Category Archives: 2nd Amendment

January 5, 2016 · 0:00

Guns: A “Right” or an “Addiction”?

Who do I think I’m kidding. You already know, without anything to back it up, which side of the title question I come out on.

About a month ago, I came across an editorial in an online medical journal that has been on my mind ever since.

Is American Gun Ownership a Form of Addiction?

In it, George D. Lundberg, MD, persuasively argued that maybe the vehemence of gun owners protecting their so-called “right to bear arms” isn’t so much an intellectual argument as one fueled by addiction. And I think that Dr. Lundberg may be on to something.

He first listed the nine symptoms of substance addiction:

Availability of the agent for experimentation;
Initial use producing pleasure followed by subsequent pleasant episodes of use and positive secondary reinforcement;
Psychological dependence or habituation;
Tolerance, with need to use more to get the same effect;
Chemical physical dependence;
Withdrawal symptoms when the agent is taken away;
Drug-seeking behavior;
Continued use even when obvious harm has been experienced; and
Rationalization and denial.

Then, Dr. Lundberg states that, like addictions to gambling and sex, with an addiction to guns, there is no physical/chemical addiction. But the other symptoms? Check, check, check. Check-mate.

Here, in fact, is Dr. Lundberg’s gun addiction checklist:

Availability? Check;
Positive reinforcement? Check;
Habituation? Check;
Tolerance? Big check. Once someone becomes a gun owner, adding guns is usual; one is not enough. The average American gun-owning household includes 8.1 firearms, up from 4.1 in 1994. The NRA goes bonkers about any suggestion of limits;
Chemical dependence? No;
Withdrawal? I have not personally seen a convulsion in a gun-owning doctor when confronted with the possibility of losing his or her guns, but pretty damn close. I mean….;
Weapon-seeking behavior? Check;
Continued use despite harmful results? Check; and
Rationalization and denial? Check.

I think that Dr. Lundberg is on to something.

I think the issue of gun addiction deserves some attention today, as President Obama unveils the measures he can take towards sane gun control laws because Congress won’t.

President Obama hugged Mark Barden, whose son was killed in the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012, before announcing his executive action on gun control in the East Room of the White House. Photo Credit Doug Mills/The New York Times

Thanks, Mr. President. Because 90% of Americans believe in stronger gun laws. And because 100% of us remember this:

Sandy Hook Elementary School, 2012. Wikimedia Image

The Medscape article, with the video of Dr. Lundberg delivering his editorial, is free, but by subscription.

58 Comments

Filed under 'Merica, 2016, 2nd Amendment, Adult Traumas, All The News You Need, All We Are Saying Is Give Peace A Chance, Bat-shit crazy, Being an asshole, Cancer on Society, Crazy Folks Running, Criminal Activity, Do GOP Voters Actually THINK?, Elections, Elections Matter, Good Deed Doers, GOP, Gross, Health, Health and Medicine, I Can't Get No, Illness, keys to success, Oh shit, Peace, Politics, Science, Taking Care of Each Other, Tea Parties, Vote, Voting, Washington, Wild Beasts, WTF?

Tagged as Assholes, Crazy people, Gun Addiction, Gun control, Guns are Deadly you Dopes!, Limit access to guns, Stupidity, Vote for Candidates who support sane gun laws

January 4, 2016 · 0:00

By Any Other Name

Sometimes, as I fulfill my contractual duty to the WordPress community to write about all the news that is, well, news-y, I find myself unable to keep up with the fast pace of the current most blog-worthy items.

For example, today I wanted to write about the Bundy Boys while I sipped my coffee at breakfast. I wanted to rant about bozos with bazookas, but alas, I had to go to work. I could not rant.

You’ve heard about the Bundy Boys, haven’t you? Ammon and Ryan (Ammon???? WTF?) Two sons of Cliven Bundy have taken over federal land (a bird sanctuary, because we all know that those folks pack heat(ed hand and foot warmers) to protest what they claim is unfair guv’ment action.

Here is the low down from the Washington Post:

A group of armed anti-government activists remained encamped at a federal wildlife refuge in Oregon on Sunday evening, vowing to occupy the outpost for years to protest the federal government’s treatment of a pair of local ranchers set to report to prison Monday.

The occupation of a portion of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, about 30 miles southeast of Burns, Ore., began a day earlier, after a small group of men broke off from a much larger march and rally held on Saturday evening

The armed occupation is being led by Ammon Bundy, an Idaho rancher whose father, Cliven Bundy, led an armed standoff with federal agents in Nevada in 2014 and who has described his supporters as “militia men.”

If you continue trying to send these convicted arsonists to jail, I will hold my breath until I turn blue. Oh, yeah, I AM blue. My bad. (Google Image)

On the way to work, I formulated perfect sentences expressing my disdain for folks who claim to be patriots but who work against the government. Petulant ammosexuals. Boys with more guns than either brains or balls. And if you’ve been paying attention, you might recall that I’m not big on guns. Or dopes. Or armed-fucking-rebellion.

