On Friday, the gun lobby broke its silence to comment on the Connecticut school shooting, which took the lives of 20 first-graders and six adults. In a widely-panned public appearance, NRA leader Wayne LaPierre blamed gun violence on everything from video games to the media, and advocated placing an armed officer in every school in America.
Ironic that the NRA has always said that people kill but not
guns. Now we learn that it’s not people
but video games. That and everything else other than guns. Fact is: guns are used in 12,000 homicides, 18,000 suicides, and 6,000
accidents per year. Time is now to talk.
Lawrence O'Donnell perhaps described Wayne La Pierre best, calling
LaPierre a "lobbyist for mass murderers." Hey NRA, fire LaPierre and hire Charles
Manson, a perfect spokesperson for mass murder. Or perhaps LaPierre and the NRA
hope to install a police-state, controlled by gun manufacturers? LaPierre for
dictator. The NRA could get some helpful tips from Bashar Hafez al-Assad.
As to the great idea by the NRA to arm schools for defense, who
pays? There are about 130,000 schools in
the USA. Assuming that each “guard” cost only $50,000 a year, that would cost
us about $6.5 Billion (not including the
new guns). Is the NRA going to pay for this? Gun manufacturers? [Just a side
note, they had an armed guard at Columbine and it didn’t work. Maybe we need a platoon at each school?]
But why stop at schools! Let the armed camps grow: post office,
schools, malls, Starbucks, McDonalds, etc.
The possibilities are truly endless.
So why is it that we feel the need to start a new arms race?
One of the primary drivers for gun ownership is that people are
afraid. But how does gun ownership ever solve anything? As the crooks get more
heavily armed, so “must” the cops. As the cops get more heavily armed, so
“must” the populace in order to “protect” itself from both the cops and the crooks. Not to mention protecting us from each other.
Do you really want to live in a war zone and end up being caught
between armed fire fights? Just imagine going outside to get the paper and having
to duck for cover as one of your neighbor’s security guards has a shootout with
the guards for your other neighbor’s dog walker because the dog peed on the
neighbor’s yard. Soon you will need a tank just to go grocery shopping. Why
can’t people accept that you cannot arm yourself against danger; you have to
take reasonable steps to reduce danger?
Gun ownership is much more a psychological prop than a real
defense. Police forces are well aware of the Tueller rule, that an assailant within 21 feet of a policeman can generally
get to the police officer before he can pull his gun out and down the attacker.
That is assuming you even have your gun with you and handy. Nancy Lanza’s guns
did her no good.
Even having a gun at home does not necessarily make you safe at
home. Where do you keep it? In the bedside table? So what happens when a bad
guy enters through your back door while you are watching TV? So do you have one
in every room?
The record in both the UK and Australia, after strict gun controls
were imposed, was that armed violence, murders and successful suicides all fell. In 1996,
Australia changed its gun laws following a particularly bad mass shooting:
banning assault rifles, severely restricting other types of fire-arms, limiting
magazines to five rounds (three for pump-action shotguns, auto-loaders were
banned outright). Researchers compared the rate of mass shootings before and
after; using fixed criteria, not just what “felt” like a mass-shooting; and
found that the rate dropped from one every 18 months before the change, to just
one event in the 16 years since the change. [So no more talk about how taking
away guns won’t work. It did.]
It is about the prevalence of guns, the access to guns and the
consequences for this society, as it is, with so many guns available. Even with
mental illness, video games, etc. if you take guns out of the equation, the
death toll drops, the shooting toll drops and the cycle of violence drops as
well.
It is time to put the NRA out of business.
National
Rifle Assn: All Recipients
Name
|
Office
|
Total Contributions
|
Fincher, Steve (R-TN)
|
House
|
$9,900
|
Renacci, Jim (R-OH)
|
House
|
$9,900
|
Mandel, Josh (R-OH)
|
Senate
