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| - by user LionusUnleashed Occasionally, I read something and have to do a double take at the page and read it all over again, because I simply can't believe what I just read. Usually, in those instances, I find that I DID make a mistake on the first go round. I read something wrong, and it's a good thing I went back to read over it again, or else I might have been left with the wrong impression of someone...or have a serious misunderstanding about whatever it was I was considering. I HOPE I'm not the only person who has had this happen to them. Likewise, every now and then, you think you her someone say something. You start to process what they have said...and your brain screams "WHOA...rewind, my friend...you missed something there...NO ONE would ever say THAT!" Here, too...at least in my case, I replay what was said, and I think..."I have to pay closer attention to people. I thought that person was out of their mind." Here again...I usually was not listening closely enough, and when all is re-said and re-done, I have a renewed understanding of the message which was being sent. I'm sure we've all experienced this, too. And THEN...there are times, when you re-read, or replay something over and over, and over again...only to realize that you got it right the first time...and that the writer or in this case, the speaker of the words IS absolutely, 100%, totally and completely hovering about nine feet above the rest of the residents of Wacky Town! Having said all of that... Last night, I am sitting on my couch watching "60 Minutes" with my wife. It was the first time we had seen the show in some time. A segment on George Tenet's new Tell-All Book about the War in Iraq had just concluded, and I was about ready to throw a 100 Ounce Bar of Silver through the Flat Screen, when they began a segment on the shootings at Virginia Tech. This particular segment about the Va Tech shootings took a slightly different approach than most which I had seen on other shows. It was presented from an angle which suggested that the shooter in that instance was technically not eligible to purchase handguns, due to the fact that he had previously been involuntarily committed, and adjudged mentally incompetent. Apparently, what allowed the shooter to purchase the weapons he used, was the fact that Virginia (as well as many other states) doesn't make this kind of information available to the database which is utilized when pre-purchase gun checks are made, due in part to some limit on state funding. As a result, the fact of this particular shooter's commitment and adjudication of incompetence, was not known to the selling entity at the time that the guns were purchased. A New York Congresswoman, Carolyn McCarthy, whose husband was murdered and her son critically wounded in the shooting on the Long Island Railroad some years ago, has introduced legislation which would eliminate this kind of funding shortfall, and insure that the information about involuntary commitments and adjudications of mental illness would be made available by ALL states...in order that the Virginia Tech situation would never happen again. While Wayne LaPierre, President of the NRA literally SHOCKED me, by agreeing that mentally ill individuals shouldn't own handguns...my "shock" turned to "disbelief" when representatives of two other organizations came out IN OPPOSITION to the legislation offered by Carolyn McCarthy. Though, when LaPierre said, "The last thing we want is some mentally defective person to get a firearm,"...I thought, 'Ya know...if I REALLY TRIED...I just bet I could find something deep down inside of THAT statement to write about." But, giving at least partial credit to where partial credit is due...let's turn our attention to the now admittedly certifiable "GUN NUT," Mr. Larry Pratt. Larry Pratt is the President of the Gun Owners of America, or "GOA." No small time organization by any standard, the GOA boasts a membership of 375,000. AND...out of that 375,000...apparently Larry Pratt is the most popular, most politically astute, most intelligent, well, either that or no one else from among the group wanted to have to deal with getting out the newsletter or keeping the website up and running. Either way, Larry Pratt went to the Head of the Class and became the Organization's President. When Pratt was addressed regarding the Virginia Tech shootings and informed that roughly 1000 murders are committed each year by individuals who have been adjudged mentally ill, Pratt told 60 Minutes, "WE THINK THIS IS SIMPLY ANOTHER WAY OF ELIMINATING A LARGE GROUP OF PEOPLE FROM GUN OWNERSHIP IN THIS COUNTRY." And if THIS STATEMENT, wasn't ALREADY ENOUGH to petition to have Larry Pratt's gun taken away...Larry Pratt WENT ON to state, "WE THINK THOSE ARE TWO MILLION PEOPLE WHO YOU CAN'T SAY THAT YOU KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT WHAT THEIR FUTURE