The Newtown Lawsuit and the Moral Work of Gun Control -- The New Yorker

[flamin lib]

http://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/newtown-lawsuit-moral-work-gun-control

"The filed complaint—the numbered paragraphs give it an oddly religious feeling, like theses nailed to a church door—is worth reading in full, however painful that might be, not only because of the unbelievable suffering and cruelty it details on that terrible morning but also because it offers, in neatly logical fashion, an indisputable argument: the gun manufacturer is guilty of having sold a weapon whose only purpose was killing a lot of people in a very short time. Despite the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives having previously declared that such weapons “serve a function in crime and combat, but serve no sporting purpose,” Bushmaster sold it anyway—and precisely on the grounds that it could kill many people, quickly. “Forces of opposition bow down. You are single handedly outnumbered,” the advertising copy read."

snip

"The lawsuit is discouraging because the death-by-gun lobby has successfully advocated for legislative prophylactics that prevent gunmakers, almost uniquely among American manufacturers, from ever being held responsible for the deaths that their products cause. If a carmaker made a car that was known to be wildly unsafe, and then advertised it as unsafe, liabilities would result. The gun lobby is, or believes itself to be, immune. Some experts have outlined legal principles that might let sanity triumph, but it is hard to think it will. (Right-wing judges tend, these days, to be more creative than liberal ones in creating legal precedents that no one ever before imagined possible.)"

snip

"But all of the talk about legal and illegal weapons, automatic and semi-automatic—as about the treatment of the psychologically troubled—evades the simple, central point: it ought to be very, very difficult, as it is in every other civilized country, to get your hands on a weapon whose only purpose is to kill people quickly. The N.R.A. and their allies make it very, very easy."

snip

"The underlying politics of gun control has always been the same: the majority of Americans agree that there should be limits and controls on the manufacture and sale and ownership of weapons intended only to kill en masse, while a small minority feels, with a fanatic passion, that there shouldn’t. In a process familiar to any student of society, the majority of people in favor of gun sanity care about a lot of other things, too, and think about them far more often; the gun crazy think about guns all the time, and vote on the issue with fanatic intensity."

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A very good read.

[CTyankee]

1. This IS a moral document. AND it makes SENSE.

How long before we all stand up to the NRA and say"ENOUGH!"

[Paladin]

2. That final snipped paragraph sums up the problem nicely.

We're up against single-issue political fanatics.

[Skittles]

3. in other words, gun nuts really ARE nutty

gun humping, paranoid ASSHOLES

[Electric Monk]

4. I posted it in the gungeon, and got the usual predictable reaction

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1172158158

Thing is those weapons designed only to kill aren't available to the public

What gun control will eliminate suicides?

The author disqualifies himself the moment he uses terms like "gun crazy"

Missing the point almost as if on purpose

[billh58]

5. Of course they miss the point on purpose,

because that is the right-wing NRA tactic: repeat a lie or a half-truth often enough, and loud enough, and it becomes fact. The "cold dead hands" proponents are infiltrating this Safe Haven Group because they know that they can get away with spreading lies and half-truths here for the time being. Many of them are recognizable returning pizza recipients, and probable moles from other right-wing sites.

This safe-haven Group was formed for the express purpose of NOT having to debate gun nuts. This Group's founding principles are that the NEED for gun control is a settled issue, and only the methods for achieving solutions toward that goal are to be discussed here.

The fact of the matter is that the majority of Americans, including gun owners, favor sensible gun control laws and regulations in the interest of public safety. The very vocal minority of gun nuts (as represented by those infiltrating this Group) and their 4 million right-wing, Koch Brothers-funded, NRA counterparts will accept no form of sane regulation. Obvious gun nuts are not (and never have been) a constructive part any discussion about our national gun problem, as they ARE a very large part of the problem.