Saturday, December 08, 2012

Stop Handgun Violence founder: "The dirty little secret is that the NRA loves high-profile mass shootings."

Earlier today I was browsing the net looking for interesting stories to share with you,when I stumbled across the above statement over at Crooks and Liars.

Here is the post that caught my eye, and sent a shiver up my spine:  

Smith & Wesson Holding Corporation announced on Thursday that sales had spiked 48 percent in its second fiscal quarter of 2013, setting a record of $136 million. 

"The increase was led by continued strong sales across all of the company's firearm product lines, including M&P™ branded products, such as pistols, modern sporting rifles, and the recently launched Shield™ pistol designed for concealed carry and personal protection," the company said in a statement. 

Smith & Wesson also predicted year-over-year growth of 30 percent for the remainder of the 2013 fiscal year. 

Those are the kind of statistics that boggle the mind and make you ask "Why?" Why with so muhc gun violence in the news would gun sales ACTUALLY be going up?


Apparently some questions are better left unanswered.


Stop Handgun Violence founder John Rosenthal told Current TV's Elliot Spitzer on Wednesday that gun companies were making record profits because lobbying groups like the National Rifle Association had been successful at making sure that the industry was largely unregulated. 

"The dirty little secret is that the NRA loves high-profile mass shootings," Rosenthal explained. "The more gun violence, the better. The more fear, it causes people to buy guns, more profits for the gun industry. And then they funnel it into intimidating Democrats into submission. And then they fund the Republicans and the Republicans just roll over."

 "The dirty little secret is that the NRA loves high-profile mass shootings. The more gun violence, the better. The more fear, it causes people to buy guns, more profits for the gun industry."

Have you ever read something that you hoped with all of your might wasn't true, while at the same time being absolutely certain that it was?

That is how I responded to the above statement. On the face of it it seems counter intuitive. But when you think about the psychology of how human beings react to fear, you realize the obvious truth.

The stunning, frustrating, yet obvious truth.

So how do you counteract a primitive response to fear married to a society that conditions people to believe that possession of handguns equals safety?

I quite literally don't know.

Sharing statistics like this: Family and intimate assaults involving a firearm were 12 times more likely to result in death than non-firearm associated assaults between family and intimates. Means nothing to somebody who is frightened and believes that simply possessing a handgun  will calm their fears.

I think many gun owners literally have NO intention of ever using their gun for anything other than target shooting, and that is undoubtedly the truth for most. But a handgun in the house is an instrument of death readily available to ANYBODY who is suddenly frightened, angered, or unable to make rational decisions.

And it provides the power to end a life to any person in the vicinity with the ability to flex their finger. No matter their state of mind, no matter their gender, and no matter their age.

Guns don't JUST kill people. They make killing them something even a child can do.


22 comments:

  1. Anonymous10:37 AM

    Their second fiscal quarter for 2013 is in 2012???

    On a very slightly different note, now that Michigan has done in unions and collective bargaining and is set to do in women's health rights, it is also about to end "gun free" zones. Oh well, maybe this is how the world will end - with the crazies just shooting the rest of us.
    Beaglemom

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous11:10 AM

    Guns don't kill people. People kill people.

    I'm so sick of hearing that and it's the most frequently used argument in defense of guns. Calm, rational debates citing psychological studies and statistics do nothing to budge their opinion. Somewhere out there, there has to be a perfect smack down rebuttal comment to shut them up. I've yet to see it.

    Anyone?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. People WITH guns kill lots MORE people..
      My next least favorite is "Criminals won't obey gun laws." Obviously, criminals don't obey laws, period....thus they are criminals.

      Delete
  3. This does not surprise me. In fact I had figured this out a while back. Keep people afraid and you can sell them ANYTHING.

    I'm very happy living in a country (Oz) that has very strict gun cuntrol laws. I also think the 2nd amendment to the US Constitution was the worst thing ever written and that if the writers of the Bill of Rights could see how the amendment has been perverted nowadays there's be some serious rewriting happening.

    In Fairbanks when I told some guys at a warehouse I delivered to regularly that I was moving to Australia, they said, "Why? You can't have your guns there anymore!"

    My answer was, "I don't have any guns. Never have." The stunned look on their faces was priceless.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous11:26 AM

    Thank you, Gryphen.

    Guns are obscene. No wonder so many assholes worship them and consider them more valuable than human life.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. emrysa7:47 PM

      "Guns are obscene."

      just wanted to repeat that.

      Delete
  5. Anonymous12:11 PM

    Don't forget the evil Marxist socialist communist Nazi librul plot by the black man in the White House to take away all of our guns.

    Oh NOOOOOOOOOOOOEEEEEEEEEZZZZZZZZ.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Boy shot to death outside Mercer County gun store

    http://triblive.com/news/adminpage/3101251-74/loughrey-police-state#axzz2EUvNbiIq

    His dad was holding a 9mm with an empty magazine, but one bullet in the chamber. It discharged whilst his dad was climbing into the truck, hitting the 7-year-old (who was buckled into a booster seat) in the chest.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anita Winecooler8:43 PM

      I am sick of reading this in relation to every accidental gun shooting-

      “This happens all too often where people think the gun was empty,” said state police Lt. Eric Hermick.

