By: Diane Benjamin
To the Pantagraph Editorial staff:
You really need to put your name on Editorials. Citizens have a right to know the name of the person who doesn’t believe in the Constitution. Media was given unfettered rights in the 1st Amendment so liberty and freedom could be debated and defended. You make yourself immaterial with stupid comments like today’s Cheers and Jeers.
Anonymous asked when the death total will be high enough for law makers and citizens to decide to confront gun violence. http://www.pantagraph.com/news/opinion/editorial/editorial-cheers-and-jeers/article_1b3159aa-8237-5af0-b1e5-353f5ff66ac3.html
Hey anonymous editorial writer: Here are some questions for you to answer:
- Drugs are illegal – hows that working out?
- This week’s California shooting took place in a Gun Free Zone – how did that work out?
- Did you notice the shooters also had pipe bombs – aren’t they illegal?
- Only guns kill? Fertilizer bombs, knives, swords, baseball bats, and hammers all kill. Want them banned too?
- Americans own close to 300,000,000 guns. How many shot somebody this week, year, ever?
- Gun violence in Chicago kills and injures more people every week than what happened in California. Where is your editorial against Rahm? You do know guns are illegal there, right?
- Did you know the shooters in California were gone by the time the police arrived – in FOUR MINUTES?
- What would have happened if just ONE person in the room in California had been armed?
- Did you know that mass shootings have risen dramatically under your buddy Obama? Where is that editorial?
- Did you notice that most of the shootings are done by ONE type of person? You know, the kind your buddy Obama wants more of here?
(Yes that was politically incorrect – deal with it!)
The second amendment means we have the right to defend ourselves.
The clueless anonymous editorial writer wants you to be a sitting duck cowering in the corner waiting for the police to arrive. I wonder if that Pantagraph employee who was attacked by a guy with a knife outside your office wishes she was armed.
How did being in a Gun Free Zone work out for the 14 dead people anonymous? Want the whole country to be a Gun Free Zone? England already confiscated guns, now they want to make knives illegal. People who want to kill WILL find a way to kill. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-06-28/knife-murders-spiking-after-gun-ban-uk-urges-save-life-surrender-your-knife
Obviously the Pantagraph wants the population clueless and completely dependent on government. Supporting the far left anti-gun activists makes them money.
Quit giving them yours – then quit giving their advertisers your money. Explain why to them.
America has a HEART problem, not a gun problem. Life has no meaning. I doubt anonymous will do that editorial.
All citizens must realize that entering any building with a Gun Free Zone sign on the door puts your life at risk! We are at war with radical Islam, everybody but the Pantagraph and the President seem to know it.
If you think it can’t happen here, look and see what happened in Australia. Government siezed and destroyed guns from legal gun owners.
Austrailia serves as an example of what could happen but I doubt that the American people will comply. The times they are a changin’.
At war radical Islam might be the narrative but I think the ideals of the NWO, through Marxism, Communism, Facism and maybe a handful of other “isms” describe the enemy better. Let’s not forget stupidism.
Pantagraph and wjbc. The voice of communism.
I would agree with you except you gloss over the fact that this country is drowning in guns. The only real way to prevent homocide is everyone needs to wear full armor body suits and drive armored vehicles. Homes should have 15-foot walls with razor wire and automatic gun turrets, iron barred windows, and armed guards posted at all times. Does all that sound stupid to you? Because suggesting we don’t do anything because of a 200 plus year old provision is just as stupid. No one needs military grade weapons. No one needs guns with extended capacity clips unless they are in a street gang or plan to write your name in bullets. Chances are, if the government wants to subjugate us, they would use missiles and bombs. Sorry, I am not keeping an air-to-air missile battery in my yard.
An AR-15 is called an assault weapon by the clueless media. It’s just a gun. Automatic military guns are ILLEGAL and can’t be bought without a special permit. The California shooters had to pull the trigger every time they shot. No military grade involved.
You should probably read up on the AR-15. They can be modified to be automatic, which is illegal but that’s like allowing someone to buy a case of beer and then tell them they can’t drive after they get drunk. Oh and the history of marketing the gun to the military and the various mods to militarize the weapon certainty make this ‘just a gun’. Either that or we have more hunters that can’t hit a deer and need 10-30 shots to show how manly they are.
Mikey, I saw a movie a number of years ago where only the military and the police had military style guns: The movie was Schindlers List.
