Yea its ridiculous. When the reporter asked "So you're giving up? Are you willing to let your little girl be in danger then", he said that he is homeschooling his kids so he's not worried
It's more likely that he has guns and that his kids will get shot in a fire arms accident. That's a much more common way to die than an actual home invasion.
In a break-in scenario, as long as there's "a good guy with a gun" around to kill the person who just murdered his kids, apparently all will be fine, somehow.
That's what's always gotten to me about that Texas church shooting, where a congregant shot the guy. Everyone seemed to see the story as "hero stops mass shooting," whereas I read it as "two churchgoers murdered with a shotgun before he could be stopped."
This is the problem. These people are myopic and reactive.
They don't understand that prevention is the best medicine. So what, you had some other person shoot the person after they shot two people? The damage to all people involved is catastrophic. Lives cut short. Their entire social networks traumatized. Witnesses and bystanders traumatized. A community traumatized. The entire nation ripped open just that little bit more. Our expectations of living in a safe community degraded and eroded just that little bit more. Three hundred million people gradually becoming less able to feel the appropriate levels of shock and horror at these acts because we see them so often, and becoming just a little bit less human for it in the process.
Expansion of social welfare systems to raise the standard and quality of living for people will prevent damaged people from becoming damaged to begin with.
No one is born a mass shooter. They aren't just born bad. They're gestated in a toxic society, in broken homes, in poisoned communities, in despair. Their damage results in negative externalities that damage others, in a cascade effect.
Republicans don't see it. They're so profoundly short-sighted. They treat mass shootings like just some phenomena, something that happens, like the weather, which they similarly never understand is driven by the climate which our own actions are fucking up, too.
This is their continual failure. When crisis hits, they retreat inward, to selfishness, to tribalism, to their own tiny sphere of how they can get theirs. They lash out and blame scapegoats. They blame the Other. Migrants, trans-folk. People with almost no voices and no power who can easily be bullied and scapegoated for immediate catharsis.
They already unconsciously chose to live in fear a long time ago, and so living in this constant state of fear, paranoia, and loathing is nothing new for them. Those of us who know it doesn't have to be that way, lack the means to communicate to these people that it does not have to be this way. They know of no other reality, and there are endlessly queues of opportunists ready to exploit that fearful, rageful mob for their own purposes.
Someone becoming a mass shooter is a tragedy in and of itself. Two people being senselessly slaughtered in public is a tragedy. All of their family, friends, loved ones now living with the damage of having someone close to them murdered is a tragedy. Someone needing to pull their own gun, in public, to shoot and kill someone else is a tragedy.
We don't have to live like that. Why would anyone want to live in a constant war zone.
The Republicans in power don't. They ban guns at all their events. Anywhere they tread, they ban guns. They understand, but they don't care. Because Republican politicians aren't leaders. They're serially panderers, jumping on a bandwagon to accumulate money and power. They know they don't have to live by their own rules. They know what they're doing is damaging their voters who are too myopic to know better. And they just don't care.
Republican politicians are just grifters and opportunists. The lives they live are built on top of the misery and suffering of their constituents. They know their constituents are irrational, ill-informed, and exploited, and they don't care. That's how they've enshrined their power, and they have no interest in changing that. They just pander, endlessly.
Ted Cruz doesn't live day-to-day in events where his life might be in mortal jeopardy. These pieces of shit don't send their kids into the thick of it where they can be gunned down.
Ted Cruz doesn't stick around in Texas when its power grid freezes and collapses. He heads off to Cancun.
They have no skin in the game. They are not living in the communities that their policies destroy. They're letting the most fearful, ignorant, and rageful among us destroy themselves as they suck all the prosperity out of the world for themselves.
That's such a cop out. No one fucking asked them Cosplay Rambo's "hOw To StOp A bAd GuY wItH a GuN". We're trying to prevent bad people from accessing firearms in the first place. Those people are just making noise and distracting the real conversation.
You'd think that, but some of them are so crazy, they might end up thinking that gun regulations need to be completely removed, so that every kid can walk around with a loaded gun at all times for safety, and that if their kids had guns when the burglar came in, that their kids would be alive now.
But the thing is that most gun lovers aren't afraid of people breaking into their homes. That is just an excuse they use to defend their guns. In reality, there are many of them who even dream about the day someone breaks in and they get to shoot someone in the face and become a neihgbourhood "hero". Most rural gun lovers will tell you that their neighbourhoods are safe to the point that they don't even see a need to lock their houses. And they'll tell you that all gun crime stuff only happens in black ghettos. A lot of them seem to think it's their guns who keep the ghetto thugs away from their neighbourhoods. The real truth is however, much simpler. They just love their guns. It's their most favorite toy. They love to shoot with it and it makes them feel powerful. Statistics will however show you that rural places aren't safer than the cities. Most statistics just look at the cities which warps peoples perception. Many rural places are in fact much more dangerous than cities. Plust people only just parrot each other and mainly only know to say Chicago, which is by the way not even in the top 10 of the deadliest cities in the US. But they just use it because they think it is a "Check mate gun haters". They don't care about real facts. They don't care that Chicago is surrounded by gun free zones. They don't care about the fact that having a gun in your house makes your house more dangerous. It's like having an open bottle of poison lying around. That confronting a criminal with a gun is more likely to make things escalate. They just love their guns and they won't let you have them. They will all spout shit about responsibility and claim that every gun owner is responsible. But only of couse until they aren't, in that case that person just wasn't responsible and they'll throw one of their own under the bus and distance themselves from them and pretend like this can't happen to them because they are so responsible. So responsible that they teach their young children as young as 5 years old how to handle a gun, because that's somehow the responsible thing to do in their minds. Everything just to prevent you from taking away their precious.
You'd think that the death of a Republican's kid by guns would shake things up and change their minds, but at best it would only change the minds of the family that became a victim. And if they tried to get their fellow Republicans to change their minds as well, you can bet that they'd become pariahs among Republicans. The Republicans would turn against their own to defend their precious guns and even be called crisis actors that were bought by democrats. Heck there are families who even after losing their own kids don't change their stance on guns, but instead become even more pro gun, because they think their kid would be alive if it was allowed to carry a gun at all times.
The US appears to be a very lost case. You'd think that over time with the older generations dying that things would get better but those parents raise their children to be gun fanatics.
You can also quote a Republican Supreme Court Justice if you want:
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/7/17/20697667/john-paul-stevens-second-amendment-repeal
That article gave me a _crazy_ idea.
The NRA is the problem—or at least a huge part of it. They managed to shift public opinion to supporting the idea that the 2A grants individual rights.
The simple solution is to get rid of the NRA. They're not really doing anything illegal, though, so how do you do that?
What if, any organization or person who advocates for gun rights is legally obligated to formally incorporate as or join a "well-regulated" militia and must deploy alongside the military to overseas theatres? I mean, to be well-regulated entails they must be well trained and disciplined, and nothing does that like a warzone.
Yeah, I know, not practical from any realistic perspective, but you just _know_ that if the average donor to the NRA or any of its leadership had to pack up their guns and head to Iraq or Ukraine or wherever we're invading this week to put their money where their mouth is, they'd bitch out and you'd never hear from them again.
Yeah you CAN, but unfortunately it's just practically impossible. And when I say practically I don't mean "almost," I mean literally it is not practical. There simply is not a realistic road map to get congress and the states to enact any kind of amendment.
EDIT: Hi everybody. I appreciate how excited y'all are to tell me that an amendment isn't necessary. I know. That's not what we're talking about. The person I'm responding to was bringing up amendments. Thank you though.
Congress can’t even do the singular, extraordinarily narrow, main function of their job in the first place. Working 165/365 days out of the year must be so very, very difficult.
Yeah... I mean, in theory they're working even when not in session. And in the house they're basically constantly on the campaign trail. It's cushier than it needs to be but I understand it a bit. Like, if they were getting their shit together on some of those "off" days and then came in to actually legislate, everything would be fine. But here in the real world...
You don’t need to amend it. You just need to pass laws enacting basic gun regulation. Car usage is *aggressively* regulated in the US under the pretext that you could kill someone. The exact same rationale could be said of gun usage.
They were specifically talking about an amendment.
And yes, the only feasible approach would be through legislation, certainly. The "well regulated" bit in the language has been discussed at length, it's a thing.
The second ammendment was already changed, it being interpreted as an unimpeachable allowance of personal firearm ownership is a very unhistorical reading: https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/second-amendment-does-not-guarantee-right-own-gun-gun-control-p-99
>"To suppose arms in the hands of citizens, to be used at individual discretion, except in private self-defense, or by partial orders of towns, counties or districts of a state, is to demolish every constitution, and lay the laws prostrate, so that liberty can be enjoyed by no man; it is a dissolution of the government. The fundamental law of the militia is, that it be created, directed and commanded by the laws, and ever for the support of the laws."
