About Us – Gun Guys. Voices of Reason. What Hurricane? GOP & Lobbyists Party It Up With "Hookers and Blow" Conservatives Discover One Right Accused Terrorists Should Have. Yesterday Congress held hearings on a bill to prevent people on the terrorism watch list from purchasing guns. This is actually a highly controversial bill. Dana Milbank and Gail Collins were on hand to make Lindsey Graham look ridiculous. Milbank: "If society decides that these people are too dangerous to get on an airplane with other people, then it's probably appropriate to look very hard before you let them buy a gun," countered Bloomberg.
"But we're talking about a constitutional right here," Graham went on. The thinking isn't very far from the surface here, is it? Collins adds: The terrorist watch list is huge, and some of the names on it are undoubtedly there in error. There's a pretty hilarious double standard here about the rights of gun owners.
A lot of right-wingers see an armed citizenry as the ultimate protection against government tyranny, but many of them see to be embracing a vision in which it's the only protection. Gun Control and the Second Amendment. Global Diagnosis: America's Health Care Policies Are Sick. If you were to ask most Americans whether or not the United States has the lowest infant mortality, I suspect the large majority would give you a resounding "yes. " That's why it's startling to realize that the U.S. actually ranks 46th in the world. The top three countries are Singapore at 2.3 infant deaths per thousand, Sweden at 2.75 and Japan at 2.8. The U.S. infant mortality rate - 6.3 per thousand births - is higher than Cuba, Portugal, Slovenia and Iceland.
On life expectancy, we don't do any better; indeed, we rank 45th in the world. With respect to healthcare spending, however, we are absolutely tops! A robust 15.4 percent of our GDP goes for healthcare. That's the highest of any country in the world. An Out-of-Control Bureaucracy In that context, I believe it's just plain silly for the folks in Washington D.C. to consider spending an additional $600 billion for healthcare. We should. So, what countries seem to be handling healthcare most effectively and efficiently? The Problem with J Street. Walter Russell Mead writes: J Street fundamentally misreads the politics of America’s Middle Eastern policies, and as a result it is essentially irrelevant to the real debates that will decide what America will do in the region.
One of the most common (and idiotic) assumptions about American foreign policy is that “the Jews” control it. Virtually everyone in the Middle East, a deeply depressing number of Europeans (who cling to anti-Semitic myths about Jewish power and clannishness even while claiming to be completely free of prejudice), and even a handful of misguided Americans think that American gentiles are so weak and so foolish that a handful of clever, rich and unscrupulous Jews have led us around for decades with rings through our noses when it comes to the Middle East. AIPAC’s power, which is real, is a bit like the power of the National Rifle Association.
Gun Control: A Realistic Assessment. This article is copyrighted. It was provided by the author, Don B. Kates, Jr., and is distributed with the permission of the author. It may be cited as long as credit is given. As per Don Kates' note: "IF YOU POST THIS, YOU MUST INCLUDE THE INFORMATION THAT IT IS PUBLISHED BY THE PACIFIC RESEARCH FOUNDATION, 177 POST ST., San Francisco, CA 94108 and is available in printed form for $10.00 under the title GUNS, MURDERS AND THE CONSITUTTION. " By Don B. . * Don B. Copyright DBK 1990 STATEMENT OF DERIVATION: The materials that follow are partially adapted from these sources: materials for Prof. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: I wish to thank the following for assistance: Professors David Bordua (Sociology, U. of Illinois), Philip J. Thus, until about the mid-1970s academic writing about guns was virtually monopolized by crusaders seeking to validate their contempt and loathing for guns and gun owners. Yet that literature has not proved persuasive to neutral scholars. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
§. Koch Spy Agency Led by Voter Fraud Huckster The Kochs have been complaining about a "lack of civility in politics" as they seek to boost their public image--but one of their top operatives helped propel perhaps the most egregious case of race-baiting voter fraud hucksterism in recent years. At the same time that the Kochs have been on a PR blitz, publicly spinning an image of themselves as well-intentioned patriots trying to make the world a better place and decrying "character assassination," they've been quietly ramping up a clandestine surveillance and intelligence gathering operation focused on their perceived political enemies, Ken Vogel reports at Politico.
At the helm of this "competitive intelligence" operation is a man named Mike Roman, Vice President of Research for Kochs' Freedom Partners and who was paid $265,000 last year, according to Freedom Partners' recent tax filing. Read the rest of this item here. Wisconsinites Reject the "Eric O'Keefe Session" of the Legislature Rep. Opposing Views: Gun Industry Continues to Produce More Lethal Weapons. (We are pleased to post the following guest commentary from Josh Sugarmann, Executive Director of the Violence Policy Center. Mr. Sugarmann's essay was originally posted on the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence's "Insights" section on its website). Since its inception, the Violence Policy Center (VPC) has approached gun violence as a broad-based public health, as opposed to solely a crime issue. The public health approach offers insight into the full range of gun death and injury. With the recent regulation of tobacco, guns are now the only consumer product sold in the United States not regulated by a federal agency for health and safety.
This approach is summed up in our 1994 study Cease Fire: A Comprehensive Strategy to Reduce Firearms Violence. Prior to the release of Cease Fire, gun violence prevention efforts focused almost solely on the user -- not on the industry itself. Increased lethality, eagerly marketed by the gun industry with no concern for public safety. The Progressive Puppy: NRA Already Taking Aim at Obama.
