Arm and Train Teachers to Kill: Gun Idiots

Some US folks who have had it with the pro-gun lobby intimidating, coercing and threatening its way into an exalted, near religious franchise in their country have responded strongly.

With words of course, because this would be the moment to demonstrate how the pen is mightier than the sword, rational discourse trumps irrational shrieeeking and internet activism might triumph over guns.

There have been many, many admirable and gut-wrenching pieces written in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook School massacre. Blithering glurge has also been produced, typically by those taken with a well-calculated Munchausen by proxy-like blog post.

This one may be my favourite, as it encapsulates the forces at play in the US.

The gun is our Moloch. We sacrifice children to him daily—sometimes, as at Sandy Hook, by directly throwing them into the fire-hose of bullets from our protected private killing machines, sometimes by blighting our children’s lives by the death of a parent, a schoolmate, a teacher, a protector. Sometimes this is done by mass killings (eight this year), sometimes by private offerings to the god (thousands this year).

The gun is not a mere tool, a bit of technology, a political issue, a point of debate. It is an object of reverence. Devotion to it precludes interruption with the sacrifices it entails. Like most gods, it does what it will, and cannot be questioned. Its acolytes think it is capable only of good things. It guarantees life and safety and freedom. It even guarantees law. Law grows from it. Then how can law question it?

Its power to do good is matched by its incapacity to do anything wrong. It cannot kill. Thwarting the god is what kills. If it seems to kill, that is only because the god’s bottomless appetite for death has not been adequately fed. The answer to problems caused by guns is more guns, millions of guns, guns everywhere, carried openly, carried secretly, in bars, in churches, in offices, in government buildings. Only the lack of guns can be a curse, not their beneficent omnipresence.

Adoration of Moloch permeates the country, imposing a hushed silence as he works his will. One cannot question his rites, even as the blood is gushing through the idol’s teeth. The White House spokesman invokes the silence of traditional in religious ceremony. “It is not the time” to question Moloch. No time is right for showing disrespect for Moloch.

Armed with words, compassionate and strong words.

There are sadly though, gun-fetishizing idiots in the US who demand that teachers be armed with weapons, to stop any potential attacks, oh no, wait - to *defend*. That's their buzz-word, their holy mantra. 

This kind of exchange is unfortunately quite typical of that mentality.

The assumption that any armed person can stop someone equipped bent upon carnage with assault weapons is mind-boggling.  Military and police teams train daily, for months and years, in order to develop the finely calibrated responses required to deal with this type of volatile - and deadly - situation.  

Aaron is so convinced that "the lack of guns can be a curse, not their beneficent omnipresence" that he can't see the training and the mindset required for this role is antithetical to what teachers do.  He would prefer that teachers devote their extra time to developing those specific skills deployed by SWAT personnel, instead of coaching, mentoring, nurturing, guiding children?

And then Wayne provides a link to this.  Oh glorious USA, land of opportunities, profits and ever-increasing deaths by gunfire.

Reading the comments that follow Garry Wills' piece is educational - and disheartening.  Yes, there are idiots but some people do still cherish the hope that their murderous US gun culture can - and will - shift gears.

Con "Mononcle" Garry gives high school girls advice.

Dianna Sakisheway wrote a scathing letter to Public Safety Minister Vic Toews this week. Her complaint stems from a speech Breitkreuz — known as the father of the legislation to repeal the long-gun registry — gave during a career day at Canterbury High School [in Ottawa] on March 7.

“I am outraged at the irresponsible conduct of the federal government in promoting gun violence to schoolchildren,” she wrote. “You have gone much too far.”

“Mr. Breitkreuz spent most of his allotted time discussing firearms and cited a Texas study that showed women who carry guns are less likely to get raped, including a specific number of women who avoided rape as they were armed,” Sakisheway wrote [...]

From here. Hmm, I wonder how Toews will react to that. If the teenage girl who babysat for his family had been armed with a gun, his political career might have been cut short.

So CPC MP Breikreuz agrees with DJ! that women should "Stand their ground"? Who would have guessed.