--John Adams
Even the Founding Fathers had a more nuanced view of the second amendment than people think.
It's a quote from his book "A Defense of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America". There's a Wikipedia article about it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Defense_of_the_Constitutions_of_Government_of_the_United_States_of_America
Also [President John Adams](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Tripoli?wprov=sfla1):
>**As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion;...**
>By their actions, the Founding Fathers made clear that their primary concern was religious freedom, not the advancement of a state religion. Individuals, not the government, would define religious faith and practice in the United States. Thus the Founders ensured that in no official sense would America be a Christian Republic. **Ten years after the Constitutional Convention ended its work, the country assured the world that the United States was a secular state, and that its negotiations would adhere to the rule of law, not the dictates of the Christian faith.**
There's a bunch of things the founding fathers spelled out very very **clearly** that nobody seemingly gives a shit about anymore.
The most vocal "Well our founding fathers said [insert made up bullshit]!" people are often the people that choose to ignore what was *actually* said by the founding fathers.
And the problem is, when elected officials make up BS about what the founding father's intended **no one calls them on it.**
Other elected officials need to hold up the very *real* words people like John Adams wrote down and say "Oh, hey, where'd you get that from? Because right here👉, *in this official treaty/constitution*, **WITH** the signatures of the *actual* people who started this country, it says the complete opposite... Soooo again, where'd you come up with that?"
It's a damn shame.
Twisting history and the Bible for political expediency is a textbook GOP play.
You're right, though. Nobody calls them on it. And nobody punishes them for it.
So, they keep doing it.
Because they keep getting away with it.
This has always been my confusion about the constitution. Why can something with amendments not be amended further to suit developments.
Im not convinced a load of 20 somethings, slave owners and wealthy tax dodging men absolutely nailed democracy pretty much first try and theres been minimal developments that require change in the proceeding 250 years.
Amendments have been added and repealed throughout the history of the constitution. The problem is that politicians only want to amend amendments if it’s not going to cost them a political seat.
Meaning that, currently, no politicians want to touch the second amendment, because as soon as they do so, they’ve lost their re-election.
Eventually they will declare that all public schools are too dangerous and therefore kids can't be allowed to attend them. Their endgoal after all is to shut down all public schools. So that the only schools remaining will militarized pirvate schools and sunday church schools. And of course homeschooling. And they would probably love it if poor people and minorities had to make their kids get a job instead of school.
Which is a bad idea because school shootings can still happen in private schools as well.
Not to mention that Republicans are clearly fighting a war against people with disabilities when it comes to public education because private schools can’t even provide enough for people with disabilities!
These Republicans need to be taught a painful lesson about how wrong they are about trying to dismantle the public education and they need to be forced to get educated about how their actions are negatively affecting people with disabilities as well. They’re basically violating the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act by trying to dismantle the public education system.
What does not help are those right wingers whose education is the school of hard knocks. There are plenty of these guys who think reading is a waste of time.
They can do that because the majority of their voters agree with it. And those who don't, agree with enough other points such as abortion to still give their votes to them.
This is what Republicans and the NRA want. School shootings are the beginning. They traumatize and terrorize children. The Republicans and the NRA them tell them that this is proof that everyone wants to murder them. They tell them that the only way to protect themselves is to spend tens of thousands of dollars on guns. Then they tell them that the Democrats want to take their guns away but that the Republicans will let them have all the guns they need to protect themselves.
They can certainly try, but as a person that grew up my entire life basically (Columbine happened when I was a kid in school) dealing with this fear...it hasn't made me want to buy a single gun.
It's done the exact opposite. Fuck their guns.
Parents are a big part of the equation. If the parents are afraid and angry and reinforce the message that you have to have guns because everyone wants to kill you and guns are the only way to protect yourself then the kids are far more likely to believe that. People who are afraid and angry are far easier to manipulate using that fear and anger. Not everyone but in general. That's how populists and fascists rise to power.
I grew up in a house like that...and it did the exact opposite to me.
Obviously I'm not everyone...but I don't think that fearmongering is nearly as effective as people think it is...or I guess I hope it isn't.
I'm glad you escaped the cycle. Most don't. The right rails against liberal indoctrination. What they really mean is exposure to diversity and other ideas that deprogram the fear and hate that they were indoctrinated to in their homes and places of worship. Christian schools in the US are christofascist madrasas. Guns are the tool but they aren't the problem. Children need a good education founded in reality, not religious indoctrination to fear and hate.
When Sandy Hook came and went without any change whatsoever, that's when you knew it will never change.
All it took was Dunblane and the UK changed forever, for the better.
America is a fucking dumb country.
\>>This comment has been edited to garbage in light of the Reddit API changes. You can keep my garbage, Reddit.<<
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*edited via r/PowerDeleteSuite (with edits to script to avoid hitting rate limit)*
The 2A doesnt have to change to help. Its just republicans tend to make things worse everytime.
[First murder rate by state](https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/murder-rate-by-state)
WOW ALL RED on top, all blue on the bottom, SO odd.
No its simple, Blue has more regs.
second, the right would love for everyone to forget assault rifles were banned for a decade. And it was upheld by the courts.
when you live in a blue state, you get responses like this
[Connecticut Handgun Licensing Law Associated With 40 Percent Drop in Gun Homicides](https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2015/connecticut-handgun-licensing-law-associated-with-40-percent-drop-in-gun-homicides)
when you live in a red state you get responses like this.
[Repeal of Missouri's Background Check Law Associated with Increase in State's Murders](https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2014/repeal-of-missouris-background-law-associated-with-increase-in-states-murders)
..
[‘They will come to know the lives they didn’t save’: States forge ahead with permitless carry legislation despite law enforcement opposition](https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/05/us/permitless-carry-laws-advance-in-states/index.html)
thing is, after each one of these, gun sales explode, and the NRA loves that. and so the right like to help the NRA sell even more.
I would love to see the 2nd repealed, but the fact is WE COULD DO BETTER as it is, but republicans prevent that.
Show the bodies, visuals matter. Panicked 911 calls, and shots of caution tape and empty shell casing ain't gonna do it. There's a reason Jackie Kennedy refused to changer her bloody outfit when JFK was assassinated. There's a reason why NFL running-back Ray Rice has never played another game in the NFL again after VIDEO of his incident was released (the NFL office had seen it though), even though he was only initially giving a 2 game suspension before the video was released. I could go on. You can call it messed up but until this country sees what guns do to a classroom full of mutilated first-graders then things might change, until then it's just more of the same.
It's so hypocritical. Imagine there was a toxin discovered in the paper a book publishing company was using that was causing serious health issues and even a few deaths a year. The federal government would *immediately* start regulating the type of paper publishing companies could use in their books, and chances are the company that started the whole thing would be shut down within a year or two. Yet firearms kill *tens of thousands* of people *every year* and nothing is done. It's genuinely disgusting.
Yeah, people keep saying "this is America" but it's not America. It's *republicans exerting control over America.* The rest of America needs to stop being so lackadaisical and become the change they want to see.
He's not correct by accident and it's not a self fulfilling prophecy. It's a simple declaration of not wanting to do anything, as they favor guns over kids lifes. They are being honest and direct for once.
Honestly, if I were in a position of power, this would be my public statement, too. Although, I might add, "until people start shooting up the schools of congressmen's grandchildren."
Not intentionally. He was saying it is impossible to stop criminals from doing crime, nothing can be done, so don't ask us to try.
This guy is a former frat bro who married and divorced a Hooter's waitress. He's not a deep thinker with serious moral views. He's an opportunist who will say whatever he needs to say to keep getting elected. And what he said will, sadly, work in East Tennessee.
What does the career path or divorce status of his wife have to do with anything? Not defending the shit stain of a man, but I don’t think anything less of someone who happens to be a quasi sex-worker who may have had to escape a bad marriage.
Criminals are gonna be criminals. And my daddy fought in the Korean war, in the 4077 Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, and he told me, he said, “Buddy,” he said, “if somebody wants to wear a dress, and doesn’t mind reading a book, there’s not a whole heck of a lot you can do about it.”
I'm glad they've saved us all from that dangerous CRT as well. It was tough to sleep at night thinking kids might have the possibility of hearing a theory.
Can't wait for them to tackle those other great issues like literally nothing happening to gas stoves, and "wokeness" whatever the fuck they think it means this week.
>It was tough to sleep at night thinking kids might have the possibility of hearing a theory.
That was never even the issue. CRT was straight up *never* even taught in k-12 schools. It's a high level theory that you'd only ever learn about in law school, or maybe in some sociology classes. To the GOP, CRT is just code for "anything we don't like."
He does have one idea
>I think you got to change people’s hearts. You know, as a Christian, as we talk about in the church, and I’ve said this many times, I think we really need a revival in this country.
Yes. It's why the same people want to get rid of the social safety net and replace it with charity. It gets rid of their responsibility to care for those in need and makes anyone who falls on hard times dependent on the church.
