There is money in making sure that we never have reasonable gun control in this nation: Forbes Article on the finances behind the NRA

This was taken from the statement of Wayne Lapierre on December 21, 2012, the NRA’s “official” response to the painful reminder of the damages that guns do in the United States of America:

As parents, we do everything we can to keep our children safe. It is now time for us to assume responsibility for their safety at school. The only way to stop a monster from killing our kids is to be personally involved and invested in a plan of absolute protection. The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. Would you rather have your 911 call bring a good guy with a gun from a mile away … or a minute away?

Now, I can imagine the shocking headlines you’ll print tomorrow morning: “More guns,” you’ll claim, “are the NRA’s answer to everything!” Your implication will be that guns are evil and have no place in society, much less in our schools. But since when did the word “gun” automatically become a bad word?

A gun in the hands of a Secret Service agent protecting the President isn’t a bad word. A gun in the hands of a soldier protecting the United States isn’t a bad word. And when you hear the glass breaking in your living room at 3 a.m. and call 911, you won’t be able to pray hard enough for a gun in the hands of a good guy to get there fast enough to protect you.

So why is the idea of a gun good when it’s used to protect our President or our country or our police, but bad when it’s used to protect our children in their schools?

They’re our kids. They’re our responsibility. And it’s not just our duty to protect them  it’s our right to protect them.

I ask who is going to protect me from the NRA?

Who is going to protect me from a gun lobby that is holding our legislatures hostage and refusing to allow them to do the sensible thing?

It is not reasonable to say that any civilian needs an extended clip that will allow a gun to fire 100 bullets in under 3 minutes.

It is not reasonable to say that a civilian needs an assault rifle.  On a personal level I would go so far as to say nothing more than a revolver or bolt-action rifle is necessary, but I am trying my best, in this insanity, to be just a little reasonable, unlike the NRA.

I was unable to tell if I was looking at C. Delores Tucker or LaPierre this afternoon as I watched, with open mouth and weeping eyes, the person on the screen advocate putting guns into the hands of security guards, teachers and trained civilians.

You know what I see when I hear someone say that a trained civilian will be patrolling my child’s school?  I see this:

 

I will pass on that.  I live in Philadelphia.  It gets cold here.  I let my son wear a hoodie to school to keep him warm.

This concept that if the Principal or some other staff person had a gun could have saved lives is terrifying.  I see cars, and I am typing this on a laptop, and will be sending this over WiFi, but to listen to the NRA I live in Tombstone circa 1881.

More guns is not the answer.

Yes if it were up to ME I WOULD kick in your front door and take away your gun.  I would locate every gun in this nation – take them even if it meant from your cold dead hands – and melt them.  I would recommission the space shuttle for one more trip to take every bullet and send them all of them into orbit.

I would then start over.

No  civilian would be allowed to have a bullet that holds more than 9 bullets.  Any civilian found with more than 100 rounds of ammo would forfeit their right to own a gun for the rest of their life.

Shit I might even go so far as to ban the caliber allowed on a handgun to nothing more than a .22, and you can only have one per household.

Would all of my extremes stop violence?  Absolutely not.

What it would stop would be mass killings by those with the intent to mass kill with a gun.

I’m okay with that.

I once had a ridiculous conversation right after the Aurora shootings where the person said the man could have done the same amount of damage with a bow and arrow.  Absolutely not.

Could someone get some fertilizer and make a bomb?  Good luck with that in a post 9/11 America that has the Patriot Act.

Good fucking luck.

More guns are not the answer.

Those who choose this route are able to end so many lives at one time because there are so few restrictions on getting a gun and bullets.

Why not try making it MORE difficult instead of easier.

After all, Adam Lanza’s first victim was a woman who owned a gun and knew how to use it, his mother.