Mikey, Government is our SERVANT, not our master… why on earth would we allow our servant to disarm us. Or leave us with useless arms. A well armed man is a CITIZEN. An unarmed or poorly armed man is a SUBJECT. Hunting and target practice were not cited as justification for the 2nd amendment by the framers. Self-defense and security of their life, property and liberty from criminals, invading armies, and a usurping federal government were the given reasons. We are entitled to have similar weapons to our military. We all have to remember our 2nd amendment freedom isn’t free, but it is for the greater good.
Mikey, dude you are really paranoid. Please don’t have any offspring.
The only paranoia I hear on here day in and day out is this unfounded that somehow the government will enslave us if we get our head out of our collective butts and pass sensible gun restrictions. All this Nazism crud people bring up in defense of loving guns is because people can not think for themselves. Wow sounds a bit like the people following Trump. Sorry to burst your bubble but I have procreated and my kids will grow up realizing that people some people have to be scared and paranoid just to get through the day. They’ll ask “Daddy, why does Mr.Mudd have to have a gun to feel safe. Does he think someone is always out to get him.” I would reply “yes” and that conservatism has become an excuse to push unintelligible agendas. But some folks are unable to see that and convinced by equally minded pundits they receive false validation of their mindset. You have a right to own a gun but no law exists that says you need a powerful rifle or sniper rifle. Then kids, someone gets mad and decides they will make the bad people go away with a powerful weapon. And then someone will say that we need more guns to feel safe. And the cycle will continue much to the enjoyment of gun manufacturers and gun lovers. Who’s your daddy Mudd?
The whole military grade/high capacity magazine argument is a red herring. The so called “assault weapons” are nothing more than hunting rifles dressed up with some fancy accessories. No serious army would use them. Saying that limiting magazine capacity would help is an argument that could only be posited by someone who has never used a gun. Magazines can be changed in less than a second.
To me the best argument against banning guns is because banning drugs has not even come close to working.
Ted Kennedy’s Oldsmobile killed more people than have any of my weapons.
I won’t be addressing any of your other nonsensical comments and opinions, as they are without a doubt some of the most ridiculous ones I have ever read.
I would, however, like to take this time to protest against whoever supposedly taught you anything about the Constitution of the United States:
“Because suggesting we don’t do anything because of a 200 plus year old provision is just as stupid.”
Provision? You mean the AMENDMENT to the original document, right? A provision is a clause in a contract which grants me something. The Amendment in question, on the other hand, doesn’t grant me any rights at all. Instead, it recognizes the inalienability of my right, the PEOPLES right, to bear arms. Now I know I used a big word there, but what it boils down to is that you, as a breathing American, possess this right. It also implies that your rights cannot be diminished, altered, or abolished – they can only be violated.
Somebody should have taught you that. I also get a sense that they didn’t teach you the proper appreciation of what an amendment actually is.
When an amendment to the Constitution is ratified by the States, the amendment carries the same force and power of the original document. It is, for all intents and purposes, an integral part of the document itself. If you believe in the separation of powers, or how those powers are divided up, or any of the other yada-yada-yada you can’t remember now, then you have to believe in the amendments as well.
Otherwise, you’re not much of an American, are you.
Now, why don’t you go back to the kiddie table before I say something unkind.
Gent. Okay I’ll play along. Ok grandpa, I think the kids are thinking more rational anyway. Just let me know when you need help getting to the bathroom with your rocket launcher.
Mikey…You would have made an excellent Tory back in 1776.
This editorial, read together w/the front page piece suggesting local police need access to armored vehicles and military-grade tactical equipment paints a vivid picture. The war is here now . . . on our turf. Our own government should NOT being trying to disarm her people. They’re gonna need all the help they can get. And, bringing the f_cking enemy here, too. I don’t want to live in a country that the military/police are the only ones armed. Shit, what is going on in this country??? It’s like the middle-of-the-road people are being attacked from both sides.
Gent I would probably would be wondering how the heck we would survive a war with the greatest army known to man at the time. Good thing we had help.
Given the nature of your comments on this very thread, I doubt very much you would have been ‘wondering’ about anything.
On more than one occasion, you have pointed out what you perceive to be the futility of the citizens to defend themselves against the greatest army known to man at THIS time. Instead, you have chosen to childishly mock those who have studied the history of government arms control against it’s citizens throughout the ages – a history that shows that such controls have NEVER brought about an increase in freedom and personal liberties for it’s citizens.