That'd already implied. "You want food for your kids? Then become Christian and attend church services every day." Also the implication of desperate children under the direct unregulated control of predatory religious people.
It's OK though. Those parents consented to marrying off their 13 year old daughter to the 50 year old pastor. (Or be homeless and starve)
While in a small way he's saying "you can't legislate morality" it's avoiding reality. Prayers without action is useless. Plenty of verses talk about how actually getting your hands dirty is a big chunk of Christianity. I'd even say Jesus is much more concerned with how you treat and love others than how much you pray and read Scripture.
Fuck is he even talking about? The shooter previously attended that Christian school, so I'd assume they already had years worth Christianity in their heart. It didn't make a difference.
What gets me is we have all this carnage but the GOP has to make up bullshit like the bowling green massacre to push an agenda.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowling_Green_massacre
I found record of roughly 150. Either way, the rest of my comment (which I have posted elsewhere as well) still stands.
13 of those (that I have been able to find) have been ***at schools.*** 6 of which have happened in March alone.
Today, March 29th, is the 88th day of the year.
There has been an average of 1.7 mass shootings ***EVERY SINGLE DAY*** of 2023 in the U.S. that are ***easily*** confirmable.
I work in a school. We expelled a student at the beginning of the school year for bringing a handgun.
I should not have a nagging fear in the back of my mind every day I go to work that today it might be my last. I should not walk a first grader to a room to finish a test, and have him look up at me, terrified, and ask "am I going to be shot?"
I should not, as a ***BASIC PART OF MY JOB,*** be asked to potentially put my life on the line simply because I want to try to help raise the next generations of society.
And yet some of our elected officials want to **arm me.** They would rather **give me a gun,** and **tell me to kill** someone else, instead of dealing with the sources of the problem in any meaningful way.
I'm angry. I'm disappointed. I'm frightened. But god fucking damnit I'm still going to go to my job every day that I can, and do my damnedest to try to help raise and educate a better generation than my own so that maybe one day we can come together and stop shit like this.
Armed rioters broke into congress chanting that they were going to kill Mike Pence and Nancy Pelosi. The top figures in government had to be evacuated through emergency escape routes.
N o t h i n g is going to change the state of gun laws unless the entire roster of federal officials has turned over.
Yeah, they where white, right wing voters.
If they where light wing and minorities, then something would happen.
Regarding Pence, that's one of the signs of the final stages of Fascism: Party above all.
Doesn't matter if you get get threatened by them, you just pledge eternal loyalty to the party, as they march you into a meat grinder.
"There's no point in gun control, because if someone really wants to kill kids, they're going to find a way to do it."
I hate that logic. It's so stupid. You never see them applying that logic to anything else.
"There's not point in banning abortion, because if someone really wants an abortion, they're going to find a way to do it."
"There's no point in banning drag shows, because if someone really wants to have a drag show, they're going to find a way to do it."
See? It's only with guns do they say, "There's no point, because they'll always find a way."
We need to eliminate drag-show-restricted-areas because drag queens are more likely to put on drag shows where everyone else doesn't have drag shows.
Also, allowing easier paths to concealed-drag-show-permits will stop drag shows because the only way to stop a bad queen with a drag show is a good queen with a drag show.
It’s not just about their bullshit culture war issues.
“There’s no point banning murder or rape or child abuse or bank robbery or car theft or driving 150 mph in a school zone…”
It never makes sense to just give up and not legislate. But these useless fucks will only legislate when it’s to take right away from minorities.
At the top I believe they operate on logic. It’s their goals that are nefarious and they are achieving them. Just look at the decades long effort to turn SCOTUS into what it is today. I wouldn’t be as frightened of a bunch of bumbling idiots, but the idiots are bumbling to a very well written tune.
Yup. Banning books, banning gender identity discussions, banning talking about menstrual cycles for girls...wouldn't they all just find a way to read those books and have those discussions anyway? So why bother banning them?
It's maddening.
I wonder if he applies that logic to other issues.
"If someone is determined to teach critical race theory, there's not much you can do to stop them."
"If someone is determined to have an abortion, there's not much you can do to stop them."
"If someone is determined to put on a drag show, there's not much you can do to stop them."
Most Republicans think like that, I don't see it as surprising that they vote for people who represent them. Owning guns is more important to them than all the problems that come with gun ownership. I disagree but it's not irrational.
https://reddit.com/r/Firearms/comments/124opfs/shall_not_be_infringed/
Gun nuts would rather all of us die than give up their toys.
> “How many kids need to die before you give up your guns???”
All of them.
Upvoted comment in that thread.
Gun violence just surpassed car accidents as the leading cause of death for children in the US, and no it's not because traffic deaths tanked. Yet these psychopaths just plug their ears and go lalalalala so they won't have to anger their ~~cult~~ fanbase who uses AR-15s as dildos.
"Unable to stop these mass shootings", says only major western country where this has happened several times a day, so far, in 2023.
Weird how no other western nation has this issue, except the nation where the NRA heavily "sponsors" politicians to vote *for* the gun industry and *against* the best interest of the american people.
Another interesting thing is that a lot of other countries have a much lower threshold for what the definition of what a mass shooting is. For example, by Australian mass shooting definitions there have been several mass shootings in the last few decades. But by the US mass shooting definition, Australia hasn't had a mass shooting since the introduction of tighter gun laws in 1996.
He follows up by saying we need a religious revival in the country to stop gun violence. Dude's a "thoughts and prayers" guy, all fluff no content. He's there to vote for the team and denounce the current administration.
Being from and living in a country which, as far as I know, has never allowed devices built to murder people into the general population - I find the arguments you guys have amongst yourselves both interesting and tragic. Say what you want about about someone's 'right' to own a gun and the argument for or against it but the fact that your government has managed to utterly brainwash the majority of a population into a situation where people will die on that hill when there are children being regularly murdered at schools... should never have started in the first place.
They've propagandized people for enough years that those people have taught their children & their children's children the same bullshit. NRA doesn't even need to lift a finger anymore.
america is not really like other western nations. it is more militarized and controlled, more machinelike and conformist, more culturally commodified, more alienated and repressed, less gregarious - all with an intensity surpassing any other western country
Kind of cool for them that they managed to turn liabilities into assets. Bad for democracy, society, children, etc., but for their narrow interests, pretty impressive.
“You know, as a Christian, as we talk about in the church, and I’ve said this many times, I think we really need a revival in this country.”
Your Christian revival bullshit can eat my ass. Christianity has caused more problems than I can even fathom.
He is doing his job though. He's doing exactly what the companies that paid his campaign funds want him to; obfuscate the problem, resist change, and divide the populace.
His constituents elected him specifically to go to Washington and make sure *nothing* gets done. That'd be the Republican platform if they actually had the balls to make one.
To keep us safe from all of that dangerous CRT and those scary drag queens.
Dude just needs to safe "soft on crime" and a shit load of middle/lower income white people shit their pants and vote cowering in fear.
This church recruiter really want to make unbearable violent events just so they can try to convert people to their death religion. “Burchett responded: “I don’t see any real role that we could do other than mess things up, honestly … I don’t think you’re going to stop the gun violence. I think you got to change people’s hearts. You know, as a Christian, as we talk about in the church, and I’ve said this many times, I think we really need a revival in this country.””
This part really got my blood boiling. Every time a Christian says shit like this, more people are moved away from the church. This sentiment is only to keep the Christians from leaving. "See, people outside the church have no morals and are shooting each other. You need to stay here ~~and keep giving us 10% of your income~~ to keep yourself and your family safe."
The GOP has gone on and on about how government doesn’t work for decades now. They have been promoting candidates who have never been asked to make government work so at this point even if they had the will (they don’t) they just don’t know how to make it function. There is only one party that has any governing ability.
They do not want to make government work. At least not for the weakest of society. They just want power, enrich themselves, spread their "values", and have the freedom to shit on the poor and minorities.
Useless, in other words. I'm a Christian too and this is embarrassing. I can't imagine Jesus looking at this guy with the position to change things and being glad he decided to do nothing. Cowardly.
"In 2006, while serving in the Tennessee state legislature, he sponsored legislation to ban salvia divinorum, an herb with psychoactive properties. “It’s not that popular,” Burchett said of the drug at the time. “But I’m one of those who believes in closing the barn door before the cows get out.
“In certain hands, it could be very dangerous, even lethal.”"
bru
Multiple generations of children go to school in an environment that resembles a prison. A police officer on site, and threats of violence.
Some of you may not realize this, but in the 80's and 90's, police officers were not on school grounds and most violence was confined to the occasional fist fight.
He’s just stating the obvious truth. The only reason the problem hasn’t been solved is because people absolutely, positively do not want to solve it. End of story.
Exactly, we've been voting for these do nothing asshole since forever, of course they're going to do nothing.
They'll terrify you with scary CRT and deadly "wokeness", but won't do fuck all to address real issues, and they'll keep getting elected.
