Opuscula Obama claims Biden Protected women, Gave us gun control

IN A TV COMMERCIAL touting Joe Biden for president, Obama claims that Biden was point man for gun control and he lead the way to protect women.

 

JOBS NOT WELL DONE.

 

Gun Control

At least not well done if the number of shootings is any indication.

Biden is quoted as saying "During my 12 and a half years as a member of this (Senate) body, I have never believed that additional gun control or federal registration of guns would reduce crime. I am convinced that a criminal who wants a firearm can get one through illegal, nontraceable, unregistered sources, with or without gun control." (Source: https://tinyurl.com/y4xpm22q)

Biden IS correct that criminals are able to get guns, including those with high-capacity magazines (clips) and assault-type rifles and pistols converted to full automatic.

Hardly a day goes by in South Florida that someone is crying before a tv camera asking for someone, anyone, who knows anything about a relative or friend’s murder to come forward and to help stop the violence.

No one does come forward.

The violence continues.

 

Women’s Welfare

If Biden and his master for 8 years did so much to protect woman, why are there now so many #MeToo legal actions?

The Me Too movement, with a large variety of related local or international names, is a movement against sexual harassment and sexual assault. The phrase "Me Too" was initially used in this context on social media in 2006, on Myspace, by sexual harassment survivor and activist Tarana Burke. (Source: https://tinyurl.com/yckl4pqb)

Tell me again who was president and vice-president when this movement started?

According to a Biden web site, Since Joe Biden wrote the Violence Against Women Act of 1994, our culture has changed for the better. Gender-based violence is no longer considered a private issue or a “family matter,” and the fight to end it is now front and center in our national dialogue.

But there is more work to be done. Despite significant progress — annual rates of domestic violence decreased by 64 percent from 1994 to 2010 — the figures have remained all too high for our nation’s young people. (Source: https://tinyurl.com/wcrq3dd)

In fact, Biden sponsored the bill; he did not, as the Biden web site falsely claims, write the bill.

According to Time magazine, Sally Goldfarb, now a law professor at Rutgers Law School, and Victoria Nourse, a constitutional law professor at Georgetown University helped to draft the bill as counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee at the time.

Lawyers who helped to draft the bill say that part of the reason the legislation has been so successful is that it has helped to create a profound cultural change, and has encouraged Americans to take gender-based violence seriously. (Source: https://tinyurl.com/sz5xp2g)

 

Blacks for Biden — why?

A defining moment was when Sen. Kamala Harris took former Vice President Joe Biden to task over his recent comments about segregationist senators, as well as his opposition to using federally mandated busing to racially integrate schools in the 1970s. She pointed directly to how busing affected her life as a young child.

“I did not oppose busing in America,” Biden, who represented Delaware in the US Senate from 1973 to 2009, responded. “What I opposed is busing ordered by the Department of Education. That’s what I opposed.” (Source: https://tinyurl.com/yyb37jnp)

In reality, Mr. Biden was a leading opponent of busing in the Senate during the 1970s and 1980s, and his opposition went beyond the federal government’s role in the practice.

But speaking at a conference Friday in Chicago, Mr. Biden doubled down, claiming that he had “never, never, never ever opposed voluntary busing,” implicitly drawing a distinction between voluntary busing allowed by some local governments and the mandatory, court-ordered busing that also took place decades ago. (Source: https://tinyurl.com/y5myg5hn)

“The new integration plans being offered are really just quota systems to assure a certain number of blacks, Chicanos, or whatever in each school. That, to me, is the most racist concept you can come up with,” the senator from Delaware told a home-state newspaper in 1975. “Who the hell do we think we are, that the only way a black man or woman can learn is if they rub shoulders with my white child?" (Source: https://tinyurl.com/y5yo4gcr)

Old comments from 1977 resurfaced, quoting Biden as saying that non-"orderly" racial integration policies would cause his children to "grow up in a racial jungle."

He then said: "Unless we do something about this, my children are going to grow up in a jungle, the jungle being a racial jungle with tensions having built so high that it is going to explode at some point."