The fact that such things are being promoted by the government we created two centuries ago, should serve to highlight the evidence that our current government has no interest in promoting our personal liberties or freedoms – that it is, in fact, attempting to actively curtail our rights.
Somebody should have taught you that the purpose of THIS government of ours, what was supposed to be the most unique in the world, is to promote our liberties and rights.
What is obvious to me now, is that this failure to teach these basic notions is not limited to just you, but it applies to whole generations of American citizens – the ‘kids’, as you call them. Otherwise, I am hard pressed to explain how it is, that ‘the kids’ cannot see their rights and liberties suffering a death of a thousand cuts.
I am equally hard pressed to explain how this is even possible, were it not by design.
It’s not your fault Mikey. the way you have been programmed to believe. You don’t wonder why people go on these crazy murder-death-kill sprees. It would probably surprise you to know that many of the perpetrators of these crimes were involved in one form or another in the use off SSRI’s – anti-depressants.
The San Bernardino affair has it’s genesis in current American foreign policy. Tonight, the President will most likely attempt to advance even more abuses to our liberties and freedoms. Either that, or he will promote the current murder-death-kill spree the American government is currently engaged in at this time in the middle east.
There’s more I’d love to teach you, but you and your ‘kids’ are hopeless Tories, and I have no use for Tories.
Peace be with you.
President Obama says, “this is not normal.” No kidding!! And, this couple is not mentally ill but rather they are sociopaths–most murders are. The woman was given a background check by the Feds prior to entering the country on a fiancee visa. How’s the NSA working out on surveillance? The president claims there is no where else in the world where mass shootings of this scale exist. Is he aware of ISIS or the radical groups in Africa? The opinion writer is simply ignorant and out of touch with reality.
Did John Wayne Gacy or Jefferey Dahlmer use a firearm? Seems to me that the nutcases are the problem not inanimate objects.
Good point! How many bodies did they find in each of those cases?
More guns equals less crime. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VklCvHFZVG0
Agreed but rather than pointing to a YouTube please check the Washington Post articles. They just recently had one pointing out the only place shooting have dramatically increased are gun free zones. Apparently armed citizens deter criminals attacks.
Former NFL and MLB superstar Deion Sanders didn’t mince words when he argued that the people responsible for the San Bernardino, California shooting should be blamed for the tragedy, not guns. The problem is not the guns. The reality is its too easy for Islamic terrorists and muslim sympathizers to get into the country. Ban Islam and deport all muslims! Muslims will never assimilate here. Muslims have declared Jihad on the USA
From my perspective some of these shootings could have been prevented or stopped before they happened had building security been in place. Ask yourself how many schools are out there where just about anyone can walk in the door at. Theaters with exit doors not secured. Paris shooting in the theater. No where did I read that there was security at the doors. San Bernadino where the doors were wide open. Why they might as well have laid out a Welcome mat for the two shooters it was just that easy. Don’t get me wrong I have sympathy for those murdered and their families.
I once worked at State Farm and they put in this elaborate door security system allowing only one person to enter when they swiped their employee badge. Sorry not good enough. There is no check to verify the badge was with the person who it was given too. I’ve always thought that place and many more employers who bring in offshore workers are severely at risk of a massive killing on a scale we have yet to see. I am ever so glad I do not work there, period! Not to mention no background check is done on those people here on Visa’s.
Our federal government just swung the door open. That is the problem our federal government allowing almost everyone to land here in America. No joke!
Here is what I find quite surprising. With all of the money being spent by the NSA, FBI, CIA, etc. and they had no idea this woman pledged allegiance to their ISIS leader until after the fact. What idiots we have in the federal government!
As for more gun control legislation. Hmm lets see how that is working out for example for cell phone usage while driving. We have so many laws on the books now that aren’t even being enforced so what makes anyone think more laws are going to solve this. It won’t! The answer is to hire more people to enforce what we have in place first. Another problem are penalties that aren’t severe enough.
Crazy people that intend to harm or kill others are going to do it whether they have guns or not.
Comment people: gun issues come down to one thing. Some people believe nothing will happen to them or the police will save them. The other side refuses to be a victim where ever the threat comes from. Both are legit and both have the right to their view points. One side has the first amendment protecting their speech. The other has the first too but also the second.
You nailed it! This is why we are America! Awesome insight! (Not being sarcastic. Genuinely support your comment.)