BEHAVIOR WILL BE." Okay...so maybe, just maybe, Larry Pratt was hoping that all of the two million people in the United States who have been adjudged incompetent will run out buy a Glock 9mm and a .22 Caliber handgun, then head RIGHT to the GOA website and pony up $500 for a Lifetime Membership? Or, maybe, just maybe he was hoping to separate himself and his Organization from the position taken by the much larger and more well-known National Rifle Association (NRA). OR...maybe, JUST MAYBE...Larry Pratt is not ONLY the President of the Gun OWNERS of America...but is also the President, CEO and FOUNDING MEMBER of the "GUN NUTS OF AMERICA." Is there NO ONE in this country who should NOT have a handgun, Larry? Should we distribute handguns to convicted murderers and bank robbers? How about 8 year olds? Don't they need 24/7 protection, too? Hell, why stop at 8? Why not just have pregnant mothers swallow a single shot derringer during the 8th month of every pregnancy, to get every unborn child acquainted with PROPER GRIP TECHNIQUE? AND...if you can agree that ANY member of these previously mentioned groups should be denied access to lethal weaponry...HOW IN THE NAME OF ALL THINGS HOLY...can you, or ANYONE ELSE, suggest that a fully grown adult WITH THE REASONING POWER OF AN 8 YEAR OLD, should then have access to the same weapon? I could, of course, stay on THIS thought for a loooooooooooooong time, but...I think you get the point. I SERIOUSLY do not wish ill or harm to come to any human being, but I have to be honest and say that at the very least, I pray that someone breaks into Larry Pratt's home...when he is not there, of course, and STEALS ALL 400 or 500 of his weapons...because, I don't know anything about what HIS future behavior will be, either. Just when I thought that this 60 Minutes story couldn't get ANY MORE ridiculous, Michael Faenza was interviewed. Mr. Faenza is the President of the Mental Health Association of America. Mr. Faenza ALSO opposes legislation which would prevent the mentally ill from buying handguns. Mr. Faenza actually said...and read this two or three times in you think you didn't get it right the first time..."IF WE WANT TO BE SERIOUS ABOUT HANDGUNS, TARGETING PEOPLE WITH MENTAL ILLNESS IS NOT THE PLACE TO START." Talk about "gun nuts." Faenza didn't stop there though. He went ON to indicate that the mentally ill have ENOUGH problems being discriminated against in OTHER areas...and that we should not ADD to this discrimination, by DENYING THEM ACCESS TO HANDGUNS. When some semblance of sanity prevailed in the interview, and Steve Kroft of 60 Minutes asked Faenza if it wasn't just "common sense" to keep handguns out of the hands of the mentally ill, THE PRESIDENT OF THE MENTAL HEALTH ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA said, "WHEN YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT NATIONAL POLICY, YOU NEED MORE THAN WHAT SEEMS LIKE COMMON SENSE." Again, what strikes me about this, is not even so much that Larry Pratt or Michael Faenza were able to rise to positions where there opinion would even MATTER to a 60 Minutes reporter. What is MOST SHOCKING about this situation is that as a NATION...WE ACCEPT, in the 21st Century, the kind of "wild, wild west," mentality exhibited by these statements AS A MATTER OF COURSE. Our shock and dismay aside...we will listen to Larry and Mike...and some of us will laugh, some of us will stomp our feet and cheer on their behalf, and others will simply shake our heads. But, NO ONE...will do ANYTHING...to prevent the 1000 handgun deaths NEXT YEAR which will be caused by the mentally ill...or the year after that...or the year after that...or the year after that. At what point DOES "common sense" trump some pre-historic notion of the appropriateness of the entire nation walking around with a six-shooter strapped to their hip? Smith & Wesson may have been responsible for "how the west was won." But in THOSE DAYS..."Indians" were allegedly responsible for burning wagon trains and stealing your cattle. "Native Americans" today, are more concerned with whether or not you intend to split a pair of queens or double down on anything other than an eleven. In fact, they will even comp you a hotel room and a steak dinner, if you get lucky. We are NOT the "wild, wild, west anymore." We're just "the West." And, when it's convenient, we look at NON-Western Nations, and speak of them as "backward," or "third World." We make documentary after documentary detailing how much more advanced we are than they. We send private and governmental aid, to foster their advancement. And then...we have purportedly rational adults fighting to place guns in the hands of the mentally ill. It makes one wonder...when Non-Western nations will start to make documentaries...about US? __NOEDITSECTION__ From The Opinion Wiki, a Wikia wiki. From The Opinion Wiki, a Wikia wiki.
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