Had you heard that Walmart would no longer sell the Bushmaster .223 rifle? They confirmed that is NOT true – they will continue their gun sales as usual.
Read the story here: Walmart not pulling gun after school shooting | www.wsbtv.com.
Say what you will about Walmart, but the have been a very gun friendly retailer for years and years. Does this increase the chance you will visit a Walmart? I will – but NOT until Christmas is past.
A friend of mine on my personal Facebook page shared “The Anarchist Soccer Mom’s” blog and a story she posted on the day of the Sandy Hook School shooting. Read her story, titled “Thinking the unthinkable,” and if you are a mother, tell me it does not bring you to your knees. Can you finish it without tears in your eyes?
In it she says:
I am sharing this story because I am Adam Lanza’s mother. I am Dylan Klebold’s and Eric Harris’s mother. I am James Holmes’s mother. I am Jared Loughner’s mother. I am Seung-Hui Cho’s mother. And these boys—and their mothers—need help. In the wake of another horrific national tragedy, it’s easy to talk about guns. But it’s time to talk about mental illness.
Read her whole story here. This side of the story MUST be part of the conversation this country is about to have.
When I asked my son’s social worker about my options, he said that the only thing I could do was to get Michael charged with a crime. “If he’s back in the system, they’ll create a paper trail,” he said. “That’s the only way you’re ever going to get anything done. No one will pay attention to you unless you’ve got charges.”
Why did the mother of the Sandy Hook shooter not get him more help? Were her choices to A) try to handle it my herself, or B) get him charged with a crime to have him sent to jail? Is that truly the only way she could have gotten good mental health for him? We still do not know everything, maybe we don’t know anything yet about what happened.
Please read Anarchist Soccer Mom’s story – it is powerful.
The tragedy in Colorado has seen it’s share of knee-jerk gun control comments by journalists reading teleprompters and saying whatever their network wants them to say. There have also been a few politicians who are using this platform to nudge folks their way. I saw an interview with Colorado Governor Hickenlooper today on MSNBC and was impressed by his direct decision NOT to blame guns in this massacre, but rather the mental illness or other evil we find resident in our society. When asked directly about gun control discussions he said, “I think that debate’s going to happen. It already has started, but you look at this person, again, almost a creature. I mean if he couldn’t have gotten access to the guns, what kind of bomb would he have manufactured?”
Given the fact that it is usually democrats that vie to increase gun control, I was very surprised by his statement. I try to go easy on the politics on this blog overall, and I know many, many democrats that are staunch supporters of the 2nd Amendment. Still, from a democratic politician, this was refreshing.
Then, later in the evening, during the memorial, he made another comment I fully support. He said, “I refuse to say his name, In my house, we’re just going to call him Suspect A.” This is a simple decision that I wish all of the world could agree to. Let’s not make this man a celebrity, let’s call him suspect A, let’s avoid showing his pictures. Let’s erase him and give him no fame. He is nothing. Let’s instead celebrate the lives of those cut short.
The Wall Street Journal suggested, “rather than head off again into the political cul-de-sac of gun control, we instead debate one of the implications of Mr. Hickenlooper’s observation: How society can better detect and treat mental illness.” This is brilliant. People who are against responsible gun ownership are at their best actually again gun crimes, and at their worst against a nation’s people retaining force comparable to the government. (Which is why we have the 2nd Amendment, to protect us from a tyrannical government.) For those actually only against “gun crime”, if they spent the funds trying to discover and cure mental illness that they do fighting the NRA and other 2nd Amendment supporters, maybe spree shootings could be thwarted more often.
I am not sure we will find the answers we are looking for, but I do think that the Governor of my state is doing good work leading through this nightmare.
From Foxnews.com, The athletes in the shooting sports will once again be fired up at the 2012 London Summer Olympics! From just five shooting events at the inaugural 1896 Olympic Games to 15 today, the sport has grown steadily alongside the advance in firearms technology. Click here and read more about it. We will follow some of the stories on this blog. The shooting event begins on Saturday, July 28 and will run through Monday, August 6 at the Royal Artillery Barracks. Who are your favorites?
(Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, Sam Harrel) From left, Wynola Possenti, Phyllis Trickey and Dody Maki
These are three rocking Grandmas, and they have issued a challenge at their local range! Dodi Maki, Phyllis Trickey and Wynola Possenti are their names, and encouraging fun, safe, shooting is their game. They are true firearm ambassadors – encouraging women, children, and all people to get out and get shooting! To win a prize, you need to go to their actual range, and while a trip to Alaska would be fantastic, it may not be realistic. There is nothing to stop you all from accepting the challenge anyway, and competing against friends. Here is a link to the rules. If you do – let us know how it goes!
The challenge, that uses a .22-caliber sporting rifle and a .22-caliber pistol, consists of the following events (fired in one shooting session):
A. Hunter – .22 Rifle, Target – TQ-14 Silhouette, 50ft, 20x, Standing
B. Bullseye – .22 Pistol, Target – B-2, 50ft, 10x, One-handed, Standing
C. Light Rifle – .22 Rifle, Target – A-36, 50ft, 10x (2x/bull), Standing Continue reading “Take the “Alaska Grandmas” Challenge!” »
