The Working Class Wakes Up

By Keith R. Schmitz

For years, the NRA has multi-tasked as a supporter of gun worshippers and a front group for the GOP.

But when the NRA came to Blacksville, WV to interview miners about the election, turns out nobody was interested in the casting call:

More than 440 workers who are members of the United Mine Workers of America took what's called a Memorial Day instead of going to work.

Union officials say they took the day to protest after a film crew from the National Rifle Assocation showed up at the Consol mine last week to interview union workers.

They say the crew tried to get union coal miners to speak out against Barak Obama.

The UMWA has endorsed the democratic presidential nominee.

"This was a surprise visit," explained VP Local 1702, Safety Chairman Eric Greathouse, "and a lot of the miners felt this was a direct slap in the face of the union because they were trying to coerce our people into saying things against Barck Obama."

"Consol doesn't let anybody on their property - never," said Safety Committee Member Mark Dorsey, "And for them to let the NRA come on the property and solicit our membership was totally uncalled for. We made our endorsement to our political process and we didn't bother them and they shouldn't be harassing our membership over this."

It comes down to this.

The NRA is ostensibly about hunting. To the surprise of one dimensional conservatives, I spent many cherished times walking the fields of Ozaukee county hunting pheasant, back when those fields were available.

But like all good GOP organizations, the NRA likes to stroke fear, fear that jack-booted thugs will take away people's weapons.

Gradually people are coming around to the notion that under a Republican administration there is a greater likelihood of loosing their job than loosing their gun under a Democrat. Call it the price of success on the part of the NRA. In their single-mindedness they have done a masterful job of bullying to sleep any common sense ideas about managing the proliferation of guns in our streets, bars, homes and universities.

What the heck. Unions themselves suffered that price of success. As their members became better off, they thought they were Republicans. For many the gun issue sealed the deal. The only difference is that while unions protect their members' self-interest, the NRA insists their one issue stands supreme.

Try imaging some guy telling his family that their future has to be on shaky ground because he enjoys his hobby. But that is the size of it.

And there is evidence that the economy is depressing the number of people who can even be hunters. I'c be curious to see the numbers here in Wisconsin.

In short, you can't buy shells and pay for the trip away on $10 an hour pay, or for that matter even find the time to go hunting if that pay means having to work two jobs to keep your family together.

Sure Obama has a long way to go to win West Virginia and he probably won't. But it is a hopeful sign that these workers in Blacksville -- miners in this case -- know what is at stake and recognize that their families come before fake fears over their gun rights, or better yet over the fact that Obama is black.

Change is coming.

Sheep Shot

By Keith R. Schmitz

It should be common knowledge that the NRA is actually a front group for the GOP and really doesn't represent true hunters. This band of lobbyists/faux populist group are in line with GOP talking points and therefore are against conservation efforts which insure more places for people to hunt.

Our friends over at Boots and Sabers are lauding the latest NRA attempt to pollute the political atmosphere.

This is of course to stir up fears that jackbooted thugs will be kicking in doors to grab guns.

But the one question people who love to hunt should ask themselves is what has the greatest likelihood?

Loosing my guns under a Democratic president or loosing my job under a Republican?

Yeah the leisure time is great, but buying the shells might be a little tough.

UPDATE: dad has laid down the challenge to come up with a better NRA ad. Here it is:

Another Campus Massacre

By Keith Schmitz

Once again families were visited by tragedy thanks to the out of control actions of one person augmented with firearms.

A gunman dressed in black stepped from behind a curtain at the front of a large lecture hall at Northern Illinois University on Thursday and shot 21 people, six of them fatally, then shot and killed himself, said university President John Peters.

According to Peters:

A preliminary investigation has not uncovered a police record on the gunman, and records showed he had no contact with NIU police while a student there.

Here's the point. Another "law-abiding citizen" responsible for the firearm deaths of a large number of people.

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Election Season

by capper

As if all the coverage of the presidential campaign wasn't a warning, today's MSJ gives another sign that elections season is fast approaching, if not already here. The story is about the pandering of state legislators to the NRA and their paranoid members. The state Assembly has already passed and the Senate is expected to pass a bill that would put severe limitations on authorities to confiscate guns from people acting poorly.

