Comments

1
I'm going to invent a new recipe for seasoned mixed nuts, to be consumed while hunting, and I'm going to call it Gun Nuts. I'll make a goddamn fortune!
2
there's a missing stress factor to the current re-re-realization of gun-nuttery: their relative abundance. that is, there's a hell of a lot more of this form of social madness than one might suppose. yes, they tend to be in the south and midwest in the greatest numbers; but for those of us who wouldn't even consider owning a gun, we should keep in mind that this scary minority might be one of the largest (among us). and few of them have them locked away sufficiently.
3
Gun nut hyperbole would be semi-plausible if we hadn't already been through the same rednecks threatening insurrection and mutiny if we inaugurated a black commander in chief. Exactly the same rednecks threatened insurrection and mutiny if we allowed gays to serve openly in the military. Or legalized gay marriage.

It's getting to be kind of a snooze listening to the wild threats of these kooks who are on the losing side of history.

So now a hardcore club of kooks in Congress are going to derail a very timid list of mild, common-sense gun reforms. At the same time they default on paying the bill for debts they themselves voted to borrow.

They're going to make their point by driving the country into the ditch. Just like Bush drove the country into the ditch and diminished Republican power as a direct result.

Obama is a cold hearted political bastard. He's going to let them do this to themselves, on guns and the debt ceiling, and then laugh as the voters spank them for it in the midterms. And then the second half of his term will be a doozy.
4
@3: Only if non crazy voters show up for the midterms. That's how these guys keep getting elected. Non participation of sane folk.
5
at no. 3 -

gun regulation might be the one thing the obama administration can hang its hat on. i'll wait and see.

obama has done nothing, except be a cold hearted REPUBLICAN political bastard. if you support him you are a twat.

the second half of his term? HAH HAHAHAHAHA AHHAHAHAHAHA.

more drone killing, more financial capitulation, more of the things we wouldn't accept from GW, but we take it in the ass from obama ' cause he's cute.

fuck off.
6
@4: Extreme gerrymandering helps quite a bit too.
7
hey stranger writers - if you're going to post a NY times link, make it one that does not require registration. . .

just sayin'
8
@7 Google "new York clean" works like a charm.
9
@3: If there's a Slog Wagering function somewhere here I would like to bet a large amount of money on one particular side of this midterm election/Barry O. Lame Duck Mega Power prognostication.
10
@8 - super duper. thanks!

11
@4

The pain of the '95/96 government shutdown was nothing compared to what's in store, and all of the blame will fall on Republicans. And the public is not going to grow numb to these mass shootings -- they're going to get angrier and angrier. They'll see government inaction -- due to Republican obstructionism -- behind every bloody, wrenching headline.

If the Republicans played it cool, they'd benefit from low turnout. Just keep the wheels of the economy turning, just head off the brunt of the mass shootings. Not rocket science. But the stubborn way they're going, turnout is going to be massive. People will be pissed because all of a sudden they'll notice the lack government in their lives. Not in a good way.

12
@9

Step away from your computer and go out and form some actual relationships with other humans. There's always somebody will take your bet if you, like, know people.

Don't sit here and bitch to me if this blog is your only window on the world. Go outside.
13
And re: 6, gerrymandering is not a "How'd That Happen?!" issue. The Republicans won big in the statehouses in the census year of 2010 while Dems snoozed, and consequently controlled redistricting in the many states where the majority has that power.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012…

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonk…
14
Anyone who thinks that the Second Amendment gives people the right to attack "tyranny" in the form of their own government needs to read up on Shay's Rebellion. You're wrong.
16
@15

It's also a "fact" that we are a Christian, white supremacist nation that will always have racial inequality, prayer in schools, that will never accept interracial or gay marriage, or blacks or gays in the military. "Facts" are "always" facts, until the day comes when they're not.
17
@12: I have plenty of other bets already set with the rest of the NRA Troll League, thanks. We take a break from Call of Duty, gun-assist masturbation and ca$hing our fatass GunMoney checks occasionally and go do highly social stuff like special trips to the most rabid right wing churches, marching through left wing towns with displayed weapons, and intentionally running into cyclists on Second Ave.

Also, I like how in @11 you are more or less now actively rooting for more mass shootings of unprotected people in order to further your political goals. That's a pretty solid point of view and it would be great if you (or someone with equivalent values) ended up in a position of authority after the 2014 triumph.

And as for going outside, I froze my goddamn ass off skiing all day today - last time I try any of that physical, non computer related, unpolitical bullshit any time soon - waaaaay too much sun and humanity for my taste. And I have to say it was super uncomfortable on the lift with my AR-15 inside a ski jacket, I need to work on that...
18
@17

Don't forget that I'm also "actively rooting" for a default on our debts. Because of how super fun that would be.

Recognizing that we have a Nihilist Caucus with veto power is not the same as "actively rooting" for death and ruin. It means accepting that they've got the votes bring misery down on all of us. And that doing so will be their undoing.

On the other hand, if they step back from the brink, then the killings stop and the economic ruin is averted. And instead Obama can compromise with them and make good progress on several fronts.

I like the compromise option, but if they choose drag the country down with them, at least we can be glad that this is the last time they will get the chance. That's not "rooting for more shootings."

You basically think that anyone who actually believes our gun problem causes shootings is "rooting" for shootings. It's a fact that the pain and shock of these killings motivates the public to solve the problem. The gun nuts want to stick their heads in the sand and hope the shootings stop. That's dereliction of duty.