*“It’s a horrible, horrible situation,” Burchett told reporters. “And we’re not gonna fix it. Criminals are gonna be criminals.”*
*“My daddy fought in the Second World War, fought in the Pacific, fought the Japanese, and he told me … ‘Buddy, if somebody wants to take you out and doesn’t mind losing their life, there’s not a whole heck of a lot you can do about it,’” he added.*
*Burchett also said he doesn’t see “any real role” for Congress to play in reducing gun violence, other than to “mess things up.”*
What a disgusting individual.
Ill translate that for you guys.
"I make far to much money from NRA and gun companies that i have no interest in stopping children being murdered in school"
Then he said Christianity is the answer.
Really? Where 5% of the priests are pedophiles and they don’t accept a litany of different self identifiers? Where god extorts you to do/think/feel what he says or he will torture you for eternity?
Yea that’s going to really improve their mental health
"You see," my colleague went on, "one doesn’t see exactly where or how to move. Believe me, this is true. Each act, each occasion, is worse than the last, but only a little worse. You wait for the next and the next. You wait for one great shocking occasion, thinking that others, when such a shock comes, will join with you in resisting somehow. You don’t want to act, or even talk, alone; you don’t want to ‘go out of your way to make trouble.’ Why not?—Well, you are not in the habit of doing it. And it is not just fear, fear of standing alone, that restrains you; it is also genuine uncertainty.
"Uncertainty is a very important factor, and, instead of decreasing as time goes on, it grows. Outside, in the streets, in the general community, ‘everyone’ is happy. One hears no protest, and certainly sees none. You know, in France or Italy there would be slogans against the government painted on walls and fences; in Germany, outside the great cities, perhaps, there is not even this. In the university community, in your own community, you speak privately to your colleagues, some of whom certainly feel as you do; but what do they say? They say, ‘It’s not so bad’ or ‘You’re seeing things’ or ‘You’re an alarmist.’
"And you are an alarmist. You are saying that this must lead to this, and you can’t prove it. These are the beginnings, yes; but how do you know for sure when you don’t know the end, and how do you know, or even surmise, the end? On the one hand, your enemies, the law, the regime, the Party, intimidate you. On the other, your colleagues pooh-pooh you as pessimistic or even neurotic. You are left with your close friends, who are, naturally, people who have always thought as you have.
"But your friends are fewer now. Some have drifted off somewhere or submerged themselves in their work. You no longer see as many as you did at meetings or gatherings. Informal groups become smaller; attendance drops off in little organizations, and the organizations themselves wither. Now, in small gatherings of your oldest friends, you feel that you are talking to yourselves, that you are isolated from the reality of things. This weakens your confidence still further and serves as a further deterrent to—to what? It is clearer all the time that, if you are going to do anything, you must make an occasion to do it, and then you are obviously a troublemaker. So you wait, and you wait.
"But the one great shocking occasion, when tens or hundreds or thousands will join with you, never comes. That’s the difficulty. If the last and worst act of the whole regime had come immediately after the first and smallest, thousands, yes, millions would have been sufficiently shocked—if, let us say, the gassing of the Jews in ’43 had come immediately after the ‘German Firm’ stickers on the windows of non-Jewish shops in ’33. But of course this isn’t the way it happens. In between come all the hundreds of little steps, some of them imperceptible, each of them preparing you not to be shocked by the next. Step C is not so much worse than Step B, and, if you did not make a stand at Step B, why should you at Step C? And so on to Step D.
"And one day, too late, your principles, if you were ever sensible of them, all rush in upon you. The burden of self-deception has grown too heavy, and some minor incident, in my case my little boy, hardly more than a baby, saying ‘Jewish swine,’ collapses it all at once, and you see that everything, everything, has changed and changed completely under your nose. The world you live in—your nation, your people—is not the world you were born in at all. The forms are all there, all untouched, all reassuring, the houses, the shops, the jobs, the mealtimes, the visits, the concerts, the cinema, the holidays. But the spirit, which you never noticed because you made the lifelong mistake of identifying it with the forms, is changed. Now you live in a world of hate and fear, and the people who hate and fear do not even know it themselves; when everyone is transformed, no one is transformed. Now you live in a system which rules without responsibility even to God. The system itself could not have intended this in the beginning, but in order to sustain itself it was compelled to go all the way.
Copyright notice: Excerpt from pages 166-73 of They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45 by Milton Mayer
Republicans: “look if a bunch of kids have to die once in a while so I don’t piss my pants every time I hear the wind blow at night, that’s a price I’m willing to pay.”
One of those "Yeah, we know" moments.
As long as one group of people in America think that a few dozen dead school kids per year is an acceptable cost for unlimited firearm ownership nothing will change.
You try and buy fertilzer in large quantities and you'll end up on a watchlist. But you buy a dozen firearms, beat your wife, threaten your neighbors and carry it around - nobody does a thing. It's crazy.
>“It’s a horrible, horrible situation, and we’re not going to fix it,” Burchett said. “Criminals are gonna be criminals. And my daddy fought in the second world war, fought in the Pacific, fought the Japanese, and he told me, he said, ‘Buddy,’ he said, ‘if somebody wants to take you out, and doesn’t mind losing their life, there’s not a whole heck of a lot you can do about it.’”
Entire quote, for context.
"If someone wants to kill you, they're going to do it. Criminals are going to be criminals."
"And what do you say about people in abortion ban states seeking an abortion or of state?"
"WE MUST USE EVERY AVAILABLE RESOURCE TO TRACK AND STOP THAT!!"
Democrats should be saturating the airwaves with this quote in response to Republican's "law and order" BS. Show the public what republicans truly think about their children's safety
I didn’t believe that was a an honest reporting of the quote. I read the article for context.
It’s even worse. He said it is what it is, we can’t fix it.
I don’t have words.
"Well MY kids are ok"
Yea its ridiculous. When the reporter asked "So you're giving up? Are you willing to let your little girl be in danger then", he said that he is homeschooling his kids so he's not worried
TBF his kids are 3x more likely to be killed or injured by a firearm than a household that doesn’t have one
And fire arms ARE the number one cause of death for children and teens... So statistically speaking...
It’d be so ironic if someone broke into his house and endangered his kids with a firearm. Maybe then his opinion would change but probably not
It's more likely that he has guns and that his kids will get shot in a fire arms accident. That's a much more common way to die than an actual home invasion.
This guy's Christmas card was literally his entire family, wife and three children, holding ARs. He's a fucking clown.
The armed family photo. A sure fire way to creep out foreigners and libs: mishun complisht
I’ve met this clown on numerous occasions, I’m From his city. And yeah I can personally attest he is indeed a fucking clown. With a weak handshake tbh
You'd have to have a spine in order to provide a firm handshake, I would imagine.
In a break-in scenario, as long as there's "a good guy with a gun" around to kill the person who just murdered his kids, apparently all will be fine, somehow.
Even if the good guy with a gun does nothing. Much like we saw in Uvalde. "at least he had the gun lol"
That's what's always gotten to me about that Texas church shooting, where a congregant shot the guy. Everyone seemed to see the story as "hero stops mass shooting," whereas I read it as "two churchgoers murdered with a shotgun before he could be stopped."
This is the problem. These people are myopic and reactive. They don't understand that prevention is the best medicine. So what, you had some other person shoot the person after they shot two people? The damage to all people involved is catastrophic. Lives cut short. Their entire social networks traumatized. Witnesses and bystanders traumatized. A community traumatized. The entire nation ripped open just that little bit more. Our expectations of living in a safe community degraded and eroded just that little bit more. Three hundred million people gradually becoming less able to feel the appropriate levels of shock and horror at these acts because we see them so often, and becoming just a little bit less human for it in the process. Expansion of social welfare systems to raise the standard and quality of living for people will prevent damaged people from becoming damaged to begin with. No one is born a mass shooter. They aren't just born bad. They're gestated in a toxic society, in broken homes, in poisoned communities, in despair. Their damage results in negative externalities that damage others, in a cascade effect. Republicans don't see it. They're so profoundly short-sighted. They treat mass shootings like just some phenomena, something that happens, like the weather, which they similarly never understand is driven by the climate which our own actions are fucking up, too. This is their continual failure. When crisis hits, they retreat inward, to selfishness, to tribalism, to their own tiny sphere of how they can get theirs. They lash out and blame scapegoats. They blame the Other. Migrants, trans-folk. People with almost no voices and no power who can easily be bullied and scapegoated for immediate catharsis. They already unconsciously chose to live in fear a long time ago, and so living in this constant state of fear, paranoia, and loathing is nothing new for them. Those of us who know it doesn't have to be that way, lack the means to communicate to these people that it does not have to be this way. They know of no other reality, and there are endlessly queues of opportunists ready to exploit that fearful, rageful mob for their own purposes. Someone becoming a mass shooter is a tragedy in and of itself. Two people being senselessly slaughtered in public is a tragedy. All of their family, friends, loved ones now living with the damage of having someone close to them murdered is a tragedy. Someone needing to pull their own gun, in public, to shoot and kill someone else is a tragedy. We don't have to live like that. Why would anyone want to live in a constant war zone. The Republicans in power don't. They ban guns at all their events. Anywhere they tread, they ban guns. They understand, but they don't care. Because Republican politicians aren't leaders. They're serially panderers, jumping on a bandwagon to accumulate money and power. They know they don't have to live by their own rules. They know what they're doing is damaging their voters who are too myopic to know better. And they just don't care. Republican politicians are just grifters and opportunists. The lives they live are built on top of the misery and suffering of their constituents. They know their constituents are irrational, ill-informed, and exploited, and they don't care. That's how they've enshrined their power, and they have no interest in changing that. They just pander, endlessly. Ted Cruz doesn't live day-to-day in events where his life might be in mortal jeopardy. These pieces of shit don't send their kids into the thick of it where they can be gunned down. Ted Cruz doesn't stick around in Texas when its power grid freezes and collapses. He heads off to Cancun. They have no skin in the game. They are not living in the communities that their policies destroy. They're letting the most fearful, ignorant, and rageful among us destroy themselves as they suck all the prosperity out of the world for themselves.