The bill was sponsored by Rep. Scott Gunderson (R-NRA's right pocket) who said, "I just think it's important that if there ever is a disaster similar to Katrina, that citizens are able to defend themselves, their families and their property and not be worried about government coming and confiscating their firearms." Yeah, right. I clearly remember the hurricane of '83 that wiped Sheboygan right of the face of the map. And if there was such a calamity to hit Wisconsin, I'd be a bit too worried to worry about whether my gun rights were protected.

As one might expect, the local gun enthusiasts are more than pleased with this. Dad29 has even put up a NRA film showing interviews and even a lady get taken down by police, because she wouldn't give up her gun. When I challenged Dad on that, he threw up the predictable straw man challenging me to prove that the NRA was less than honest with their propaganda. Well, I can't. Most states with CCW and under the NRA's thumbs also having laws that forbid the public knowledge of data such as how many gun crimes were committed by licensed owners.

So instead, I looked a little into why the cops were taking peoples guns. As you could imagine, I found tons of articles about Katrina and guns. About two thirds were by the NRA or gun enthusiast sites echoing the NRA verbatim.

The other third were stories about the chaos, the violence and the troubles faced by the police and the National Guard members that were trying to restore order, rescue workers being shot at by looters or by freaked out homeowners, and stores being pillaged for their guns.

I can't speak for Dad29 or any of the other gun enthusiasts, but if I am trying to help someone, I'd be less inclined to if they started shooting at me. And if I was trying to help restore order in the face of such devastating and unimaginable chaos, I wouldn't be taking time to see if the people shooting at me were legal gun owners.

But that's just me looking at the other side of the equation.

And before the rabid NRA acolytes come after me with their pitchforks and torches, I am not advocating for the complete abolishment of guns. First of all, the right would have more luck cleansing the country of illegal aliens that the left would be getting rid of all the guns. Secondly, I do own some shotguns and a rifle that I inherited, that I use at our place in the country. So far, I have only had to worry about a rabid raccoon and two rattlers in six years. No looters, no thugs. (And yes, I keep them unloaded and locked up.)

So why is the legislature taking going through the motions of passing an unnecessary bill? I can only think of two reasons. One, it's a step closer to concealed carry law, which I would oppose. Two, it's an election year and the NRA has deep pockets.

The Church Of Saints Smith And Wesson

by capper

Over the weekend, Keith talked about the tragedy in Omaha and pointed out the flaw in the NRA's argument about concealed carry laws preventing more deaths than just outlawing the guns in the first place. There were the usual arguments in the comment thread going back and forth on gun laws and trigger locks and all that.

Then, I saw a story about two shootings that occurred today in Colorado. The first happened when a gunman opened fire at a missionary training center, killing at least two people. Later on today, a gunman opened fire at the New Life Church, killing at least one person and wounding several others before he was killed by a security guard. The report states that authorities are looking into whether the two shootings are related.

It is the second shooting that points out some of the errors in the NRA's arguments. From the story:

...About 12 hours later, a gunman fatally shot a person at a megachurch in Colorado Springs before a guard killed him, police said.

and later in the article, there is this:

Police arrived to find that the gunman had been killed by a member of the church's armed security staff, Myers said.

Even though there were armed security guards that were trained to be on the lookout for situations like this, one person was still killed and several others were wounded. If the shooter didn't have a gun, would the casualty count be that high? Maybe, maybe not. Murders have been committed by stabbing, bludgeoning, strangulation, etc, but not on a grand scale like we have seen over the last week or even the last several years. Furthermore, Europe, which has much stricter gun laws, still has incidents of mass murder, but not to the frequency that occurs in the United States.

The other thing that caught my eye was the simple fact that the church had armed security guards on duty. When we have some conservative bloggers consistently calling Islam such a violent religion, referring to it as the Religion of Piece (of arm, of leg, of torso), and pointing out that Christianity is nothing like that, why would a Christian church feel the need for armed guards?

Well, to be fair, the article does point out one possible reason:

New Life was founded by the Rev. Ted Haggard, who was fired last year after a former male prostitute alleged he had a three-year cash-for-sex relationship with him. Haggard, then the president of the National Association of Evangelicals, admitted committing undisclosed "sexual immorality."

Either way, one would have to wonder about the relationship between the church and the NRA, and what agendas are they trying to promote.

