FLOTSAM & JETSAM: Post Navy Yard killing thoughts

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Post Navy Yard killing thoughts

Sam Smith

It appears from the evidence so far that the killer had serious mental problems. Could some of the time spent arguing about guns be turned instead to how we deal with mental problems in the military?

The last two mass murderers spent a lot of time playing violent computer games, Why is this mentioned and discussed so little?

There have been a number of these incidents on military bases. Could one reason be that the military teaches people to solve their problems by killing other people?

According to the FBI the number of U.S. murders dropped 39% between 1992 and 2011. Between 2006 and 2010, gun murders dropped 14%. Murders by rifles and shotguns declined 21%.

Dan Baum - We have a tendency to say, “There oughtta be a law!” Why would you ever think that someone who’s bent on homicide is going to obey any of these laws?. . . Once you have made a consumer decision for 100 million gun owners that they can’t have these magazines because they are too irresponsible, you have now driven them out of the conversation.

Half the ten states with the worst 2011 murder rates were in the south. None of the  ten states with the lowest murder rates were in the south. Four of the ten states with the lowest murder rates were in New England. None were in the South. You are nearly nine times more likely to be murdered in Louisiana than you are in New Hampshire,. You are four times more likely to be murdered in Mississippi than in Maine. What do guns have to do with these facts?

After DC passed a handgun ban in the 1970s, the murder rate almost tripled, One possible reason that few mention: the violent side effects of the war on drugs

After Britain passed a gun law in the 1960s, the murder rate increased by about 60%. When another gun law was passed in the 1990s murder deaths increase by about 25%.

At least 85% of gun owners support background checks which presumably would have prevented the Navy Yard killer from purchasing a gun legally in Virginia. What gun owners object to are more intrusive regulations and bans.

Liberals are hurting all sorts of causes by being so belligerent about guns.  You can't piss off 80-100 Americans on a cause they believe in and still get them to support the rest of your agenda.

As the Civil War officer told his troops, "Elevate your guns a little lower."