In other news relating to the "future" the Harper government has laid out for Canadian youth, the Flaherty budget has slashed, effective immediately, the operating grant contract it had with Katimavik.

The move comes as a surprise to the Katimavik organization, which says it has been kept in the dark about any upcoming cuts. Its National Director of Marketing and Communications Victoria Salvador has said, however, that the group is trying to diversify its funding in order to stay afloat.

Despite the Tories' determination to kill the program, the group expressed hope in a statement Thursday that lobbying the government can still save the program.

Katimavik expressed "extreme disappointment" over the funding decision and argued its purpose is more important than ever. "At a time when civic engagement and voter turnout are at an all-time low, when youth unemployment rates are double the national average, this is clearly the worst time to cut Katimavik," the group wrote.

In this tweet the author of the news item claimed: "One Tory told me today, they view it as a Liberal recruiting ground..." which begs the question where the CPC gets its own recruits: Fundamentalist christian churches? Reactionary school bullies? Armed forces rejects?

As Calgary Sun columnist Stephen Lautens observed: "Katimavik - creating young people too smart and kind for the Cons for 35 years."

Bang! Bang! It's 1812 according to the CONs.

During the 1812 edition of Winterlude .... sorry, 2012 - the CONtempt Party is so early 19th century - children were encouraged to play war games with replicas of vintage weapons.

Little about these activities held at a family-oriented park has appeared in the anglophone press, but a number of articles* in Le Droit and other francophone media have raised questions. Many parents were disturbed at the military presence and sponsorship at this event and found it intrusive.

The MP for Hull-Aylmer, interim NDP leader and grandmother of 9 children, Nycole Turmel found it inappropriate that the Harper government promoted its pro-gun agenda in this manner, encouraging the use of mock weapons as well as casually facilitating such activities with young participants.

The majority of parents surveyed by Le Droit seemed uneasy that the activity was sponsored by Parks Canada. "Who had this idea?", asked Julia Robinson of Ottawa, "When you put a gun in the hands of a child, even a replica, it trivializes violence. "

Other parents said war re-enactments performed by adults belong in military museums and not in a park dedicated to families with young children.

In the print edition of Le Droit, the vice-president of the National Capital Commission Jean-François Trépanier shrugged off parents' concerns. "We all played cowboys and indians when we were kids."

Such words betray a stunning ignorance of the reality of child soldiers and stats on children killed by guns.

A survey of 26 middle-upper income countries by the Centers for Disease Control showed that Canada is fifth among industrialized countries in the rate of children under 14 years killed with guns, following the US, Finland, Northern Ireland and Israel.

As someone remarked on Twitter: "Toto, I don't think we're in Canada anymore."

*google translation here.

A sensible and responsible idea -

which will never fly with US gun nutz.

From here:

[...]sidestep the entire gun control controversy and instead pass state laws that require anyone who owns a gun to carry insurance.

If they have risk factors (like teenagers in the house), their rates go up. If one of their kids sneaks a gun out of the house and gets caught, or uses it to commit a crime, the insurance gets canceled for some meaningful period of time - say, 10 years. And if someone steals your gun and you don't report it in a 24-hour window of you finding out, your insurance is suspended.

If you have a rifle and it's only used for hunting, low rates. If you have a Glock and you carry it in an open-carry town or state, your rates will be very high - because odds are so much higher that innocent bystanders may get caught in a shootout.

The comments after this short item are very informative and they reflect the whole gamut of ambivalence, sense and crazy about firearms / the 2nd amendment that US citizens share. Here's a few that made me chortle.

[...] that would further enrich insurance companies. They are venal and clever enough to offer policies that have the veneer of protection and coverage while not doing so in a practical sense. They would profit handsomely while putting themselves at minimal risk. Think of how they've gamed health insurance.

Accidents and deaths. I think we need to explore this idea. If own a machine that can kill, you should insure it. Motor vehicles and guns. [...] But there is an impossible hurdle - any legislation that requires people to 'declare' the guns they own will never work. The nuts think it is the first step for the government to take guns away. Which brings us to the question - why haven't they come for our cars?