Reviewing thousands of documents from the time, The Times reported that Biden preferred expanding affordable housing in suburbs as a tool of integration over busing, and that he teamed up with the famed segregationist Sen. Jesse Helms of North Carolina on an amendment that would take away the federal government's ability to withdraw funding as a punishment for school districts that did not sufficiently integrate their student bodies. (Source: https://tinyurl.com/y6gnvt5b)

 

---

 

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

Comment on Biden’s record

Opuscula Presidential Presumptions

INCUMBENT PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP presents his Middle east “peace plan” that forget to ask what the PEOPLE in the plan want.

Presidential contender Mike Bloomberg is going to “Get it done,” even if the people to whom “it” will be done don’t want it.

TRUMP, TO THE DEMOCRATS’ lingering embarrassment, offered what the media termed the “Plan of the Century.” A plan to shuffle Israeli towns to create an artificial “country” to be called “Palestine.”

Admittedly Trump did not consult the PLO leadership.

He tried, but Abu Mazen rejected contact; even refusing a phone call from Trump.

The leftist media, of course, only reported that Trump never talked to Abu Mazen. A half-truth is as bad as a lie.

Trump and his representatives also never talked to the people in the communities that would be most effected by his proposal.

 

Because we say so

The plan calls for several Arab-dominated communities in Israel to be transferred by Trump fiat to the PLO.

The problem is that the Israeli Arab citizens of those communities WANT to remain Israeli citizens.

Several polls have indicated the majority of these communities’ citizens want to keep their Israeli citizenship.

But “polls” always are of questionable value.

What needs to be done is to hold a plebiscite to determine the will of the majority of the residents in those communities. The election could be monitored by representatives from Israel and from the PLO, or from the U.S. and Russia, both of which are experienced at influencing elections.

Trump also did not ask the Israelis in the Sinai if they want to have Hamas terrorists living next to them. (He obviously did not speak with Hamas leaders since, like Abu Mazen, they only talk to Iran’s “Supreme Leader,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.) There is no indication that Trump consulted with the Egyptians before expanding Hamas rule over more land along the Egyptian border.

Egypt, in order to deter Hamas’ air attacks, cleared a wide swath of land on which Hamas balloons, kites, and other items can land sans damage to property or crops.

 

Pipe dream

Part of the plan is to “demilitarize” the future “Palestine” and, as part of “Palestine,” Gaza.

Who will guarantee that “Palestine” will be demilitarized?

Who will guarantee “Palestine’s” defense from its neighbors?

There is talk of an airport in Gaza. There IS an airport in Gaza: Arafat International.

It was ruined in retaliation for attacks on Israel and to reduce war materiels from entering Gaza by air.

What guarantee will Israel have that “demilitarized” Gaza won’t be the same, albeit on a smaller scale, as was a demilitarized nazi Germany. Does anyone REMEMBER nazi Germany?

 

Healthcare at what cost?

Bloomberg is going to give us healthcare a la Obama (who is endorsing him).

“Medicare for all.” (Amusing that Obama won’t endorse his own vice president.)

OK; will everyone then pay what Medicare beneficiaries pay into Medicare every month? What about co-pays?

This scrivener’s Spouse works and pays into Medicare. She also is a Medicare recipient and pays her monthly fee. For her, Medicare is double jeopardy.

I never understood: I paid into Medicare from Day 1. Now, as a recipient, I STILL pay into Medicare?

If a Medicare-like plan is put into place, will people be obliged to see their personal physician on a regular schedule for “preventive medicine”?

Regular, candid, visits with primary care physicians and nurses DO reduce emergency room visits and reduce hospital stays. The military has known this for decades.

No one knows what the Trump health care plan would be like since the Democrats blocked it at every turn. Is Bloomberg’s plan Obamacare on steroids or is it closer to what Trump tried to implement?

 

More jobs, higher pay

Bloomberg promises to create jobs (as Trump has done) and to raise pay. Great.

Does anyone consider what a raise in pay sans increased responsibility causes?

Raised pay means higher prices (higher cost of living for everyone).

Raised pay means fewer jobs as employers cut costs (that, bottom line, increase owner/share holder profits).

