It’s “Rant Day!” Part One

There are too many unbelievable current happenings on “our” stage to talk about just one. I am taking the podium to rant about several. Please join me! Let’s do “Bullet Point Rants.” The “Rant” subjects are so plentiful, we’ll do Part One today.

“Rant Day” Part One: Gun Control

Oh boy. Bet you cannot believe I’m tackling this one. But I must.

There is NOT going to be actual “gun control” in the United States — at least not stopping American personal gun ownership. Short of a Constitutional Amendment — which IF could be written and agreed to by the requisite number of members of Congress and states — would take a decade or more to finalize. The 2nd Amendment has confirmed the right to bear arms in numerous test cases at the Supreme Court — PERIOD.

We don’t need gun control — we need PEOPLE control. Why don’t we simply compare travesties Americans deal with daily when contemplating a “fix” for mass gun shootings? When there is a hit-and-run incident in which someone is killed, we do NOT arrest the car: we arrest the driver of the car. Similarly, when a driver is stopped for erratic driving and tests to be intoxicated, we do NOT arrest the empty beer cans on his floorboard: we arrest the drunk driver. Drinking alcohol is legal in the U.S. as is owning guns. We tried to make alcohol illegal during Prohibition. But doing so did not work. Trying to make guns illegal will never work in America just as it does not work in other countries that have tried. All it does is embolden those whose possession and use of guns is already illegal. How? They know no one but the criminal has a gun which makes the criminal able to take the criminal actions without facing a victim with a loaded gun.

People who should not have guns need to be prevented from having guns. Unfortunately doing so is a really slippery slope in the U.S. — as it should be. Individual rights are the most important things to protect in America. Our founding fathers fought and died to achieve those rights and several times to preserve them. Without them, the U.S. would be no different than the country from which American settlers escaped in the 1600’s. The first 10 amendments of the Constitution were written and passed to do just that and are called “The Bill of Rights.” Individual freedoms are the difference between the U.S. and the rest of the World.

We must, however, find carefully devised ways to make certain — while protecting those individual rights — to protect against those who take advantage of our Constitutional rights, including the right to bear arms. Not every American is qualified to possess a firearm or drive a car, or drive a tractor-trailer, or teach school, or run an assembly line — you understand what I mean. In most other cases we simply create those protections with laws and regulations. Gun Control is the “dog whistle” that calls out gun rights purists en masse who all fight to protect against any government takeaway of guns by force or legislation. Gun Rights advocates’ concerns are this simple: “From my cold, dead hands,” said Charlton Heston speaking at a NRA convention commenting on the U.S. government ever passing a law to restrict gun ownership. But what about the mentally ill?

Most would be OK with a carefully crafted, discussed and debated, and “conservative” plan added to existing federal gun ownership applications to prevent mentally incapacitated individuals from purchasing guns. For the sake of time we will not argue here the specifics of such a plan. Notice I said “discussed and debated, and “conservative” plan…. Specifics would have to be just that: specific and medically verified, so as to keep anyone from losing their 2nd Amendment rights simply because someone else branded them as mentally ill to simply keep them from gun ownership.

But this means the existing federal gun ownership application program would have to be effective. And it is not effective. The existing plan — before any changes are made — MUST be adopted by every federal, state, and county law enforcement agency in the U.S., the actual application must be revised to include more personal information about the applicant, and must include some type of “mentally fit to obtain” medical release. (Details to be adjusted as necessary before implementation)

Regarding where we are in this issue today: please read my story from February 16, 2018, titled “Slaughter at School” for a suggested plan specific to school safety necessary to stop school shootings that have helped elsewhere.

Who/What is Responsible for Mass Shootings?

Regardless of what Leftists in government or the DTN (“Dump Trump Network” formerly known as CNN) say, AR-15 rifles are NOT responsible. People are. Sadly, not just the shooters. Read on.

The Parkland, Florida shooting is the perfect illustration of a mass shooting debacle. Let’s look at the extensive problems for the shootings and their causes:

• Nikolas Cruz was not stopped from playing out what he told dozens of students personally, posted as a comment on a YouTube video that was reported to the FBI, numerous social media posts, and — believe it or not — resulted in 39 personal visits by Broward County Sheriff Department visits. Imagine how unbelievable it is to know that this many definitive contacts were made by law enforcement officers because of direct threats of this 19-year-old young man to perpetrate a school mass killing? And nothing was done.
• Broward County Sheriffs were call to the scene. We learned just today that one deputy arrived at the school, entered the school, but purposely did NOT confront the shooter. Why? We do not know yet. But the reason is not important. What matters is that a law enforcement officer had an opportunity to stop all or part of the shooting deaths of 17 people and failed.
• It was revealed also today that there is a live video monitoring system with numerous observation cameras throughout the school. However, for some yet unknown reason, the camera system had an approximate 20-minute delay which prevented officials from an opportunity to intervene in the short 8 minute killing spree.

What could have prevented these 17 deaths?

• There would have been no deaths if Nikolas Cruz had no access to the gun he used: an AR-15, semi-automatic rifle. But he bought it legally. How could he have been prevented from making that legal purchase?
• AR-15 rifles could be outlawed in the U.S. But their ownership has been deemed to be Constitutional.
• The ownership of semi-automatic guns could be made illegal in the U.S. There are still non-automatic guns in abundance.
• The ownership of ALL guns could be made illegal in the U.S. Gun ownership has been deemed Constitutional. (See Paragraph One at the beginning of this story)
• We could continue to do politically what has happened historically after each mass gun shooting in recent American history: for a brief few days or weeks listen to gun control advocates scream for gun control, demanding the government take all the guns. They cry that doing so would certainly stop these shootings. The problem with that though (besides being illegal) is that very seldom do honest and law abiding citizens conduct mass shootings. And few criminals who commit gun crimes own their guns legally.

Let’s STOP the political posturing using the lives of our school children as bait! This is NOT a political problem. And making it one proves that anyone doing so shows their lack of care for repairing this system for political gain at the cost of human lives.

Summary

On February 16, 2018, “Slaughter at School” contains complete details of how we need to stop mass shootings of all kinds. Please if you have not already go back and read that. The plans detailed there are in place already and are working very effectively in Israeli schools. School shootings at Israeli schools are non-existent.

Do not think this is a cop out by this writer or in some way an excuse to not take immediate actions to stop these killings. What this IS is a spotlight I am shining on not just the issue — school shootings — but on what will resolve the issue.

Let me point out something to you that you may not have noticed: Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Bush 41, Bill Clinton, Bush 43 nor Barack Obama ever offered any bill or law or conducted any roundtables, “listening” meetings at the White House, or shined any network camera lenses on any specific actions to detail THEIR plans to stop gun violence — specifically mass shootings. The only President in my adult life who has done this is Donald Trump. And you can bet he is not finished yet. Unlike Carter, Reagan, the Bushes, Clinton and Obama, Trump is a manager who is accustomed to managing problems. You watch: he’ll devise a plan for this and pitch it to Congress. Let’s see just how Congress will handle this one!

Note:

Make sure you check back here tomorrow. “Rant Day” Part Two will look into this subject: “Justice in America — For All or Just Some?”

Hmmm….I think you’ll like it!