Actual cost beyond lives lost
A very hot topic: Gun violence in the U.S. This article from
Missouri caught my attention as reported on here from NEWSWEEK with this headline:
“Missouri GOP Moves to Ease Gun Laws Two Days after Homeless Man
Shooting”
My point right up front: Yes, guns for self-defense and property security – to me that is not the issue. The crazy and expanded “open carry w/ or w/o a permit” law are flat out insane. You feel threatened, you pull your gun, you start shooting whether someone is shooting or aiming at you or not, and then others pull their guns and all hell breaks loose.
That is reminiscence of the “Wild, Wild West Days.” We don’t need that.
What we need are common sense gun laws that protect the 2nd Amendment while protecting ourselves and property but NOT expand them like the above story from Missouri is trying to do, e.g., the 14-year old gun carry reference.
Also, expanding gun
rights beyond reason in a few other hardcore mostly GOP-run states. That is and
always has been my stance. Today, sadly, that any other kind of common sense is
sorely lacking.
The Missouri story: The Missouri Republican controlled Senate approved a proposal to exempt firearms and ammunition produced in the state from all taxation, just two days after a homeless man was shot dead in an execution-style killing in broad daylight in downtown St. Louis.
The legislation was
opposed by the Democrats, with Sen. Karla May saying during debate: “The only
thing a gun can do is take a life. All you want is to keep making it easier for
people to get guns.
The vote on that bill followed the recent fatal shooting of David Saldana in front of St. Louis's Globe Building, with footage of the incident being widely shared on social media. In the video a man approaches Saldana — who is sitting on the curb — from behind and then shoots him once, leaving the victim dead.
Police arrested 23-year-old Deshawn Thomas near
the scene, and have charged him with first degree murder and armed criminal
action in relation to the incident.
GOP Sen. Brattin (mentioned in the story) acknowledged the shooting
saying: “He literally executes him on the side of the road.”
Brattin then blamed the
level of crime in the city on other issues, including the performance of the St.
Louis Circuit Attorney's office.
Noteworthy: In February the MO GOP House voted against a
Democrat-introduced bill that would have banned children from carrying firearms
in public without adult supervision.
Justifying the decision, Republican Rep. Tony Lovasco said: “While it
may be intuitive that a 14-year-old has no legitimate purpose, it doesn't
actually mean that they're going to harm someone. We don't know that yet.”
I note: No, Rep. Lovasco we don't know yet, but why take the chance with a 14-year old carrying an AR-15 in public?
In October three people were killed, including the attacker,
after a gunman opened fire at St. Louis' Central Visual and Performing Arts
High School.
My 2 Cents: The data in the charts above speaks for itself, and I’ll
leave it at that even as this seemingly growing gun violence grows and gun
sales are at all-time highs.
As I said, we need common
sense gun law changes which right now as seen above and elsewhere that shows it
is sorely lacking in mostly GOP-run states like in MO with insane policies that
leads to this sustained sad state of affairs and growing major problem.
I posted this craziness
from the GOP-run House: “Make the AR-15 the National Gun” – talk about nuttiness – this is surely it.
This “new” GOP blasts the
DEMS on everything from A to Z all the while they stir up crap that will
sometime soon haunt them for being insane and plainly anti-anything good for the
country.
Thanks for stopping by.
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