Breaking Gun Violence Records 2020

 December 5, 2020

25 days to go. 25 tumultuous days.

We already have 5 thousand more killings than last year, and 7 thousand more shootings.

At this moment we stand at 213 shootings per day of which 111 are resulting in death.

(in 2013 we were averaging 85 gun violence killings per day)

25 days to go. What will our high score be?

I can hardly wait.....

The Gun Violence Archive

Holding.... ish

 This Corona Virus stuff has all but shut down my efforts in getting out the book. One reason being; it is a self published book. The Industry considers self-published books as a device of the wanna-be class of writers. Perhaps practice for the real thing. 

Seeing the self-publishing world from the inside for the last few years, I have seen how self-published Authors are marginalized. I can certainly understand, having seen and read many self-published books in the past. It is more of a dream mill than a publishing experience. More of a cash grab from the companies that offer these services than anything else. These companies offer up an Author dream and then try to fleece you all along the way. In the end, you get a nice bound book and no marketing.

Without marketing there is no story. Self published Authors are left to their own devices to sell their book or pay to have a few sold here and there. I figured this out completely with my last book; A Curb Caste Experience," a book that got not one bad review from anyone that read it. As a matter of fact, people told me they couldn't put it down.... 

But this time I formulated my own marketing scheme to which the Pandemic has said... uh... no.

This past weekend I went down to my old haunt Tombstone, Arizona. I lived there for a couple years while I recovered from my injuries (explained in the the book). Tombstone has several events every year fashioned on the old West. Tourism is the only industry in Tombstone. I went there to hand out books and talk to people but out of the 5000 or so people that were there (and many more on their way), I saw just 4 people wearing a mask, and they were being berated like they were on a school playground.

It was a "super spreader" event so I left town around noon as the traffic entering town backed up.

I was still able to give out a couple dozen books but it was fairly disappointing.

VOTE

Live Love 

Mac/

Review from "Mike the Gun Guy"

 So I have recently re-started and re-upped my efforts. The pandemic has changed us. We will now be as jaded to human interaction as we are to our gun violence issues.

What seems to be the most important about the pandemic isn't how we are moving to rid ourselves of the viral threat but whether we are amassing money, or not.

It is the "or not" that is the kicker. Those people are running scared... with guns.

Dim bulbs all over our country with guns brandished, eager to take out their angst on anyone that even comes close to the "level of threat" ignorant people feel gives them an opportunity to shoot someone for their pain.

I've handed out my book to over a hundred folks in the past month. I've mailed out over forty copies to advocacy organizations and media and the complaints and nods are starting to come in. I'll pass on displaying the thoughts of those that include sexual positions in their ideas of gun lust, but reviews by thinking people, good or bad, will be displayed here on this blog.

For instance;

Here is a review from a right center American that has spent his life immersed in gun culture:

"MikeTheGunGuy" is a blog and facebook page from a gun advocate. Mike Weisser is a gun guy, has owned a gun shop, and as the name of his blog implies, guns occupy a lot of his time and thought. I mailed Mike a copy a month ago and he saw fit to read it, and give us his thoughts.

https://mikethegunguy.social/2020/09/15/a-new-and-good-gun-book/

He calls it a good gun book. Thats all I can hope for. Thank You Mike.

El Paso, Texas - Candella Memorial

 This post will act as an update to what is going on.

As more and more people find out and start asking questions, the more this Pandemic has hurt us all. It's hard for me to go out amongst people, and even to have people to go out amongst, when everyone is staying at home as much as possible. 

When folks do go out, there is a mask covering most of their face. There is no facial expression involved in conversation. it sucks.

I left Arizona to go visit family in April and was essentially in Ocala, Florida lockdown until just recently. Lockdown is pretty much a running joke in Ocala though. That town is Pro-Trump, Anti-Mask, Pro-gun, Pro-Big Ass trucks and, in my estimation, Anti-Comfortable. Both its temperate climate and its Anti-Temperate climate had run their course with me, enough to make a mad dash back to thinner air in Arizona in the middle of an Anti-viral, political frenzy.

I cut my efforts short on the traveling, I missed three memorials I had planned to attend. Hopefully, I will be on hand next year. On my way across from Florida to Arizona, I stopped by El Paso, Texas to visit the Candella Memorial.
The Candella Memorial was put in place in the parking lot in front of the Walmart were the 23 people were killed.

Patrick Crusius Killed 24 and injured 22 there on August 3, 2019. Originally the number was 23 and 23, but another died from his injuries in April 2020.
What a grand waste. What was gained? Have immigrants stopped coming? Has some epiphinal vision now been realized?

No. Just another shooting

I now have more direct empathy for the families of these 56 people. We are all in the same club now. Us and more of the family friends. I wonder how all these people will vote this season.

