Would You Like Bullets With That Order?
ABC news reports that gun dealers outnumber McDonald’s 9 to 1.
So, I have at least one more thing to say before I get back to being irreverent.
On Saturday, Bubba and I were cruising down Highway 59 outside of Houston and saw a large state highway digital sign giving the quickest route to the George R Brown Convention Center for the “High Caliber Gun Show.” Less than 18 hours after the school massacre, traffic had to be rerouted to a high caliber gun show because it was backing up.
I wish I had gotten a picture of the highway sign but to be honest, Bubba and I were both so stunned that just driving and sucking air was all we could do.
I guess in honor of the school shooting, children under 12 get in free at the Christmas gun show.
You would think that good taste would cause them to close the high caliber gun shows for at least 24 hours. That’s what you would think. And, like me, you would be wrong.
I was so proud of our President last night. He showed courage and wisdom. I, for one, think we have had enough blood sacrifices to the NRA.
I said the same thing about guns here in Knoxville. What the heck is WRONG with these people??
http://jabberwockwords.blogspot.com/2012/12/i-just-dont-get-it.html
1I saw that sign on I45 as well on Saturday. Went to the website. That show is apparently a multi-state family owned business.
I heard someone say that what occurred in Newtown isn’t a tragedy, it’s an atrocity.
I agree.
2I think about those teachers principal and school psychologist who were injured and killed.
I worked in several schools and cannot think of a case where a teacher would not put herself in harms way to save a student.
And then I think of all the nasty remarks about teachers and schools.
I was injured by a kid in school and have not worked for the past 14 years.
Talk with teachers and ask them about the parents that they deal with. Even years ago, we had parents that we would not meet with without the principal(male) also being present.
3Or the violent students that are put into schools, because it is cheaper to mainstream students that to give them services and/or care that they need.
My heart goes out to all those parents who will have one less child at home today.
And also to all the teachers and school personnel that will go into a classroom today, wondering what will happen next.
Gun “shows” – a.k.a. let’s circumvent the gun sale laws flea markets – had HUGE attendance this weekend, and high-capacity magazines are selling like they are going out of style, which they ought to be.
Any business where dead kids is good for business is a bad business.
Let’s review a couple of “ranting points”
“Self-defense:” many, many more people are killed by the guns they or someone in their house bought for self-defense, than actually kill, wound or frighten an intruder. This includes Nancy Lanza.
“If everybody had been armed…:” This one cracks me up. Can you imagine SIX people shooting in the dark at each other in the theater at Aurora? Have you ever played laser tag? Imagine those are bullets. But here’s an even better example. Fort Hood was full of trained, armed soldiers and MPs and 13 people STILL died. And you want to arm the lunch lady?
“Better mental health system…:” Agreed! Too bad St Ronnie of Reagan destroyed it. Ask your gun buddies “How much of a tax increase and/or federal debt are you willing to incur in order to re-open those public mental health facilities?” The 3 biggest currently open are all PRISONS.
Now is not the time to have this conversation…:” Agreed again! Assault weapons and high capacity magazines have to go FOR A START. No conversation. No negotiation. Then we can “conversate” about the rest.
4Eliminate the gun show loophole for background checks.
Opening position, to gig the NRA types a little: Forget licensing guns, require licenses for gun buyers which involve two month training courses and extensive psychological testing.
5Thanks, Chipster: until I read about arming the lunch lady, I was not able to laugh.
6Somehow the “Christian” religion, as practiced by people like those mentioned above, has incorporated gun worship into its practices. Weird. Sort of pagan.
Who would Jesus shoot?
7I passed it along to JJ.
My grandson in the Texarkana area sent me a Faux News story about a school district (Harrod) where ever the heck that is…. that is going to let their teachers have guns in school.
What a wonderful lesson to teach kids: “You easiest way to resolve all conflicts…..is with guns”.
8BTW – da Chipster.
Stole your “lunch lady” comment line, and delivered to my grandson.
I’m sure it will …… how should I say this…… (sorry Momma)….. piss him off some…. and if it does…… fine by me.