Teabaggers [...] the same demographic as the gun fanatics. Sorry, all rational, reasonable attempts to ameliorate the effects of gun violence are "off the table" by default. Now if your mandatory gun insurance included mandatory gun ownership for all citizens, and the NRA owned the gun insurance company, then you might get somewhere.

"Gun control? We need bullet control! I think every bullet should cost 5,000 dollars. Because if a bullet cost five thousand dollars, we wouldn't have any innocent bystanders .” Chris Rock, Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert ... why is it comedians are so much smarter than the rest of us?

Remember how our mothers used to fret that rough-housing and various stunts would lead to someone losing an eye? It seems that in the US, the obligatory worship to God the Father will soon be supplanted by the Almighty Right to Bear Arms, if that hasn't happened already. Who cares if politicians, teachers, by-standers get maimed or killed so that some 'murrican men and women can compensate for their feelings of inadequacy, and keep the scary evil monsters at arms' length. Until they look in the mirror, that is.

Never responsible, always the victim - update.

$arah Palin, of course.

As others quicker off the mark than I these days pointed out, Palin and her sycophants produced this map, as well as reams of political eliminationist discourse directed at ideological opponents.

Palin has a history of evading responsibility for her actions, as well as shirking her obligations. Over and over, she's blamed others for everything that shines a spotlight upon her intellectual laziness, her egotism, the fabrication of her image and her greediness. Couric allegedly ambushed her; though she (and family members) preened in clothing and luxury items bought by the Republican party during the presidential campaign she refused to wear the issue; she abandoned her job as Governor of Alaska to pursue lucrative proposals yet said it was the media's fault she quit, etc. etc. etc.

Some political observers think Palin's bid for the presidency will be damaged by the Tucson carnage, others believe she'll bounce back.

Andrew Sullivan:

"There is no way to understand the politics of this without Palin. She has long been the leader of the movement that drapes itself in military garb, that marinates in violent rhetoric, that worships gun culture, that has particular ferocity in the state of Arizona, and that never ever apologises for anything." He adds: "My hope is that this horrifying momentary conflation of politics, guns and mental illness will lead responsible figures on the right to eschew the path of Palin."

David Frum:

[...] Palin's response – condolences to the victims and a simple denial of any responsibility – was perfectly fair in reply to opponents who suggested the crosshairs contributed to the shooting. But if she wanted to be a leader, she had to go beyond that, he said. He called on her to express real grief and sincere compassion, be visible, engage in the debate, and challenge opponents [...] "Palin is splashed by that history [the build-up to the Tucson incident] and the challenge is to find something big and generous to speak of in a larger way. So far, she has opted not to do so."

Expect the usual whining from Palin and her die-hard supporters. It will be difficult for Palin to spin that she is - not Gabrielle Giffords and the citizens killed or injured by the shooting - the "real" victim of this tragedy. Nonetheless she'll exploit her own brand of truthiness in her favour.

And also, go read Dr Dawg, Audrey II, Buckdog and Simon.

Update: Palin responds, not as Frum suggested, but in her habitual 'Pit Bull with Lipstick' attack form. Republican Jewish leaders choose to remain silent on Palin's opportunistic appropriation of the term "blood libel".

Grand merci to Jymm.

BREAKING: Two Shot at Holocaust Museum

Further madness in USA. From Washington, DC:

An elderly man walked into the Holocaust Museum, one of the capital’s most-visited sites, shortly after 1 p.m. Wednesday and opened fire with a shoulder weapon or pistol, wounding a security guard before being shot himself, officials said.

The gunman was identified by several news agencies as James W. von Brunn, a man in his late 80s. According to a Web site maintained by Mr. von Brunn, he embraces a far-reaching conspiracy theory involving Jews, blacks and other minority groups. Early reports indicated that he lives in eastern Maryland.

However, the Washington police chief, Cathy Lanier, said the identity of the gunman had not been confirmed.

The haters have been primed by the Tea Partiers, the Rethugnicans, and mostly by the far right wing media. And now they're going off.

ADDED: This looks pretty damned prescient now, doesn't it?

UPDATE: The guard has died.

REACTION: Does this sound familiar? What are white supremacists saying?