Today I feel like one of the Voyager spacecrafts that was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida in 1977. The little spacecraft is still broadcasting news reels from Earth to the far reaches of space, but it’s unclear whether anybody is listening. Maybe in a thousand years or so somebody on another world will pick up the signal and wonder what it means, but we’ll probably never know whether our message got through or not.
Judging by the number of hits this blog gets on a daily basis, I’m kind of skeptical that anybody out there is picking up the signal. A couple of weeks ago I posted a piece on Justin Bieber and got over 300 hits in one day. That was my all-time record. Still, I’m going to try to persevere this year. Maybe one day my writing will be the Dead Sea Scroll for a future generation. I can only hope
Friday, January 31, 2014
Thursday, January 30, 2014
WHERE FAILURE CANNOT BE AN OPTION
It’s not very reassuring to hear that 92 out of the 500 military personnel charged with operating America’s nuclear warheads at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana were caught cheating on their proficiency and readiness exams. In fact, it’s downright alarming. The soldiers involved were supposed to be the best of the best; the cream of the crop that stood as America’s best defense against nuclear annihilation, and now we come to find out that scores of them don’t even know what they’re doing. For years, Americans have been obsessed with worry over al-Qaeda’s desire to detonate a nuclear bomb on U.S. soil, but if what has happened at Malmstrom is indicative of the state of our military as a whole, then al-Qaeda is the least of our concerns.
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
CONGRESSMAN GRIMM IS ABOVE THE LAW
It must be nice to be New York's Republican Representative, Michael Grimm. He got to threaten to kill a reporter last night, in the halls of Congress no less, with the entire incident recorded on video, and the Capital Police didn’t do a damn thing about it. Neither did the Republican House leadership. Apparently, making terroristic threats is a perk of Congressman Grimm’s position.
After the conclusion of President Obama’s state of the union message, reporter Michael Scotto of NY1 asked Congressman Grimm for a comment about an FBI investigation into the Congressman’s campaign finance funds. Grimm got mad about the reporter’s change of topics and threatened Scotto by saying, “You ever do that again, I’ll throw you off the [expletive] balcony.” When Scotto responded by stating that he thought his question was a fair question, Grimm continued to threaten the reporter.
“No, no, you’re not man enough, you’re not man enough,” Grimm said. “I’ll break you in half. Like a boy!”
I’ll admits that congressional politicians are granted a certain amount of oratorical license when they’re on the floor of their respective chambers, but that license does not extend to public areas and it certainly does not entail the right to issue threats of physical violence. For those unfamiliar with Congressional balconies, a person thrown from one would surely die!
They say that nobody is above the law, but that’s bullshit. Congressman Michael Grimm is above the law, and last night he proved it!
After the conclusion of President Obama’s state of the union message, reporter Michael Scotto of NY1 asked Congressman Grimm for a comment about an FBI investigation into the Congressman’s campaign finance funds. Grimm got mad about the reporter’s change of topics and threatened Scotto by saying, “You ever do that again, I’ll throw you off the [expletive] balcony.” When Scotto responded by stating that he thought his question was a fair question, Grimm continued to threaten the reporter.
“No, no, you’re not man enough, you’re not man enough,” Grimm said. “I’ll break you in half. Like a boy!”
I’ll admits that congressional politicians are granted a certain amount of oratorical license when they’re on the floor of their respective chambers, but that license does not extend to public areas and it certainly does not entail the right to issue threats of physical violence. For those unfamiliar with Congressional balconies, a person thrown from one would surely die!
They say that nobody is above the law, but that’s bullshit. Congressman Michael Grimm is above the law, and last night he proved it!
LANE CLOSURES NOT CONFINED TO NEW JERSEY
If you think lane closures are only in vogue at the New Jersey Governor’s office, think again! The entire Republican Party has been infected with the lane closure bug, and the infection makes Chris Christie’s George Washington Bridge fiasco look like child’s play. The G.O.P. wants to close the poor student’s free lunch lane, the needy family food stamp lane at the grocery store, the sick person’s lane to the hospital, the homosexual’s lane to the benefits of marriage, the minority’s lane to the voting box, the immigrant’s lane to citizenship, the consumer’s lane to redress in the courts, the worker’s lane to a livable minimum wage and the retiree’s lane to a secure retirement.
