Civilian Gun Violence in 'Merica

[Brother Mythos]

"Comedy Legend Nails Exactly What America Invented, And It's Not Good"

"Eric Idle of Monty Python fame had a dark response to a social media query about what the U.S. can take credit for creating."

As per the article:

"Monty Python's Eric Idle is known as a comedy legend, but a social media post he made on Friday was nothing to laugh about.

It happened after a person on X, formerly known as Twitter, asked followers to name something the USA invented "without Googling," of course.

Idle only needed three words for his brutally honest response: "Mass school shootings.""

I couldn't agree more, this is nothing to laugh about.

Here's the link:   https://www.huffpost.com/entry/eric-idle-monty-python-school-shootings_n_65454e12e4b06bc01e2444a8

[Brother Mythos]

"Mom faces charges after toddler accidentally fires gun in Walmart, police say" 

As per the article:

"WAVERLY, Ohio -- Police say a woman is facing a child endangerment charge after her toddler found a gun in her purse and accidentally fired it in a southern Ohio Walmart store last week.

The Waverly Police Department said the woman told officers who responded shortly after 11 a.m. Thursday that the 2-year-old boy took her Taurus 9mm firearm from her purse, and it went off.

Police said the bullet went into the ceiling of the store, and the child was left with a minor injury to his forehead "due to contact with the magazine.""

This uniquely 'Merican incident could have had much worse consequences.

Here's the link:   Toddler Accidentally Fires Gun

[Brother Mythos]

"Senate Republicans block assault weapons ban, background checks bill"

As per the article:

"Senate Republicans on Wednesday blocked efforts by Senate Democrats to pass an assault weapons ban and universal background checks legislation after the United States over the weekend broke the record for the most mass shootings in a single year.

Republican Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) objected to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's (D-N.Y.) request for unanimous consent to pass the assault weapons ban, despite the pleas of Democratic senators who took to the Senate floor to cite the harrowing statistics of gun violence in America.

"The scourge of gun violence in America is a national crisis. The American people are sick and tired of enduring one mass shooting after another. They're sick and tired of vigil and moments of silence for family, friends, classmates, coworkers," Schumer argued on the Senate floor."

Unfortunately, this action by Senate Republicans comes as no surprise at all.

Here's the link:   It's Just Republicans Being Republicans

[Brother Mythos]

"Supreme Court leaves Illinois semiautomatic gun ban in place"

As per the article:

"Last year, the Supreme Court's conservative majority ruled that gun restrictions, in order to be constitutional, must be analogous to laws on the books at the nation's founding. As a result, an Illinois gun retailer and a gun rights advocacy group challenged the state's law, contending that the "ban is not consistent with the nation's history and tradition of firearms regulation and fails constitutional muster."

An ideologically mixed panel of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the law, however, writing that the Supreme Court's recent decision on the right to bear arms "extends only to weapons in common use for a lawful purpose," not to semiautomatic weapons that "are much more like machine guns and military-grade weaponry than they are like the many different types of firearms that are used for individual self-defense.""

I admit, I did not see this decision coming from our current Supreme Court. But, I'm glad the ban has been left in  in place. I'm sure some lives will be saved because of it.

Here's the link:   Supreme Court Leaves Gun Ban In Place

[Brother Mythos]

"Mom Of 6-Year-Old Who Shot Teacher Gets 2 Years In Prison For Child Neglect"

"Deja Taylor, whose son critically wounded his teacher, was also separately sentenced last month to 21 months in prison for marijuana use while owning a gun."

As per the article:

"Friday's sentencing was the second time Deja Taylor was held to account for the classroom shooting, which stunned the nation and shook the military shipbuilding city of Newport News.

The state sentence she received Friday from Circuit Court Judge Christopher Papile was stiffer than what is called for in state sentencing guidelines and harsher than a joint sentencing recommendation of six months prosecutors and Taylor's lawyers had agreed to in a plea deal.

Taylor was sentenced in November to 21 months in federal prison for using marijuana while owning a gun, which is illegal under U.S. law. The combination of her state and federal sentences amounts to a total punishment of nearly four years behind bars."

I hope this kind of prosecution and sentencing sends a clear message to all gun fondlers, that they need to keep their lethal hardware locked up, and/or trigger locked, and out of the hands of children.

Here's the link:   Irresponsible Gun Owner Sentenced

[Brother Mythos]

"Steve Bannon calls for arming kids with guns to stop school bullying"

As per the article:

"Conservative podcast host Steve Bannon said that children should be taught to handle guns in school so they are not "picked on" by bullies.

During a program at Turning Point USA's America Fest on Tuesday, Bannon lamented that gun classes were not taught to young students in most schools."

Because, of course, guns have already solved so many problems. And, in many cases, they solved them permanently.

Here's the link:   Guns Will Solve the Bullying Problem?

[Brother Mythos]

"Federal judge rules Massachusetts assault weapons ban is consistent with recent landmark Supreme Court decision"

As per the article:

"A federal judge ruled a Massachusetts ban on assault weapons is consistent with a recent landmark Supreme Court decision that established firearms regulations must be consistent with the nation's "historical tradition."

