Right to Bear Arms, but Apparently No Right to Live a Joyous and Decent Life

GOP Gun Policy 

(From their view point)

Back Off or I Blow Up the Fool

The plot thickens – can’t wait to hear the NRA retort:

Dallas Shooter, Micah Xavier Johnson was what Wayne LaPierre called a “good guy with a gun” — he was a combat veteran with no criminal record. He clearly believed that “a situation had arisen when the government grossly violates the rights of American citizens.” He was “upset about the recent police shootings” of Philando Castile in a suburb of Minneapolis and Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge. 

A neighbor said Johnson was a “good kid who “just snapped” after watching one too many videos of black men being shot down.

CBS reported that Johnson had amassed a large stockpile of weapons and bomb-making materials. On Facebook, Johnson liked radical black groups that had posted “calls to arms” similar to what you might find at an Oath Keepers or militia website. 

One post read, “The Pig has shot and killed Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana! You and I know what we must do and I don’t mean marching, making a lot of noise, or attending conventions. We must ‘Rally the Troops!’ It is time to visit Louisiana and hold a barbecue.”

Then donning body armor, Johnson grabbed at least one military-style weapon and gunned down 12 people in the streets that killed 5 police officers. Dallas Police Chief David Brown said that his investigators are “convinced that this suspect had other plans and thought that what he was doing was righteous and believed that he was going to target law enforcement — make us pay for what he sees as law enforcement’s efforts to punish people of color.”

Thus the NRA’s “insurgency theory” fantasy again is proven to rest on the idea that “patriots will rise up in unison against government tyranny.” However, the reality is that firearms have never been a bulwark against tyranny since we have maintained pretty well a constitutional government for over 230 years because of the separation of powers which the framers set up as the basis for our constitution, and national and future that is divides power between three co-equal branches of government with each serving as a checks and balance on each other branches to prevent them from gaining absolute power.

Then they set up the Supreme Court to litigate disputes that arose from the Constitution.

As an independent judiciary branch, they can, and frequently have, overturned laws that conflict with the Constitution and which can, and often does also, check the power of the executive branch, thus negating the whole premise that the public needs AR-15s to engage in an armed uprising if necessary.

Then sprinkle in this related article with this title:

The Right to Own Assault Rifles Heavily Contributed to Death of Dallas Cops

The NRA is sure to cite “bad guys” in the Dallas police murders and say that bad guys “don't follow laws.” But in another memorable police ambush (similar to Dallas) the bad guy precisely followed laws.

In fact, the bad guy was the kind of so-called law-abiding citizen whose “gun rights” the NRA adamantly defends, including the right to own assault weapons and accumulate as many weapons as wanted.

In 2009, Richard Poplawski, a violent, paranoid, white supremacist, opened fire on Pittsburgh police officers, killing three and seriously injuring two. According to Pittsburgh police Chief Nathan Harper, Poplawski was armed with a semiautomatic AK-47-style rifle, a shotgun and three handguns (a .357 Magnum revolver, a .380-caliber handgun and a .45-caliber handgun), was protected by a bulletproof vest and had been lying in wait for the officers. Neither Poplawski's involvement with hate groups or domestic violence charges, nor an order of protection against him infringed on his "gun rights"—he purchased all his weapons legally, news reports said.

In 2007, there was Shawn Labeet, who murdered 37-year-old Miami police officer Jose Somohano and wounded three other officers. Thanks to our gun laws, Labeet bought two Marakov pistols, a Hi-Point rifle and two Romanian-made AK-47s from a Miami gun store—with a fake ID. He then bought three SKS rifles for $89.95 each from a Key Largo gun store and returned 14 days later to buy a CZ pistol.

Why do U.S. laws allow someone to buy nine guns in one year including six assault rifles, when they are clearly not for self-defense and the person is clearly not part of a “well-regulated militia?” So many disturbed mass shooters stockpile weapons in this manner, it should be a clear red flag. Why were the duped or complicit dealers not charged as accomplices in the Miami police shootings?

And, then finally this tidbit – related to the above other stories: 

The weapons used in the massacre in San Bernardino were purchased legally and used by husband and wife shooters, raising questions about how preventable gun violence is under current firearm laws. About 82% of all weapons involved in mass shootings over the last several decades have been bought legally, according to a database compiled by Mother Jones magazine that defines a mass shooting as taking the lives of at least four people in a public place. Using that criteria, Mother Jones found 73 mass shootings since 1982.

And, here we are today – improvement? – okay, about what?

Thanks for stopping by – this is a critical subject for us as a whole to address head on – will we, indeed can we?