Weapons as “Gamechangers”

W.J. Astore

Americans have a remarkable faith in weapons as “gamechangers,” as simple panaceas to complex problems.

Yesterday, Donald Trump addressed the NRA convention in Houston, offering guns as a panacea to mass shootings. Once again, Trump said that “highly trained” teachers should be allowed to carry concealed guns in the classroom. Apparently, teachers should now be the equivalent of Special Forces warriors, ready to confront shooters with assault weapons at a moment’s notice. When he was president, Trump suggested these warrior-teachers might even see a small bump in pay for their willingness to carry guns and to serve as quasi-SWAT team members at schools. What generosity!

Just as many Americans see more guns as the answer to domestic violence like mass shootings, yet bigger guns and missiles are seen as “game changers” for complex foreign issues like the Russia-Ukraine War. According to CNN, the U.S. government is considering sending the MLRS (multiple launch rocket system) to Ukraine, which has a range of up to 300 miles, to counter Russian troops. One Congressman in particular thinks it’s a dandy idea:

Democratic Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado, who was part of a congressional delegation trip to Kyiv earlier this month, told CNN he believes the systems could help Ukraine gain significant momentum against Russia. 

“I think it could be a gamechanger, to be honest with you,” Crow said, not only for offensive attacks but also for defense. He explained that Russian conventional artillery, which has a range of about 50km, “would not get close” to Ukrainian urban centers if MLRS systems were positioned there. “So it would take away their siege tactics,” he said of the Russians.

Where to begin? Are Ukrainian troops trained on such a system? How do you get the system into Ukraine to begin with? What if the system is used to strike targets inside of Russian territory? What about Russian warnings that such a system could lead to reprisals against European or American assets? What if less-than-well-trained Ukrainian troops fire a bunch of missiles that end up killing dozens, even hundreds, of innocent people?

No matter. The “answer” is always more guns, more howitzers, more missiles. They’re “gamechangers”!

Indeed, they just may be. Just not in the way that Trump imagines, or Congressman Crow.

Finally, that word: “gamechanger.” It’s a common practice in America to talk about war as if it’s a sport, a game. Call it the triumph of dumbass thinking. War is neither sport nor game, and you’re not going to “game-change” the Russia-Ukraine War, as in turning the tide so Ukraine wins, just by sending the MLRS, just as you’re not going to decrease mass shootings in schools by arming teachers with guns.

67 thoughts on “Weapons as “Gamechangers””

  1. “…you’re not going to decrease mass shootings in schools by arming teachers with guns.”

    To me, for the reasons you listed, Bill, along with other factors, the above statement is undeniably accurate. It’s simple logic, theoretically comprehensible to anyone. It’s phrased in clear, precise terms. You didn’t obfuscate, you didn’t stutter. I have to ask myself then, how, HOW, could anyone NOT get it?

    We see the statistics on accidental shootings in homes, even when weapons have been secured. Even trained law enforcement officers don’t have a high degree of accuracy when shooting on the run, facing assailants who are moving and shooting back. Given all that, how can it NOT be overwhelmingly obvious that issuing guns to civilian teachers is the worst of bad ideas?

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Just so. So something deeper is in play here. A cult of the gun. Investing guns with redemptive power. It’s captured by the bumper sticker, “God, Guns & Guts Made America Great.”

      When guns equal greatness, you’re in for some real trouble. And so we are.

      Liked by 2 people

      1. I just read two articles, one to the effect that America is FUBAR, and another that said essentially the same thing, that “all we can do is care.” Voting won’t help, because the few representatives who would actually go to the wall to stop the carnage are vastly outnumbered by the ones who WON’T risk all to do the right thing. We can’t vote in a majority of “good guys,” because neither party will run good guys, and third-party good guys don’t stand a chance.

        Asked it before [rhetorically] and I’ll ask it again: are we at the point in “The Handmaid’s Tale” when the women’s jobs and money are taken away? When the handwriting is on the wall in 10-foot-high, flaming letters, and nobody believes it will actually get worse, until it’s too late?

        Yowzah. Not a week for hope in this truly, literally, benighted country.

