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"I have an issue with people being able to buy ammunition and weapons on the Internet," Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey of the Philadelphia police . . . I don't know why people need to have assault weapons. There needs to be reasonable gun control put in place.
And we talk about this constantly, and absolutely nothing happens, because many of our legislators, unfortunately, at the federal level, lack the courage to do anything."
-- Charles H. Ramsey, Philadelphia Police Commissioner
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"Consoling, not gun control, is all President Obama, Mitt Romney, and Congress are offering.
Tragically, this is as far as our nation is willing to go to confront our hysterical gun obsession.
No nation so avoids facing its problems as does America, given the power of special interests.
Whether it's gun control, health care, banking and financial scandals, regulatory and tax reforms or foreign policy, there is a special interest that corrupts our government and political campaigns to ensure that its issue is protected.
The fault is ours, the people, who have succumbed to irrational fears, modern anxieties and faulty beliefs about our freedoms, while surrendering our government to special interests. Our politicians fear the National Rifle Association more than they fear us."
-- Letter to the Editor, from Winchester, Virginia
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In the wake of the Aurora, Colorado shootings, plenty to depress Gun Controllers among you readers:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/23/us/online-ammunition-sales-highlighted-by-aurora-shootings.html?pagewanted=all
Lowlights catalogued in the above article:
"Unhindered by federal background checks or government oversight," the Colorado shooter "was able
to build "what the police called a 6,000-round arsenal legally and easily over the Internet . . .
. . . With a few keystrokes . . . It was pretty much as easy as ordering a book from Amazon . . .
. . . a purchase that would have been restricted under propposed legislation that has been stalled in Washington for more than a year . . .
. . . sellers are not required in most cases to report sales to law enforcement officials, even unusually large purchases. And neither Colorado nor federal law required [the shooter James E. Holmes] to submit to a background check or register his growing purchases."
The same article gives evidence to support BOTH sides of the gun/ammo debate:
"On June 25, Mr. Holmes e-mailed an application to join the Lead Valley Range, prompting the owner, Glenn Rotkovich, to call back, to invite him to a mandatory orientation meeting.
. . . Mr. Holmes never called back about joining . . . "
[The gun-range owner's phone calls deterred the shooter James E. Holmes from joining that range, BUT, it did not deter the shooter from his shooting spree in the Aurora theatre].
"In early July, Mr. Holmes ordered a Blackhawk Urban Assault Vest, a knife and two magazine holders from a Web site called Tactical Gear, according to an order slip provided by the company's chief executive, Chad Weinman . . .
. . . adding that the company was 'deeply saddened' it gear had apparently been used in a mass killing."
"Gun groups replied that stricter controls would not make the nation safer, but would only restrict constitutional rights."
"After the Colorado shooting, Democrats and Republicans cast doubt on whether tougher laws could have averted the killing, diminishing the political stomach for any immeiate changes in gun laws . . ."
"Gov. John W. Hickenlooper of Colorado, a Democrat, told CNN . . . that the killer might have built a bomb or found some other lethal device if no assault weapons had been around. And Senator Ron Johnson, Republican of Wisconsin, defended people's rights to own large-quantity ammunition magazines."
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II.
Nicholas Kristof represents multitudes who favor gun control:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/26/opinion/kristof-safe-from-fire-but-not-gone.html
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III.
See also tidbits from "Obama & Romney Do Not Change Course Over Outcry on Gun Violence"
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/24/us/politics/obama-and-romney-dont-heed-new-call-for-gun-laws.html:
Obama's press secretary Jay Carney said that President Obama's main purpose was to
"protect the 2nd Amendment."
"If he had said almost anything else it would be used in a fundraising appeal by the NRA . . . in this political climate," said Representative Earl Blumenauer, Democrat of Oregon."
Conservative Representative Peter T. King, a New York Republican who favors a federal ban on the type of assault weapon used in the Aurora, Colorado shooting massacre:
"The political reality is at this point the American people have made the decision that gun control is ineffective, that people have the right to have weapons, and the government can't be trusted and they'd rather trust themselves with a gun . . .
It's taken me a while to figure this out. The majority of American people are very attached to their guns. They look on any attempt to regulate or control them as an infringement . . .
It's almost something not debated. It is just accepted."
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IV.
Also instructive: "Aurora Gunman's Arsenal: Shotgun, Semiautomatic Rifle and, at the End, a Pistol"
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/24/us/aurora-gunmans-lethal-arsenal.html:
"Weapons like the AR-15 [Assault Rifle] were tightly restricted under a 1994 law known as the assault weapons ban. The law expired in 2004 . . .
. . . The weapon is popular among collectors, military veterans and target shooters who say it is easy to handle and can be modified in numerous ways. Some soldiers call it
'a Barbie doll for men' because it has a wide range of accessories and replacement parts . . . "
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V.
The New York Times's moderate, reasonable conservative on its Op-ed page,
David Brooks, speaks AGAINST gun control after the Aurora massacre.
Excerpt from 3 days ago:
These days, people are trying to use the Aurora killings as a pretext to criticize America’s gun culture or to call for stricter gun control laws. (This doesn’t happen after European or Asian spree killings.) [bitesfromedwin: Gee, I wonder why!] Personally, I’ve supported tighter gun control laws. But it’s not clear that those laws improve public safety. Researchers reviewing the gun control literature for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, for example, were unable to show the laws are effective. [bites: Several easy, simple steps would at least reduce chances, and hurt no one except maybe gun & ammo industry]
And gun control laws are probably even less germane in these cases. Rampage killers tend to be meticulous planners. If they can’t find an easy way to get a new gun, they’ll surely [bites: maybe, maybe not] find a way to get one of the 200 million guns that already exist in this country. Or they’ll use a bomb or find another way.
Looking at guns, looking at video games — that’s starting from the wrong perspective. People who commit spree killings are usually suffering from severe mental disorders. The response, and the way to prevent future episodes, has to start with psychiatry, too. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/26/opinion/kristof-safe-from-fire-but-not-gone.html
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