Tag Archives: gun control

January 16, 2013 · 3:59 am

A Nation of Cowardly Lions?, Louise Annarino,1-15-2013

A Nation of Cowardly Lions?,Louise Annarino,1-15-2013

 

For the last one-half hour I have played solitaire in an effort to stop myself from writing thsi post. My anger and disgust had built to a fever pitch as I listened to comments made by those who promulgate hate by building fear, in particular using racial fear to fuel anger  and division, blaming their fears on our president. Ann Coulter explains to us that we have a minorities/demographic problem;not a gun problem. I guess that explains how President Obama,is the real problem. Hannity was very appreciative of her racism,um I mean insight.

Rep.John Boehner (R-OH) says he may need to shut down government by blocking the vote to raise the debt limit and pay our bills for “(Republican)party management” purposes. Blaming the president for paying bills authorized by Congress is something new; and,meant to undermine our president. Mr. Boehner,here’s a reminder: Country first,then party second equals patriotism.Harming the nation to harm a president is unpatriotic at best.

And now,republicans are discussing impeachment if the president raises the debt ceiling,or regulates guns. HAve they ever threatened a Republican president for seeking such actions? No. They have been trying to find grounds,reasonable or not,to impeach Obama since his first inauguration. Why would we expect them to stop now?

The eagerness with which Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) vowed to do anything it takes to stop Obama’s acting like a king or monarch in expectation of executive action to put in place reasonable regulations on guns…the week-long litany of an upcoming civil war…the lies circulating on facebook and arriving in my email from otherwise reasonable persons arguing we must stop Obama from working with the United Nations to destroy our 2d Amendment and take away our guns and ammo…and equally inane (yes,stupid,baseless,racist and ridiculous in the extreme)conspiracy theories are causing me to loathe many of my fellow citizens. Almost, I would guess, as much as they have come to loathe me. And that is the danger here.

Racist fear mongering is not new. I get it. Political demagoguery is not new. I get it. Manipulating the ordinary citizen to keep power and amass wealth is not new. I get it. Dividing the 98% so the 2% can get away with anything is not new. I get it. What I don’t get is how silent the leaders of business,politics,religion,news media and average citizens have become;and,how unconcerned they seem to be. SIlence is not an option in the face of evildoing. And what these emails, speeches, commentaries and blatant lies are doing is evil. They are making us fear and hate each other, threaten the financial and political stability of the nation,and create an environment ripe for violence.

The hypocrisy of the NRA to blame vidoe games for gun violence;then,issue a video game for ages 4 and up to shoot up coffins stuns the conscience.The frothing-at-the-mouth NRA spokeman and supporter shouting down Piers Morgan for offering statistics on American versus world-wide gun deaths outrages common decency. Threatening to shoot the president if he regulates guns should make a Tennessee man a criminal, not a celebrity.

I must keep reminding myself that individuals who take these positions are a very small yet vocal minority,influenced and persuaded by a well-funded but even smaller group of news moguls,CEOs and great pirates,gun manufacturers and arms merchants. I expect such greedy power seekers to act this way. I don’t expect my compatriots to fall for such shenanigans, or seeing them, remain silent.

I can tolerate differences of opinion. I cannot tolerate lies and hate. I don’t expect everyone to understand the law as I do, having studied and practiced it. Nor do I expect them to know the full history and context for the passage of the 2d amendment. But if they don’t know what they are talking about, they should take the time to learn something before simply repeating the garbage they get in their inboxes across the internet via email and facebook etc. We are living in a cultural milieu which creates deranged persons who kill with insensitivity. Failure to change the milieu, to challenge those who oppose such change,and to support those who do is wrong. It cannot be justified by indifference,ignorance or racism. We cannot simply join in and not take responsibility for our actions.

We treat our returning soldiers,who lived among violence,see those around them be maimed or killed, and possibly kill others over a period of a few years, for PTSD,post traumatic stress disorder. Yet, we allow our children to live among violence from infancy and into adulthood, watch their family and friends be maimed or killed, and possibly kill others. What they experience is not PTSD because it never ends. It is OTSD ongoing traumatic stress disorder.

But we sit silently while Ann Coulter and others blame those children of our inner cities, many of whom are minorities, for our violence problem. No,Ms. Coulter, minorities are not the problem; we white people are the problem,we of white-flight,neighborhood gentrification and relocation,gated communities,dislike of paying progressively higher taxes on our higher incomes,refusal to approve school levies,off-shoring jobs. We have created OTSD; and, blaming it on an African-American president, undermining his ability to lead a nation of people whose color we fear…that is the problem! And it is your hypocrisy and lies which prevent us from solving our problem. If we must  be afraid of anything, we must be afraid of our own cowardice.

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December 16, 2012 · 6:04 pm

IF ONE CHILD IS UNSAFE,NONE ARE SAFE,By Louise Annarino,December 16, 2012

IF ONE CHILD IS UNSAFE,NONE ARE SAFE,BY Louise Annarino,December 16, 2012

During the first 2 weeks of September 2012, 32 Americans were killed in Detroit; one of them and Iraq Vet and father of five children named David Nelson, who pushed aside a woman neighbor about to be shot by her husband in a domestic dispute and took the bullet himself. (http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/story/19568205/32-people-murdered-over-15-day-period-in-detroit ).

Chicago has already seen 400 Americans murdered within its borders during 2012. During August 2012 alone, 38 persons were killed.( http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/01/chicago-homicides-reach-4_n_1929015.html ).

