Newtown, CT: Conservatives today are defending the rights of Connecticut abortionist Adam Lanza, 20, to access to the instruments used to terminate twenty-six (so far) post-term fetuses at an elementary school in Sandy Hook.
Said a conservative spokesman, "Medical instruments don't kill fetuses; abortionists do."
In the coming days, a gaggle of deluded degenerates will take to the airwaves to remind us that guns don't kill people, that people kill people, and that the right to keep and bear arms must not be infringed no matter how horrifying and egregious the tragedy, up to and including the massacre of twenty kindergartners in their classroom.
Of the rights of twenty five- and six-year-olds, to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, to have playdates and go to birthday parties, to join soccer and baseball teams, to dance and sing, to build LEGO sets and, yes, to play games, to fall asleep in their parents' arms at night, of these these the disgusting reprobates determined to maintain our present culture of predictable barbarity which defines the United States of America as something other than a civilized nation will have nothing to say.
This is not a political blog, but today I'm reminded how trivial my hobbies are, and I cannot let twenty more murdered children pass unnoticed or unmourned.
As a commissioned national park ranger I lost two colleagues to line-of-duty shootings. My small town suffered through the loss of eight people in another massacre, at the salon next to where my wife and children get their hair cut, downstairs from the podiatrist who treats my daughter's feet, next to the restaurant we visit for 'taco Tuesdays' a couple of times a month.
My two children are in elementary school. And my wife teaches kindergarten.
America's gun culture fosters these tragedies. And no one with the power to do anything about it possesses the will to do so.
My deepest condolences to all of you. It is a tragedy, indeed.
ReplyDeleteDidn't expect you to get all political, Mike. Wow.
ReplyDeleteNever mind the 22 children also killed in a school in China today. Clearly their pro-gun and anti-infanticide culture of China caused that, too. Oh, wait, they have forced abortions and the attacker there used a knife.
It's not gun culture or anything trite like that. It's the mystery of evil and Original Sin. Over 40 years of legalized abortion isn't helping.
An armed teacher could have stopped this in a moment. But we have to make schools and work places "gun free" zones. Just like we try to make them "drug free" zones, insuring the drug trade occurs unimpeded.
An unarmed populace is a populace of serfs. You know history well-enough to be aware of that.
Chris, those twenty-two kids in China were wounded, not killed by their attacker, which rather substantially undermines your argument.
DeleteThe USA leads the world in these incidents - 15 out of the last 24 wofldwide, America, fuck yeah! - tell me, with an unprecedented number of concealed-carry and stand-your-ground laws on the books, where are all these citizen defenders who are going to rise up and stop these massacres in their tracks?
Chris, I consider you a bro, but I think there are a range of real-life issues on which we're destined to disagree. The gaming content resumes tomorrow - I hope to still see you around these parts.
What the fuck are you talking about? I am so gobsmacked by the insufferable stupidity of your rant that I don't even know where to begin.
DeleteYour post is the perfect example as to why we have such a hard time having any meaningful discourse about guns or violent crime in this country. Conservatives and gun proponents have to rely on ambiguous statements and paranoia to justify their reliance on guns.
"It's not gun culture or anything trite like that. It's the mystery of evil and Original Sin. Over 40 years of legalized abortion isn't helping."
What the fuck is the "mystery of evil" and "Original Sin"? There is no mystery to evil. There are evil people out there. They are all around us. But that has nothing to do with talking snakes or a woman being turned into salt or any of that wonderful Christian mythology that you love to throw around as a means to an end when you push your socio-political agenda. Murder is murder whether or not you believe in Christ or Allah or Vishnu or whatever sky-being you choose to justify and validate your existence.
And abortion? Why even bring that up? I suppose if every madman's mother had an abortion we wouldn't be in this mess right? That's the only reason I can see that abortion should be brought up at all. Mr. Vulmea used that as a handy guide to the syntax of Conservatives.
Guns will always be around, just like drugs, and the free bibles left in hotel rooms. There will always be violence, by gun or knife or rolling pin. But when I can go buy a high powered repeating rifle easier than I can buy cold medicine, there's something really fucking wrong with that.
"An unarmed populace is a populace of serfs. You know history well-enough to be aware of that."'
Again, what the fuck does this even mean? Yes Charlie, you can have a gun. No one is taking that away from you. Yes Charlie, you can defend yourself from the boogey man trying to break into your house to steal your Hummel collection. I'm all for responsible gun ownership, I think everyone is, but that's the key word - responsible. I'm about to strangle the next moron that shouts "yeah but cars kill people too!" the difference is that cars are made for a purpose. Guns have one purpose - to kill, to destroy.
All of these ambiguous threats to your liberty and freedom and your bullshit ancestor worship of the founding fathers (most of whom knew that religion was a bunch of bullshit anyway, but it kept the people in line) doesn't make any logical argument in this discourse. I had one guy tell me that he needed his AK-47 to "hedge against the tyranny of government" but he could not or would not explain what that sort of scenario would entail.
If it's my god-given right to bear arms, what about a neutron bomb? What if I had a neutron bomb in my basement and I wrote "JESUS!" on it? Would that be okay with you too?
We are not a nation of dirt farmers with our fingers on the trigger waiting for the Redcoats to return. We are a nation of communities who are reeling from tragedy after tragedy. We are a nation who is constantly dealing with the nature of death. Not mysterious evil and sin, but death. Cold, final death.
We need discussion and discourse and responsibility. Not bible thumping and Jesus talk. Prayer is fine for those who believe, but for those who don't and for those who are waking up today with a loved one missing from their world, go ahead and pray yourself blue, it won't bring back the dead and it won't end suffering.
An armed teacher could have stopped this in a moment.
