Knee-jerk Reactions to Tragedy

Human Events reports on the knee jerk reactions to violent tragedies within the conservator (and liberal) political sphere;

As the nation comes to grips with the Dec. 14 shooting rampage at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., the nation's capital braces for the rush to restrict gun rights.The Newtown shooting is the first mass school shooting since the April 20, 1999 shooting in the Littleton, Colo., at the Columbine High School, where 12 students and one teacher were killed by a pair a gunmen, who like the killer in Newtown, killed themselves in the midst the carnage.

Time will tell what will come in the wake of the Newtown shooting, but Columbine was a cultural earthquake and in the hysteria that followed sent Republican leaders in a panic. It was a panic that nearly led to the GOP restricting gun rights—not the Democrats.

This is the inside story of how I held back the Republicans from curtailing our gun rights until help arrived.Washington is full of brave people when times are good and cowards when things get tough.

There is perhaps no greater example than the Congress' reaction — in particular the Senate's reaction.  In the course of a few hours, lifelong self-proclaimed advocates of the Second Amendment were looking to enact the most sweeping gun control legislation in a generation.

They almost succeeded.

We were in our offices in the Capitol building when news broke on CNN of a school shooting in Columbine.  We watched in horror as students scurried out of their classrooms trying to avoid the rain of bullets.

The April 20, 1999 shooting massacre at Columbine High School, Littleton, Colo., was a national tragedy. In the aftermath of the shooting, Sen. C. Trent Lott Jr., (R.-Miss.), the majority leader, led his other GOP senators to pass a gun control bill before the Memorial Day recess.

Before the bodies had been buried there was a call for Congress to enact new gun control legislation. The Democrats and the press focused on that fact that Eric D. Harris and Dylan B. Klebold had procured their weapons through the use of a "straw man" purchaser, who bought a rifle and a shotgun from a gun show for the pair.  The fact that purchasing a gun on behalf of another person was illegal, President William J. Clinton and his allies were demanding Congress shutdown gun shows.

Shutting down gun shows has been the dream of Democrats. The shocking aspect of the coming floor debate was not that Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg (D.-N.J.) and Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D.-N.Y) were pushing another gun control scheme.

The April 20, 1999 shooting massacre at Columbine High School, Littleton, Colo., was a national tragedy. In the aftermath of the shooting, Sen. C. Trent Lott Sr., (R.-Miss.), the majority leader, led his other GOP senators, such as Sen. Charles T. Hagel (R.-Neb.)  to pass a gun control bill before the Memorial Day recess.It was that a number of formally stalwart supporters of the Second Amendment were piling on.

Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), a longtime foe of gun control bills, had introduced his Juvenile Crime Bill in Jan. 20, 1999, but it lanquished until it became the vehicle to exploit the Columbine tragedy. [...]

Dancing in Blood

Poetry without justice:

Now the Dancing in the Blood..

Of the victims begins.

The little ones lost…

But instead of prayer and thoughts for and of them..

The use of their loss begins, by those whom have no sense of shame.

Whom think only of a 'tool' used for evil..

Not of the victims.

Not of the accused..

But an inanimate tool..

Those people sicken me.

Emotional Responses to School Shootings

Rather than address the inherent violent nature of the state or even humans themselves, we are bombarded with a popular view that inanimate objects are responsible, and their restriction or prohibition will somehow alleviate this social violence. If only that we're the case, but alas, we live in a complicated real world where feelings and facts are often at odds with each other. Tragedies bring out a variety of emotional responses;

As a result of this new school shooting, you will be able to see a massive sweep to outlaw semi-automatic rifles, ban handguns, do everything they can to crush our ability to stand up to a tyrannical government or defend our homes.  This is the beginning of the end for American Liberty.

What the response should be, is that Every Responsible Adult be encouraged to pack a gun for defense and have access to a rifle.  Evil is not stopped by giving in to it or running away from it… and what we have seen today is truly Evil.  Evil that ran unchecked.

Tu ne cede malis...

Wouldn’t It Be Nice?

Yeah, it would:

As gun owners, if we could just experience the grief and sorrow along with the rest of the country, instead of having it intruded upon by that impending feeling of doom about what the media, the politicians, and the people in society who don't much care for civilian gun ownership are going to do to our lives, liberty and often times livelihood? If we could go through something like this without worrying how much we're going to be the scapegoats? I know that's the thought that's been crossing my mind as this entire horror story is playing out in the media. I don't want to think about or deal with politics right now, but that's precisely what I have to start getting ready for if I don't want to risk that America, and the politicians who claim to represent her, in their rashest and most impulsive worst instincts, pass a knee jerk law that will overnight turn many Americans into instant felons. There are times I believe we all deserve a break from politics. This is one of them, but we will never get it.

I believe we will not leave this horror unscathed, either mentally or politically. Our liberties and beliefs will be called into question, ridiculed, beaten, and we'll be told to get in line for the good of everyone. This could very well be the point as which the pendulum swings back. The narrative that's been driven home is that NRA is beaten up and bloodied, and is no longer relevant. Regardless of whether that's true or not, what matters is what the powers that be believe. We may not believe the time now is for politics, and it shouldn't be. But as a variation on an old saying goes: we may not be interested much in politics, but politics is very interested in us.

Ryan Lanza ID’ed as Newtown, CT Spree Killer

Courtesy TTAG:

Click here for the Facebook page of Ryan Lanza, the man CNN has ID'ed as the spree killer in Newtown, CT. Lanza's page is strangely quiet; he uploaded this pic November 8, the one after the jump on December 9. There is no information in the "about" section.

For Scumbags Who Kill Kids

I've been following the events if today's tragic school shooting and can't help but wonder why the violent aggression is directed at what are likely the least responsible for the situation of these people who break ways with reality. It seems I'm not the only one:

There doesn't seem to be any rhyme nor reason to why someone suddenly snaps and enters a school and starts shooting.  All I know is that some coward has killed little kids in a Connecticut school – 26 dead as I sit here writing.

Is societal pressure so hard on these people they have no other recourse but to kill innocent babies that have no hope of fighting back?

What could possibly be going through your minds to actually plan and then implement a plan like this?  These are innocent people – innocent children- going about their lives and because you're having a bad day, or a bad week, or a bad life, you show up and take theirs away?

Maybe we just need more laws to make violence stop? Because its sure been working great this far. 

</sarcasm>

Illinois Carry Ban Ruled Unconstitutional

From Sipsey Street Irregulars:

Many thanks to reader Dan who forwarded this link. He also reports that: "The servers are going crazy at the moment. It took me many tries to get in and D/L the document. It runs 47 pages." From the opinion:

Twenty-first century Illinois has no hostile Indians. But a Chicagoan is a good deal more likely to be attacked on a sidewalk in a rough neighborhood than in his apartment on the 35th floor of the Park Tower. A woman who is being stalked or has obtained a protective order against a violent ex-husband is more vulnerable to being attacked while walking to or from her home than when inside. She has a stronger self-defense claim to be allowed to carry a gun in public than the resident of a fancy apartment building (complete with doorman) has a claim to sleep with a loaded gun under her mattress. But Illinois wants to deny the former claim, while compelled by McDonald to honor the latter.