My first few jobs paid minimum wage — then $1/hour — but I could buy gasoline for anywhere from 17 cents/gallon (gas “wars”) to 50 cents/gallon. Milk and bread were much less than a dollar and cigarettes went for 50 cents/pack from a machine. Newspapers from a rack were a dime weekdays and 25 cents on Sundays.

But higher pay is a good election promise. In the end it is meaningless, as it drives up the cost-of-living, but it SOUNDS good.

 

Making America safer

Reasonable gun control needs to be implemented.

Is it “reasonable” for a privately-owned rifle to have a 30-round magazine? Why would a hunter need THIRTY ROUNDS to kill one animal? Even a lousy shooter should be able to bring down the target with two or three rounds.

True, there never is a LEO (Law Enforcement Officer, cop) when you need one. My First Born, a LEO, frequently reminds me of that fact.

So let’s say a person buys a firearm for home defense. Is that person expecting a fire fight, something out of a war movie? A 10-round magazine for a rifle or pistol should be enough. If not, buy another 10-round magazine.

(My revolver holds seven rounds but for safety, I only load 6 rounds. If I can’t hit my target with 6 rounds, I’ll throw the gun at my attacker.)

I see no reason for noise suppressors/silencers. Maybe in the world of James Bond they are sexy, but in the real world where most of us live, there is no justification.

 

Get serious about background checks

Background checks? Absolutely; serious checks using on local and national databases. The state did a cursory check when I bought my first side arm. When I applied for a concealed carry license, the check was much more stringent.

No more instant delivery for guns bought at a gun show. Gun show purchases must be the same as gun store purchases.

Still, until gun laws are enforced, what’s the use?

Most criminals who committed crimes with guns did not buy their weapons at the local gun store.

It is not xenophobic to believe a lot of crime is committed by illegal immigrants. If a person is illegal, he or she may have a hard time finding a liberal scofflaw to hire them, and then cheat them on their wages. The alternative: crime.

Meanwhile, why are the scofflaws — the illegals’ employers — allowed to go free with, worst case, a “slap on the wrist”? Punish them with the inconvenience of jail time, 30 days minimum. Then led the Feds add money penalties for lack of I-9 forms.

 

Silence kills

Many of the recent spate of school shootings have been at the hands of students. Many of these shooters’ plans were obvious long before the murders. Social media were ignored. Classroom behavior was ignored. Psychological warnings (e.g., tormenting weaker kids, animal cruelty) were dismissed. When there WAS information, it often was not shared. The FBI is notorious for failing to share information with locals.

Making America safer is not just about gun control; that is only a small part of the effort.

What cannot be legislated in the feeling of entitlement many criminals possess. Why else would someone kill another for a pair of sneakers or car hubcaps. Why else would young people with semi-automatic rifles randomly shoot at houses in their own neighborhoods?

People hit the streets and call for their neighbors to “see something, say something,” to work with LEOs to get the killers off the streets, but in the end, rarely does anyone say anything, especially to the LEOs.

Is there anything any president can do to instill respect for others?

Parents, for whatever reasons, have abrogated responsibility for their child’s behavior.

Schools have failed.

LEOs look the other way at minor crimes.

Courts either will not, or cannot sentence juveniles for their crimes.

I’m entitled to that gold chain you stupidly are flashing; give it to me or ...

---

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

Comment Presidential Presumptions

Opuscula A few words About gun Control options

I AM

A gun owner

The father of two sons, one a police detective, who own both sidearms and long guns

A holder of a concealed weapons license in my home state

Not a member of the NRA

Politically conservative

Caucasian but NOT a “white supremacist”

NOT xenophobic

A one-time (long, long ago) military medic

Image of firearms from http://tinyurl.com/y37fdtnv

I have

Been shooting since I was about six years old (starting with a .22 rifle)

Owned sidearms and long guns

Never killed, or even shot, anyone

I firmly believe

In-depth background checks are needed for everyone who wants to buy a gun, any gun

That in order to buy a firearm the purchaser needs to prove he/she knows how to safely use it — we have to pass a driving test, why not a shooting test?

