When 9/11 occurred, everyone in this country was frightened, and understandably, we sought comfort, answers, and a way forward. A majority of people appeared to have no problem affording the government more power to provide us with a sense of security, a feeling such an attack would never happen again. We even went so far as to allow the government to impede on our civil liberties for this feeling of comfort. This was over a (hopefully) once-in-a-lifetime attack, where 3,000 people lost their lives. Sadly, on an annual basis, we lose approximately 30,000 people in this country to gun violence. If we use that number and apply it equally across years, approximately 450,000 people have died via gun violence since the 9/11 attacks. Just based on the number of fatalities, we've suffered 150 9/11s via gun violence since September 11th (2001). Yet, no matter how many die from gun violence, Congress won't seem to budge on the matter. This is largely due to the power of the gun lobby, led by the National Rifle Association (NRA), and sadly, the NRA has been able to brainwash many of their supporters into believing their numbers and rationale are valid. Well, I'm sorry to have to be the one to say this, but they're not.
Here are some of the comments I've received from NRA trolls who have bombarded my Twitter page over the past couple of days:
- "You can't regulate morality. Every tool can be used to kill people. Are we gonna try banning knives too?"
In 2013, approximately 1,400 people died via knives. How many died from guns? About 33,000. That's a 24 : 1 ratio. That'd be like me telling a cop, "You had me down for doing 600 in a residential area? Well, I mean, 600; 25, they really are the same thing when you think about it, right?"
- "Yeah, sure guns kill people, just like spoons make people obese."
When's the last time a person used a spoon to consume foods such as: Burgers, pizza, potato chips, fried chicken, etc.? Not only that, but people tend to only place their own life at risk when they eat poorly. I haven't known too many who chuck spoons at others and wind up killing them (yes, a mass spooning).
- "I have 7 guns. They must all be the laziest guns in the world, because they don't kill anybody."
Gun violence isn't a black-and-white issue. There are three common denominators to an act of gun violence: 1) The shooter, 2) the victim, and 3) the gun. Without one of these denominators, we wouldn't have an act of gun violence. Like, duh...
- "You're letting your emotions do the talking right now."
Emotions may do a lot of the talking during such tragic times, but facts and logic tend to back up those emotions. ...and I'm sorry, but if a person feels no emotion during such a horrific incident, that says a lot about the person... As my friend Debbie would say, "Just sayin'..."
- "Why, when a car kills someone, we blame the driver, but if someone gets shot, we blame the gun?"
What's the main purpose of a car? To get a person from point A to point B. What's the main purpose of a gun? To kill. Stop treating them as identical twins. They're not. They're Danny DeVito and Arnold Schwarzenegger, and that's putting it nicely.
- "This isn't about guns; it's about Muslim extremism!"
Once again, enough with the black-and-white thinking. If this man was a "Muslim extremist," that doesn't negate the fact he shot and killed people with firearms. So, while yes, it's possibly an "extremist" issue, it's also most certainly a gun issue. Yes, like arrogance and ignorance, the two issues can collide.
- "Political correctness is what killed them!"
Yes, because President Obama didn't use the words "radical Islamic terrorism," this resulted in such an individual shooting and killing 50 people (injuring 53 others). It's just like if the president spoke out against drunk driving, but didn't refer to such individuals as alcoholics, he would be to blame for a drunk individual killing another while on the road. When Bill and Ted said the words, "Be excellent to each other," what they were really saying was, "Everyone's going to die!"
- "It's Adam and Eve, not Adam & Steve. They had it coming to them!"
This double-standard never gets old, does it? Even if we wanted to say homosexuality is a sin, what singles such individuals out from the rest of us sinners? Why did God send this madman to kill 50 people inside a gay club due to their alleged sin and not another venue full of sinners? When a tornado strikes a church, was this an act of God too? If not, how do we know, and why the different rationale for such similar situations? I'll let you get back to me when you figure out the matter - in other words, never.
- "Guns don't kill people. It takes hate to pull the trigger."
Ah, yes, just like stories I've read where a firearm falls out of a man's holster and accidentally shoots someone. That was pure "hate" right there, wasn't it?
- "You want gun control? Just look at Chicago. That's what gun control does."
Unless the same gun-control laws are consistent over a wide area, it's going to be virtually impossible to know the full impact of said laws. So what if Chicago has strict gun laws? Indiana has much laxer gun laws and is just 30 miles away. That'd be like saying 21-and-over alcohol laws weren't effective after some 19-year-olds drove 15 minutes to the bordering state, which has 18-and-over drinking laws, got drunk, and killed some people on the road in the process.