"The relevant history affirms the principle that in 1791, as now, there was a tradition of regulating 'dangerous and unusual' weapons – specifically, those that are not reasonably necessary for self-defense," U.S. District Chief Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV wrote in an order Thursday.

The assault weapons prohibited by the Massachusetts ban are "not suitable for ordinary self-defense purposes, and pose substantial dangers far beyond those inherent in the design of ordinary firearms," the judge wrote."

I'm sure some lives will be saved, because a federal judge upheld this state law.

Here's the link:   Massachusetts Assault Weapons Ban Upheld

[Brother Mythos]

"Senators tell Washington Post they regret gun votes after Sandy Hook shooting"

I believe this falls under the category: A day late, and a dollar short.

As per the article:

"Multiple current and former senators say they regret their votes against gun restrictions following the Sandy Hook mass shooting, The Washington Post reports.

Former Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) reflected on her experience as a newly elected official speaking with family members of the 2012 Newtown, Conn., school shooting, which left 20 children and six staff members dead.

Heitkamp told the Post she regrets voting with three other Democrats and 41 Republicans to block a background check bill the families had begged her to support just days earlier."

And, as per still further along in the article:

"Bennet, along with Heinrich, Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) and Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), introduced a bill in November that intends to regulate guns "based on the lethality of their internal mechanisms, as opposed to focusing on cosmetic features that manufacturers can easily modify."

King told the Post that banning a particular weapon allows manufacturers to easily maneuver the ban by changing the design slightly, which is why he is pushing for functionality legislation instead."

There's a long list of regretful senators in this article. But, there are some who are still trying to do something to curb civilian gun violence in 'Merica.

Here's the link:   Regretful Senators

[Brother Mythos]

"Wayne LaPierre resigns as NRA head"

As per this article:

"National Rifle Association (NRA) head Wayne LaPierre will resign from the organization at the end of the month, the group announced Friday.

LaPierre's resignation, first reported by Fox News, comes as the organization defends itself in a New York civil suit alleging he and other executives spent millions of the group's funds on luxury vacations and other perks.

And, as per further along in this article:

"LaPierre's exit adds to legal and financial difficulties for the organization.

The group's fundraising and membership have fallen steeply in recent years, losing about a half-million members from 2021-22, according to gun violence news nonprofit The Trace.

The organization raised $213 million in 2022, about half of its 2016 total, according to the nonprofit Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

The New York suit, brought by state Attorney General Letitia James (D), alleges LaPierre and other senior leaders diverted millions of dollars away from the group's charitable mission and towards luxury personal benefits. [Emphasis mine.]

Following an 18-month investigation, James said the NRA fostered "a culture of self-dealing, mismanagement and negligent oversight," costing the group $64 million over three years.

The NRA and LaPierre have denied wrongdoing. The case is set to go to trial starting Monday."

So, in summary, a death merchant is leaving the scene of the crime, the rubes are no longer as large a revenue source, but there's still a long way to go to finally put the lethal "charity" out of business.

Here's a link:      NRA Leader Resigns

[Brother Mythos]

"TSA found record number of firearms at airport checkpoints in 2023. Most were loaded"

As per this article:

"The Transportation Security Administration says it found a record number of firearms at airport security checkpoints in 2023. A total of 6,737 were intercepted — or an average of 18 firearms per day — 93% of which which were loaded, the agency says.

The number surpassed 2022's record of 6,542 firearms found."

And, as per the end of this article:

"Upon finding a firearm at a security checkpoint, the TSA does not confiscate it, but instead immediately contacts local law enforcement to remove the passenger. The passenger may be arrested or cited, depending on local laws.

Such passengers are also subject to a fine of up to approximately $15,000, having their TSA PreCheck eligibility revoked for at least five years and enhanced screening."

So, 'Merica has broken another record. Swell.

Here's the link to this article:      Record Number of Firearms Found at Airports

[Brother Mythos]

"Jordan Klepper Puts U.S. Gun Problem in Terms NFL Fans Can Understand"

As per this article:

"More than 24 hours after gunfire erupted during the Kansas City Chiefs' Super Bowl parade on Wednesday—killing one person and injuring at least 22 others—we still know very little about exactly what led to the tragic events or who is responsible for them. "The good news is we do know one of the heroes that helped stopped the shooting," said The Daily Show correspondent/this week's guest host Jordan Klepper on Thursday.

"It wasn't a good guy with a gun," Klepper continued. "It wasn't anybody bearing arms. It was just a guy with arms.""

And, further along in this article:

""There were more than 800 police officers there, and all they could do was react after it happened," said Klepper, who then attempted to appeal to The Daily Show's viewers by putting his own argument for why gun control is necessary into football terms:

"America needs a defensive strategy that will stop a guy from getting the ball in the first place. Not just hope someone tackles him before he gets to the end zone. That's not a winning strategy—unless you're playing the Jets."

Klepper took the analogy even further when he stated that "we need to limit the size of the ball. That ball is a weapon of war; the Founders didn't anticipate the ball would be this big; I'm in too deep with this metaphor. I hear it now. You get the idea.""

Sounds like a game plan to me. Hey, it's worth a shot try.

Here's the link to this article:      Gun Control in 'Merican Football Terms