That too many guns of all types are illegally acquired sans any control

Fully automatic weapons should be limited to the military (not even law enforcement)

That there is NO need for high capacity magazines in any weapon

That there are better hunting rifles than assault rifles; they should be limited to the military; does a hunter really need 30 rounds to kill an animal? (If "Yes," then the hunter needs give up the weapon.)

A shotgun is a much better home defense weapon than an assault rifle

That law enforcement agencies at all levels MUST share information

That “social media” must be considered as “public” as a sidewalk and information on it shall not be protected nor require law enforcement to seek judicial permission (warrants) to view it

That “see something, say something” should be encouraged; several of the mass shooters made clear their inclinations or intent, but no one said anything until after the fact

I do NOT believe

The U.S. needs a total ban on civilian-owned firearms; places where firearms are banned or severely limited still have crimes committed with firearms; bans are useless

Anyone has ever been murdered by an NRA member

That gun control should NOT be a political issue; it is above politics

 

BOTTOM LINE In this scrivener’s opinion, we need reasonable gun laws and strict enforcement, with greatly improved cooperation between law enforcement agencies and citizens who report what they see to authorities who will ACT on the information. If some “civil rights” are abused, it is for the welfare of the entire community. Remember, Democrat Franklin Delano Roosevelt put AMERICANS of Japanese, German, and Italian descent into concentration camps "for the good of the nation."

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Comments on Gun control

Opuscula Gun control Responsibility: Federal, State?

I LIVE “DOWN THE ROAD” from the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland FL and the local news offers nothing else.

One distraught mother railed at President Trump to “do something” about guns.

To my mind, the president is the wrong person to deal with gun control.

FIRST OF ALL, the Fibbies, the Federal Bureau of Investigation or FBI, admittedly botched the preventive measures. According to CNN¹,

Attorney General Jeff Sessions ordered a review Friday into how the Justice Department and FBI respond to indications of potential violence after the bureau said it failed to act on a tip about the shooter in the Parkland, Florida, school massacre.

A person close to Nikolas Cruz, the confessed shooter, contacted the FBI on January 5 to report concerns about him, the FBI said in a statement Friday. But the bureau did not appropriately follow established protocols in following up on the tip.

"The information was not provided to the Miami Field Office, and no further investigation was conducted at that time," the statement said.

Shimon Prokupecz, the CNN writer then editorialized: The stunning admission -- which prompted Florida Gov. Rick Scott to call on FBI Director Christopher Wray to resign -- is sure to raise further questions about whether the FBI could have prevented the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, which left 17 dead.

Anyone who remembers 9-11 (2001) will recall that the fibbies failed then, too. Despite information at multiple FBI offices, there was zero sharing of the information and 2,996 people died in one day, and more later of the after effects. Anyone who was born in the 1940s also knows that some American’s knew the Japanese planned to attack Pearl Harbor on December 7². (Sadly, many younger Americans don’t know about December 7, 1941.)

Obviously the federal government is not capable of protecting its citizens.

Congress talks a lot, but rarely does anything. It managed to pass the Federal Assault Weapons Ban, a/k/a Brady Bill, but the bill expired.

President Trump might issue an executive order banning gun sales, but with his record with the courts, the order probably would be killed by the judicial branch.

A 1997 Justice Department survey³ of more than 18,000 state and federal convicts revealed the truth:

• 39.6% of criminals obtained a gun from a friend or family member
• 39.2% of criminals obtained a gun on the street or from an illegal source
• 0.7% of criminals purchased a gun at a gun show
• 1% of criminals purchased a gun at a flea market
• 3.8% of criminals purchased a gun from a pawn shop
• 8.3% of criminals actually bought their guns from retail outlets

Gun control rightly belongs to the states. (The U.S. already has suffered through a civil war caused largely by the federal government taking away individual state’s rights.)

Florida, where the latest mass murder was committed, has laws on the books that would have prevented the shooter from legally acquiring a gun, any gun.