In Columbus,Ohio 83 Americans had been murdered between January 1 and  November 29, 2012.  The breakdown: 88% male, 70.7% African-American, 56.5% age 20-39, 79.3% shooting victims. ( http://www.dispatch.com/content/pages/data/crime-safety/homicide/homicides.html ).

During the past year, more than a 1,000 children died before their first birthdays in Ohio. The breakdown: 6.3% white, 5.7% Latino, and 15.8% African-American; likely the highest in the nation for African-American babies. ( http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/11/29/black-infant-deaths-worst-of-bad-news.html ).

More than 1 in 5 of all American children live in poverty; 1 in 3 American children of color live in poverty. As a result, America loses half a trillion dollars per year in lost productivity, increased health care costs, and increased crime. ( http://www.childrensdefense.org/newsroom/child-watch-columns/child-watch-documents/forward-for-children.html ).

Many Americans live on the fiscal cliff, just over its edge struggling to hang on, or at the bottom of the cliff all of their lives. Many Americans face the threat of violence and death daily in American cities and towns. The silence has been deafening in addressing these issues. It is not that Americans have been unaware of the problem; but, their solution has been to flee to suburbs and gated communities rather than addressing the needs of fellow Americans they identify as “the other”. Too many Americans have “gunned up”,allowing fear of going over the cliff with the “other”.

We are each outraged over the mass murder in Sandy Hook. We cannot escape the faces of those young, and so beloved children. We must try to understand such violence and do all we can to avoid another Sandy Hook. It may not be possible.

But, I must ask,where is your outrage over the Americans killed by violence in the hearts of our cities every night? Over the infant mortality rate for our babies? Over the 3532 American Iraq War dead? The continued deaths of innocents abroad by arms and aircraft manufactured in America?

I grieve the loss of life in Sandy Hook,Connecticut.  I also grieve the loss of life each night on the streets of Columbus, Detroit, Chicago, New Orleans, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Miami, and every city-large or small- in our violence-loving, gun-toting country. When will we start speaking for our children and families everywhere? Who can promise we will do all we can to protect them? Can you? I wonder.

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December 16, 2012 · 5:44 pm

SANDY HOOK PUTS US ALL ON THE HOOK,By Louise Annarino,December 16,2012

SANDY HOOK PUTS US ALL ON THE HOOK,By Louise Annarino, December 16,2012

I have finally stopped crying every time I think about Sandy Hook Elementary School. So many of us are afraid to allow such grief to overwhelm us, fearing we will lose our minds. Since the death of John F.Kennedy, I have been a public crier. I cry over news reports. I cry if I see anyone else cry. I remember once hearing Italian actress Sophia Loren respond to an interviewer’s comment about her beautiful eyes, “If you haven’t cried, your eyes can’t be beautiful.” She then went on to describe what horrors she and her mother experienced in Italy during WWII…with tears in her eyes.

Tears teach.Tears tell us what matters most, whom we most care about,whom and what we are willing to suffer for…even die for. We must pay attention to, and find answers to our tears. I am not sure, however, that we are asking all the right questions when it comes to gun violence. We must discuss the limitations and expansion of gun control consistent with the U.S. Constitution. After all, any bill Congress passes must overcome constitutional challenge before the U.S. Supreme Court. Clearly, the 2d. amendment right to bear arms, like the 1st.Amendment free speech provisions, should be subject to reasonable regulation. It is ironic to argue one “cannot yell fire in a crowded theatre” but one can carry in a weapon, even into a bar full of drunks. The Wild West has taken root in middle America.

However, gun control did not prevent Sandy Hook. It appears Mr. Lanza withdrew his purchase request from a local gun shop when informed he had to await a 2 week back-ground check. Not willing to wait so long he used guns belonging to his mother. His mother? Who needs assault weapons in their homes? We hear descriptions of safe and friendly Sandy Hook where violence is unexpected; so, why the arsenal at the Lanza residence? No matter what gun control laws we pass,even if they work for most cases, we cannot prevent every violent act so long as we behave with such senseless abandon regarding gun ownership. What is it with us that  the problem always belongs to “the other guy”? And lock-down did not save Sandy Hook Elementary; the gunman forced entry.

It reminded me of meeting all students Affairs staff called by the OSU Dean of Students during the Spring 1970 student strike.As an RA in Lincoln Tower I was required to attend. There, we were told of plans, to which I strongly objected, to build a fence around the administration building to block access, and to protect it from protesters. The protest was in response to a refusal by the President to meet with the student body and Afro-Am presidents and receive a petition requesting recruitment of minority faculty-staff-students, establishment of a minority affairs office and  Black Studies Department, and policies and programs to end racism in on and off-campus housing etc. I suggested the university use the money for the fences to fund such programs and end the protest peacefully. Why is our first response to a crisis fear rather than problem solving?

As we begin the discussion on gun regulation, let us seek to solve problems rather than fear the loss of our guns, or their proliferation. Let us focus on how and why guns are used; and how we can assure ownership and use is reasonable for the good of our communities. As NYC Mayor Bloomberg instructed host David Gregory on this morning’s MEET THE PRESS, just because some drivers speed does not mean we should stop regulating speed limits on city streets and highways. Such laws save thousands of lives every day.

We may never answer why Mr. Lanza killed his own mother and so many innocent children and educators in Sandy Hook. Our minds cannot comprehend such “violent reasoning”. Even so, we can do something to stop the violence in our own and nearby communities throughout the state of Ohio.  We may not stop another mass murder in America; but, we can reduce gun battles and drive-bys on city streets. It is time to wipe the tears away and get to work on sensible gun regulation.

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