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        1. Retired Army Colonel Andrew Bacevich in “After the Apocalypse: America’s Role in a World Transformed”

          “Expectations of technology bridging that gap provide an excuse to avoid asking the most fundamental questions: Does the United States possess the military wherewithal to oblige adversaries to endorse its claim of being history’s indispensable nation? And if the answer is no, as the post-9/11 wars in Afghanistan and Iraq suggest, wouldn’t it make sense for Washington to temper its ambitions accordingly?”

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          1. @DENISE DONALDSON
            AMERICA is FUBAR
            A great comment posted on a Chris Hedges article today in Consortium News that agrees with that.

            “Perfection is hard to attain, but this article is the close to a perfect expression of how the few people who have the will to think and the bravery to express it in these times when our country is in the grasp of fascism; not neo-fascism, for it’s not new, but the standard model used since antiquity.

            America has become a hodgepodge of unrealized – and probably unrealizable – promises made under the thin shroud named democracy. We do not have a democracy unless Hillary’s definition of a country where people simply get to vote is defining. But vote? Vote for whom? Hillary? Trump? Biden? Obama? Genitalia? Color? Religion? Bush? Nixon, Reagan, Joe McCarthy? Some circus elephant?

            What real leader can or would wish to shoulder their way through the whips to front page nakedness demanded by our media – or their opponents lies and charges?

            The naked truth stands out like thorns on a yucca. We have passed the point of possibility. Good times are not coming back in our times. The best we can do is fall in love or stay in love should we have it and continue the fruitless work of objecting to the stupidity of the powers that have seized the country and are squeezing it dry.

            https://consortiumnews.com/2022/05/24/chris-hedges-no-way-out-but-war/

            Liked by 1 person

            1. Succinctly—if depressingly—stated.

              I have a friend who has given up on everything federal, state, and even, to some extent, citywide. She’s concentrating on beautifying and bettering only our neighborhood. She says that, as it’s the only thing she can affect, it’s a good counterpoint to agonizing about larger affairs. I’m beginning to think she has the right of it.

              Liked by 2 people

              1. Amen.., Denise. I used to be a News Junkie– no more… This Memorial Day Weekend I even hear people saying have a “Happy Memorial Day” HAPPY! Is this only a Beach/ Barbecue day-off ushering in Summer now!? Its that bad no time for Reflection??? Take care of your self then someone else as George Carlin used to end his Concerts with.

                Liked by 1 person

                1. I like Carlin’s sentiment! He was so right about so many things….

                  As for Memorial Day, if it weren’t for some TV stations/networks reporting from cemeteries and showing graves of those who served, there’d be several generations of Americans who wouldn’t have the first clue what the “holiday” is about.

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                2. It’s long been the official start of Summer … I know you remember when businesses were closed on Memorial Day. Even in a self-proclaimed “Christian nation,” Christmas and Easter – the two most important days of the year, without one of which that Faith would not exist (and both are still Holy Days of Obligation for Catholics), many businesses stay up and running. Blame it on Hallmark or blame it on the bossa nova, but business never sleeps. Memorial Day has become another day to eat and drink to excess.

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    2. The other, less important, part of this: It’s an obvious tactic to change the subject. To shift the debate. So, instead of talking about an assault rifle ban and other restrictions, let’s talk instead about arming and training teachers. Even better, the latter will drive even more gun sales.

      How a teacher with a 9mm is going to neutralize a shooter in body armor with an AR-15, with the element of surprise going to the shooter, is beyond me. But does it really matter? It’s a fantasy for some and a distraction for most. So mission accomplished.

      Liked by 2 people

    3. @DENISE DONALDSON….We see the statistics on accidental shootings in home…….

      Dr. David Hemenway of the Harvard School of Public Health wrote in an editorial on the survey that the evidence is “overwhelming” on the increased risk of successful suicide if there’s a gun in the home. Hemenway also points to the increased risk of violence against women in particular.

