The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age
    Michael Maiello's picture

    There Was a Shooting and Who Wants This Fight Again?

    By Michael Maiello on Mon, 10/02/2017 - 9:32pm | Politics

    Honestly, I have nothing to add about 58 people (58?  Really?) being murdered at a music festival by somebody with a weapon of mass destruction.  It's all just too repetitive, isn't it?

    This is how the conversation goes: Somebody suggests gun control. Gun owners retort with rights and freedoms, we have a semantic argument about what a "militia" means in 2017 and what the Founders possibly could have meant, then the gun people argue that you can't regulate crazy and that these people will find another way to kill and besides, they want their guns to protect themselves against the crazies and the evils (of which they are neither) and then finally somebody says something about the type of gun used and then we're all arguing about gun jargon and then that guy shows up to correct everybody's gun jargon because gun collectors are basically as big a bunch of geeks as comic book collectors except that nobody ever went nuts and killed a whole bunch of people with comic books.

    Honestly, I'm losing interest in politics by attrition because I can't keep having the same conversation over and over again.  I don't get how people can talk about one topic their entire lives. I mean, yes, I once worked for a man who was able to advocate for a flat tax, day in and day out, for five decades, without a break.  I just don't get how he did it.  But next time we have a recession, I am not going to be able to muster enthusiasm for explaining why the government should borrow money to replace lost demand in the economy just so the person I'm talking to can call me a communist and make some sort of nonsense point about gold and inflation.

    Thank goodness we made some progress on same sex marriage because I was more than done explaining that one.

    Do I have to explain why we shouldn't go to war with North Korea?  Because the topic doesn't interest me.  That we shouldn't go to war with North Korea is so staggeringly obvious to me that to be asked to advocate the position seems an undo burden on my time and mental health.

    Maybe I could defend the space program, if anyone's interested in that.  It has the virtue of originality. Any takers? Because I've gone full malaise on the other topics.

    Topics: 
    Politics

    Comments

    It is like the mind is a kind of real estate and most of the acreage has been taken over by investors for something that will never happen.


    by moat on Mon, 10/02/2017 - 10:21pm

    Well said.


    by Michael Maiello on Mon, 10/02/2017 - 10:37pm

    Assault style gun, 30-100 magazine, bump stock mod, legal in 44 states.

     

    The police are not revealing the 17 weapons found in the hotel room due to the investigation.

    The weapon in the video above is not classified as a machine gun by federal laws written in the 1930's.

    USA Today:

    The speed, pattern and inconsistent rate of gunfire heard in videos of the Las Vegas shooting indicate the suspect could have used cheap and legal modification devices to accelerate the firing of a semi-automatic weapon to almost 700 rounds a minute.

    “The only issue with the modifications is you lose accuracy, but of course if you’re aiming at tens of thousands of people in a crowd, accuracy doesn’t matter as much,” McLively said. “If it turns out a modification was used, I think it’ll start a conversation about whether they should be legal. People think it’s fun to shoot a lot of rounds—but you have to weigh that against the 500 people injured and nearly 60 people killed.”

    President Trump has established the Victims Of Immigration Crime Engagement (VOICE). Mission: With honor and integrity, we will support victims of crimes committed by criminal aliens through access to information and resources. the toll free number is......hold it.....unfortunately......not for victims here.


    by NCD on Mon, 10/02/2017 - 11:34pm

    The Associated Press has reported that Mr. Paddock had two "bump stock" devices that could be used to retrofit firearms to make them fully automatic weapons, according to two officials familiar with the investigation.

    He had two assualt weapons with the under $100 Bumpfire or Slidefire or similar stock modifiers (although ballistics will need to check the actual bullets retrieved from bodies to verify gun of origin), as in the above video. NYT

    Democrats banned these guns and these magazines, making the Bumpfire useless, in the 90's under Clinton.

    We need to vote out the Republican Party or drown them in a bathtub.


    by NCD on Tue, 10/03/2017 - 10:40am

    Another massacre that we should lay at the feet of the NRA and their lapdog legislators and voters. In the midst of the carnage, Hillary Clinton is standing tall. http://variety.com/2017/music/news/hillary-clinton-nra-las-vegas-shootin...


    by HSG on Tue, 10/03/2017 - 8:52am

    British Prime Minister realizes that U.S. gun laws are insane, but expects little legislative action. Republicans in Congress are working to make it easier to get silencers.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/theresa-may-las-vegas-shooting_us_59...


    by rmrd0000 on Tue, 10/03/2017 - 9:09am

    It takes 9 months, and $200 permit fee for any gun owner to get a silencer right now. The gun industry wants it to be sold on demand, and they want the money in their pocket.

