they have changed, how.
In any event, here is a very sobering statistic that i just stumbled across: MORE AMERICANS HAVE DIED FROM GUNSHOTS IN THE LAST 50 YEARS THAN IN ALL OF THE WARS IN AMERICAN HISTORY.
Since 1968, more than 1.5 million Americans have died in gun-related incidents, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. By comparison, approximately 1.2 million service members have been killed in every war in U.S. history, according to estimates from the Department of Veterans Affairs and iCasualties.org, a website that maintains an ongoing database of casualties from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
[ https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/las-vegas-shooting/more-americans-killed-guns-1968-all-u-s-wars-combined-n807156 ]
That definitely adds a whole new dimension of perspective on this whole issue for me.
Whew! It sure does eh Jeff?
In terms of gun violence, 2015 now seems like ancient history, Dennis. Columbine happened 24 years ago, and at the time, it was a profound national shock. To date this year, there have been some 150 mass shootings in this country. In 1999, there were four others besides Columbine. So, a 30-fold increase for less than the first third of this year. I don't think the NZ media are exaggerating.
Cleveland is a backwater, compared with L.A., NYC, Philly, and Chicago. And yet, we've seen gunplay in our little neighborhood, and within a mile of our house, a serial killer was discovered and captured a few years ago. Even the more upscale areas aren't immune from gun violence, and on the east side of town, in gang central, it's a war zone. Over 20 years ago, when I worked at the hotel over there, I was warned never to drive down certain streets at night. So....yeah, the guns are, in fact, out of control in many parts of the country. If anything, media coverage here downplays the situation.
You cannot divorce the love of guns in the US from people so saturated with pro-gun entertainment. Movies, TV shows and video games are all focused on the wonderfulness of guns. This is where your "fun" element comes in. If all of Hollywood and TV were saturated with the reality of guns (actual wounded and dead people shown in graphic detail) rather than the Dirty Harry variety, things might be at least a bit different here in the US. The gun love indoctrination has been going on for a long time in this country (I even watched the early Bonanza, Rifleman and Gun Smoke shows when they first came out on TV). The people in this country have been marinating in that fantasy land my entire life.
The worship of guns and gun ownership is an American pathology that is joined at the hip with "American Exceptionalism." Unless and until both are eradicated and excised from the body politic, the USA will remain a toxic outlier/rogue state.
Since Chicago, where I am, has been mentioned several times in the comments, y'all might be interested in seeing the statistics from the Chicago Police Dept: https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/sites/vrd/home/violence-victimization.html
Scroll down to get graphs and maps. As can be seen, the number of incidents is creeping up each year. Just the other day there was a disturbance on Michigan Avenue where a person was shot and there was property damage.
My experience in the city has been free of any incidents of violence or witnessing any gun fire and this included being in the black neighborhoods walking or on a bike and daily use of the rapid transit for 23 years. But that ended over 20 years ago with retirement. Last week there was a kid killed by gunfire at a beach two miles from me. Killed by another teen.
Nailed it again, Bill.
And Ray is absolutely correct: As the bottom falls out of the American [and the Global] economy and financial system, and the "American Dream" morphs into a Nightmare, what we have seen so far is just the beginning of a very long, dark, and ugly manifestation of the American Empire's ~ and with it, this Nation's and this People's ~ descent thru "Decline" into, thru, and beyond "Fall," all the way to chaos and collapse, and ~ as the only alternative the politicians and media can come up with ~ a totalitarian regime from Hell.
The questions are: What is to be done? And more importantly, what actually CAN be done? And most importantly, exactly Who is supposed to be going to do it?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/300858670/sixyearold-girl-parents-shot-after-basketball-rolls-into-us-mans-yard
Too many guns, not enough (or any) brains.
Why not just call 911? Well, as the saying goes, when seconds count the police are only minutes away.
Yes, Alex, but in the two cases I cite, there was no need for guns and shooting.
If both guys had called 911, one young woman would be alive who's now dead and another teenager wouldn't have been shot twice because he got lost.
That may be true. One can always cite examples that would support either stance on the question. What I've read is that guns are used between one and two million times a year to prevent a personal injury crime. Perhaps one answer is for those in charge of cities that seem to allow rioting to do what they can to stop it. But for some reason those in charge prefer to do the opposite. And so citizens respond to the lack of police protection by buying more guns. It's a cycle. I would mention Chicago and L.A. as two examples. Portland. etc.
My guess is that the overwhelming majority of guns that are bought are not by people living in cities where rioting has occurred.
See https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/gun-ownership-by-state and
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/sosmap/firearm_mortality/firearm.htm for details.
And do You have source on that claim that "guns are used between one and two million times a year to prevent a personal injury crime"? That's a pretty broad and wide range of numbers for a specific activity, isn't it?
.........Cook told The Washington Post that "a more reasonable estimate" of self-defense gun uses equals about 100,000 annually, according to the NCVS data.
Even if someone wanted to use a gun in self-defense, they probably wouldn't be very successful, says Mike Weisser, firearms instructor and author of the blog "Mike The Gun Guy." He says many people who carry a gun aren't properly trained to use it in this way..."
"The latest data show that people use guns for self-defense only rarely. According to a Harvard University analysis of figures from the National Crime Victimization Survey, people defended themselves with a gun in nearly 0.9 percent of crimes from 2007 to 2011."
David Hemenway, who led the Harvard research, argues that the risks of owning a gun outweigh the benefits of having one in the rare case where you might need to defend yourself. "The average person ... has basically no chance in their lifetime ever to use a gun in self-defense,"..... "But ... every day, they have a chance to use the gun inappropriately. They have a chance, they get angry. They get scared."
https://www.npr.org/2018/04/13/602143823/how-often-do-people-use-guns-in-self-defense
Well the mass media brings disaster into our living rooms regardless of where we live. So we are made to feel afraid even if we don't live in Chicago, etc. Isn't that the point of their reporting?
The American People have been made by their government and its media to be afraid ever since 9/11, Alex. First there was Saddam's "WMDs." Then there was the too-big-to-fail 2008 financial "¢risi$." Then there was Trump. Then there was The COVID Event, Election2020, and January 6. Then there was and is World War III with Russia over Ukraine. Now it's a second front in WW III with China over Taiwan, a looming Pandemic just waiting to be hatched and released to go along with inflation, a Debt Ceiling crisis, and the end of the US Dollar as the "Petro Dollar" and global reserve currency. And the fact that the leading candidates to be the next President of the United States are Trump, DeSantis, and Biden.
Fear is not just the point of the media's reporting. It is the point of virtually everything this government has done and is doing for the last 22 years this coming September 11.
And it is working perfectly.