      “Bringing a gun into the home substantially increases the risk for suicide for all family members and the risk for women being murdered in the home,” Hemenway wrote. “Evidence not included in their review also indicates that a gun in the home increases the risk for homicide victimization for others in society. This increased risk may be due to someone in the family shooting others (for example, the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting) or the gun being stolen and used by criminals. Obtaining a firearm not only endangers those living in the home but also imposes substantial costs on the community.”

      https://www.cbsnews.com/news/study-guns-in-home-increase-suicide-homicide-risk/

      Liked by 2 people

      2. Saw it firsthand as a Firefighter for 2 Decades in the City I worked Dennis– the Suicides by Gun that is.

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    4. A metaphor [or is ‘game-changer’ a simile? Whatever..] Nothing like a fatally-flawed metaphor to be a game-changer. And nuclear weapons, what should we call them? Game-enders? Say, can anyone give directions to Chernobyl? Perhaps that’s the better comparison. If I recall correctly, Ukraine gave up its nukes. oops. Keep up the good blogging.

      Liked by 1 person

  2. As I was out walking, I thought: So Trump and some Republicans want to arm teachers with guns. Are these the same teachers indoctrinating our children with dangerous ideas about CRT and LGBTQ?

    Liked by 2 people

    1. “No, you may not teach kids the facts of U.S. history. No, you may not talk to students about sexual orientation and questions of gender. But look! We have a shiny new pistol for you; isn’t it nice? Imagine how good it will feel to stop a shooter who enters your classroom! And here’s a pass to the shooting range across town. Tomorrow, you’ll get to sign up to learn combat tactics! Aren’t you excited?”

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        1. Yep. One or two of my high school teachers come to mind. There was a coach who scared the bejesus out of everybody, even hulking football players.Scary, scary thought!

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    2. Regarding arming teachers, the gun advocates seem eager for this to happen. It was once said that school shootings are rare and they are, but putting guns in the hands of teachers would be a nationwide drive with the hope that it would be common, a further expansion of the already astounding presence of guns in America. Gun advocates long for a real purpose, a legitimacy for guns, as they push supposed practical uses such as self defense and schoolroom defense.

      The gun is power and that is the root of its appeal, quite obvious to any young boy who has played with toy guns, or anyone who has loved watching westerns with the gun repeatedly dispensing justice. We the viewers are vicariously with the protagonist and we eagerly await the killing of the bad guy(s). Who in the audience of Dirty Harry didn’t feel elation when Harry uses that Magnum to off the despicable villain, an act that viewers were denied in the opening scenes. The screenplay for that movie (and so many others as well) was designed to build emotional tension for relief with the quick kill at the end.

      Feeling powerless is never addressed when speaking of gun ownership, though the perpetrators of school shootings scream it at us by what they do. Powerlessness of the self is the last thing any John Wayne character would admit to, though he could go on about bad guys needing to be controlled, offering himself armed for the cause. A “real man” does not admit to any inadequacy, certainly not to powerlessness.

      I’ve had discussions with gun owners who will not go near the word, instead insisting that they are only “being prepared.” But tellingly they cannot identify any specific individual(s) they are fearful of, only amorphous groups with whom they have no contact. That word “fear” is also avoided. The person admits to no fear, no powerlessness and the target is not specific but an amorphous group, a construction in the mind. If this isn’t material for a psychological study, what is?

      The psychology of gun ownership is not a subject of study though it is far more needed than the study of gun crime. Why is America the home to such fanatic gun advocacy? It is a plague of the mind that addresses no actual social need. The nation is not suffering from home invasions, or people being murdered by assailants for the lack of self defense. Running away from a threat has always been and remains the best advice but is hardly mentioned.

      Studies are needed, but expect a threat of violence from many people if they are asked to participate, and good luck even knowing if someone has a gun, that must never be known! That leaves volunteers. Can you imagine gun owners generally volunteering for a study? The minority that would, would produce a result so skewed as to be worthless concerning all gun ownership.