    The South Carolina Republican NRA $$lime ball sponsoring the change in legislation gives as a reason for doing it, that after 30 years of target practice he believes his hearing in one ear has been slightly affected. There was no reason he couldn't have gotten a silencer 29 years and 3 months ago.


    by NCD on Tue, 10/03/2017 - 10:02am

    Ugh, come on. Jeebus.

     


    by Michael Maiello on Tue, 10/03/2017 - 12:09pm

    But they can scuff the ear, drop, reduce conversation on new fetus consciousness laws or other scam legislation......and they don't augment your small barrel.....make it seem....really big and long and ready for powerful..... ammo ejection.


    by NCD on Tue, 10/03/2017 - 2:08pm

    That beautiful green dildo might get the women away from their guns and doing something meaningful with their life but I don't see how it would appeal to most men.


    by ocean-kat on Tue, 10/03/2017 - 3:34pm

    Whew, I thought it was a butt plug, gave me the shivers. Glad it's someone else's problem.


    by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 10/03/2017 - 3:57pm

    That's surprisingly prudish of you PP. Many Americans don't see dildos, vibrators, and even butt plugs as a problem. The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy sending him sex toys.


    by ocean-kat on Tue, 10/03/2017 - 4:55pm

    This is the kind of talk I want to see in this thread.  Ya'all the best.


    by Michael Maiello on Tue, 10/03/2017 - 5:11pm

    I had the same reaction as you a couple of weeks ago. If I read one more article about what would happen if we went to war with North Korea I was going to scream. Some problems are intractable but others seem so breathtakingly obvious to me I don't get why there's even any discussion. But for some reason I can't tear myself away from the news.  I have to know what's happening in the world no matter how frustrating and maddening it can be. I'm so sad and cynical and angry since Trump won. More angry than I've ever been in the last 60 years.On the other  hand you have to find some way to laugh it all away no matter how bad it gets. Even if it's a lousy joke.

     

     

     

     

     


    by ocean-kat on Tue, 10/03/2017 - 6:06pm

    I hear you, O-K.


    by Michael Maiello on Tue, 10/03/2017 - 9:58pm

    It looked like a 4 ft buttplug. I usually consider myself manly, but I know my limits.

    As for "prude", when you told me to eat a bag of salted dicks, did I complain?


    by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 10/03/2017 - 11:00pm

    There is a headline from a NYT guest oped this morning that struck me, might work some on avoiding the same old, same old if more took this approach:

    America Used to Be Good at Gun Control. What Happened?

    It would even work with Trumpism! (And goodness knows, as with everything else, prior to deciding he was a GOP candidate, he has a history of being more than few places on the map on the issue.)

    The author is focusing on the laws enacted in the 20th century to deal with the rise of personal WMD's, but one could also go further back to the sheriff making the cowboys park their guns when they came into town. The NRA is really the problem , at least with the WMD and the mass shootings, eh? To lessen their power on this front wouldn't deal with the real massive loss of life that we get from one-on-one handgun slaughter in crimes of passion, but I see it as doable eventually on this basis.

    Actually a lot of stuff I've read on the non-mass shooting problem, like Nate Silver pointing out that the worst of the numbers are from suicides with guns, have made a good case that to me that gun control wouldn't help that much on getting the non-mass shooting numbers down anyway, a least not for a long time. All those handguns are now out there, even if made illegal, they aren't going away. Got to be realistic about this country not being like Europe or even Australia. It has to be approached through other crime fighting measures. But mass shot-em-outs with high power weaponry, we should be able to going back to regulating those without changing the culture too much. After all, even the NRA doesn't argue that everyone should be able to have a tank in their backyard, nor do they lobby against tightening access to chemicals involved in bomb making.

    I'm optimistic that this latest case will lessen where and when massive firepower is available, that there will me more of a "sheriff says no guns here" attitude prevailing. Not the least of which because the perp in this case targeted country music sub-culture--there, I said it! What so many liberals are afraid to say right now.


    by artappraiser on Wed, 10/04/2017 - 8:58am