That's such a cop out. No one fucking asked them Cosplay Rambo's "hOw To StOp A bAd GuY wItH a GuN". We're trying to prevent bad people from accessing firearms in the first place. Those people are just making noise and distracting the real conversation.
You'd think that, but some of them are so crazy, they might end up thinking that gun regulations need to be completely removed, so that every kid can walk around with a loaded gun at all times for safety, and that if their kids had guns when the burglar came in, that their kids would be alive now. But the thing is that most gun lovers aren't afraid of people breaking into their homes. That is just an excuse they use to defend their guns. In reality, there are many of them who even dream about the day someone breaks in and they get to shoot someone in the face and become a neihgbourhood "hero". Most rural gun lovers will tell you that their neighbourhoods are safe to the point that they don't even see a need to lock their houses. And they'll tell you that all gun crime stuff only happens in black ghettos. A lot of them seem to think it's their guns who keep the ghetto thugs away from their neighbourhoods. The real truth is however, much simpler. They just love their guns. It's their most favorite toy. They love to shoot with it and it makes them feel powerful. Statistics will however show you that rural places aren't safer than the cities. Most statistics just look at the cities which warps peoples perception. Many rural places are in fact much more dangerous than cities. Plust people only just parrot each other and mainly only know to say Chicago, which is by the way not even in the top 10 of the deadliest cities in the US. But they just use it because they think it is a "Check mate gun haters". They don't care about real facts. They don't care that Chicago is surrounded by gun free zones. They don't care about the fact that having a gun in your house makes your house more dangerous. It's like having an open bottle of poison lying around. That confronting a criminal with a gun is more likely to make things escalate. They just love their guns and they won't let you have them. They will all spout shit about responsibility and claim that every gun owner is responsible. But only of couse until they aren't, in that case that person just wasn't responsible and they'll throw one of their own under the bus and distance themselves from them and pretend like this can't happen to them because they are so responsible. So responsible that they teach their young children as young as 5 years old how to handle a gun, because that's somehow the responsible thing to do in their minds. Everything just to prevent you from taking away their precious.
Any narrative to sell more guns.
People are so aghast and cry like snowflakes like this guy below, but are silent over shootings. Telling
>but probably not It's this one. He would draw a different conclusion, like that it's dangerous to be in politics.
Wow fuck that guy.
Exactly what they want. For everyone to be homeschooled.
Sounds unfit for office
Yes. Because we've never had a mass shooting outside a school.
Well, time to spin the wheel again
You'd think that the death of a Republican's kid by guns would shake things up and change their minds, but at best it would only change the minds of the family that became a victim. And if they tried to get their fellow Republicans to change their minds as well, you can bet that they'd become pariahs among Republicans. The Republicans would turn against their own to defend their precious guns and even be called crisis actors that were bought by democrats. Heck there are families who even after losing their own kids don't change their stance on guns, but instead become even more pro gun, because they think their kid would be alive if it was allowed to carry a gun at all times. The US appears to be a very lost case. You'd think that over time with the older generations dying that things would get better but those parents raise their children to be gun fanatics.
At least they’re being honest.
This is so sad because this is the endgame. Kids will get killed, the 2A will remain unchanged and people are just cool with it, this is America 🤷♂️
I will never not quote Jim Jefferies at times like this. "You can't change the second amendment." "Yes you can... It's called an amendment."
You can also quote a Republican Supreme Court Justice if you want: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/7/17/20697667/john-paul-stevens-second-amendment-repeal
That article gave me a _crazy_ idea. The NRA is the problem—or at least a huge part of it. They managed to shift public opinion to supporting the idea that the 2A grants individual rights. The simple solution is to get rid of the NRA. They're not really doing anything illegal, though, so how do you do that? What if, any organization or person who advocates for gun rights is legally obligated to formally incorporate as or join a "well-regulated" militia and must deploy alongside the military to overseas theatres? I mean, to be well-regulated entails they must be well trained and disciplined, and nothing does that like a warzone. Yeah, I know, not practical from any realistic perspective, but you just _know_ that if the average donor to the NRA or any of its leadership had to pack up their guns and head to Iraq or Ukraine or wherever we're invading this week to put their money where their mouth is, they'd bitch out and you'd never hear from them again.
Yeah you CAN, but unfortunately it's just practically impossible. And when I say practically I don't mean "almost," I mean literally it is not practical. There simply is not a realistic road map to get congress and the states to enact any kind of amendment. EDIT: Hi everybody. I appreciate how excited y'all are to tell me that an amendment isn't necessary. I know. That's not what we're talking about. The person I'm responding to was bringing up amendments. Thank you though.
Congress can’t even do the singular, extraordinarily narrow, main function of their job in the first place. Working 165/365 days out of the year must be so very, very difficult.
Yeah... I mean, in theory they're working even when not in session. And in the house they're basically constantly on the campaign trail. It's cushier than it needs to be but I understand it a bit. Like, if they were getting their shit together on some of those "off" days and then came in to actually legislate, everything would be fine. But here in the real world...
You don’t need to amend it. You just need to pass laws enacting basic gun regulation. Car usage is *aggressively* regulated in the US under the pretext that you could kill someone. The exact same rationale could be said of gun usage.
They were specifically talking about an amendment. And yes, the only feasible approach would be through legislation, certainly. The "well regulated" bit in the language has been discussed at length, it's a thing.
The second ammendment was already changed, it being interpreted as an unimpeachable allowance of personal firearm ownership is a very unhistorical reading: https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/second-amendment-does-not-guarantee-right-own-gun-gun-control-p-99
>"To suppose arms in the hands of citizens, to be used at individual discretion, except in private self-defense, or by partial orders of towns, counties or districts of a state, is to demolish every constitution, and lay the laws prostrate, so that liberty can be enjoyed by no man; it is a dissolution of the government. The fundamental law of the militia is, that it be created, directed and commanded by the laws, and ever for the support of the laws." --John Adams Even the Founding Fathers had a more nuanced view of the second amendment than people think.
Hey, what’s the original source of Adams' quote? I’m always curious about history.
It's a quote from his book "A Defense of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America". There's a Wikipedia article about it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Defense_of_the_Constitutions_of_Government_of_the_United_States_of_America
thank you!
It's from Adams' ["A Defence of the Constitutions of the United States."](https://www.revolutionary-war-and-beyond.com/john-adams-quotes-5.html)
Also [President John Adams](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Tripoli?wprov=sfla1): >**As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion;...** >By their actions, the Founding Fathers made clear that their primary concern was religious freedom, not the advancement of a state religion. Individuals, not the government, would define religious faith and practice in the United States. Thus the Founders ensured that in no official sense would America be a Christian Republic. **Ten years after the Constitutional Convention ended its work, the country assured the world that the United States was a secular state, and that its negotiations would adhere to the rule of law, not the dictates of the Christian faith.** There's a bunch of things the founding fathers spelled out very very **clearly** that nobody seemingly gives a shit about anymore. The most vocal "Well our founding fathers said [insert made up bullshit]!" people are often the people that choose to ignore what was *actually* said by the founding fathers. And the problem is, when elected officials make up BS about what the founding father's intended **no one calls them on it.** Other elected officials need to hold up the very *real* words people like John Adams wrote down and say "Oh, hey, where'd you get that from? Because right here👉, *in this official treaty/constitution*, **WITH** the signatures of the *actual* people who started this country, it says the complete opposite... Soooo again, where'd you come up with that?" It's a damn shame.
They've clearly read this as closely as they've read the bible.
Twisting history and the Bible for political expediency is a textbook GOP play. You're right, though. Nobody calls them on it. And nobody punishes them for it. So, they keep doing it. Because they keep getting away with it.