On the other hand, Republicans have gone to great lengths to keep open the lanes to a gun purchase, the lanes for campaign donors to make contributions and the lanes for lobbyists to ply their causes at free lunches.
Is it any wonder that our Nation’s traffic has come to a virtual halt?
On the other hand, Republicans have gone to great lengths to keep open the lanes to a gun purchase, the lanes for campaign donors to make contributions and the lanes for lobbyists to ply their causes at free lunches.
Is it any wonder that our Nation’s traffic has come to a virtual halt?
Monday, January 27, 2014
THE QUESTIONS WE OUGHT TO ASK OURSELVES
1. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE PATRIOTIC?
2. IS PATRIOTISM GOOD?
3. WERE THE GERMAN NAZIS WHO MURDERED SIX MILLION JEWS DURING WORLD WAR II PATRIOTIC GERMANS?
4. FORMER VICE-PRESIDENT DICK CHENEY CALLED PATTY SHEEHAN AND HER FOLLOWERS UNPATRIOTIC TRAITORS WHO GAVE AIDE AND COMFORT TO ENEMIES OF THE UNITED STATES. PATTY WAS AN ANTI-WAR ACTIVIST WHOSE SON WAS KILLED IN THE IRAQ WAR. PATTY AND A GROUP OF FOLLOWERS PROTESTED THE IRAQ WAR ON A ROAD LEADING TO FORMER PRESIDENT BUSH'S AUSTIN TEXAS RANCH. WAS THE VICE-PRESIDENT RIGHT? WAS PATTY AN UNPATRIOTIC TRAITOR?
5. DOES PROTEST MAKE ONE UNPATRIOTIC?
6. ARE THE AMISH PATRIOTIC? IS THEIR WAY OF LIFE UNAMERICAN?
7. DOES THE AMISH LACK OF PATRIOTISM JUSTIFY THEIR BEING CALLED TRAITORS?
8. WHICH IS OF GREATER VALUE TO A COUNTRY: SECURITY OR LIBERTY?
9. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN WROTE: "They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security." ARE FRANKLIN'S WORDS OUTDATED?
10. DOES RELIGION BELONG IN AMERICAN POLITICS?
11. ARE THERE ANY RELIGIONS THAT SHOULD BE EXCLUDED FROM AMERICAN POLITICS?
12. DOES MAN POSSESS CERTAIN UNALIENABLE RIGHTS AS QUOTED IN THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE? (Life, Liberty & the Pursuit of Happiness)
13. CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING PASSAGE FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT BOOK OF LEVITICUS, CHAPTER 19 – VERSES 33 & 34: "When an alien resides with you in your land, do not molest him. You shall treat the alien who resides with you no differently than the natives born among you; have the same love for him as yourself… I, the Lord, am your God." WHAT DOES THAT SAY ABOUT TODAY'S IMMIGRATION DEBATE?
14. MANY AMERICANS THINK THAT WE SHOULD DECLARE AMERICA A CHRISTIAN NATION. SHOULD WE DITCH THE FIRST AMENDMENT TO MAKE THAT HAPPEN?
15. WHO DECIDES WHAT IS AND ISN'T MORAL?
16. HITLER TOLD THE GERMAN PEOPLE THAT IT WAS MORALLY JUST TO EXTERMINATE THE JEWS. WERE THOSE WHO BELIEVED HITLER'S ASSERTION AND FOLLOWED HIS ORDERS ACTING JUSTLY?
17. IMAGINE THAT YOU OWN A SUBWAY RESTAURANT. ARE THERE ANY CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH I'D BE JUSTIFIED IN BREAKING INTO YOUR RESTAURANT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT AND DESTROYING ALL YOUR FOOD?
18. WHAT IF I WAS MAD AT PRESIDENT OBAMA FOR TRYING TO REQUIRE EVERYBODY TO HAVE HEALTH INSURANCE. WOULD THAT JUSTIFY THE DESTRUCTION?
