By SJ Otto
So a man goes into a high class hotel and takes to his room nearly
two dozen guns, mostly what most people would call assault riffles and no
one is suspicious that something bad might happen.
While it may be legal for hotel management to let someone
stay in a room with that many guns, I am wondering what the average person
would need or do with that many riffles? I can see taking a few for a nearby
hunting trip, but over a dozen? What could you possibly need with that many
guns?
And what kind of country allows people to buy bump-fire
stocks. Stephen Paddock, from the 32 floor of the at
Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, who shot down on at the Los Vegas country
music concert, with Jason Aldean onstage, had
12 of those in his hotel room. There was no reason for the hotel management to
search Paddock for those. Who would expect him to have them?
These devices are perfectly legal. They are mounted on the
back of the semi-automatic riffles, to make the gun fire bullet after bullet
without having to pull the trigger. It sounds just like a machine gun or as the
experts say, an automatic weapon. But it only simulates automatic fire. It
isn't actually automatic fire. From the sounds of the guns they fired on TV the
other night, the only difference is that a real automatic can fire bullets at a
much faster pace. But both guns can fire bullet after bullet without needing to
pull the trigger more than once. If there is a big difference here I am just
not seeing it.
Paddock was able to fire each gun for as long as it took for
the gun barrel to get so hot it would jam. Then Paddock just grabbed a fresh
one and was able to keep up his rapid fire assault. He kept the bullets firing
for about nine minutes.
The amazing thing about all of this is that Paddock did not
break a single gun law, or any other law, until he broke the hotel window with
some kind of hammer. Chances are the hotel does not allow gests to vandalize
their windows. And of course when the first bullet hit someone in the crowd, he
was finally guilty of murder and attempted murder.
Most of the NRA's
pro-gun argument are about hand guns. But all of this was done with assault
riffles. These are guns that are close to a machine gun for all practical
purposes. They are not good hunting weapons, they are mostly good for
assaulting people and killing them. The NRA has gone a good job of making guns
easy to get and use. And it was not enough for them to just fight for the
rights of people to own guns. They pushed to let people carry them. Then when
some people tried to keep people from carrying guns on their property, or
public institutions, the NRA supporters and allies started passing
all kinds of laws preventing people from keeping those who carry guns from
keeping them on public property. The NRA has protected the rights of people
with mental illness to own and carry guns. Conservatives have gotten laws past
that allow those who carry guns to go to bars.
The NRA and Republicans believes that alcohol and guns really do mix. Lately
they are trying to get silencers
legal. Everyone knows what a silencer is for—so that a person can shoot
some one without making enough noise to draw attention to the act. It's an
assassin's weapon. And the NRA and many Republicans wants to make them legal.
The only thing a bump-fire stock is useful for is to allow a
person to fire a steady stream of bullets without having to pull the
trigger—kind of like a machine gun. Such guns are good for assaulting and
killing people—or for intimidating people, such as when Ammon Bundy and his
followers took
over a federal building in rural Oregon .
That is the kind of thing conservatives think are good ideas. Some
Conservatives and Republicans have admitted that owning guns is not about
hunting. To some conservatives their guns are about the right to fight against
their own government if they feel it to become too "totalitarian." From the
Republican Views on Gun Control:
"Conservative philosophy is
deeply rooted in individual rights and the retention of traditional social
institutions. Although there is no single set of tenets that can be
universally viewed as conservative, American conservatism can be fairly
characterized as a way of thinking that emphasizes stability and continuity,
respect for republicanism, and support for tradition, “the rule of law,” and
Christian values. The Conservative philosophy honors the defense of
Western civilization from the challenges imposed upon it by a modernist culture,
and the encroachments of totalitarian governments and outside entities (the
U.N.) headquartered abroad. It should surprise no one who studies
politics to discover that Republican ideology concurs with conservative values
with respect to the broader justification of gun control. Indeed,
Republican views on gun control can accurately be characterized as mostly
adverse to gun control legislation initiated at the Federal level. This
is so because most people who agree with Republican views on gun control
consider government policy to be invasive if it interferes with the
Constitutional rights of gun owners."
I have never been in favor of banning
handguns. I believe that people on the left need to embrace guns way more than
they do. It is too dangerous to just allow only the American right to arm
itself to the teeth while
Democrats, liberals, some democratic socialists and other leftists avoid guns
altogether. Why should we allow ourselves to be defenseless against Republicans
and other right-wingers.
And While I hate the NRA, I don't
disagree with everything they say. We do need gun rights and many of us really
should have arms. If there is ever a breakdown of the federal government we
could easily be targets of right-wing bullies.
But the NRA and the Republican Party have
gone to absurd lengths to protect the most ridiculous forms of weaponry. They
are defending the weapons of assassins. How badly does the average person in America
The idea that a man can bring a dozen
automatic riffles into a hotel and no one questions him is insane. That all he
does is legal is also insane. The NRA, the Republican Party and its allies
won't even agree to the registration of assault riffles, even if they are to
stay legal. Every type of weapon, no matter how dangerous, has the deep support
of the NRA and its Republican Party allies. The NRA is one of the most
successful lobbyist in the country. Their stances are just outright insane. And
with the Republican Party virtually running this country the last 20 to 30
years, abortion has almost been wiped out do to Republican over-regulation.
Recreational drug use has been
heavily restricted, often to the point of being ridiculous and yet guns
have virtually no regulations at all. Fully automatic weapons are outlawed and
they are about the only guns a person can't legally own.
I'm not for banning guns, but a few
regulations make common sense. It is time to stop the madness of the NRA and
its Republican allies. And the NRA IS a Republican Party front group. It
virtually never supports Democrats, even when the Democrats are pro-gun. At
times the NRA will lie about a Democrat's stance on guns. It is time to stand
up to gun crazy leaders of the Republican Party and the NRA (which is almost
the same thing). We need some common sense, which is sorely lacking on the Republican
side.
Pix by Peace and Social Justice Center of South Central
Kansas Remembering Las
Vegas.
Adding to this:
Tonight
there was action at Warren Square. I wasn't there so I got this picture from
Facebook. -SJ Otto
Moms Demand Action - KS
Adding to this:
Tonight
there was action at Warren Square. I wasn't there so I got this picture from
Facebook. -SJ Otto
Moms Demand Action - KS
The NRA has bought some members
of Congress, and now Americans are paying the price for their greed.
Tell Congress
to #RejectTheNRA's
radical "guns everywhere for anyone" agenda: Text REJECT to 64433 to
be connected to your member of Congress.
Thank you to everyone who attended tonight's
vigil. Together we will #KeepGoing to #DisarmTheNRA! #VegasStrong
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