What you did Patrick, is to make things worse for your cause. These people are now martyrs for the cause that have brought a couple hundred more with them. 
It is foolish to think that violence will get you your way or further your cause in any way.

Now Screw Off. Stare at some bars and leave us to continue.

I was able to hand out quite a few books while visiting the memorial. I waited till dark to get some pics with the lights on.

Duke Law Blog entries throughout the Covid Summer

 This Covid nonsense is getting on my nerves but shootings continue at an even more rapid rate.

I have started going through my Summer Duke Law Blog offerings and have decided to post a few that are pertinent to this blog. 

Here are a few;

Exploring public carry reasonings:

https://firearmslaw.duke.edu/2020/08/public-carry-and-public-health-good-cause-as-a-good-solution/

On the ideal of self defense:

https://firearmslaw.duke.edu/2020/08/scholarship-highlight-interview-george-mocsary-on-firearms-law-and-the-second-amendment-casebook-online-chapters/

Heres one by a person looking for validation by pitting one part of religion against the other:

https://firearmslaw.duke.edu/2020/08/it-is-morally-permissible-for-christians-to-carry-firearms/

Exploring self defense as it applies to the McCloskeys in Missouri:

https://firearmslaw.duke.edu/2020/07/the-distortion-of-self-defense-and-the-second-amendment-in-missouri/

Up Soon in the Tennessee Law review; Assault weapon lethality:

https://firearmslaw.duke.edu/2020/07/scholarship-highlight-interview-greg-wallace-on-assault-weapon-lethality/

Giving local municipalities warring capabilities:

https://firearmslaw.duke.edu/2020/07/turning-sheriffs-into-soldiers-a-quick-look-at-the-1033-program/

The SCOTUS Gun Watch. This is the last installment for the summer before the Supreme Court break. This is one of the things that makes this blog interesting to follow. The gun watch follows all Supreme Court cases that might even remotely affect gun ownership and use in the U.S :

https://firearmslaw.duke.edu/2020/07/scotus-gun-watch-week-of-7-13-20/

What is a "Super-Statute" when it comes to firearm laws? :

https://firearmslaw.duke.edu/2020/07/are-any-gun-laws-super-statutes/

If you read my book, you know what I think about magazine limits on semi-automatic firearms. Heres a little blurb on the Colorado magazine limit legislation:

https://firearmslaw.duke.edu/2020/07/litigation-highlight-colorado-supreme-court-upholds-magazine-limit/

Can you / Should you keep a gun in your vehicle while unattended at work or in a public parking lot? 24 states have weighed in:

https://firearmslaw.duke.edu/2020/06/parking-lot-laws-their-content-and-applicability/

Bostock v. Clayton County is about LBGTQ issues but like the decision in 2013 that tore apart the voting rights act, it has further reaching implications into other parts of our Constitution, including the Second Amendment. How? :

https://firearmslaw.duke.edu/2020/06/bostock-textualism-and-the-meaning-of-bear-arms/

Exploring Smart-Gun situations and legislations:

https://firearmslaw.duke.edu/2020/06/smart-guns-an-effective-solution-or-a-waste-of-resources/

What do you think about Gun-Subsidy as an approach to help combat gun violence?

https://firearmslaw.duke.edu/2020/05/the-gun-subsidy-a-new-approach-to-combating-gun-violence/

In certain circumstance, "Standing Your Ground" in Florida includes against the Police:

https://firearmslaw.duke.edu/2020/05/when-stand-your-ground-meets-blue-lives-matter/

That's enough for the summer. I will continue to post these within my other updates. if you are interested in this subject, perhaps you should subscribe to the Duke Law blog on your own.

M/

What, How and Where?

The Topic of this blog is American Gun Violence.

Not American Gun Murder, that is a subset.
Not American Suicide by Gun, that is a subset.
Not American Injury or Maiming by Gun, these are also subsets.

The term "American Gun Violence" covers all of that, but by homogenizing the subsets for our own interest or experience, we are minimizing the others. We are also giving those that we are having a conversation with, something to fixate on as they try to disprove or follow along with something we may have brought up as a point.
When we talk of these things it is best to use the term "American Gun Violence," and then converse on the subsets as they arise. We don't want Americans invested in this topic fixating on any one aspect. That draws the conversation out as we explain, and if you have to explain, you are lost.

Nowadays I mention up front that American Gun Violence includes these other aspects before delving in any deeper. It strengthens my position and becomes a basis for the outrageous yearly numbers we Americans create.

For instance; the number I relate in these conversations is the total number of people physically affected by American Gun Violence each year.

For 2019 that number was 69,072. *

That is 189 people per day shot and killed in the US. That number includes all forms of bodily death and injury perpetrated on Americans in 2019 by statistic. A number that is outrageous and also seldom used. We somehow feel that displaying the number of dead people every year will turn some heads and gain favor, but it doesn't.
We play the disingenuous shell game with the murder and suicide number, negating the fact that the people on the other side of the topic are as educated and as observant as we are.
When someone does this type of thing to me, I get indignant.
They must think I'm a fool.