19. A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO, MASSIVE RIOTS WERE STAGED IN A SUBURB OF LONDON. PROTESTORS THERE WERE MAD ABOUT POLICE OFFICERS SHOOTING AN UNARMED MAN. THE PROTESTERS LOOTED MANY BUSINESSES AND DESTROYED A LOT OF PRIVATE PROPERTY. IS IT MORALLY JUST FOR PROTESTERS WHO ARE ANGRY AT THE GOVERNMENT TO DESTROY PRIVATE PROPERTY AS A MEANS OF PROTEST?
20. IN 1773, A GROUP OF COLONISTS IN MASSACHUSETTS BOARDED A PRIVATE BOAT OWNED BY THE EAST INDIA TRADING COMPANY AND DUMPED ITS PRIVATELY OWNED CARGO OF TEA INTO THE BOSTON HARBOR. WE CALL THAT THE BOSTON TEA PARTY. WHY AREN'T WE DENOUNCING THOSE BANDITS AS COMMON THIEVES INSTEAD OF REVERING THEM AS GLORIFIED FREEDOM FIGHTERS? THEY WERE, AFTER ALL, DESTROYING PRIVATE PROPERTY!
21. ON SEPTEMBER 11, 2001, FOLLOWERS OF OSAMA BIN LADEN TOOK CLOSE TO 3,000 AMERICAN LIVES IN THEIR ATTACK ON AMERICAN SOIL. OVER THE PAST 11 YEARS, MORE THAN 20,000 AMERICAN CHILDREN HAVE BEEN KILLED IN THEIR OWN HOMES BY ABUSIVE FAMILY MEMBERS. THAT IS NEARLY SEVEN TIMES THE NUMBER KILLED ON SEPTEMBER 11TH AND FOUR TIMES THE NUMBER OF SOLDIERS KILLED IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN. IT IS ROUTINELY CLAIMED THAT AL QAIDA IS THE NUMBER ONE THREAT TO AMERICANS. IS THAT TRUE?
22. WHICH IS WORSE, TO ABORT A HUMAN FETUS OR TO STARVE A CHILD ONCE IT IS BORN?
23. WHICH IS WORSE, VOTING FOR A POLITICIAN WHO VOTES TO ALLOW HUMAN FETUS' TO BE ABORTED OR VOTING FOR A POLITICIAN WHO VOTES TO WITHHOLD FOOD AND ALLOW CHILDREN TO STARVE?
24. I'VE HEARD NUMEROUS VETERANS SAY THAT THEY WOULD DIE FOR THE AMERICAN FLAG AND THAT BURNING AN AMERICAN FLAG IS SACRILEGIOUS. IS THAT TRUE?
25. WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HAVING AN AMERICAN FLAG IN A CHRISTIAN CHURCH AND THE HEBREWS HAVING A GOLDEN CALF IN THEIR HOLY TENT IN THE DESERT?
26. WHAT DO YOU MEAN TO SAY WHEN YOU UTTER THE WORDS, “GOD BLESS AMERICA?”
27. WHERE DOES THE REST OF THE WORLD FIT INTO THAT REQUEST?
28. ARE AMERICANS EXCEPTIONAL? IF SO, IN WHAT WAY?
29. IF YOU FOUND A DIAMOND ENGAGEMENT RING THAT TURNED OUT TO BE WORTH SEVERAL THOUSAND DOLLARS AND THERE WERE NO MARKINGS ON THE RING INDICATING THE OWNER’S NAME, WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITH IT?
2. IS PATRIOTISM GOOD?
3. WERE THE GERMAN NAZIS WHO MURDERED SIX MILLION JEWS DURING WORLD WAR II PATRIOTIC GERMANS?
4. FORMER VICE-PRESIDENT DICK CHENEY CALLED PATTY SHEEHAN AND HER FOLLOWERS UNPATRIOTIC TRAITORS WHO GAVE AIDE AND COMFORT TO ENEMIES OF THE UNITED STATES. PATTY WAS AN ANTI-WAR ACTIVIST WHOSE SON WAS KILLED IN THE IRAQ WAR. PATTY AND A GROUP OF FOLLOWERS PROTESTED THE IRAQ WAR ON A ROAD LEADING TO FORMER PRESIDENT BUSH'S AUSTIN TEXAS RANCH. WAS THE VICE-PRESIDENT RIGHT? WAS PATTY AN UNPATRIOTIC TRAITOR?