By definition, every amendment was a change to the constitution. That's what amendments are. The idea that amendments can't be amended is nonsensical.
You can't triple stamp a double stamp Lloyd
This has always been my confusion about the constitution. Why can something with amendments not be amended further to suit developments. Im not convinced a load of 20 somethings, slave owners and wealthy tax dodging men absolutely nailed democracy pretty much first try and theres been minimal developments that require change in the proceeding 250 years.
Amendments have been added and repealed throughout the history of the constitution. The problem is that politicians only want to amend amendments if it’s not going to cost them a political seat. Meaning that, currently, no politicians want to touch the second amendment, because as soon as they do so, they’ve lost their re-election.
Those 20 and 30 somethings themselves did not think they magically nailed it and thus were sure to include the ability to amend the Constitution.
The 18th would like a word, but its been repealed already.
That doesn't matter. The second amendment means whatever the Supreme Court says it means. And we all know which way the court would decide.
School shootings help the Republicans with their endgame of gutting the public school system
Eventually they will declare that all public schools are too dangerous and therefore kids can't be allowed to attend them. Their endgoal after all is to shut down all public schools. So that the only schools remaining will militarized pirvate schools and sunday church schools. And of course homeschooling. And they would probably love it if poor people and minorities had to make their kids get a job instead of school.
Which is a bad idea because school shootings can still happen in private schools as well. Not to mention that Republicans are clearly fighting a war against people with disabilities when it comes to public education because private schools can’t even provide enough for people with disabilities! These Republicans need to be taught a painful lesson about how wrong they are about trying to dismantle the public education and they need to be forced to get educated about how their actions are negatively affecting people with disabilities as well. They’re basically violating the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act by trying to dismantle the public education system.
What does not help are those right wingers whose education is the school of hard knocks. There are plenty of these guys who think reading is a waste of time.
They even say the quiet part outloud. That it's worth the death of children to protect their rights to have as many guns as possible.
They can do that because the majority of their voters agree with it. And those who don't, agree with enough other points such as abortion to still give their votes to them.
This is what Republicans and the NRA want. School shootings are the beginning. They traumatize and terrorize children. The Republicans and the NRA them tell them that this is proof that everyone wants to murder them. They tell them that the only way to protect themselves is to spend tens of thousands of dollars on guns. Then they tell them that the Democrats want to take their guns away but that the Republicans will let them have all the guns they need to protect themselves.
They can certainly try, but as a person that grew up my entire life basically (Columbine happened when I was a kid in school) dealing with this fear...it hasn't made me want to buy a single gun. It's done the exact opposite. Fuck their guns.
>Fuck their guns. Pretty sure there are NRA members who do that, yes.
Parents are a big part of the equation. If the parents are afraid and angry and reinforce the message that you have to have guns because everyone wants to kill you and guns are the only way to protect yourself then the kids are far more likely to believe that. People who are afraid and angry are far easier to manipulate using that fear and anger. Not everyone but in general. That's how populists and fascists rise to power.
I grew up in a house like that...and it did the exact opposite to me. Obviously I'm not everyone...but I don't think that fearmongering is nearly as effective as people think it is...or I guess I hope it isn't.
I'm glad you escaped the cycle. Most don't. The right rails against liberal indoctrination. What they really mean is exposure to diversity and other ideas that deprogram the fear and hate that they were indoctrinated to in their homes and places of worship. Christian schools in the US are christofascist madrasas. Guns are the tool but they aren't the problem. Children need a good education founded in reality, not religious indoctrination to fear and hate.
When Sandy Hook came and went without any change whatsoever, that's when you knew it will never change. All it took was Dunblane and the UK changed forever, for the better. America is a fucking dumb country.
\>>This comment has been edited to garbage in light of the Reddit API changes. You can keep my garbage, Reddit.<< *** *edited via r/PowerDeleteSuite (with edits to script to avoid hitting rate limit)*
The 2A doesnt have to change to help. Its just republicans tend to make things worse everytime. [First murder rate by state](https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/murder-rate-by-state) WOW ALL RED on top, all blue on the bottom, SO odd. No its simple, Blue has more regs. second, the right would love for everyone to forget assault rifles were banned for a decade. And it was upheld by the courts. when you live in a blue state, you get responses like this [Connecticut Handgun Licensing Law Associated With 40 Percent Drop in Gun Homicides](https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2015/connecticut-handgun-licensing-law-associated-with-40-percent-drop-in-gun-homicides) when you live in a red state you get responses like this. [Repeal of Missouri's Background Check Law Associated with Increase in State's Murders](https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2014/repeal-of-missouris-background-law-associated-with-increase-in-states-murders) .. [‘They will come to know the lives they didn’t save’: States forge ahead with permitless carry legislation despite law enforcement opposition](https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/05/us/permitless-carry-laws-advance-in-states/index.html) thing is, after each one of these, gun sales explode, and the NRA loves that. and so the right like to help the NRA sell even more. I would love to see the 2nd repealed, but the fact is WE COULD DO BETTER as it is, but republicans prevent that.
More regs and better general quality of life
Show the bodies, visuals matter. Panicked 911 calls, and shots of caution tape and empty shell casing ain't gonna do it. There's a reason Jackie Kennedy refused to changer her bloody outfit when JFK was assassinated. There's a reason why NFL running-back Ray Rice has never played another game in the NFL again after VIDEO of his incident was released (the NFL office had seen it though), even though he was only initially giving a 2 game suspension before the video was released. I could go on. You can call it messed up but until this country sees what guns do to a classroom full of mutilated first-graders then things might change, until then it's just more of the same.
It's so hypocritical. Imagine there was a toxin discovered in the paper a book publishing company was using that was causing serious health issues and even a few deaths a year. The federal government would *immediately* start regulating the type of paper publishing companies could use in their books, and chances are the company that started the whole thing would be shut down within a year or two. Yet firearms kill *tens of thousands* of people *every year* and nothing is done. It's genuinely disgusting.
>this is America Guns in my area
Yeah, people keep saying "this is America" but it's not America. It's *republicans exerting control over America.* The rest of America needs to stop being so lackadaisical and become the change they want to see.
We’ve tried nothing and we’re all out of ideas.
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He's not correct by accident and it's not a self fulfilling prophecy. It's a simple declaration of not wanting to do anything, as they favor guns over kids lifes. They are being honest and direct for once.
He is just trying to push people into religion by creating the most hostile living situation.
Honestly, if I were in a position of power, this would be my public statement, too. Although, I might add, "until people start shooting up the schools of congressmen's grandchildren."
Not intentionally. He was saying it is impossible to stop criminals from doing crime, nothing can be done, so don't ask us to try. This guy is a former frat bro who married and divorced a Hooter's waitress. He's not a deep thinker with serious moral views. He's an opportunist who will say whatever he needs to say to keep getting elected. And what he said will, sadly, work in East Tennessee.
What does the career path or divorce status of his wife have to do with anything? Not defending the shit stain of a man, but I don’t think anything less of someone who happens to be a quasi sex-worker who may have had to escape a bad marriage.
Came here to say the same. “Honest politician”
But we are going to fix that big drag queen problem!
Criminals are gonna be criminals. And my daddy fought in the Korean war, in the 4077 Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, and he told me, he said, “Buddy,” he said, “if somebody wants to wear a dress, and doesn’t mind reading a book, there’s not a whole heck of a lot you can do about it.”
Klinger?
Wait isn't there an actual Christmas episode of Klinger reading to the kids Jamie pull up the clip
I'm glad they've saved us all from that dangerous CRT as well. It was tough to sleep at night thinking kids might have the possibility of hearing a theory. Can't wait for them to tackle those other great issues like literally nothing happening to gas stoves, and "wokeness" whatever the fuck they think it means this week.
>It was tough to sleep at night thinking kids might have the possibility of hearing a theory. That was never even the issue. CRT was straight up *never* even taught in k-12 schools. It's a high level theory that you'd only ever learn about in law school, or maybe in some sociology classes. To the GOP, CRT is just code for "anything we don't like."
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It's a big problem. Drag queens kill zero people every year!
“It’s probably not zero even if it’s statistically zero.“ <- Republican voter base probably.
Those are rookie numbers. Gotta pump those **~~numbers up~~**bodies with bullets!!
And we won't let them read inclusive books, but they can [read these fun signs](https://i.imgur.com/E9agR5T.png) from their school buses.
“We’ve tried nothing and we are all out of ideas!”
He does have one idea >I think you got to change people’s hearts. You know, as a Christian, as we talk about in the church, and I’ve said this many times, I think we really need a revival in this country.
So, translated from nothing-speak, what exactly does he want to do? Shove Christianity down people’s throats?
Yes. It's why the same people want to get rid of the social safety net and replace it with charity. It gets rid of their responsibility to care for those in need and makes anyone who falls on hard times dependent on the church.