      Liked by 2 people

    1. Us Sky-Cops “Security Forces Air Force” ran the Base Armories. I worked a few Tours there 70’s. with a Brother Sky Cop on occasion. The reason I bring this up is in SAC especially we took Gun Safety very seriously. A NCO Officer like myself would always be @ the Clearing & Unloading Barrel for supervising Loading & Unloading of all Weaponry Chambering Rounds etc.! A number of X’s I averted accidental Discharges of M-16’s. Shotguns, 12 Gauges mind you. If something bad happened you better bet it would be immediate Article 15, and highly possible being Busted in Rank, etc. etc. LOR…! Plus through Nasty Gram notifications the equivalent of “The Shot heard all around SAC” humiliation (as in all SAC Bases!) All Pilots carried Concealed Snub Nose S&W 38’s. with Plastic, or Rubber Bullets BB encased in them– Rounds that wouldn’t pierce & rupture the Aluminum Fuselage of their Jets @ Altitude causing decompression. I trusted these Pilots all young, educated many saw Service in Vietnam, or Korea… I wouldn’t Trust a Random Teacher with any kind of handgun period. Utter absurdity…!

      Liked by 2 people

        1. All kidding aside this Tx. Shooting and dismal response of their Local Police Depts. looks like a complete F.U.B.B. Heads should Roll– due to poor Assessment of the Threat causing a much higher life loss and outcome… Lives lost with Police milling around outside were waiting and pleading Police to hurry. I’m sure a full Investigation is warranted here. The Timeline on Inception & neutralizing of the threat is Criminal in itself. Gross negligence w/ possible Dereliction here.

          Liked by 2 people

  4. Ex-German intel chief warns of war with Russia
    Hans-Georg Maassen, who once headed Germany’s domestic intelligence service, has spoken out against arms deliveries to Ukraine

    Hans-Georg Maassen, who from 2012-18 was president of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Germany’s domestic security agency, has warned that the country is “sleepwalking” into a direct military confrontation with Russia by delivering weapons to Ukraine.

    Appearing on TV Berlin’s ‘Special’ program last Wednesday, Maassen said he opposes any delivery of German weapons to Ukraine, citing an earlier decision by the International Court of Justice which, according to the former official, ruled that the supply of weapons to one of the warring parties in a conflict makes the supplier a party to the conflict, too.

    The former intelligence chief went on to argue that, contrary to what the German media says, “Ukraine is not a bastion of human rights, of freedom, peace and Western values.” He also called on the German leadership to consider why they are exposing the country to the “danger of a nuclear conflict.”

    Germany has around 119 American military installations on its soil, according to Maassen, which could be targeted by Moscow in case of war. He went on to liken Germany to an American “aircraft carrier with approximately 80 million natives” living aboard…………………………………………………………………………………

    https://www.rt.com/news/556233-ex-intel-chief-germany-war-russia/

    Liked by 1 person

  5. Dear President Joe Biden, Commander-in-Chief of the US Military,
    Actually you may be able to act to stop school shootings, since, I think, the Republican Party cannot control Executive orders. This would be a temporary fix, but likely to deter potential shooters.
    As Commander-in-Chief of the: Coast Guard, Marine Corps, Air Force, Navy, Army, and Space Force, I think you can order an armed military presence at all American elementary and secondary schools. Temporary. You could establish a minimum number of two active duty armed military personnel, suitably chosen, at each and every elementary and secondary school, one inside, one outside; a larger number at larger schools, as deemed appropriate. It is a temporary deterrent until Congress can arrive at something better. How many killings might be prevented in one year? Would it be worth it?

    Liked by 1 person

    1. There are roughly 131,000 K-12 schools in the USA.

      So we’d need a minimum of 260,000 armed troops. That’s more than half the Army!

      A military force exists as a fighting force in platoon, company, battalion, and brigade sizes (and larger). If you deploy them as security guards in teams of two, you’ve disbanded half the Army, which may not be the worst thing in the world.

      Seriously, most schools already have fences, alarms, lockable doors, guards, and other fortress-like features. Making them even “harder” targets is a way to spend billions of dollars on security measures when money is short for paper, pencils, crayons, chalk, and other basic teaching supplies.

      I bet sales of “bulletproof” backpacks for kids are soaring — but this just doesn’t seem like the answer. Or more guards with guns.