First mistake he makes is watching Faux News…… Second mistake is thinking that giving the lunch lady a gun is in his words “pro-active”.
I think his biggest mistake is living up that close to Arkansas. JMHO.
Thanks…..
9Ya know Miemaw, the Clintons come from Arkansas. What’s Texas contributed to the nation lately? One Dick and a bunch of Bushes. Hmmm…
10daChipster, I think there is a correction regarding your statement of the soldiers and MPs at Ft Hood.
11The MPs on base are like the civilian cops in that they can’t be everywhere as they are about the same ratio as civilian pop.
The soldiers on base there are not armed with loaded guns unless on a firing range or some special duty outside of a hostile area. The military weapons are normally secured otherwise.
I also think they are not allowed to pack even with a CCP on base. (I am not entirely sure of this one.)
As I recall, it was a female cop who finally took the shooter down as nobody else had any weapons on them.
Chipster, your inclusion of St Ronnie in your comments was dead on. See
12http://www.sociology.org/content/vol003.004/thomas.html
nobody seems to jump right to that part of ‘beat your swords into plowshares,’ huh?
13@Aggieland liz.
I know. But so does Mike Huckabee. And, unfortunately, from the folks I’ve met up around there…. there’s more Huckabee than Clinton influence. And, there’s more Faux, than MSNBC.
I went to his last wedding. She is now his ex. She also has a CHL, and a gun. Got it after Obama was elected the first time… He for some unknown reason thinks he needs an AR-47. It’s all totally beyond my comprehension.
And the school district that wants to arm the lunch lady is the Harrold School District….. where ever that may be.
I don’t even pretend to understand the culture of East Texas, or guns.
14If you want an example of the mentality of the masses who wouldn’t think of closing down their gun show, check out the people who were thoroughly offended by having to miss part of a football game. (Warning, there are some truly offensive and cretinous comments presented.)
15http://deadspin.com/5968935/take-that-nigger-off-the-tv-we-wanna-watch-football-idiots-respond-to-nbc-pre+empting-sunday-night-football
@ DonA: stupefying, isn’t it? I’m speechless.
@ Miemaw: yeah, I know. I still can’t believe we elected (*appointed?) that little goober TWICE! Jeez. Actually, Arkansas is a beautiful place that is a shade wild still, even the humans. We know some “black helicopter” survivalist Catholic repubs that moved there. Paranoia? You bet, in spades! They really lived in fear that they were going to be brainwashed into pansy, professorial (ha, you gotta have brains), soft, gunless, and Godless weenies. It was amazingly sad. They just could not wrap their little closed minds around the fact that other people freely living their lives did NOT in any way reflect or infringe upon them! Pathetic.
16Just FYI.
Harrold ISD has had some of its faculty armed since 2008.
They are so remote from any law enforcement….. up around Abilene some where… Response time would be about 20 minutes for any problems.
They felt it was the way to go. They have a small student body (about 110), and it works for them
Faux News just thought they should bring it up ……… now.
17About arming teachers – how does that work, will they carry it on their person or have it locked away in a desk? Because if they carry it on them, I can just see this happening – one of the kids grabs the gun and whether for “fun” or in anger starts shooting up the classroom. Or if it’s locked away in their desk, how quickly will a teacher get it to it when a gunman bursts into the room and immediately starts shooting?
18There’s another pro-gun facebook meme going around about how murderers will find a way blah blah blah about Timmothy McVeigh and OKC. Anyplace you see that, lay this on them:
There was once a guy so angry with the government about gun laws that he showed up at Waco handing out leaflets in support of Koresh and gun rights, made money by buying and reselling guns to people who wanted to remain anonymous, followed gun shows from town to town, stole guns at gunpoint and resold them to fund his quest, and one day was pulled over for a license plate violation, but was arrested and held for a weapons violation. He was carrying a loaded Glock. He was arrested in a shirt that said “Sic semper tyrannis” on one side, and “the tree of liberty must be watered…” yadda yadda yadda on the other.
A little bit later, he was also charged bombing the OKC federal building. His weapons of choice THAT DAY -Ammonium nitrate and nitro methane – are now more tightly regulated by the federal government because of him.