5. DOES PROTEST MAKE ONE UNPATRIOTIC?
6. ARE THE AMISH PATRIOTIC? IS THEIR WAY OF LIFE UNAMERICAN?
7. DOES THE AMISH LACK OF PATRIOTISM JUSTIFY THEIR BEING CALLED TRAITORS?
8. WHICH IS OF GREATER VALUE TO A COUNTRY: SECURITY OR LIBERTY?
9. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN WROTE: "They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security." ARE FRANKLIN'S WORDS OUTDATED?
10. DOES RELIGION BELONG IN AMERICAN POLITICS?
11. ARE THERE ANY RELIGIONS THAT SHOULD BE EXCLUDED FROM AMERICAN POLITICS?
12. DOES MAN POSSESS CERTAIN UNALIENABLE RIGHTS AS QUOTED IN THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE? (Life, Liberty & the Pursuit of Happiness)
13. CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING PASSAGE FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT BOOK OF LEVITICUS, CHAPTER 19 – VERSES 33 & 34: "When an alien resides with you in your land, do not molest him. You shall treat the alien who resides with you no differently than the natives born among you; have the same love for him as yourself… I, the Lord, am your God." WHAT DOES THAT SAY ABOUT TODAY'S IMMIGRATION DEBATE?
14. MANY AMERICANS THINK THAT WE SHOULD DECLARE AMERICA A CHRISTIAN NATION. SHOULD WE DITCH THE FIRST AMENDMENT TO MAKE THAT HAPPEN?
15. WHO DECIDES WHAT IS AND ISN'T MORAL?
16. HITLER TOLD THE GERMAN PEOPLE THAT IT WAS MORALLY JUST TO EXTERMINATE THE JEWS. WERE THOSE WHO BELIEVED HITLER'S ASSERTION AND FOLLOWED HIS ORDERS ACTING JUSTLY?
17. IMAGINE THAT YOU OWN A SUBWAY RESTAURANT. ARE THERE ANY CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH I'D BE JUSTIFIED IN BREAKING INTO YOUR RESTAURANT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT AND DESTROYING ALL YOUR FOOD?
18. WHAT IF I WAS MAD AT PRESIDENT OBAMA FOR TRYING TO REQUIRE EVERYBODY TO HAVE HEALTH INSURANCE. WOULD THAT JUSTIFY THE DESTRUCTION?
19. A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO, MASSIVE RIOTS WERE STAGED IN A SUBURB OF LONDON. PROTESTORS THERE WERE MAD ABOUT POLICE OFFICERS SHOOTING AN UNARMED MAN. THE PROTESTERS LOOTED MANY BUSINESSES AND DESTROYED A LOT OF PRIVATE PROPERTY. IS IT MORALLY JUST FOR PROTESTERS WHO ARE ANGRY AT THE GOVERNMENT TO DESTROY PRIVATE PROPERTY AS A MEANS OF PROTEST?
20. IN 1773, A GROUP OF COLONISTS IN MASSACHUSETTS BOARDED A PRIVATE BOAT OWNED BY THE EAST INDIA TRADING COMPANY AND DUMPED ITS PRIVATELY OWNED CARGO OF TEA INTO THE BOSTON HARBOR. WE CALL THAT THE BOSTON TEA PARTY. WHY AREN'T WE DENOUNCING THOSE BANDITS AS COMMON THIEVES INSTEAD OF REVERING THEM AS GLORIFIED FREEDOM FIGHTERS? THEY WERE, AFTER ALL, DESTROYING PRIVATE PROPERTY!
21. ON SEPTEMBER 11, 2001, FOLLOWERS OF OSAMA BIN LADEN TOOK CLOSE TO 3,000 AMERICAN LIVES IN THEIR ATTACK ON AMERICAN SOIL. OVER THE PAST 11 YEARS, MORE THAN 20,000 AMERICAN CHILDREN HAVE BEEN KILLED IN THEIR OWN HOMES BY ABUSIVE FAMILY MEMBERS. THAT IS NEARLY SEVEN TIMES THE NUMBER KILLED ON SEPTEMBER 11TH AND FOUR TIMES THE NUMBER OF SOLDIERS KILLED IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN. IT IS ROUTINELY CLAIMED THAT AL QAIDA IS THE NUMBER ONE THREAT TO AMERICANS. IS THAT TRUE?