      Maybe we just need a saner society and a lot fewer guns? Nah, that can’t be it.

      Liked by 2 people

      1. Good point! However I said it would only be temporary. Perhaps the suggested temporary process would stir some action in Congress, get them off their lazy A$$es.

        Liked by 1 person

  6. Interesting parallel there, Philip, with the aircraft fuselages and classrooms. Both relatively fragile enclosures where bullets are concerned, both with a high possibility of collateral damage. The major difference being, of course, that the pilots are drilled on gun usage.

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    1. Unfortunately “Yada, Yada, Yada,” isn’t going to get anything done! Until some Senator’s Son or Congressman’s Daughter gets shot then we’ll see…!

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Ya know….I wouldn’t bet on that. Some of these politicians are so obsessed with power and money (provided by gun groups and their supporters), it could be that even the deaths of their kids would just bring more deflection: “It’s a mental health issue,” or “There should have been more armed guards at my kid’s school,” or similar. I no longer rely on tragedy to produce decency in these bloodthirsty scum.

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  7. Your point is taken, but well these Pol’s. can afford the best private institutions of schooling/ learning for their young with the most hardened Security i.o.w. the best that money can buy, and it will always be the poor mostly inner City, or outer fringe, small Town & fly-over Public school districts that pay the price– mostly! I rem. when the most you had to worry about when I was in Public Schools 60’s. was a “Stranger” offering you Candy… That’s all in the past!

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    2. That seems to be the obvious point here: none of these victims are from among those who matter, ergo, they don’t matter. All lives are not equal, neither in the eyes of The Law nor in the minds of those who make the Laws, nor in the minds of the general populace. “Thoughts and prayers” are and have always been as useless as the apparently disinterested god they are supposedly directed to. And aren’t such prayers nothing less than telling that same god it’s made a mistake? Good luck with that one …

      Liked by 1 person

      1. “Thoughts and prayers” without appropriate accompanying action are null and void.

        This is what the Christ was saying in other words so long ago as recorded. They’re in my personal reference Bible printed in 1855 before CanaDa was born into this World,
        You hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying,
        This people draws close to me with their mouth, and honours me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.
        But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

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  10. @WJASTORE…Are Ukrainian troops trained on such a system……….

    Are Ukrainian troops trained on such a system? Yes, by the US!
    And as I pointed out a few days ago, my home country of New Zealand has disgustingly sent our defence troops to the UK to train Ukrainians in howitzer operation. Guaranteed to prolong the war and result in more deaths.

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    1. A comment in our local left wing street newspaper…….

      “So aiding a corrupt pro-war UK to support the US-led proxy war against Russia is more useful to New Zealand than fighting for diplomacy and a neutral Ukraine free of the neo-Nazis? I protest this pathetic excuse for NZ to get a little gun practice and lick the dirty boots of those who refused to action the Minsk agreements. Shame on those who promoted this tragic farce”

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    2. Well, we’re trying to train them on howitzers, but the MLRS is a different system entirely, with a much longer range.

      Weapons, weapons, weapons: that’s our answer. Lots of footage of weapons firing. No footage of dead and mangled bodies. Guess they’re firing freedom shells and liberty missiles.

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  11. “Politico reported Friday that the Biden administration is leaning towards giving Ukraine advanced long-range rocket systems, which would mark a significant escalation in US military aid to Kyiv.

    Ukraine has pleaded with the US to send the Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) and High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS). Both systems might be included in the next weapons package for Ukraine that could be announced next week, but it hasn’t yet been approved by President Biden or Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.

    Certain munitions fired by the MLRS systems could reach ranges of 190 miles, but a US official said those types of long-range munitions won’t be sent to Ukraine. Instead, Ukraine would likely receive systems that can launch munitions between 20-45 miles, which would still make it the longest-range weapons provided to Ukraine.

    Ukrainian officials have been pleading with the US to send the MLRS and HIMARS for months, but earlier reports said Biden was hesitant to give Ukraine the rocket systems over concerns they could be used to hit targets inside Russia, which would risk prolonging the war and provoking Moscow.

    Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Thursday warned the West against giving Ukraine weapons that could hit Russian territory, calling it a “serious step towards unacceptable escalation.”

    https://news.antiwar.com/2022/05/27/us-leaning-towards-giving-ukraine-long-range-rocket-systems/

    Liked by 1 person

  12. Seems like the US is being out “gamechanged” by the Ruskies here!

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/europe/300600181/russia-testfires-its-latest-hypersonic-zircon-missile

    Russian officials have boasted about Zircon’s capability, saying that it’s impossible to intercept with existing anti-missile systems.

    Putin, who has sternly warned Western allies against interfering in Ukraine, has warned in the past that Russian warships armed with Zircon would give Russia a capability to strike “decision-making centres” within minutes if deployed in neutral waters.

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  13. The major problem with damning and condemning all the politicians who won’t do what a significant number of Americans apparently want done about gun violence is that it completely ignores all the tax-paying, voting Citizens of this nation who keep putting and keeping those politicians in office.

    It thus completely and totally ignores another totally and completely different and equally very significant number of Americans. Or significant enough.

    Senator Cruz would not be where he is today ~ saying and doing what he is doing and saying ~ if a sufficient enough voters in Texas had not put him there, and thus expect him to say and do exactly what he is. And the same applies to Texas Governor Abbott and to every other elected politician anyplace who has taken a stand against “gun control” [however defined], even in the face of ~ and, in fact, often because of ~ Buffalo and Uvalde.

    And the exact same phenomenon and forces apply to virtually every hot-button issue confronting America and her Voters this Midterm election year: Abortion; the totally failed U.S. medical, economic, and political response to The COVID Event; the Deficits and Debt and Inflation; Food, Fuel, and Electrical Power shortages [including Baby Food]; America’s War with Russia in Ukraine that could go Nuclear any day now; School Curriculums and Library Contents; and, most recently, the 21st Mass Shooting in this Nation since 2014.

    America is no longer merely “divided” on these and other issues. It is fractured to the point of disintegration in ways not seen in 160 years, and what may end up being merely the FIRST American Civil War.

    So again i will ask the Question: “Will the United States of America survive to celebrate its 250th birthday on July 4, 2026? And if it does survive, will it be in any mood or condition to celebrate anything?”

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    1. Yes. Good point. We need to vote the bums out.

      History is very hard to predict. Who in 2014 predicted Trump would be inaugurated as president in January of 2017?

      So it’s more than possible America will be quite different in 2026. And I think our collective guess is that things will be worse, not better.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. There is no question that America will be quite different in 2026.

        If for no other reason than that there is no way that it can continue as it is. The only questions at this point are: How much worse off will most Americans be in every way? And, which Americans will be better off than they have ever been?

        And that’s definitely true about predicting History. Who in May 1987 predicted that the USSR, the Warsaw Pact, European Communism, and the Berlin Wall would all be totally disintegrated and gone in less than five years [the Wall in less than 2 1/2]?

        And there are just as many people on the other side who feel exactly the same way: That “we” need to vote those OTHER Bums out; the ones who are preventing us from doing what We want, which We KNOW is exactly what America needs to get out of the mess THEY have dug us into, and that only We can fix.

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      2. Agree that 2026 is likely to be worse rather than better.

        As for voting the bums out, however, that will only effect change if other bums aren’t voted in. Are the DNC and RNC likely to nominate people who will effect positive change?

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        1. Not unless they’re forced to. We need more parties, more choices, but of course the DNC/RNC like their near-monopoly so it’s very difficult for new parties to gain traction.

          In short, a rigged system.

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          1. A system that will take an enormous amount of collective will to change. At this point, my only hope is the generation of Greta Thunberg. She and others like her may, just MAY, have the critical mass necessary to turn the tide.

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            1. Thunberg’s Generation will only have a chance to develop that critical mass to turn the tide if We, their Parents, Grand Parents, and/or Great Grandparents do not succeed in either destroying the Planet, or in establishing a global dictatorship which We insist and assure will be the only way to Not destroy the Planet.