A person convicted of a felony cannot legally acquire a firearm.⁴

According to Title XLVI, Chapter 790, Section 115 of Florida statutes, A person who exhibits any sword, sword cane, firearm, electric weapon or device, destructive device, or other weapon as defined in s. 790.001(13), including a razor blade, box cutter, or common pocketknife, except as authorized in support of school-sanctioned activities, in the presence of one or more persons in a rude, careless, angry, or threatening manner and not in lawful self-defense, at a school-sponsored event or on the grounds or facilities of any school, school bus, or school bus stop, or within 1,000 feet of the real property that comprises a public or private elementary school, middle school, or secondary school, during school hours or during the time of a sanctioned school activity, commits a felony of the third degree.

Other Florida statues that prevent legal ownership of a firearm include⁵

* Felony conviction
* Active warrant (felony or misdemeanor)
* Unlawful user or addicted to any controlled substance
* Adjudicated mentally defective or involuntarily committed by a judge
* Illegal alien status
* Dishonorable discharge from US Armed Forces
* Renounced United States citizenship
* Active protection order (injunction for protection, restraining order, etc.)
* Convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence
* Under indictment or information for a crime punishable by a term exceeding one year in prison.
* Adjudicated delinquent or received adjudication withheld as a juvenile for a felony charge and person is under the age of 24
* Adjudication withheld for any felony or a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence and three years has not yet lapsed since the completion of sentencing provisions

The alleged shooter is said to have several run-ins with authorities and was apparently known to be violent.

HAD these activities resulted in an arrest and conviction, and had the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) be alert, or had the FBI acted on a tip to look at the shooter’s Internet postings, the person never would have legally been allowed to buy a gun.

Also, given the alleged shooter’s mental state, how is it that his parents – and later his guardians – allowed him to buy he rifle and then to purchase multiple magazines.

California restricts magazines to 10 rounds. Obviously people with the intent to cause mass carnage can get around the law simply by buying many 10-round magazines.

The FBI provides a table⁶ titled Crime in the United States 2013 that lists homicides by state and by weapon type.

California, with its strict gun control, leads the nation in 2013 with 1,745 killings, of which 1,224 were by firearms (rifles, shotguns, and handguns), with another 238 by knives “or other cutting instruments,” 191 by “other weapons,” with the balance, 92, attributed to “hands, fists, feet, etc.

Chicago IL, with strict gun controls, saw “historic” crime lows⁷ in 2013, including the fewest murders in 48 years, according to police.

The city tallied only 415 murders in 2013—88 fewer than 2012, according to data from police spokesman Adam Collins. (Emphasis mine.)

New York City⁸ bragged on its web site that Through Sunday, December 29th, New York City has seen 84 fewer murders than at this point last year: 333 murders in 2013 compared with 417 murders in 2012 – a decrease of 20.1 percent. Murders committed with firearms represent 194 of the 333 murders in 2013, 58.3 percent (proving that a firearm is NOT necessary to murder someone in New York City).

New York, Chicago, and California are famous for gun control legislation.

Israel, which many gun control promoters point to as a good example, has started allowing some civilians to own weapons. There are restrictions, but compared to previous years, many more Israeli civilians now own legal weapons. The weapons generally are used in self-defense against terrorists.

As with gun proliferation in the U.S., there are many illegal weapons available in Israel.

THE BOTTOM LINE ON GUN CONTROL

When gun controls are strictly enforced,

Murders by firearm may be reduced, but they are not eliminated
Anyone who really wants a firearm can, for a price, acquire one – not legally, but none-the-less
A person determined to kill another simply will use a different weapon
A person is less likely to attack a person or property when the person or property is protected by a firearm … AND a person who knows when and how to use the firearm.

For all of the above, it is not within the purview of the president or congress to legislate gun control; that belongs to the sovereign states.

---

This scrivener owns firearms and has a concealed carry permit. He has never shot anyone and hopes he never will, but he does spend time at the range and is prepared to defend himself and others whose lives are threatened by criminals.

Sources

1. http://tinyurl.com/y7vdfhy3

2. http://tinyurl.com/o69g864

3. http://tinyurl.com/c9dkrx6

4. http://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2011/790.115

5. http://www.fdle.state.fl.us/FPP/FAQs2.aspx

6. http://tinyurl.com/yamtbztx

7. http://tinyurl.com/ouc76qh

8. http://tinyurl.com/mvodfdu

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Comments on Gun Control

Opuscula Blacks ignoring Black Lives Matter?

