The NRA Speaks Out

Wayne LaPierre, the Executive Vice President of the NRA, offered these words of "wisdom." He suggested that the answer is to further extend the right to bear arms to all.  "The only thing that stops a bad guys with a gun, is a good guy with a gun."  And if that was not bad enough, he proposes that we "militarize" every school in the nation.  That "Congress should appropriate what ever is necessary to put armed police officers in every single school in this Nation." and proposes that a former prosecutor Asa Hutchinson, lead and NRA effort for that program.  He holds up "thousands of music videos, and you all know this, portray life as a joke and portray murder as a way of life, and they have the nerve to call this entertainment, but is that what it really is?" as the real reason why people commit senseless violence, and says that "Isn't fantasizing about killing people as a way to get your kicks really the filthiest form of pornography?"

As Irin Carmon of Salon.Com said on Now w/Alex Wagner that LaPierre effectively "Spit in the faces of the families of the victim of Sandy Hook Elementary."  Sam Stein pointed out that gun violence doesn't only happens in schools so by LaPierre's logic, we need armed guards in Sikh Temples, shopping malls and movie theaters . . . and what he's advocating is incredibly anti massive expansion of government."

LaPierre offered nothing near to a reasonable suggestion, as an answer to the gun violence, love of gun culture in America, or an assault weapons ban, but reverted to the blame game, and the dig in deeper position that the NRA consistently takes after a tragedy occurs as a result of gun use.

What do you say?

Is This The New Reality?

Mother Jones reports that since Friday's massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary, sales of bulletproof backpacks are up.  Derek Williams, president of Amendment II told Tim Murphy that sales of the "carbon nanotube armor" lined backpacks tripled in volume over what they typically do in a  month.

At the same time, gun sales have surged across the country.  Discount Gun Sales LLC reported on their website that "Due to the overwhelming increase in sales, beginning 12/18/12 we will only be doing local in store sales.  Out of state order[s] over the phone are temporarily suspended."

Perhaps the answer is in tougher regulation?  Maybe discussions surrounding mental health issues needs to be addressed on the national stage?  Perhaps the answer is in technology? Can classrooms be equip with panic buttons that would effectively lock bullet resistant doors that have bullet resistant windows, thereby sending out a signal to local law enforcement that will effectively reduce the response time?  We need innovative solutions to complex human driven crisis's.

Is this the new reality?

Photos retrieved from Bullet Blocker website Dec. 18, 2012, from http://www.bulletblocker.com/bulletproof-school-safety-protection.html

Guns, Violence, and Mental Illness

Another senseless tragedy facilitated by the use of guns.  Twenty-seven people were murdered, and countless lives shattered when on December 14, 2012, 20 year Adam Lanza, went on a deadly rampage in Newtown, Connecticut killing his mother, and then traveling to Sandy Hook Elementary where he gunned down 20 innocent children, and 7 adults (including the gunmans mother), and afterwards turned the weapon on himself (making the total adult casualty number 8).  Authorities say Lanza was well prepared to carry out this massacre wearing a black fatigues and military vest and toting three registered automatic weapons: a semi-automatic AR-15, assault rifle made by Bushmaster, and a pistol made by Glock and Sig Sauer.

On The National Rifle Association's website, the organization chose to suspend comment and state "We are shocked, saddened, and heartbroken by the news of the horrific and senseless murders in Newtown.  Out of respect for the families, and as a matter of common decency we have given time for mourning, prayer and a full investigation of the facts before commenting."

The country mourns with the community of Newtown, as all are touched and shaken by such an unfathomable horror, and we must ask the question; are we doing enough to balance our constitutional right to bear arms, with our right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as set forth in the Declaration of Independence?  Are we as a country doing enough to keep semi-automatic weapons out of the homes of the mentally unstable?  Can we as a nation actually find a happy medium between these seemingly competing concepts?  Will this tragedy lead to tighter gun control?   Let's see where the national dialogues takes us.