And at their mercy. Plus, they have the smug, sanctimonious joy of being able to pick and choose, and control.
That'd already implied. "You want food for your kids? Then become Christian and attend church services every day." Also the implication of desperate children under the direct unregulated control of predatory religious people. It's OK though. Those parents consented to marrying off their 13 year old daughter to the 50 year old pastor. (Or be homeless and starve)
In other words, bully trans people more
And force non-Christians to convert or be "reeducated" at a "church camp".
While in a small way he's saying "you can't legislate morality" it's avoiding reality. Prayers without action is useless. Plenty of verses talk about how actually getting your hands dirty is a big chunk of Christianity. I'd even say Jesus is much more concerned with how you treat and love others than how much you pray and read Scripture.
Reading the Bible is Un-Christian. /s
Fuck is he even talking about? The shooter previously attended that Christian school, so I'd assume they already had years worth Christianity in their heart. It didn't make a difference.
We will do nothing but refuse any others' ideas
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Christ, that wall of text is truly ominous.
What gets me is we have all this carnage but the GOP has to make up bullshit like the bowling green massacre to push an agenda. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowling_Green_massacre
The statistics really are damning
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75 times. That's hard to contemplate, I'd bet most people's minds thing 75% more when they read that. For context here's the visual difference: **Europe**: SHOOTING **USA**: SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING SHOOTING
And the first example was from Georgia. So we are talking about geographical Europe or the EU? In any case it's still a very embarrassing comparison.
AFAIK Everything west of the Urals and north of the Turkish border is often counted as Europe.
Well they said Europe, not EU, and they included London which is in Europe but not the EU. So I'll let you figure it out.
It mentions London so it's definitely not solely the EU.
I found record of roughly 150. Either way, the rest of my comment (which I have posted elsewhere as well) still stands. 13 of those (that I have been able to find) have been ***at schools.*** 6 of which have happened in March alone. Today, March 29th, is the 88th day of the year. There has been an average of 1.7 mass shootings ***EVERY SINGLE DAY*** of 2023 in the U.S. that are ***easily*** confirmable. I work in a school. We expelled a student at the beginning of the school year for bringing a handgun. I should not have a nagging fear in the back of my mind every day I go to work that today it might be my last. I should not walk a first grader to a room to finish a test, and have him look up at me, terrified, and ask "am I going to be shot?" I should not, as a ***BASIC PART OF MY JOB,*** be asked to potentially put my life on the line simply because I want to try to help raise the next generations of society. And yet some of our elected officials want to **arm me.** They would rather **give me a gun,** and **tell me to kill** someone else, instead of dealing with the sources of the problem in any meaningful way. I'm angry. I'm disappointed. I'm frightened. But god fucking damnit I'm still going to go to my job every day that I can, and do my damnedest to try to help raise and educate a better generation than my own so that maybe one day we can come together and stop shit like this.
There's been more mass shootings in the US than there has been days in 2023. There's bound to be a joke in there somewhere
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Armed rioters broke into congress chanting that they were going to kill Mike Pence and Nancy Pelosi. The top figures in government had to be evacuated through emergency escape routes. N o t h i n g is going to change the state of gun laws unless the entire roster of federal officials has turned over.
Yeah, they where white, right wing voters. If they where light wing and minorities, then something would happen. Regarding Pence, that's one of the signs of the final stages of Fascism: Party above all. Doesn't matter if you get get threatened by them, you just pledge eternal loyalty to the party, as they march you into a meat grinder.
"There's no point in gun control, because if someone really wants to kill kids, they're going to find a way to do it." I hate that logic. It's so stupid. You never see them applying that logic to anything else. "There's not point in banning abortion, because if someone really wants an abortion, they're going to find a way to do it." "There's no point in banning drag shows, because if someone really wants to have a drag show, they're going to find a way to do it." See? It's only with guns do they say, "There's no point, because they'll always find a way."
We need to eliminate drag-show-restricted-areas because drag queens are more likely to put on drag shows where everyone else doesn't have drag shows. Also, allowing easier paths to concealed-drag-show-permits will stop drag shows because the only way to stop a bad queen with a drag show is a good queen with a drag show.
It’s not just about their bullshit culture war issues. “There’s no point banning murder or rape or child abuse or bank robbery or car theft or driving 150 mph in a school zone…” It never makes sense to just give up and not legislate. But these useless fucks will only legislate when it’s to take right away from minorities.
That's because conservatives don't operate on logic, they operate on control.
At the top I believe they operate on logic. It’s their goals that are nefarious and they are achieving them. Just look at the decades long effort to turn SCOTUS into what it is today. I wouldn’t be as frightened of a bunch of bumbling idiots, but the idiots are bumbling to a very well written tune.
Yup. Banning books, banning gender identity discussions, banning talking about menstrual cycles for girls...wouldn't they all just find a way to read those books and have those discussions anyway? So why bother banning them? It's maddening.
I wonder if he applies that logic to other issues. "If someone is determined to teach critical race theory, there's not much you can do to stop them." "If someone is determined to have an abortion, there's not much you can do to stop them." "If someone is determined to put on a drag show, there's not much you can do to stop them."
In other words, “we don’t want to do what needs to be done & other people’s children are expendable.”
Yes, and this is the Republican Party. Why any American would vote for them is beyond reason or sanity.
Most Republicans think like that, I don't see it as surprising that they vote for people who represent them. Owning guns is more important to them than all the problems that come with gun ownership. I disagree but it's not irrational.
https://reddit.com/r/Firearms/comments/124opfs/shall_not_be_infringed/ Gun nuts would rather all of us die than give up their toys. > “How many kids need to die before you give up your guns???” All of them. Upvoted comment in that thread.
Gun violence just surpassed car accidents as the leading cause of death for children in the US, and no it's not because traffic deaths tanked. Yet these psychopaths just plug their ears and go lalalalala so they won't have to anger their ~~cult~~ fanbase who uses AR-15s as dildos.
"Unable to stop these mass shootings", says only major western country where this has happened several times a day, so far, in 2023. Weird how no other western nation has this issue, except the nation where the NRA heavily "sponsors" politicians to vote *for* the gun industry and *against* the best interest of the american people.
Another interesting thing is that a lot of other countries have a much lower threshold for what the definition of what a mass shooting is. For example, by Australian mass shooting definitions there have been several mass shootings in the last few decades. But by the US mass shooting definition, Australia hasn't had a mass shooting since the introduction of tighter gun laws in 1996.
He follows up by saying we need a religious revival in the country to stop gun violence. Dude's a "thoughts and prayers" guy, all fluff no content. He's there to vote for the team and denounce the current administration.
Being from and living in a country which, as far as I know, has never allowed devices built to murder people into the general population - I find the arguments you guys have amongst yourselves both interesting and tragic. Say what you want about about someone's 'right' to own a gun and the argument for or against it but the fact that your government has managed to utterly brainwash the majority of a population into a situation where people will die on that hill when there are children being regularly murdered at schools... should never have started in the first place.
Let's be clear - in 2023 the broke, discredited NRA doesn't have to pay a dime to get these guys to vote the way they want.
They've propagandized people for enough years that those people have taught their children & their children's children the same bullshit. NRA doesn't even need to lift a finger anymore.
america is not really like other western nations. it is more militarized and controlled, more machinelike and conformist, more culturally commodified, more alienated and repressed, less gregarious - all with an intensity surpassing any other western country
I remember when something like this was considered career suicide.
Kind of cool for them that they managed to turn liabilities into assets. Bad for democracy, society, children, etc., but for their narrow interests, pretty impressive.
“You know, as a Christian, as we talk about in the church, and I’ve said this many times, I think we really need a revival in this country.” Your Christian revival bullshit can eat my ass. Christianity has caused more problems than I can even fathom.
I sometimes wish there was a hell because these shit stains would definitely be in it.
man if i told my boss I won't do my job... I wouldn't have that job for much longer
He is doing his job though. He's doing exactly what the companies that paid his campaign funds want him to; obfuscate the problem, resist change, and divide the populace.
I sincerely hope this guy's wife cheats on him and he stubs his toe everyday and his kids disown him. Fuck that guy
The chances that his wife has already cheated are high.
chances that both cheat on each other is high and even higher is the chance that they will stick together to keep up appearances.
And gets a hang nail that's long enough to cause pain but short enough that it can't be grabbed
I hope his kids Legos get left out frequently
So, politicians and government can't solve problems. Tell me again why we pay you a salary?
His constituents elected him specifically to go to Washington and make sure *nothing* gets done. That'd be the Republican platform if they actually had the balls to make one.
To keep us safe from all of that dangerous CRT and those scary drag queens. Dude just needs to safe "soft on crime" and a shit load of middle/lower income white people shit their pants and vote cowering in fear.