SCOTT ADAMS, Dilbert's creator, offered some well-reasoned comments regarding SF 49s' player Colin Kaepernick who is insulting the nation by his antics during the national anthem in support of Black Lives Matter.

(Buck Lidel, my "journalism" mentor of some 50 years ago would cringe at the word count of the leed paragraph; he always said "Keep the leed to 10 words or less." I blew it this time.)

My issue with Kaepernick and other "celebrities" who figuratively thumb their noses at national symbols is that their actions have zero impact on the people who indiscriminately are killing blacks. Children as well as adults.

These murderers - as we learn when the police finally apprehend them - mostly are blacks.

---

There is no doubt that there have been too many shootings by white cops of blacks; no argument there. But there are MANY more shootings of blacks by blacks than white cops shooting blacks Black Lives Matter seems to focus solely on the police, ignoring black-on-black murders.

---

The Miami (FL) Herald of March 12, 2016 included a headline that reads: Grim toll from decade of gunfire in Dade: 316 kids, teens killed.

The article’s writer, Charles Rabin, noted that:

• Since the 2006 killing of Sherdavia Jenkins, 9, an average of 30 youths are killed annually
• Most victims are in their late teens but the numbers include 18 children under the age of 12
• Families of victims are frustrated by the lack of progress and chronic violence

(It's an article worth reading; it documents a continuing disregard of life in and around Dade County FL.)

These children, with rare exception, are murdered not by white cops - on whom "Black Lives Matter" anger seems focused - but by other blacks.

While the killing - deliberate or otherwise - makes the local news, unless the crime can be attributed to A white shooter, the death of another person does not cause even a passing mention in the media of other locales.

We don't see the likes of Al Sharpton strutting before cameras when a black kills a black, no matter the age of the victim or the killer.

We do hear politicians railing about gun control, but once the cameras and voice recorders stop rolling, we hear nothing about taking illegal guns off the street or arresting the purveyors of illegal guns; indeed, save for a few 5-second clips about memorials and funerals, the murder is just "history." (Not for the victim's kin, of course, who continue to suffer their loss.)

CAVEAT: I grew up in south Florida. I have a son who is a cop and I own a legally purchased handgun.

The Dade County school superintendent, Alberto M. Carvalho, has became a favorite of the media. Unfortunately for Carvalho - who heads the fourth largest school system in the nation - most of his appearances before the press have him bemoaning the loss of yet another student.

Dade County always has had black-on-black crime. Little was done about it then; little is being done about it now.

The difference is that now there are many black police and in a number of Dade County jurisdictions, the top cop is black.

So, the question remains: despite hand wringing, gnashing of teeth, and tears without number, WHY are children - mostly black children - murdered and no one, not police, not neighborhood leaders, not preachers, seems to be able to even reduce the amount of black-on-black murders?

I (sadly) realize times have changed.

While there was crime when I was going to school, most of my peers had respect for (or fear of) authority, be that parents, police, teachers, and the like. (I qualify that because when I was in junior high, Dade County, trying to ape New York City and Hollywood's presentation of it, had a handful of gangs. The difference was that any gang "warfare" rarely resulted in anything more serious than a cut and all combat was focused on the opposing gang; "zip" guns were not suitable for drive by shootings.

There ARE some things that can be done to reduce the number of murdered children.

1. Eliminate automatic weapons.*
2. Let parents do what is necessary to keep their children in line - from an early age, **
3. The district attorneys and courts must stop reducing charges from felonies to low-level misdemeanors; end the slaps on the wrist and tisk-tisking.
4. Make possession of a weapon during commission of a crime (e.g., a drive-by shooting) an automatic jail sentence; no option. ***
5. Focus on prevention by increasing the "See Something, Say Something" and similar awareness programs.

* My son the cop disagrees, noting that a cop is not always at hand when needed and we need to be armed as well as the criminal. It worked for the U.S. and the Soviet Union ("mutual destruction") but I don't think it will work for John Q. vs. the criminal. I also wonder how many times John (or Jane) Q. would get into a firefight with a criminal or gang of criminals.