      Haven't we ALL read that more than once before?

      I know it was an accident, and he's hurting like hell, but I wonder if he leaves his truck with the keys in the ignition unlocked?

      Delete
  7. The stupid idiot gun crazies will buy up all the ammo and then blame the shortage on President Obama.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous12:34 PM

    Once I put a .38 to a man's head who was trying to assault me. In Alaska, no less. He got the message real quick and hastened his departure from my presence. OF COURSE, the police did NOT arrest him. It was my word against his as to what transpired.

    While this incident may not be of significance to you Jesse, it certainly is to me...and countless other women who have done the same.

    I am alive because of the Second Amendment. So I find ANY arguments against owning guns invalid, naive and extremely dangerous.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous1:26 PM

      Oh shut up. That's not what this is about and YOU KNOW IT!
      The NRA doesn't give a rat's ass about you or anyone else. It only cares about gun dealers and manufacturers. Always has, always will.
      Pray tell, how did you manage to put a .38 to a man's head WHILE he assaulted you and he walked away?
      I'm your worst nightmare: a liberal woman who not only owns guns but knows how to use them. My gun is not a threat, it's a promise. That means, I don't pull my gun unless I mean to use it.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous5:32 PM

      12:34, that guy could just as easily overtaken you and turned the gun on you. Pepper spray is the only way to disable, unless you actually shoot him. Good self defence knowledge is pretty powerful too- a swift kick works wonders in the right spot.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous8:15 PM

      You don't know what the situation was. A gun was the only answer. Pepper-spray was not an option and would have not been to my benefit.

      And, no, I will NOT shut up. A gun saved my life. END OF STORY.

      Delete
  9. Anonymous1:24 PM

    Anon 12:34......pepper spray works wonders. That's coming from a woman that was in the situation you described. So don't give me any crap about being naive. You are alive because you resisted. Simple self-defense techniques can do wonders also.

    Two days ago a 2yr old was shot to death by his 4yr old brother. Today a 7yr was shot to death by his father. Both were unintentional, which a large percentage of gun deaths are. If you own weapons the odds are far greater that someone you love will be shot by it before any imagined intruder will.

    I grew up around guns, most of my friends and family have them. That being said, I made a decision years ago that I no longer wanted to be around them. I refuse to fall into the "fear" trap that everyone peddles. I take precautions that will do more to prevent my becoming a victim, than the false sense of security that a gun gives a person.

    btw....I live in WY, and am in the wild on a regular basis.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anita Winecooler9:06 PM

      I made the same decision and never regretted it.

      Delete
  10. Anonymous2:58 PM

    My father-in-law has given us a couple of handguns (he is a collector, and oone of teh few people that does not make me feel fee unconfortable knowing he is armed). That said, when the first gun came home with us I told me husband in no uncertatin terms that there would never be a loaded handgun in my house. We have had 3 handguns for more than 5 years now, and we have yet to buy amo for any of them. If we ever do buy amo it will be locked up seperately from the guns. Especially since we don't normally have kids around, or think about what they could get into, I am not going to set up a situation where they can get into something because we forgot about it.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous3:05 PM

    Let all the idiots shoot each other and the gene pool will thank them for it!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Randall4:34 PM

    I live in South Dakota.

    Ever been to a "gun show"?
    You know, where they set up those long, folding banquet tables and line up guns on them to sell?

    No background check at THOSE affairs, I tellya - that's for DAMN sure. No two-week waiting period either. FREEDOM, by God - that's what I'm talkin' about!

    MAN there are some spooky-lookin' sons-a-bitches at those things.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous5:26 PM

    The NRA also loves any little hint that the Dems might want to initiate gun control (maybe that's another reason why they love the massacres). It sends the militias and preppers into a buying frenzy.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anita Winecooler8:58 PM

    Great Post. Yes, it's fear that drives this madness. My dad had two rifles and a gun for hunting. He used trigger locks and a gun cabinet. The guns were in our house growing up and we were fine with it.
    The bullets were at my Uncle's house across town, in a locked ammo box, they'd meet for target practice, skeet shooting and hunting, and they brought their property back to their respective places.

    There's a gun show this week at a navy reserves building, about a half mile from my home, and the cops are keeping an eye on the transactions. Yes, my tax dollars are paying for the place AND the cops to be nannies for the gun nuts. Will they be there when they're sold illegally?

    What's wrong with this picture?

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous8:58 PM

    My wife doesn't carry a gun, nor pepper spray.
    However she's a 2nd degree black belt.
    Not perfect, but neither are the other two "solutions" above.

    I will bet that plenty of gun shop owners voted for Obama too.
    In the last election, Obama made them a lot of money and they'd like a repeat.

    Cash for fear or love are the two oldest businesses.

    ReplyDelete

Don't feed the trolls!
It just goes directly to their thighs.