22. WHICH IS WORSE, TO ABORT A HUMAN FETUS OR TO STARVE A CHILD ONCE IT IS BORN?
23. WHICH IS WORSE, VOTING FOR A POLITICIAN WHO VOTES TO ALLOW HUMAN FETUS' TO BE ABORTED OR VOTING FOR A POLITICIAN WHO VOTES TO WITHHOLD FOOD AND ALLOW CHILDREN TO STARVE?
24. I'VE HEARD NUMEROUS VETERANS SAY THAT THEY WOULD DIE FOR THE AMERICAN FLAG AND THAT BURNING AN AMERICAN FLAG IS SACRILEGIOUS. IS THAT TRUE?
25. WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HAVING AN AMERICAN FLAG IN A CHRISTIAN CHURCH AND THE HEBREWS HAVING A GOLDEN CALF IN THEIR HOLY TENT IN THE DESERT?
26. WHAT DO YOU MEAN TO SAY WHEN YOU UTTER THE WORDS, “GOD BLESS AMERICA?”
27. WHERE DOES THE REST OF THE WORLD FIT INTO THAT REQUEST?
28. ARE AMERICANS EXCEPTIONAL? IF SO, IN WHAT WAY?
29. IF YOU FOUND A DIAMOND ENGAGEMENT RING THAT TURNED OUT TO BE WORTH SEVERAL THOUSAND DOLLARS AND THERE WERE NO MARKINGS ON THE RING INDICATING THE OWNER’S NAME, WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITH IT?
Sunday, January 26, 2014
INSTITUTIONAL CRUELTY
Institutional cruelty isn’t something that that gets a lot of recognition these days, but it’s out there and I wish it would get the kind of broad attention it deserves. Take the John Peter Smith Hospital in El Paso, Texas for example. That’s the hospital that put Erick Munoz and his family through hell by refusing to honor Erick’s wife, Marlise’s Advance Medical Directive to remove her brain-dead corpse from life-support equipment. Nobody, let alone a family grieving from the loss of a loved one, should be forced to resort to legal action to get a hospital to honor a legitimate medical directive, nor should any grieving family have to suffer the indignity of having a hospital refuse to release a corpse to further the hospital’s own agenda. That’s institutional cruelty.
In 2009, Sister Margaret Mary McBride of the Sisters of Mercy was an administrator on the ethics board at the Saint Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix, Arizona. A pregnant patient at the hospital was diagnosed with severe pulmonary hypertension and the Hospital’s doctors indicated that the pregnant woman would surely die if her pregnancy was allowed to continue. An abortion was the only procedure that would spare the woman’s life. Sister McBride joined in the Hospital’s ethics board’s decision to authorize the abortion. The abortion was performed and the woman lived. Subsequently, Bishop Olmstead of the Catholic Diocese of Phoenix excommunicated Sister McBride for her decision. That’s institutional cruelty.
Several years ago, a guy I knew was enrolled in a three-month trainee program at a local company. The guy had been unemployed for two years and the trainee program was his best chance of securing a meaningful job in his field of expertise. One of the requirements of the company’s trainee program was that a trainee could not refuse any work during the three-month probation period or incur any absences, including any absences for illness. That meant that the company could insist a trainee work on any of three shifts, plus work on Saturdays and Sundays. My friend’s wife was diagnosed with cancer a week after the trainee program began, but the company refused my friend’s request to adjust his shift so he could take his wife for treatment. That’s institutional cruelty.
There are plenty of similar stories out there that are just as maddening. Feel free to share yours.
In 2009, Sister Margaret Mary McBride of the Sisters of Mercy was an administrator on the ethics board at the Saint Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix, Arizona. A pregnant patient at the hospital was diagnosed with severe pulmonary hypertension and the Hospital’s doctors indicated that the pregnant woman would surely die if her pregnancy was allowed to continue. An abortion was the only procedure that would spare the woman’s life. Sister McBride joined in the Hospital’s ethics board’s decision to authorize the abortion. The abortion was performed and the woman lived. Subsequently, Bishop Olmstead of the Catholic Diocese of Phoenix excommunicated Sister McBride for her decision. That’s institutional cruelty.