** That does NOT mean abusing the child, but it DOES mean warming a bottom when needed, it means "snooping" in the child's room; what a parent doesn't know can end up hurting their child and maybe others as well. Hugs are a better option, but don't always yield the desired results. Permissivness is, I think, at the root of many problems.

*** Yes, I know that jail is said to breed criminals; if they were not criminals they would not be in prison in the first place. The inmates may learn something new, but likely they would learn it on the outside anyway. At least in prison they can get (a) free room and board, (b) free medical care, and (c) free education - well, free to the incarcerated, not so the taxpayer.

Nothing anyone can do - not a school superintendent, not an out-of-town media seeking preacher, not a parent, no one - can totally eliminate crime, and certainly ill-focused programs such as Black Lives Matter won't end black-on-black crime.

Opuscula Question for Obama: How do criminals Acquire their guns?

 

A QUESTION FOR OBAMA: How will your executive order over-riding states' rights on gun control keep fully-automatic assault rifles and other weapons out of the hands of criminals?

It's a funny thing, but when guns are bought legally and later used in a crime - such as the San Bernadino attacks by a couple of Muslims, the media are all over the fact that the guns were purchased legally.

But when the guns are acquired illegally - that is, in my state, when a purchase record cannot be found (all gun purchases are filed at the state capital) - the media are quiet.

HERE IN SOUTH FLORIDA, particularly in Dade County (Miami and surrounding area) and Fort Lauderdale in Broward County, shootings are common place. There were three Saturday night in Miami alone. Most of the drive-by shootings are black on black. Cuban criminals, while sometimes involved in assaults, most often prefer theft of property and taxpayer dollars. That is not to suggest that there are no Anglo criminals on south Florida's streets.

But the shootings beg the question: Where are the shooters getting their guns, the preferred being fully automatic high powered rifles and automatic pistols with extended magazines (clips)?

They can't buy them at the local gun stores and pawn shops without the sale being registered. They cannot buy them at gun shows without the sale being registered.

They CAN steal them from their legal owners (and modify the gun from semi- to full-auto) and the CAN buy them from other criminals who "acquire" the weapons from unidentified sources (including, directly or indirectly, the U.S. government).

Since many, if not most, of the shootings I hear about in south Florida fail to tell me the weapon was legally purchased, I have to assume the guns were acquired illegally.

Obama's executive order does nothing - zero, zip, nada - to prevent illegal acquisition of firearms.

It is as effective as the Federal government's ban on the illegal importation, sale (and manufacture) of addictive drugs - from ethical pharmaceuticals to the neighborhood meth lab. (To be fair, the U.S. Coast Guard does a pretty good job of interdicting some drugs bound for the U.S.)

Where is Obama's executive order banning illegal immigration across all borders - not just the U.S.-Mexican sieve. Cubans, too many who are criminals, easily make it to the U.S. and, once in, can visit Cuba and return to the U.S. legally as often as their ill-gotten gains allow.

Obama apparently is trying to go out on a high note by issuing unenforceable executive orders, perhaps to lessen the debacle of "Obamacare."

Executive orders should be enforceable; his are not.

Executive orders should be citizen-driven; his are not.

Executive orders should be temporary in nature; his are not intended to be temporary until Congress can convert the order into law.

All Obama's executive order on gun control accomplished is to rile the right and pacify the left; it will have no practical impact on guns in the hands of criminals; it is, bottom line, a farce.

Gun control Stupid, Unconscionable, Only in Washington

 

Yes, yes, - four times yes.

Allow gun sales to mentally ill: Yes

Allow gun sales to people on No Fly list: Yes

Allow gun sales sans background checks: Yes

Many U.S. senators are stupid: Yes

TRUTH IN BLOGGING: This scrivener owns guns and has a concealed weapons license. One son is a policeman, another has a small arsenal of rifles and handguns.; both have concealed weapons licenses.

What the Senate did on December 3 should join December 7th in the "Days of infamy" category.

BY THE NUMBERS

By a vote of 52 to 47, the Senate rejected a proposal to strengthen treatment for mental illness and substance abuse disorders. The proposal to prevent people with mental illness from purchasing weapons was included in the overall proposal.

Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis) said Thursday there are still too many unknowns about the San Bernardino shootings, but he said one common theme among many mass shootings is mental illness, an issue he says Congress has already been working on with legislation.

"People with mental illness are getting guns and committing these mass shootings," Ryan said on CBS This Morning. Ryan made the same point earlier this week in reaction to the post-Thanksgiving shooting at a Colorado Planned Parenthood clinic.

Lawmakers voted 50 to 48 to reject a bill that would have expanded background checks on guns purchased online or at gun shows.

John Cornyn (R-TX) failed to win an alternative putting gun sales on hold for 72 hours for people on watch lists. Critics have said such background checks could take longer to complete.

Many states already have waiting periods - from 3 days (Florida, Iowa) to 14 days (Hawaii). During the 72-hour delay, Florida's Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) checks to assure the buyer is eligible to own a handgun. A Florida concealed carry license is significantly more stringent and time consuming.

The Senate voted 45 to 54 against a bill that would have stopped people on the terror watch list from purchasing guns.

Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis) said part of the discussion surrounding mental health legislation is who should and shouldn't have access to guns, but he signaled that barring gun purchases by people on no-fly terror lists — as President Obama urged Wednesday — is not an option.

Ryan said government officials put people on such lists without any due legal process and so denying those listed the right to bear arms would violate their rights.

"People have due process rights in this country," he said.

"If somebody is too dangerous to board an airplane (because they are on a terrorist watch list), they are too dangerous to buy a gun," Diane Feinstein (D-CA) said at a press conference with seven Democratic senators. "This shouldn't be a partisan issue."

Do non-citizens have all citizen rights and if so, why? If a person unjustly is on the No Fly list, there is a remedy.

A Washington Post/ABC News poll last month found 82 percent thought gun violence was a very serious or somewhat serious problem. But opinion split almost evenly over whether enacting new laws to reduce gun violence or protecting the right to own guns was more important.

The poll also found that 63 percent blamed mass shootings on mental health problems, while 23 percent cited inadequate gun control.

I'm always skeptical of polls. Who was polled? Where was the poll taken? How many people were polled? How were the questions phrased. As a writer I know how to phrase a question to get the answer I want. Unless I have all the information, in my mind all polls are suspect - even ones that agree with me.

WHAT WAS NOT DISCUSSED

Apparently ignored by the Senate was purchase of fully automatic weapons and weapons that can be modified to be full automatic.

Likewise, why would a hunter with an AK-47 need a 75 round magazine (clip)? Or even a 30-round magazine? Is the hunter a terrible shot? I'd hate to be hunting where he is hunting. Does he think it will take 30 or 75 shots to bring down a buck?

Why would anyone need a 33-round clip for a handgun unless the shooter was planning either mass murder, a gang war, or just planning to "shoot up the neighborhood."

Yes, Virginia, 75-round and 33-round magazines are for sale in the U.S., no questions asked.

WERE THEY TERRORISTS?

The FBI and other state and federal government agencies seem to have a problem labeling the husband and wife who murdered and wounded so many at a San Bernardino center on December 2 as terrorists.

Never mind that they had more than 2,000 rounds of ammunition, that they had bomb making equipment and completed bombs in their home, that they had contact with known, albeit "low level" (meaning???) , terrorists, that they outfitted themselves with body armor before the rampage.

How can anyone, including POTUS, conclude that these people were NOT terrorists. Even if they were not Muslim terrorists, they still were terrorists: a terrorist is a person whose acts are intended to terrorize others, and by their actions, this husband and wife team were, without a doubt, terrorists.

After thought Because the San Bernardino building was a gun-free zone, all of the victims were unarmed, defenseless.

Gun-free zones are the result of work-place violence, someone "going postal." Unfortunately, terrorists - as proven in San Bernardino - ignore the rules, leaving employees and visitors at the mercy of murderers.

 

SOURCES

Senate rejects a series of gun control bills.

Polarized Senate blocks expanded background checks, other gun curbs after California shootings

Republicans say no to new gun control legislation after San Bernardino

U.S. Senate debates gun control after California shooting, but no action taken