I have no idea why you posted all those other words about ski trips and video games. Blah blah blah. You really are boring. If you have a point to make, state it. All you're doing is filling up space on the internet with the most long-winded "no, you're wrong" that you can muster.
19
Ouhhh this plus AAPL earnings on the 22nd, hot damn.
20
I must admit that I am very appreciative of Chicago Fan merely choosing to link to an article, while not bothering us with his typical verbal horseshit.
21
@18: Let me be clear (thanks Barry) - I am indeed boring as all hell, nobody would dispute this.

The Republican Party can go fuck itself sideways, I hope they genuinely go down forever in a flaming embrace with the kleptocrat-coddling, bible thumping, racist, fascist, homophobic douchebags who currently hold sway there.

Which does not put me on Team Blue, who I think is just as empty and craven, willing to do whatever the fuck it takes to get power. I see little substantive difference in regards to civil liberties or the imprisonment/killing of poor brown people under the current crew - slogans and branding notwithstanding. Any of you who trust any of these people and see them as anything but the assholes you couldn't stand in high school who clawed their way into positions of power is bound to be disappointed (best case) many times over - use them as they would use you.

I'm all for getting rid of violence in our society. I genuinely disagree with you about how to do that, and I've blabbed about my ideas on that plenty already. I fully support your right to disagree strongly and I've been enjoying Slog for a long time because it's a good place to get doses of strong opinions.
22
@17

Yea the forward assist always tends to get you in the back while on the chair, makes me kinds wish I had one of the old slick side SP1s, or perhaps a VZ58, I hear Czechnology works well in the snow. I do envy your day on the slopes while I waste the day at work, I spend Monday being "skis in the rain guy".

For real though I do really want to try some back-country Biathlon with moderate power cartridges.
23
@21

Funny I feel pretty much the exact same way.
24
@21

""I fully support your right to disagree strongly and I've been enjoying Slog for a long time because it's a good place to get doses of strong opinions.""

Thing is for me, and maybe I'm stubborn, but most of my opinions of the last 5 or whatever years of reading Slog have stayed the same. I venture to say that's the case for most of us. Who has really switched political parties because of stuff read on a blog? My biggest growth here has been the understanding of struggles felt by gay people (and minorities, women, handicapped, flavor of the day). Although, most of it just harks back to my Christian upbringing - "Love thy neighbor" "Treat others the way you'd like to be treated" and other crap sayings I live by.
25

Staunch Democrat, John Wayne Gacy, is back in the news.

Sneed is told Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez has given Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart a green light to search for possible victims of serial killer John Wayne Gacy in the Northwest side apartment complex where Gacy’s late mother, Marion, once lived.


http://www.suntimes.com/news/sneed/17525…

John Wayne Gacy Was A Democrat

He also immersed himself in organizations such as the Jaycees and the local Democratic party. As a Democratic precinct captain he once had his picture taken with First Lady Rosalyn Carter.


http://mrssatan.blogspot.com/2007/10/joh…

There you have it.

Prima facie evidence!
26
There are some crazy people out there with guns of course, and some are making ridiculous claims, but...

"These people, a vocal minority, have extreme fears — gun confiscation,...."

Confiscation isn't an "extreme fear" when influential legislators do openly advocate confiscation. Senator Feinstein pushed just such a policy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3DKuN2ey…

State lawmakers in IL tried to pass a law that also involved confiscation (sorry for Fox link):

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/01/…

So no, confiscation isn't an extreme fear, and it isn't just a slippery slope argument.
27
I, for one, appreciate it when crazy-ass conservatives publicly state their crazy-ass views, because it erodes their political base. Hey teabaggers, more racist signs, rape definitions, and ideas for places to bring guns, please.
28
@15: HUMANS love violence, which is why american television and movies are globally popular.

there are already 300 million firearms in circulation in america. that's why the firearm death will continue into the foreseeable future.

what is unique to america is the level of firearm deaths versus our "western" affluence. we have so many hammers laying around that every problem looks like a nail.
29
@26,

I just read that fox article you linked and couldn't find anything whatsoever intimating that confiscation is being discussed in the legislature. From the article... "On Wednesday night, a state Senate committee advanced two measures to restrict semiautomatic weapons and high-capacity magazines. It's unclear at this point whether the full Senate will take them up before the new General Assembly class is sworn in Jan. 9."

Confiscation absolutely is an extreme fear and your conflating restriction with confiscation should qualify as an extreme concern on your part. I will say that if that mental case from the Charles Blow article could be involuntarily committed and his firearms confiscated, the world be a safer place for it.
30
>be tyrants for 200 years
>can't be tyrants anymore
>omg tyrants halp!

They don't need the guns to kill tyrants. They need them to stay tyrants.
31
I don't care how many guns they have, they ain't hijacking squat. It's like they're making a fist gun and pointing two stupid fingers at MLK Day. It's pathetic.
32
Once again, look for crazy people saying crazy things in an attempt to support your already-arrived-at-solution.

Of course everyone is happy to throw around various statistics that have been sanitized.
It's easier than looking at the specifics of the shootings.

No one here can name the first (or latest) brown person wounded or killed in Seattle in 2013. Without looking it up.
Judging by the coverage in The Stranger, there haven't been any.
Yet there will be stories posted about shootings across the nation.

Who is shooting whom with what and why?

Please wait...

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