Several years ago, a guy I knew was enrolled in a three-month trainee program at a local company. The guy had been unemployed for two years and the trainee program was his best chance of securing a meaningful job in his field of expertise. One of the requirements of the company’s trainee program was that a trainee could not refuse any work during the three-month probation period or incur any absences, including any absences for illness. That meant that the company could insist a trainee work on any of three shifts, plus work on Saturdays and Sundays. My friend’s wife was diagnosed with cancer a week after the trainee program began, but the company refused my friend’s request to adjust his shift so he could take his wife for treatment. That’s institutional cruelty.
There are plenty of similar stories out there that are just as maddening. Feel free to share yours.
Saturday, January 25, 2014
BEATING A DEAD HORSE
Yesterday, a student at South Carolina State University was shot and killed on campus. Today, three people were shot and killed (including the murder suspect) at a mall in Columbia, Maryland. The killings continue at a torrid pace, and I have to wonder how many people will die until we wake up and recognize that the love affair Americans have with guns is a big part of the problem? Yeah, yeah, I know. I’m beating a dead horse!
Earlier this week the University of California, San Francisco released the results of a study its researchers conducted on firearm use in suicides and murders. The study’s results indicated that suicide risks were significantly increased and homicide rates were moderately increased in households where a gun was present. If you’re a gun rights advocate, it’s easy to dismiss those findings because, let’s face it, using a firearm in an attempt to commit suicide or kill somebody makes it more likely that death will occur. That’s part of why the risk of suicide and homicide is higher in households with guns, but there’s another part of the equation that critics of gun control refuse to acknowledge – the lower levels of impulse control and heightened rates of aggression that gun owners exhibit over their unarmed counterparts. Those two factors are really at the heart of the matter. That’s why I say that hotheads shouldn’t own guns.
Most states have laws that prohibit people who’ve had mental health commitments from possessing firearms. Those statutes resulted from the recognition that individuals suffering with mental illness represent a greater danger to themselves and others if they are permitted to possess firearms. Speaking as a person who’s dealt with my own mental health issues, I can state with absolute certainty that I wouldn’t be alive today had I owned a firearm during the lowest depths of my depression. That’s why I recognize that certain gun control laws are both prudent and necessary.
Almost all states also have laws prohibiting youngsters from owning firearms, and barring the use of firearms by juveniles, except under the supervision of an adult. Those laws reflect the fact that juvenile reasoning is still in its developmental stage and very often, juveniles lack the impulse control that is necessary for safe firearm ownership.
Unfortunately, those same laws don’t apply to adult wing-nuts and hotheads, many of whom continue to wreak havoc on our urban landscape with reckless abandon…and the killing continues!
Earlier this week the University of California, San Francisco released the results of a study its researchers conducted on firearm use in suicides and murders. The study’s results indicated that suicide risks were significantly increased and homicide rates were moderately increased in households where a gun was present. If you’re a gun rights advocate, it’s easy to dismiss those findings because, let’s face it, using a firearm in an attempt to commit suicide or kill somebody makes it more likely that death will occur. That’s part of why the risk of suicide and homicide is higher in households with guns, but there’s another part of the equation that critics of gun control refuse to acknowledge – the lower levels of impulse control and heightened rates of aggression that gun owners exhibit over their unarmed counterparts. Those two factors are really at the heart of the matter. That’s why I say that hotheads shouldn’t own guns.
Most states have laws that prohibit people who’ve had mental health commitments from possessing firearms. Those statutes resulted from the recognition that individuals suffering with mental illness represent a greater danger to themselves and others if they are permitted to possess firearms. Speaking as a person who’s dealt with my own mental health issues, I can state with absolute certainty that I wouldn’t be alive today had I owned a firearm during the lowest depths of my depression. That’s why I recognize that certain gun control laws are both prudent and necessary.
Almost all states also have laws prohibiting youngsters from owning firearms, and barring the use of firearms by juveniles, except under the supervision of an adult. Those laws reflect the fact that juvenile reasoning is still in its developmental stage and very often, juveniles lack the impulse control that is necessary for safe firearm ownership.
Unfortunately, those same laws don’t apply to adult wing-nuts and hotheads, many of whom continue to wreak havoc on our urban landscape with reckless abandon…and the killing continues!
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