Congress ' Complicity in Mass Shootings

I have never lost one of my children much less lost one to the senseless carnage that erupted in Santa Barbara thanks to a mentally disturbed individual having three semi-automatic weapons.  Hence, I cannot fully know the anguish and sorrow felt by the parents of those who lost children in the carnage.  But I can agree with Richard Martinez who lost his son on one thing: Congress is complicit in the ongoing mass shooting sprees.  But for prostituting themselves to the NRA which is in reality nothing more than a front financed by the gun manufacturers, we'd have common sense gun control in America.  Thus, in some ways, every member of Congress who has refused to vote to pass gun control had their fingers on the trigger along with Elliot Rodgers. An editorial in the New York Times underscores this reality.  Here are highlights:

Richard Martinez has a message for the politicians who have been calling to express condolences on the death of his son, Christopher Michaels-Martinez, in the massacre of six people in Isla Vista, Calif., on Friday: “I don’t care about your sympathy,” he said. “Get to work and do something.”

Through his tears, he called lawmakers in Washington “a rudderless bunch of idiots” for bowing to the National Rifle Association and refusing to enact restrictions that might have kept three semiautomatic handguns away from the deranged shooter, Elliot Rodger. “These people are getting rich sitting in Congress,” he said. “And what do they do? They don’t take care of our kids.”

In being bullied by the gun industry into rejecting one of the most effective ways of limiting the proliferation of guns — universal background checks — members of Congress have become complicit in shootings by anyone who should not be allowed to own a gun because of a criminal or mental health record. It is not just the mass shootings like the one in California that the nation needs to focus on (victims in these horrific events make up less than 1 percent of all gun homicides), but also the more than 11,000 individual deaths from gun violence every year, most of which get no attention, or the more than 19,000 annual suicides by gun.

The background check bill failed in the Senate a year ago, mostly because of Republican opposition. The gun lobby, determined to prevent a single restriction from being approved, spread vicious misinformation about the creation of a gun registry that left lawmakers quaking and raised ludicrous fears of government confiscation.

Last year, a consortium of top mental health professionals said the government needed to go further and ban gun possession from those who have been involuntarily committed to outpatient treatment if they pose a danger to themselves or others. People should also be unable to buy guns, the group said, if they have been convicted of a violent misdemeanor, subject to a domestic violence restraining order, . . . 

[P]arents or other relatives should be allowed to petition a court for a restraining order prohibiting gun ownership by those who pose a credible risk of harm to themselves or others.

The greatest danger the N.R.A. poses is not just its lobbying might or its lies, but the hopelessness it induces in good people who have given up pressing for new restrictions. More than 280 Americans are shot each day, and every bullet should send the opposite message.

Fox News "Expert" Does Damage Control After Claiming Santa Barbara Shooter Was "Fighting Homosexual Impulses

Santa Barbara Shooter

Leave it to Fox News , a/k/a Faux News, to air a piece that sought to depict the mentally ill shooter in the Santa Barbara knifing and shooting spree to be gay.  It's yet another example of Fox News deliberately fanning the prejudices and bigotry of its base of viewers who surveys have shown to be among the least informed of American citizens.  The New Civil Rights Movement looks at the fast damage control efforts of Fox News' Dr. Robi Ludwig.  Here are highlights:

Dr. Robi Ludwig, facing a firestorm, late this morning took to Facebook and claimed that her provocative homophobic comments about Santa Barbara killer Elliot Rodger had been “misunderstood.” Ludwig this weekend had gone on Fox News and told millions of viewers that Elliot Rodger, the 22-year old who allegedly killed six people near the University of California Santa Barbara Friday night might have been fighting “against his homosexual impulses,” and implied they could be responsible for his rage that resulted in the deaths of three of his roommates, three others, and himself.

Rodger had left a 141-page manifesto and several YouTube videos angrily lamenting that he had consistently been rejected by women and promising he would “slaughter every single one of” them. He also belonged to several misogynistic “men’s rights” groups and had posted racist remarks in an online forum.

But nowhere and at no time did Rodger suggest he was gay, or unsure of his sexuality. There is not one clue, one suggestion — not one iota of proof that Rodger might have been gay. There is also not one study that finds men who are fighting “homosexual impulses” would turn violent and go on a killing spree.

“When I was first listening to him, I was like, ‘Oh, he’s angry with women for rejecting him,’” Ludwig told the millions of Fox News viewers. “And then I started to have a different idea: Is this somebody who is trying to fight against his homosexual impulses?’”

Ludwig claims she was “misunderstood.” No, she was not. She chose to introduce into a discussion and news report that gay people can be overcome with rage and cannot control their unwanted impulses — when homosexuality had nothing to do with the story because Rodger was not gay.
Note also she chooses to use the word “homosexual,” not “gay” — a common choice by those who are homophobic or anti-gay.

Dr. Ludwig might have violated the rules of the American Psychological Association, which prohibits members from diagnosing patients or public figures they have not personally 
examined.

Hopefully, the APA will investigate Ludwig and, if appropriate, take disciplinary action against her. The ultimate irony, of course, is that time and time again it is the conservative Republicans, not gays who seem to have problems with their sexual impulse.  Just ask GOP Senator David Vitter about his use of prostitutes in New Orleans and Washington, DC.  I would also add that as one who fought my sexual orientation for decades, women were NEVER the target of my anger.  It was always self-directed. 

Father of Santa Barbara Shooting Victim Pins Blame on Politicians and NRA

In the mass murder at Santa Barbara we saw yet again a familiar pattern: a mentally unstable individual was able to easily acquire guns and ammunition despite supposed gun control laws.  The take away?  We need to get quick firing guns out of the hands of non-police and non-military personnel.  Sportsmen and hunters do not need the types of weapons that time and time again are the choice of those out to commit mayhem.  The father of one of the shooting victims puts the ultimate blame where it belongs: on the NRA - a front organization for gun manufacturers - and the politicians who prostitute themselves to it.  Here are highlights from a piece in The Raw Story:

Addressing the media, the heartbroken father of one of the victims of Eliott Rodgers’ shooting rampage in Santa Barbara blamed “craven, irresponsible politicians and the NRA” for being complicit in his son’s death.

Richard Martinez, father of 20-year-old Chris Martinez, said he was speaking for the family and told the assembled reporters, “Our son, Christopher Martinez, and six others are dead. Our family has a message for every family out there: You don’t think it will happen to your child until it does.”

“Why did Chris die,” Martinez continued, his voice rising. “Chris died because of craven, irresponsible politicians and the NRA. They talk about gun rights. What about Chris’s right to live?”

“When will this insanity stop,” he said. “When will enough people say ‘stop this madness, we don’t have to live like this.’”

Martinez said he spoke with his son by phone 45 minutes before he was shot inside the IV Deli Mart by Rodgers.

Police say that Rodgers owned three legally purchased 9MM semi-automatic handguns and over 400 rounds of unused ammunition was found in the car after Rodgers shot himself following a police chase.

As is increasingly the case on many issues, on "gun rights" the Republican Party supports the rights of the selfish few, in this case gun nuts, over the rights of the majority.  Be it the selfish, self-centered Christofascists, the irate angry white supremacists, or NRA supporters, the GOP is  always on the wrong side of the issues.