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          2. i’ve already suggested a way to take on our One Party system: Make “None Of These Candidates” a mandatory choice just like every other candidate on every federal, state, and local election ballot.

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  14. The jack-off night club comedian in his garage making YouTube videos does a better job than Rachel Maddow (earns $7 million per year and her net worth is estimated to be $20 million) on MSNBC with her 25-man team of researchers, analysists and script writers.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Why isn’t Jimmy Dore paid $7-million per year?
      And on MSNBC every night?
      For the same reason Ed Schultz was removed from MSNBC I suppose – for telling the truth.

      Liked by 1 person

  15. In a House primary in Ohio, Air Force veteran J.R. Majewski ran a television ad in which he carried a rifle, said, “I’m willing to do whatever it takes to return this country back to its former glory” — and then pulled the trigger.

    In Arkansas, an ad run by a group supporting Jake Bequette, an Army veteran whose GOP primary challenge to Sen. John Boozman failed Tuesday, repeated the phrase “Babies, borders, bullets” — calling those the “values we cherish” — and showed clips of the candidate taking aim with an assault rifle.

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  18. In this story about some Sandy Hook parents winning millions from the gun manufacturer is the following paragraph indicating that when it comes to protection, the government is worried most about the gun manufacturers, the Democracy of Lobbies in action.

    “The company (Remington) also had said the lawsuit should have been dismissed because of the federal law that gives broad immunity to the gun industry. The Connecticut Supreme Court ruled Remington could be sued under state law over how it marketed the rifle, under an exception to the federal law. The gun maker appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which declined to hear the case.”

    Liked by 1 person

    1. What’s telling is that there is some logic to the legal protection. Imagine if people were suing the makers of ovens because food was burned. The purpose of an oven is to expose food to high temperatures to cook it. Well, the purpose of firearms is to cause damage to any target by throwing bullets at it. Damage is what guns do, targets are chosen by people just as the temperature setting is on an oven. Nobody would object to a warning on an over that burning is possible.

      As for guns. We don’t want people to be targets, so guns need to be kept away from people or people need to be kept away from guns. Since we are told taking guns away is impossible and illegal, let’s go with the latter – people need to be kept away from guns.

      How about anyone who is carrying a gun being required to have a pin-on color patch over the shoulder visible from the front and behind that is publicized as indicating a gun being carried. Any home in which a gun is kept must have a sign out front “Gun present in this home.” Gun advocates often talk about how this would keep away bad guys, in reality it might invite burglary.

      The idea here being that nobody should ever be unaware of a gun nearby, that they not be unknowingly placed in the vicinity of a gun. This would not stop criminals from avoiding the patch, but the point I am making is that EVERYTHING that is being done is to protect the gun owner and nothing is done to protect the person who think people need to avoid guns. The legal protection I opened with acknowledges the inherent dangerous nature of a gun, yet the laws are going so far as to allow concealed carry with no permit. The gun owner refused to be registered. DONE. The gun owner wants to be anonymous. DONE. The gun owner wants to carry the gun concealed. DONE (in most states). The gun owner wants to be able to use it without his quite possibly false impression of someone as a threat being questioned. DONE with Stand Your Ground. This last means that the gun owner wants to be able to murder based solely on his/her own felt need for protection. This means an impression, a felt fear trumps being held responsible for taking a life.

      To me all of this is upside down, we are living on the planet Bizarro when it comes to guns in America where they are all but worshiped as we expedite their spread and use. This in a civilized nation 150 years beyond the Old West but you’d think people were threatened daily on every street corner from the apotheosis of self-defense.

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      1. In a way, guns have more rights in America than people do. This isn’t because the guns demanded these rights; it’s because the gun manufacturers demanded them (and bought them) from the politicians.

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        1. Or, at the very least, gun owners have more rights than non-gun-owners. Same as non-maskers and citizens of states NOT under lockdown two years ago had more rights than other citizens. In both cases, those rights afforded the potential to harm others.

          I have no idea if there’s a correlation between extreme gun advocates and non-maskers, but I’d be willing to bet there is one.

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