DeleteAs a teacher, I just have to say that is the dumbest idea I have ever heard. We're teachers, not cops, not soldiers. My school has a police officer who is assigned to it and he is present every single day. He is armed. He is trained. He is qualified to deal with a situation like this.
The day I have to start carrying a weapon to do my job is the day I find another line of work. I hope you're never on a school board.
I agree that we have tunnel vision regarding gun control and gun massacres in the U.S. Most of the worst criminal massacres and murder rampages in modern history have occurred in other countries, mostly countries with much stricter gun controls and less powerful "gun cultures" than the U.S. Consider, for example, the two worst gun massacres--in Norway and South Korea. One pattern in many of those crimes was that the shooter was able to continue his dirty work for a long period of time with no one having the means to stop him--the police either couldn't get there in time or were not armed themselves. It is certainly at least reasonable to argue that in those cases, LESS strict control might have saved lives. Or perhaps not. Or perhaps less strict controls would have had the effect of stopping those shootings earlier but would have also resulted in more firearm deaths in other contexts. The point is that the issue is much more complicated than many think. At the least, the principle of charity would say that there are reasonable arguments on both sides, or at even more of a minimum, that one should refrain from branding everyone on the side one disagrees with as "deluded degenerates", "disgusting reprobates", etc. That's just moral common sense.
ReplyDeleteI'm unclear on the initial sarcasm about abortion. If one wants to stop abortion, then (if one wants to consider seriously for a second the silly and rather offensive example) it's pretty clear than "scalpel control" is not the answer, and that that people have the right to own and use scalpels for legitimate purposes, etc., etc. But the reason that pro-lifers (who may or may not be anti-gun-control) or people in general don't ever refer to or take time defending that "right" is because everyone knows that blaming abortions on scalpels would be bizarre and silly. How does this logical point rebound against the anti-gun control people? To me it looks the other way round.
As a Catholic who is also on balance anti-gun control. I would gladly agree to a complete ban on guns if we could also have a complete ban on abortions. Twice as many children are murdered by abortionists in Chicago (where I live) every day than died in Connecticut yesterday. Those children will never dance or sing or play games. Who mourns for them?
Obviously the woman who has had to make that extremely difficult decision mourns for them you rotten bastard.
DeleteHow about the millions who die in Africa from HIV because der fuehrer pope tells them they can't have controceptives?
I have no doubt that many many women that have had abortions (as well perhaps as some of the men that may have also been involved) mourn for their sons and daughters. People that do evil and hurt other people often regret what they have done. (I, like a few others, have firsthand experience with that.) Abortion is a tragedy for the mother, though, obviously, as with any murder, it is first and foremost a tragedy for the victim. Fortunately, Christ through his Church will forgive all, if forgiveness is sincerely requested. We should all be glad of that, I think.
DeleteI sincerely doubt that the spread of HIV in Africa is significantly abetted by Catholic men, faithfully adhering to the teachings of the Pope. I might be wrong.
Insert comma between "them" and "you rotten bastard". "Fuehrer" and "Pope" are usually capitalized. "contraceptives" is spelled with an "a".
I have no doubt we disagree on a lot of Real Life stuff. I still value your thoughts on gaming and look forward to the resumption of normal posts.
ReplyDeleteAnd, for that reason, I'll let the matter drop. I apologize if I've given offense to you. This is your house. I have no right to walk in and vomit, no matter how correct I believe myself to be.
We're both upset about the attack. We draw different conclusions from the evidence we have available. And that's just the way life is. For better or worse.
No offense taken. I'm not moderating comments on this because if I spout off, I expect others to have the same opportunity to spout right back.
DeleteOn Monday, what happens to your character during a battle on the High Seas.
Regarding moderation: that's fair and just.
DeleteLooking forward to it as High Seas is the FB supplement with which I'm least familiar. I own it but I've never been able to get into reading it.
I'm always hesitant to get political on my blog, too, so know that I unequivocally agree with you on this. All of the recent gun massacres have been perpetrated with legally-purchased guns. If we can't take the same precautions to ensure the safe use of firearms that we do with motor vehicles, what good are we? It's going to sound sarcastic, but just requiring liability insurance on gun ownership would go a long way toward pricing these weapons out of the reach of reckless young men.
ReplyDeleteI am proud of you for taking a stand! Well done sir.
ReplyDeleteThanks, VP.
DeleteCoda: Two articles I think bear reading.
ReplyDeleteDo concealed-weapon laws result in less crime?
True stories in gun control
I think we're at least within opposite mood affiliations, if not actually opposed.
ReplyDeleteYou see, I'm a part of _a_ gun culture, because I have a little varmint gun in my little house out in the woods, and occasionally go to the practice range in the nearby park and went to a friend's bachelor party at an in-store gun range.
You, on the other hand, sound like you served as part of a _different_ gun culture, one that wears uniforms (blue, black, pixelated, or green & khaki alike) and has not only bigger and more deadly guns, but also bombs and missiles and flying death robots and prisons and torture chambers.
You have seen fit to post about this terrible and tragic incident that can be linked to weapons that passed through my sort of gun culture, but sadly enough, a few dozen children hardly makes a blip on the tragic death toll of your sort of gun culture, or even its death toll of children alone, which I note you have not seen fit to post about. And, of course, of lesser note that all of those are the other personal experiences I could relate, much as you did, caused by the blue & black uniform types of your sort of gun culture in my small town that make me fear for the safety of my loved ones.
So forgive me if this "deluded degenerate" finds you a little preachy and tone deaf on the subject of "gun culture".
I should add that I don't usually make political posts either - any more, anyway - but your abusive name-calling in my games feed kind-a set me off.
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