Well, today, the delay in my blog drafting reaped rewards. Huge rewards.

Because at lunch time, because the interwebs are/is alive with ideas on just what to call the Bundy Boys. As described in a Huffington Post article, folks are rising to the challenge of just exactly to what to call the boys.

Here are the current contenders:

#Y’All Qaeda

#VanillaISIS:

#YokelHaram

#al-Shabubba, and say the group is waging #YeeHawd

I thought we might help. You see, originally I had planned to insert a poll RIGHT HERE to see which name y’all prefer, but in the newest new Word Press format, there appears no way to insert a poll.*

Oh and the two men who inspired this anti-guv’ment protest? They were convicted of arson on Federal land and they served some time in prison. Recently a federal judge determined that they had been improperly sentenced, and that there was additional time to be served.

But my favorite tweet?

Every successful revolution starts with takeover of closed visitor center with gift shop. #OregonUnderAttack #YallQaeda

These two guys oppose the Bundy Boys, and turned themselves in today. They didn’t condone the Bundy Boys take over of the bird sanctuary-with gift shop.

In fact, it seems that self-proclaimed “patriots” — “militia men” are fallin’ all over themselves to distance themselves from the Bundy Boys.

I can’t imagine why. Can you?

***

* When the Bundy Boys are done with this here protest, I’m gonna call them up. Then they can take over Word Press and we can call it:

#stop-all the damn changes-Word-Press-or-I’ll-shoot

***

This story just keeps on giving. Just after I posted, I read this post, by I Tried Being Tasteful.

You really can’t make this shit up.

39 Comments

Filed under 'Merica, 2016, 2nd Amendment, ; Don't Make Me Feel Perky Tonigh, All The News You Need, All We Are Saying Is Give Peace A Chance, Bat-shit crazy, Beating that Dead Horse, Being an asshole, Cancer on Society, Crazy family members, Disgustology, Do GOP Voters Actually THINK?, Elections Matter, GOP, Gross, Gun control, Huh?, Humiliation, Humor, I Can't Get No, Mental Health, Oh shit, Politics, Pooders, Shit happens, Tea Parties, Voting, What a Maroon, Word Press, WTF?

Tagged as Ammosexuals, Are they serious?, Assholes, Bundy Boys, Crazy people, Don't try this at home, Holy Shit, Humor, Lord Protect Me From Your Followers, Right Wing Nutcases, Stupidity, What fell on their heads?, WTF?

December 2, 2015 · 0:00

How To Get Gun Control Legislation Enacted

It was a Sunday night in, I think, 1982, and I arrived home from my late night walk with Goliath at the U.S. Capitol grounds. We’d had a lovely walk, on the always safe grounds.

US Capitol at night. Image Credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/intrepid00/14504378266

When I got home, my roommate Keily met me at the door.

“Are you OK?” she asked.

“Yeah,” I responded, thinking she was weird.

“They just reported on the 10 O’Clock News that a bomb went off at the Capitol.”

“Oh!” I responded, and sat down to watch the news.

If I had heard or seen anything, I would have reported it. But in fact, there was nothing unusual about my walk that night. Nothing at all.

Tuesday morning, I headed to the Rayburn House Office Building bright and early to attend a hearing. I was stopped by the guard on my way in. My briefcase and my purse were searched.

36 Hours Later.

Stupidly, I cracked a joke to a security guard who was suddenly actually guarding security.

“Now why did you have to say that?” he said. “Now I really have to look.”

As the days went on, more and more security was added. No longer could I be at two places at once. I (and half of the other twenty-somethings in DC) had long been leaving my briefcase in one hearing with a tape recorder running while my body attended a second one. That became a thing of the past.

Within a very short time, security increased by leaps and bounds. Metal detectors were installed; the life of a low-level lobbyist became more of a pain in the ass than it had been.

Our Congressional Representatives and our Senators were protected, though. For a long time, I thought that was fine.

Until mass shootings became common. And until those very same Congressmen and Senators refused to act to protect people in the US from the danger of random gunfire. Until fealty to the National Rifle Association (the NRA) and keeping their jobs — became more important than the safety of regular people. More important than protecting students in their schools, shoppers in their stores, workers in their offices.

So here’s my idea:

Let’s take down those metal detectors. Stop paying for them to have security guards at every door.

The real world is a dangerous place. And the folks who refuse to make it less so, should not hide behind shields the rest of us don’t have.

* * *

I am not advocating violence against Congress or against anybody. I oppose violence — and I am strongly in favor of sensible gun control laws. But until the folks who make the laws — or in this case, DON’T make the laws — have the same concerns as the rest of us, well, nothing is going to happen.

And in fact, in the 1960s, Governor Ronald Reagan actually repealed open carry laws when Black Panthers led by Huey Newton made the legislators a wee bit nervous.