Sure his weapon was a bomb, but his motive was guns.
Burn in hell, Timothy McVeigh, prepper, terrorist, “gun patriot,” loser.
19Imagine a teacher trying to keep track of a classroom of kids AND a semi-automatic pistol that was safe from the kids but still readily accessible (no such thing). The gun supporters are so afraid the public will finally act they are pulling out all the stops.
20I received a facebook posting this morning from a gun loving relative – a smarmy, (Think Kincaid portrait) of little children gathered around a blackboard with Jesus and a teacher. And the complete parody of The Night Before Christmas begins “Twas 11 days before Christmas at 9:38 and goes on to describe all of those little children bursting through heaven’s gates laughing and giggling. I sat on my hands to keep from replying, having caused an earlier dustup with inlaws by commenting on Republican anti-choice legislation. How many candlelight vigils, memorial services with little white paper angels hanging from the ceiling and this crappy Christmas parody circulating around the globe before we say “Enough already with memorials, flowers, stuffed animals and prayers” which give us comfort that we have done something to “remember” these victims. then, let’s get something done about the magniture of our gun problem. How about a reality check for the nation – a picture of those children in the blood splattered room – some of them shot multiple times. ……….. And in the paper this morning there are 3 reports of other assults and aborted assaults. Google “Twas 11 Days before Christmas”, but have a barf bag at the ready.
21Oh my God June Bug, I received exactly the same posting from my beloved and completely non-violent sister and I had the same reaction that you did but I have NO-WAY of expressing my utter disgust and anguish with the whole scenario. She just doesn’t get it, she has absolutely no awareness of the inherent evil and idiocy portrayed by this picture. Thank for the posting.
22If none of you remember St Ronnie of Reagan warbling on about our Marines “guarding the streets of Heaven” after their barracks was destroyed in Lebanon (I think) I do. Mainly because we always bring it up when some schmaltz like this starts making the rounds.
Number 1) what in the world will Heaven need guards for??
23Number 2) is that all we can come up with in the aftermath of this unspeakable horror? Schmaltz?? Dear Sweet Jesus, say it ain’t so!
Girl, what a great post!!!
24V
There may be more gun shops than McDonalds, but do they outnumber Starbucks?
I’ve been contemplating the wisdom of arming teachers, and have decidedthat it is fine—as long as they leave them at home.
25Aggieland liz, I too had a relative post this bit of saccharine nonsense about the new arrivals in Heaven. However I think St. Ronnie of Reagan was making a more meaningful allusion in 1983 when he said the Marines were “guarding the streets of Heaven”. The second half of the third verse of the Marine Corp anthem goes as follows:
If the Army and the Navy
Ever look on Heaven’s scenes;
They will find the streets are guarded
By United States Marines.
I did not know this till many years later, but I suspect all of the Marines listening to Reagan immediately got the reference.
26@Bill ok, wasn’t familiar with that myself, thanks for updating me 🙂 at the time, I believe I told my Mike that the allusion would comfort a lot of people who were grieving. I am sure this crummy little bit of drivel will do the same, but that is what I object to: Marines and other servicemen enlist as adults with the knowledge that they may be targeted, and that is the reality of a career in the armed services. To comfort each other upon the loss of our own is right and proper. The children who were cruelly executed in Newtown SHOULD NOT HAVE DIED. This pseudo Christian it’s-all-in-God’s-plan nonsense response is a lot of pernicious bullcrap, and if all these morons can do is weep a little and pat each other on the back and tell each other that it’s all ok because they are with Jesus now, then we hane just reset the timer ticking down to the next time some psychotic maniac decides that killing a bunch of strangers will be a great way to revenge himself upon society at large for whatever imaginary slight has been festering away in his or her breast, unsuspected and unaddressed. We need to ACT, to come up with some creative way to address these issues, not just mouth a lot of empty platitudes to soothe our shallow momentary sorrows. That’s what the NRA is betting on, that this is a momentary blip on the national scene and we will be distracted very shortly by something shiny.
27The problem is, it’s a damned good bet!