|
$9,450
|
Berg, Rick (R-ND)
|
House
|
$7,450
|
Cantor, Eric (R-VA)
|
House
|
$7,450
|
Coffman, Mike (R-CO)
|
House
|
$7,450
|
Labrador, Raul (R-ID)
|
House
|
$7,100
|
Thompson, Tommy G
(R-WI)
|
Senate
|
$7,000
|
Carter, John (R-TX)
|
House
|
$6,950
|
Heller, Dean (R-NV)
|
Senate
|
$6,950
|
Matheson, Jim (D-UT)
|
House
|
$6,950
|
Allen, George (R-VA)
|
Senate
|
$6,450
|
Gosar, Paul (R-AZ)
|
House
|
$5,950
|
King, Steven A (R-IA)
|
House
|
$5,950
|
Romney, Mitt (R)
|
Pres
|
$5,850
|
Barrasso, John A (R-WY)
|
Senate
|
$5,308
|
Dingell, John D (D-MI)
|
House
|
$5,000
|
Hatch, Orrin G (R-UT)
|
Senate
|
$5,000
|
Murphy, Tim (R-PA)
|
House
|
$5,000
|
Rogers, Hal (R-KY)
|
House
|
$5,000
|
Ross, Mike (D-AR)
|
House
|
$5,000
|
Runyan, Jon (R-NJ)
|
House
|
$5,000
|
Simpson, Mike (R-ID)
|
House
|
$5,000
|
Barrow, John (D-GA)
|
House
|
$4,950
|
Benishek, Dan (R-MI)
|
House
|
$4,950
|
Canseco, Francisco
(R-TX)
|
House
|
$4,950
|
Corker, Bob (R-TN)
|
Senate
|
$4,950
|
Holden, Tim (D-PA)
|
House
|
$4,950
|
Mourdock, Richard E
(R-IN)
|
Senate
|
$4,950
|
Rigell, Scott (R-VA)
|
House
|
$4,950
|
Sessions, Pete (R-TX)
|
House
|
$4,950
|
Shuler, Heath (D-NC)
|
House
|
$4,950
|
Stearns, Cliff (R-FL)
|
House
|
$4,950
|
Wicker, Roger (R-MS)
|
Senate
|
$4,950
|
Blackburn, Marsha
(R-TN)
|
House
|
$4,500
|
Flores, Bill (R-TX)
|
House
|
$4,500
|
Manchin, Joe (D-WV)
|
Senate
|
$4,500
|
Smith, Lamar (R-TX)
|
House
|
$4,500
|
Terry, Lee (R-NE)
|
House
|
$4,500
|
Tipton, Scott (R-CO)
|
House
|
$4,500
|
Griffith, Morgan (R-VA)
|
House
|
$4,150
|
Amodei, Mark (R-NV)
|
House
|
$4,000
|
Bartlett, Roscoe G
(R-MD)
|
House
|
$4,000
|
Bucshon, Larry (R-IN)
|
House
|
$4,000
|
Chandler, Ben (D-KY)
|
House
|
$4,000
|
Coble, Howard (R-NC)
|
House
|
$4,000
|
Griffin, Tim (R-AR)
|
House
|
$4,000
|
Johnson, Timothy (R-IL)
|
House
|
$4,000
|
Miller, Jeff (R-FL)
|
House
|
$4,000
|
Yoder, Kevin (R-KS)
|
House
|
$4,000
|
Bishop, Sanford D Jr
(D-GA)
|
House
|
$3,650
|
Cole, Tom (R-OK)
|
House
|
$3,500
|
Critz, Mark (D-PA)
|
House
|
$3,500
|
Duffy, Sean P (R-WI)
|
House
|
$3,500
|
Granger, Kay (R-TX)
|
House
|
$3,500
|
Schilling, Bobby (R-IL)
|
House
|
$3,500
|
Upton, Fred (R-MI)
|
House
|
$3,500
|
Walorski, Jackie (R-IN)
|
House
|
$3,500
|
McCaul, Michael (R-TX)
|
House
|
$3,150
|
Nunnelee, Alan (R-MS)
|
House
|
$3,150
|
Bachus, Spencer (R-AL)
|
House
|
$3,000
|
Denham, Jeff (R-CA)
|
House
|
$3,000
|
Ellmers, Renee (R-NC)
|
House
|
$3,000
|
Fischer, Deb (R-NE)
|
Senate
|
$3,000
|
Gibbs, Bob (R-OH)
|
House
|
$3,000
|
Graves, Tom (R-GA)
|
House
|
$3,000
|
Harris, Andy (R-MD)
|
House
|
$3,000
|
Hensarling, Jeb (R-TX)
|
House
|
$3,000
|
Hochul, Kathleen (D-NY)
|
House
|
$3,000
|
Huizenga, Bill (R-MI)
|
House
|
$3,000
|
Hurt, Robert (R-VA)
|
House
|
$3,000
|
Johnson, Sam (R-TX)
|
House
|
$3,000
|
Kissell, Larry (D-NC)
|
House
|
$3,000
|
Latham, Tom (R-IA)
|
House
|
$3,000
|
LaTourette, Steve
(R-OH)
|
House
|
$3,000
|
Michaud, Mike (D-ME)
|
House
|
$3,000
|
Moran, Jerry (R-KS)
|
Senate
|
$3,000
|
Perry, Scott (R-PA)
|
House
|
$3,000
|
Ribble, Reid (R-WI)
|
House
|
$3,000
|
Roskam, Peter (R-IL)
|
House
|
$3,000
|
Ryan, Tim (D-OH)
|
House
|
$3,000
|
Schrader, Kurt (D-OR)
|
House
|
$3,000
|
Sullivan, John (R-OK)
|
House
|
$3,000
|
Walden, Greg (R-OR)
|
House
|
$3,000
|
Quayle, Ben (R-AZ)
|
House
|
$2,600
|
Altmire, Jason (D-PA)
|
House
|
$2,500
|
Altschuler, Randy
(R-NY)
|
House
|
$2,500
|
Baca, Joe (D-CA)
|
House
|
$2,500
|
Barr, Andy (R-KY)
|
House
|
$2,500
|
Bilbray, Brian P (R-CA)
|
House
|
$2,500
|
Boehner, John (R-OH)
|
House
|
$2,500
|
Buerkle, Ann Marie
(R-NY)
|
House
|
$2,500
|
Cardoza, Dennis (D-CA)
|
House
|
$2,500
|
Franks, Trent (R-AZ)
|
House
|
$2,500
|
Gibson, Chris (R-NY)
|
House
|
$2,500
|
Guthrie, Brett (R-KY)
|
House
|
$2,500
|
Hayworth, Nan (R-NY)
|
House
|
$2,500
|
Heck, Joe (R-NV)
|
House
|
$2,500
|
Kelly, Jesse (R-AZ)
|
House
|
$2,500
|
Kingston, Jack (R-GA)
|
House
|
$2,500
|
METHODOLOGY: The numbers on this page are based on contributions from PACs and individuals giving $200 or more. All donations were made during the 2012 election cycle and were released by the Federal Election Commission. Figures for the current election cycle are based on data released on November 12, 2012.
Credit for the chart and NRA information to the Center for Responsive Politics.