Yes, the list goes on and on, and every claim seems more ridiculous than the last. Give it up, NRA trolls. You've lost the numbers and logic arguments and it's time to finally come to terms with that. How would you respond if I were to say, "We should make it more difficult for drunks and blind people from driving"? Would you hold onto your current logic and wrongfully state, "Oh no! They're going to take away our cars!" No, I'm guessing you'd say, "Well, those are common sense laws." Exactly.
Here are some of the comments I've received from NRA trolls who have bombarded my Twitter page over the past couple of days:
- "You can't regulate morality. Every tool can be used to kill people. Are we gonna try banning knives too?"
In 2013, approximately 1,400 people died via knives. How many died from guns? About 33,000. That's a 24 : 1 ratio. That'd be like me telling a cop, "You had me down for doing 600 in a residential area? Well, I mean, 600; 25, they really are the same thing when you think about it, right?"
- "Yeah, sure guns kill people, just like spoons make people obese."
When's the last time a person used a spoon to consume foods such as: Burgers, pizza, potato chips, fried chicken, etc.? Not only that, but people tend to only place their own life at risk when they eat poorly. I haven't known too many who chuck spoons at others and wind up killing them (yes, a mass spooning).
- "I have 7 guns. They must all be the laziest guns in the world, because they don't kill anybody."
Gun violence isn't a black-and-white issue. There are three common denominators to an act of gun violence: 1) The shooter, 2) the victim, and 3) the gun. Without one of these denominators, we wouldn't have an act of gun violence. Like, duh...
- "You're letting your emotions do the talking right now."
Emotions may do a lot of the talking during such tragic times, but facts and logic tend to back up those emotions. ...and I'm sorry, but if a person feels no emotion during such a horrific incident, that says a lot about the person... As my friend Debbie would say, "Just sayin'..."
- "Why, when a car kills someone, we blame the driver, but if someone gets shot, we blame the gun?"
What's the main purpose of a car? To get a person from point A to point B. What's the main purpose of a gun? To kill. Stop treating them as identical twins. They're not. They're Danny DeVito and Arnold Schwarzenegger, and that's putting it nicely.
- "This isn't about guns; it's about Muslim extremism!"
Once again, enough with the black-and-white thinking. If this man was a "Muslim extremist," that doesn't negate the fact he shot and killed people with firearms. So, while yes, it's possibly an "extremist" issue, it's also most certainly a gun issue. Yes, like arrogance and ignorance, the two issues can collide.
- "Political correctness is what killed them!"
Yes, because President Obama didn't use the words "radical Islamic terrorism," this resulted in such an individual shooting and killing 50 people (injuring 53 others). It's just like if the president spoke out against drunk driving, but didn't refer to such individuals as alcoholics, he would be to blame for a drunk individual killing another while on the road. When Bill and Ted said the words, "Be excellent to each other," what they were really saying was, "Everyone's going to die!"
- "It's Adam and Eve, not Adam & Steve. They had it coming to them!"
This double-standard never gets old, does it? Even if we wanted to say homosexuality is a sin, what singles such individuals out from the rest of us sinners? Why did God send this madman to kill 50 people inside a gay club due to their alleged sin and not another venue full of sinners? When a tornado strikes a church, was this an act of God too? If not, how do we know, and why the different rationale for such similar situations? I'll let you get back to me when you figure out the matter - in other words, never.
- "Guns don't kill people. It takes hate to pull the trigger."
Ah, yes, just like stories I've read where a firearm falls out of a man's holster and accidentally shoots someone. That was pure "hate" right there, wasn't it?
- "You want gun control? Just look at Chicago. That's what gun control does."
Unless the same gun-control laws are consistent over a wide area, it's going to be virtually impossible to know the full impact of said laws. So what if Chicago has strict gun laws? Indiana has much laxer gun laws and is just 30 miles away. That'd be like saying 21-and-over alcohol laws weren't effective after some 19-year-olds drove 15 minutes to the bordering state, which has 18-and-over drinking laws, got drunk, and killed some people on the road in the process.
Yes, the list goes on and on, and every claim seems more ridiculous than the last. Give it up, NRA trolls. You've lost the numbers and logic arguments and it's time to finally come to terms with that. How would you respond if I were to say, "We should make it more difficult for drunks and blind people from driving"? Would you hold onto your current logic and wrongfully state, "Oh no! They're going to take away our cars!" No, I'm guessing you'd say, "Well, those are common sense laws." Exactly.
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