Yeah Mikey, blah, blah, blah, you need some serious history lessons dude. Check Pol Pot, Stalin, Mao, and what happened to millions of their citizens after gun confiscation. Execution Mikey. Something like 30-50 million dissidents rounded up and murdered by that bunch of dictators. It’s not paranoia Mikey, it’s historical fact. Maybe the history of man doesn’t interest you. Your choice to be a foolish if you want. Just leave me out of your foolishness. * Guns with high capacity round ability have been around for much longer that dolts like yourself realize, although you probably wouldn’t admit it if you knew it anyway. And just as long before the Wright Brothers got credit for the first flight, many before them dreamed of it. This mantra of thinking that our forefathers never dreamed of higher capacity ability is ignorance. Hint: look up the repeating rifle that took Lewis and Clark through their journeys. * For me in respect if I chose to own or carry a firearm, I would hope that I would never have to use it on any living creature. Let’s just call it insurance Mikey. Like I hope my insurance never has to pay for my car being wrecked, or my car being stolen, or my house being damaged by a falling branch and excessive wind. Then there is Obamacare that has made my insurance (like many others) skyrocket in price as your buddy Obama makes us all buy that ripoff cause he’s paranoid that we’ll need it. Owning a firearm is insurance for what “could” happen, it’s insurance dude in case I need to defend myself and especially my family from someone who wishes me harm. That’s all. I am not paranoid, I am just prepared. It’s interesting that the law states that with ownership of certain properties, I must purchase insurance to provide for the security of my investments and my health. However, I should not provide for the security of my own life? Really? * You Mikey you are paranoid and unprepared. If you hear someone burglarizing your house, please remember that the average response time for a police officer to arrive is 23 minutes. A lot of unpleasant things can happen in 23 minutes. Then off course, please note that each policeman on scene will arrive with a duty firearm, a smaller backup firearm, a shot gun, a high capacity rifle, a taser, a baton, a heavy duty flashlight that can be used as a weapon, and probably a knife, because they realize that the authority of law won’t be enough. I guess packing all that heat makes the cops feel safe and I guess you’ll feel safer too. Tell you what Mikey, when you dial 911, tell dispatch to tell the responding officers not to bring any firearms and see how that works out. Maybe they can just throw donuts at the perps and the perps will run away. I can just hear the commotion at your house now, “Oh please Mr. Officer, don’t throw that creme puff at me. Oh no, not the eclair! I’ll be good Mr. Officer, honest, I will. I’ll just go home now. Look, I was only kidding around!” No firearms Mikey and your little utopia of we all getting along is complete in your world.
Oh poor Mudd. Has to resort to name calling to try and make his point. Australia confiscated weapons and I don’t see the second coming of Hitler.You do have a right to have firearm and I have said that. I guess that gets lost on you in my opinion but hey what do you expect. But you do not need to carry around precision killing machines to protect yourself. And it’s very funny that you make assumptions about my knowledge of history. I am familiar with all the dictators you describe but what you do not realize is they had control of a standing army. You suppose the Jews would have been able to stop the Holocaust by arming themselves? Ben Carson anyone? Hitler had missiles, bombs, planes, tanks. I appreciate your knowledge of history but you are living on a this grand thought that in the very unlikely event the government decides to go Hunger Games on us that somehow everyday citizens would be able to withstand it. I just think it would look stupid with everyone strapping AR-15s on themselves. “OK. Now if you look at page 9….hold on…move my gun here” Pow! “Shoot! Went out for lunch and forgot to turn my safety back on! Think they’ll notice the hole in the wall?” If crime EVER gets that bad that we need guns to feel safe anywhere then maybe we should pay for more cops?
Our ballot boxes are mighty things. I vote because I like the fact that I don’t need a gun to effect change. Jefferson even wrote about being the only country that be changed by the vote. The same folks that wrote the second amendment also put down some rebellions. Maybe they thought only certain people should have guns also?
All you guys would score more points with facts than accusations!
Mikey calling you a dolt didn’t have anything to do with me making a point of which most of those points seemed to escape you. My apologies for challenging your sensitivity but after noting you had already procreated I figured that you were an adult and could handle such a small notation of my opinion of your opinion. I could keep this going but I think web staff has grown weary.
Correct!
Sure Mudd. Whatever you say. I am sure your comments were made with every intention of trying not to insult someone. Or else why would call someone a dolt. I think some people make the same defense when they make a racist comment,”but I have friends who are black!” Wanna lecture someone on adult behavior, be my guest. Just makes you sound foolish because you have proven to be beholden to less than civil behavior. On to Monday!