Merry Christmas from the NRA

By Keith Schmitz

Correct me if I'm wrong folks, but Nebraska is a carry and conceal state.

So where were all those guns in the pocket at Westroads Mall when dozens of families had their Christmas' and their lives ruined -- or lost?

With all of the people walking the floors you think there would have been someone packing heat. That's what Frank Lasee tells us all the time.

But you know what. The flood of guns that we not only allow into our society and into the hands of those who absolutely shouldn't isn't making us safer, only less civilized.

We are becoming a society where the finger that flips off the guy in the other car can become the gun in the hand.

You can slice and dice the stats all you want. The rate of people who die from gun shot wounds in this country is higher than anywhere in the Western world, because these guys with arrested development think we live in the Old West world.

It boils down this. People who live else where are different nationalities, not different species. The difference is here because some like to mis-interpret the constitution have put their passion not in saving jobs, not in ending racism, not in fighting the increasingly evident onset of climate change, not in keeping us competitive, but in their immature notions that we have to protect ourselves from our government, or that someone won't allow them to hunt, or that they have to protect their homes themselves though that gun will more likely kill a member of their family.

As the Guardian of London dryly put it:

The killing is unlikely to result in a review of US gun laws. The Virginia Tech massacre failed to provoke a serious national debate, and gun laws are in the main not an issue in the presidential campaign.

In October 2006, a milk truck driver tied up and shot 10 Amish schoolgirls in their classroom in Pennsylvania, killing five of them before turning the gun on himself. For the most part such incidents create only short bursts of introspection.

For a crowd that says we have to sacrifice everything in homage to business, tell me how this will be good for business at Westroads Mall.

Merry Christmas NRA. Click here for your gift. Why don't you or Wayne LaPierre explain to the families of these victims why it was so important for Robert Hawkins to have that assault rifle.

Half Cocked

by krshorewood

The notion that somehow if more guns would be available rampages such as the one last week at Virginia Tech would have been cut short Rambo style by a "law-abidin'" citizen packing heat. That's one of the pleasing myths peddled by gun nuts and the Republicans that love them.

First off, I am glad that this debate has still got some steam despite the ease with which we move on from events. It was a little irritating to hear people, mostly gun supporters, to puleeze, puleeze not politicize this incident out of respect for the dead. No, this was out respect for what many of them amounts to either their pleasure or paranoia, and they were hoping a week out people would lose their intensity on the incident.

An example of some of the thoughts still being generated this week is today's Bob Herbert column in the New York Times.

The notion of more guns means less violent is just bat crap crazy. Increasing something that is harmful in the first place only really works for things such as preventing small pox, not so smart when it comes to human behavior.

What propels the gun lust crowd is that mental picture of the "bad guy" they like to invoke. Just that term alone seems to lock someone into the skull of a six year old boy. But as one Virginia Tech student put it so well on a blog, it's not the person in the back alley you have to fear but the student sitting next to you in class who snaps.

The gun lovers like to point to those rare occurances when a gun is actually used for self defense. But at what cost?

In Herbert's column he cites a conversation with Marian Wright Edelman, president of the Children’s Defense Fund. She says:

that since the murders of Robert Kennedy and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968, well over a million Americans have been killed by firearms in the United States. That’s more than the combined U.S. combat deaths in all the wars in all of American history.

That's certainly many times more than the number of people who have defended themselves with firearms.

Herbert concludes his column talking about who really pays the price for our outlandish gun owndership:

Those who are interested in the safety and well-being of children should keep in mind that only motor vehicle accidents and cancer kill more children in the U.S. than firearms. A study released a few years ago by the Harvard School of Public Health compared firearm mortality rates among youngsters 5 to 14 years old in the five states with the highest rates of gun ownership with those in the five states with the lowest rates.

The results were chilling. Children in the states with the highest rates of gun ownership were 16 times as likely to die from an accidental gunshot wound, nearly seven times as likely to commit suicide with a gun, and more than three times as likely to be murdered with a firearm.

Only a lunatic could seriously believe that more guns in more homes is good for America’s children.

If someone believes they are playing the big hero in defending their family by having a gun in their house the figures don't bear them out. Worse, the one-issue minds of many gun owners compel them to support the Republican Party -- like the NRA tells them to do -- and vote against not only their own interest but the future of their family.