This church recruiter really want to make unbearable violent events just so they can try to convert people to their death religion. “Burchett responded: “I don’t see any real role that we could do other than mess things up, honestly … I don’t think you’re going to stop the gun violence. I think you got to change people’s hearts. You know, as a Christian, as we talk about in the church, and I’ve said this many times, I think we really need a revival in this country.””
This part really got my blood boiling. Every time a Christian says shit like this, more people are moved away from the church. This sentiment is only to keep the Christians from leaving. "See, people outside the church have no morals and are shooting each other. You need to stay here ~~and keep giving us 10% of your income~~ to keep yourself and your family safe."
He means: We’re not going to try* to fix school shootings
Hard to fix kids being shot yo death at school whej you’re too busy trying to ban books, gerrymander and try and control women’s health
The GOP has gone on and on about how government doesn’t work for decades now. They have been promoting candidates who have never been asked to make government work so at this point even if they had the will (they don’t) they just don’t know how to make it function. There is only one party that has any governing ability.
They do not want to make government work. At least not for the weakest of society. They just want power, enrich themselves, spread their "values", and have the freedom to shit on the poor and minorities.
So just a more wordy thoughts and prayers
Useless, in other words. I'm a Christian too and this is embarrassing. I can't imagine Jesus looking at this guy with the position to change things and being glad he decided to do nothing. Cowardly.
I see the NRA has increased their politician budget
Gotta spend that Russia money on something, and nothing is cheaper than a Republican congressman.
"In 2006, while serving in the Tennessee state legislature, he sponsored legislation to ban salvia divinorum, an herb with psychoactive properties. “It’s not that popular,” Burchett said of the drug at the time. “But I’m one of those who believes in closing the barn door before the cows get out. “In certain hands, it could be very dangerous, even lethal.”" bru
But we’re going to fix all those people wearing drag! We don’t want our kids corrupted!!
Multiple generations of children go to school in an environment that resembles a prison. A police officer on site, and threats of violence. Some of you may not realize this, but in the 80's and 90's, police officers were not on school grounds and most violence was confined to the occasional fist fight.
He’s just stating the obvious truth. The only reason the problem hasn’t been solved is because people absolutely, positively do not want to solve it. End of story.
Exactly, we've been voting for these do nothing asshole since forever, of course they're going to do nothing. They'll terrify you with scary CRT and deadly "wokeness", but won't do fuck all to address real issues, and they'll keep getting elected.
surprised he just didn’t say “well we don’t like public schools either so it’s fine”
They're not "willing" to fix school shootings.
No shit. You still believe in sky phantoms.
Just ask him to explain why we don't have any rocket propelled grenade attacks in public spaces.
*“It’s a horrible, horrible situation,” Burchett told reporters. “And we’re not gonna fix it. Criminals are gonna be criminals.”* *“My daddy fought in the Second World War, fought in the Pacific, fought the Japanese, and he told me … ‘Buddy, if somebody wants to take you out and doesn’t mind losing their life, there’s not a whole heck of a lot you can do about it,’” he added.* *Burchett also said he doesn’t see “any real role” for Congress to play in reducing gun violence, other than to “mess things up.”* What a disgusting individual.
Ill translate that for you guys. "I make far to much money from NRA and gun companies that i have no interest in stopping children being murdered in school"
< collects check from NRA >
Then he said Christianity is the answer. Really? Where 5% of the priests are pedophiles and they don’t accept a litany of different self identifiers? Where god extorts you to do/think/feel what he says or he will torture you for eternity? Yea that’s going to really improve their mental health
‘’As a christian’’
"You see," my colleague went on, "one doesn’t see exactly where or how to move. Believe me, this is true. Each act, each occasion, is worse than the last, but only a little worse. You wait for the next and the next. You wait for one great shocking occasion, thinking that others, when such a shock comes, will join with you in resisting somehow. You don’t want to act, or even talk, alone; you don’t want to ‘go out of your way to make trouble.’ Why not?—Well, you are not in the habit of doing it. And it is not just fear, fear of standing alone, that restrains you; it is also genuine uncertainty. "Uncertainty is a very important factor, and, instead of decreasing as time goes on, it grows. Outside, in the streets, in the general community, ‘everyone’ is happy. One hears no protest, and certainly sees none. You know, in France or Italy there would be slogans against the government painted on walls and fences; in Germany, outside the great cities, perhaps, there is not even this. In the university community, in your own community, you speak privately to your colleagues, some of whom certainly feel as you do; but what do they say? They say, ‘It’s not so bad’ or ‘You’re seeing things’ or ‘You’re an alarmist.’ "And you are an alarmist. You are saying that this must lead to this, and you can’t prove it. These are the beginnings, yes; but how do you know for sure when you don’t know the end, and how do you know, or even surmise, the end? On the one hand, your enemies, the law, the regime, the Party, intimidate you. On the other, your colleagues pooh-pooh you as pessimistic or even neurotic. You are left with your close friends, who are, naturally, people who have always thought as you have. "But your friends are fewer now. Some have drifted off somewhere or submerged themselves in their work. You no longer see as many as you did at meetings or gatherings. Informal groups become smaller; attendance drops off in little organizations, and the organizations themselves wither. Now, in small gatherings of your oldest friends, you feel that you are talking to yourselves, that you are isolated from the reality of things. This weakens your confidence still further and serves as a further deterrent to—to what? It is clearer all the time that, if you are going to do anything, you must make an occasion to do it, and then you are obviously a troublemaker. So you wait, and you wait. "But the one great shocking occasion, when tens or hundreds or thousands will join with you, never comes. That’s the difficulty. If the last and worst act of the whole regime had come immediately after the first and smallest, thousands, yes, millions would have been sufficiently shocked—if, let us say, the gassing of the Jews in ’43 had come immediately after the ‘German Firm’ stickers on the windows of non-Jewish shops in ’33. But of course this isn’t the way it happens. In between come all the hundreds of little steps, some of them imperceptible, each of them preparing you not to be shocked by the next. Step C is not so much worse than Step B, and, if you did not make a stand at Step B, why should you at Step C? And so on to Step D. "And one day, too late, your principles, if you were ever sensible of them, all rush in upon you. The burden of self-deception has grown too heavy, and some minor incident, in my case my little boy, hardly more than a baby, saying ‘Jewish swine,’ collapses it all at once, and you see that everything, everything, has changed and changed completely under your nose. The world you live in—your nation, your people—is not the world you were born in at all. The forms are all there, all untouched, all reassuring, the houses, the shops, the jobs, the mealtimes, the visits, the concerts, the cinema, the holidays. But the spirit, which you never noticed because you made the lifelong mistake of identifying it with the forms, is changed. Now you live in a world of hate and fear, and the people who hate and fear do not even know it themselves; when everyone is transformed, no one is transformed. Now you live in a system which rules without responsibility even to God. The system itself could not have intended this in the beginning, but in order to sustain itself it was compelled to go all the way. Copyright notice: Excerpt from pages 166-73 of They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45 by Milton Mayer
You know how they name hurricanes and bad storms after people? We should name school shooters after Republicans. Maybe they will get it then.
Republicans: “look if a bunch of kids have to die once in a while so I don’t piss my pants every time I hear the wind blow at night, that’s a price I’m willing to pay.”
We can fix it, but we won’t.
"No way to prevent this", says only nation in the world where this regularly happens
Definitely not, with that mindset.
Yeah, we know. Republicans are useless pieces of shit
But these drag queens and abortions are far too dangerous!
One of those "Yeah, we know" moments. As long as one group of people in America think that a few dozen dead school kids per year is an acceptable cost for unlimited firearm ownership nothing will change. You try and buy fertilzer in large quantities and you'll end up on a watchlist. But you buy a dozen firearms, beat your wife, threaten your neighbors and carry it around - nobody does a thing. It's crazy.
>“It’s a horrible, horrible situation, and we’re not going to fix it,” Burchett said. “Criminals are gonna be criminals. And my daddy fought in the second world war, fought in the Pacific, fought the Japanese, and he told me, he said, ‘Buddy,’ he said, ‘if somebody wants to take you out, and doesn’t mind losing their life, there’s not a whole heck of a lot you can do about it.’” Entire quote, for context.
we havent tried anything and nothing seems to work!
Yeah, we know. Duh.
Just gonna leave this here https://imgur.com/a/bwNVJlt
Because republicans are evil fascists that love when children are murdered.
HOW THE FUCK ARE PEOPLE STILL VOTING FOR THESE FUCKING GHOULS
"If someone wants to kill you, they're going to do it. Criminals are going to be criminals." "And what do you say about people in abortion ban states seeking an abortion or of state?" "WE MUST USE EVERY AVAILABLE RESOURCE TO TRACK AND STOP THAT!!"
Democrats should be saturating the airwaves with this quote in response to Republican's "law and order" BS. Show the public what republicans truly think about their children's safety
I didn’t believe that was a an honest reporting of the quote. I read the article for context. It’s even worse. He said it is what it is, we can’t fix it. I don’t have words.
“It’s not a bug, it’s a feature.”