Can a Pol Get Elected Without Wooing the Gun Lobby? Published: August 14, 2010 By Martha Rosenberg Even though sport hunters account for only four percent of the nation - not much more than vegetarians and considerably less than LGBTs - many candidates, even dove candidates, feel compelled to don Blaze Orange and show the nation their Davy Crockett (or Annie Oakley) side. Who can forget Bill Clinton and John Kerry's campaign-timed duck outings for the benefit of photographers ?
And Mitt Romney and Hillary Clinton's verbal credentialing during the last election? (Romney ended up ridiculed by the gun press for calling himself a lifelong hunter on the basis of a few hunting trips in which he shot rodents, rabbits and "small varmints" and Clinton was termed "Annie Oakley" by the man who would defeat her.) Former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson's hunting histrionics were especially embarrassing when he was gunning for the presidency.
Huckabee did everything right for a cammo close-up. But Huckabee got no bounce out of the event. George W. Bush 2000 for President - Son of President Bush. NRA-led gun lobby wields powerful influence over ATF, U.S. politics. Behind the scenes, federal agents in charge of stopping gun trafficking to Mexico have quietly advanced a plan to help stem the smuggling of high-powered AK-47s and AR-15s to the bloody drug war south of the border.
The controversial proposal by officials at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives calls for a measure strongly opposed by the National Rifle Association: requiring gun dealers to report multiple sales of rifles and shotguns to ATF. The gun issue is so incendiary and fear of the NRA so great that the ATF plan languished for months at the Justice Department, according to some senior law enforcement officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity but would not provide details. The NRA got wind of the idea last month and warned its 4 million members in a "grassroots alert" that the administration might try to go around Congress to get such a plan enacted as an executive order or rule.
An ATF spokesman declined to comment about the matter. White House Takes Aim At Gun Lobby's Reading Of Health Bill : Shots - Health News Blog. Why the Gun Lobby Usually Wins - Jeanne Cummings. The National Rifle Association has money, motivated members and powerful allies in Congress. But what puts the NRA in a separate class among interest groups is its track record of defeating incumbents. In Washington, that is real power. Thus, calls for new gun control measures after the Virginia Tech shootings are likely to face a difficult path on Capitol Hill -- even with Democrats now in charge. "The NRA has pretty much set the agenda for the Congress, so we'll see," said Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), a gun control advocate who represents an urban district near Chicago. "Even after Columbine, we didn't really make progress in moving forward. " In fact, the 2006 midterm elections actually may have enhanced the NRA's strength.
Although many of the NRA's fiercest defenders were defeated, Democrats won control after recruiting conservative candidates who ousted Republican incumbents in western and southern states. When the new Congress was sworn in, executive director Chris W. Rep. Rep. There's Something About Mary: Unmasking a Gun Lobby Mole. This is the story of two Marys. Both are in their early 60s, heavyset, with curly reddish hair. But for years they have worked on opposite ends of the same issues. Mary McFate is an advocate of environmental causes and a prominent activist within the gun control movement. For more than a decade, she volunteered for various gun violence prevention organizations, serving on the boards of anti-gun outfits, helping state groups coordinate their activities, lobbying in Washington for gun control legislation, and regularly attending strategy and organizing meetings.
Mary Lou Sapone, by contrast, is a self-described "research consultant," who for decades has covertly infiltrated citizens groups for private security firms hired by corporations that are targeted by activist campaigns. For some time, Sapone also worked for the National Rifle Association. But these two Marys share a lot in common—a Mother Jones investigation has found that McFate and Sapone are, in fact, the same person. Gun Ownership Rises to All-Time High, Violent Crime Falls to 35-Year Low. National Rifle Association of America, Institute for Legislative Action Coinciding with a surge in gun purchases that began shortly before the 2008 elections, violent crime decreased six percent between 2008 and 2009, including an eight percent decrease in murder and a nine percent decrease in robbery.1 Since 1991, when violent crime peaked, it has decreased 43 percent to a 35-year low.
Murder has fallen 49 percent to a 45-year low.2 At the same time, the number of guns that Americans own has risen by about 90 million. Predictions by gun control supporters, that increasing the number of guns, particularly handguns and so-called “assault weapons,” would cause crime to increase, have been proven profoundly lacking in clairvoyance.4 Less Gun Control: Over the last quarter-century, many federal, state and local gun control laws have been eliminated or made less restrictive. Notes: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. Handguns Kill People. The Los Angeles Times has a story about a guy named Bruce Pardo. Pardo had an interesting Christmas Eve. He dressed up as Santa, rang the door bell at his ex-wife's home and shot nine people and himself with five 9-millimeter handguns. The first person he shot was a nine-year-old girl who was running to greet Santa.
He shot her in the face. Pardo had planned well, according to the article. This guy went to the same store over a period of five months and bought five handguns worth a $1000 dollars each. Now I am from Texas, and as such was raised around guns. Since this is true, I despise the National Rifle Associations desire to have them. Why do Canadians have less murders by guns than we do? Statistics on Gun Violence in South Africa. Search Harper's Index: Numbers and statistics for "guns"