IT'S NOT ABOUT GUN CONTROL; IT'S ABOUT THE DEVASTATING IMPACT OF OUR GUN CULTURE.

IT'S NOT ABOUT GUN CONTROL; IT'S ABOUT THE DEVASTATING IMPACT OF OUR GUN CULTURE.

Mrak Karlin, Editor of
BuzzFlash at Truthout, offers one of the best explanations for the gun and weaponry mentality that has grown and flourished for too many years in our Nation. It’s a sad testament to
the false reasoning that we must include guns as a part of our rights as we go in pursuit of happiness. All of us who use commonsense should not succumb to the bullying of the NRA or anyone who claims that guns are good and guns are necessary for peace and happiness. The gun enthusiasts claim they have a right to own as many weapons as they wish. NO THEY DON’T because the rest of us have a right to assemble peaceably without the fear of being shot by someone who can only view the existence of others, in a GOOD or EVIL realm. i.e. People are only good if they agree with me, they are evil if they don’t. I’M TIRED OF IT! thinkingblue

IT'S NOT ABOUT GUN CONTROL; IT'S ABOUT THE DEVASTATING IMPACT OF OUR GUN CULTURE.

TRUTHOUT'S BUZZFLASH DAILY HEADLINES

It's not about gun control; it's about the devastating impact of our gun culture.

As an advocate of gun control, I believe in the strong regulation of lethal weapons. It's just common sense.

But until we start changing the gun worship of far too many American males, we are going to have a difficult time stopping the ravaging of our society by bullets.

More than 10,000 Americans die in gun homicides each year, a figure that far surpasses any Western nation.

In Arizona, obtaining a gun is about as easy as getting a drink from a water fountain. Arizona gun laws are so lax that firearms stores in the state are a leading supplier to the drug cartels in Mexico, where guns are difficult to legally purchase.

The shooter in the horrific Arizona massacre on Saturday had a legally purchased Glock - that some reports say was converted to an automatic weapon - with a 30 round mega-clip. That means he could shoot almost continuously until his 30 bullet magazine was emptied.

Gail Collins of The New York Times points out that technology increases the lethality of guns over time and the remedy is clearly not to put such killing machines on a pedestal and argue that they are protected by the Second Amendment.

For far too many gun proponents, the Second Amendment has come to mean the right to use a gun against perceived wrongs.

It's a deadly travesty that won't end soon, because too many Democrats - and almost all Republicans - don't want to lose the votes of angry white males.

The result: arming ourselves to the teeth has too often shot down democracy.

Mark Karlin
Editor, BuzzFlash at Truthout

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NOW A WORD OR TWO FROM SARAH PALIN:

Below Sarah Palin offers one of her hypocritical excuses (to the highest degree).

"No one should be deterred from speaking up and speaking out in peaceful dissent, and we certainly must not be deterred by those who embrace EVIL and call it good. And we will not be stopped from celebrating the greatness of our country and our foundational freedoms by those who mock its greatness by being intolerant of differing opinion and seeking to muzzle dissent with shrill cries of imagined insults." **Sarah Palin**

More of Sarah Palin's hypocrisy:

"America must be stronger than the evil we saw displayed last week. We are better than the mindless finger-pointing we endured in the wake of the tragedy. We will come out of this stronger and more united in our desire to peacefully engage in the great debates of our time, to RESPECTFULLY embrace our differences in a POSITIVE manner, and to unite in the knowledge that, though our ideas may be different, we must all strive for a better future for our country."

This from a person who said: "Obama Is Palling Around With Terrorists". And of course her infamous chant: " Don't Retreat, Reload" and cross-hairs ad)

Below is an excerpt from this article: Sarah Palin Accuses the Media of Creating a 'Blood Libel' Against Her

I've mentioned personally that Palin must look in the mirror when assessing whether or not she contributed to what happened to Gabrielle Giffords. Even if her words didn't inspire Giffords' shooter, they certainly influenced the many death threats being received by President Obama and Democrats who've supported him. Palin can scream and yell about the injustice all day, but nothing compares to the suffering being endured by Gabrielle Giffords and the people who were shot this week. Perhaps Sarah Palin needs to sit down and be quiet for a while, it might be time to retreat.

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Highlights from Obama's speech at Tucson memorial

"What we cannot do is use this tragedy as one more occasion to turn on each other. That we cannot do. That we cannot do. "

"As we discuss these issues, let each of us do so with a good dose of humility. Rather than pointing fingers or assigning blame, let's use this occasion to expand our moral imaginations, to listen to each other more carefully, to sharpen our instincts for empathy, and remind ourselves of all the ways our hopes and dreams are bound together."