Enter the modern age of the internet and the good people of the GVA.

If anyone wants to see the yearly statistics of American Gun Violence, all they need to do is go to : gunviolencearchive.org (GVA)*

There, anyone can find the statistics for nearly any subset you can imagine except race and religion.
If you want to be morbidly entertained you can go to their active display of Gun Violence perpetrated in the last 72 hours. Refresh, and it changes in front of your eyes to display actual, verifiable gun violence incidents from every State and County in the entire United States. Their searching algorithms pull this information from municipalities and news sources all over the country in real time. You can even follow each incident to the address it happened at and sometimes even the names and witness accounts of each incident. Dozens and dozens and dozens each day of the year.
Before looking through the site I would recommend checking out their links to their mission statement and methodology. This is a completely non-partisan statistics gathering site that does not embellish in any way. No editorials, no discussion, no ideas, just actual, factual numbers that we Americans create on a daily basis, and they have subsets you may not even have realized were a subset at all.

This is where I get my 69072 number. Ive put the Suicide # plus injury # and murder # all together in one number. The result is Outrageous.
This is a number to consider. A number that pales the murder and suicide number.
A number equal to the population of a decent sized American city full of dead and injured people.
The injury number is rarely brought up or added to the deaths number but I consider it the most important to the conversation.
Why?
Not just because I am included in this number. No.
Because most of these people can still talk, think and vote, and we are pissed.

Live Love
Mac/

Nesting Dolls of American Paradox

 In 2020 America, our entitlements have become a double-edged sword. One side is used to separate us from others on earth and give us claim as leaders of the free world and the other to oppress those people in our own country that hold a more worldly and humane view that refuse to become slaves to those out of control entitlements.

With these Ideas of American entitlement, we have created nesting dolls of Paradox. 

For instance, America's out of control Gun Violence epidemic held in place by unbridled Capitalism. This unbridled Capitalism held in place by shiny baubles, and shiny baubles held in place by the carrot of American entitlement.

Entitlement to something, and deserving something, are not the same, they are not synonymous, they are mutually exclusive. For a person to deserve something infers a measure of value to become deserving. A person did something which in turn provides them value of some sort. They deserve the results of their efforts (or lack of effort). To be entitled does not suggest the same. Entitlement is a condition where a person is afforded something because someone else says they do. A decree offered by a person or entity in control and the power they wield. These two words play together, their definitions are muddled together, and they are used in America as interchangeable. 

A representative sentence on this subject might be; We are entitled to unobstructed gun ownership in America, therefore we deserve the results.

If we accept that we can own and use guns as we please, as entitled by our founding documents, the results are what we deserve because we have taken no action to prevent the negative effects of that entitlement. Yes, we can deserve out of inaction as well as action.

Americas founding documents are revered the world over. The ideals within were visionary for their time and have spurned human advancement throughout the world. The paradox they now create in America could not be foreseen by candle light. We no longer need leeches to bleed us dry. Our entitlements, freedoms and population have taken their place.

Through our American entitlements, we are now negating our founding documents. Unfortunately, only one of our founding documents is upheld legally. The others are given no weight in the face of the Capitalism they have spurned. Our founding Fathers would not, under any circumstance, have considered a business of any kind to be on equal standing with an actual American human. We all know this to be true, it is a very easy concept to grasp. But through fuzzy interpretation of our founding documents we have allowed our American Corporations, and even those of other countries, to direct our American lives for profit.

The American Declaration of Independence was what the Continental Congress of 1789 intended when they approved the new Constitution. This declaration spells out human moral entitlements, it elaborates on the reasonings and means. The Continental Congress, through the efforts of James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and others, created a Constitutional document to enable the people of the United States to finally enjoy these human morals in an environment of solidarity, to be upheld by force if needed, a force entitled and upheld by our Constitution.

Our Declaration of Independence states: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, All men are created equal," and that all men are afforded the basic, human, GOD GIVEN right of "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness."

This Capitalist bane of firearms we have created in America and the attitudes they breed are taking those unalienable rights of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness away from nearly forty thousand Americans and their families, every year, and by proxy, tens of thousands more. This is happening every single day of the year, without fail, and is increasing in scope as we sit by enjoying our moral degradation and what we now think is our God given right to kill as we see fit.

America's Declaration of Independence states these rights have been given to us by our creator and that governments are created to protect these rights. How many Americans confronted by American Gun Violence are able to now enjoy these God given rights? 

If we were talking about any other inanimate object, I'd say that this situation sounds like a law suit waiting to happen. Except of course that the Declaration of independence has no legal standing and that other avenues have been closed by our own PLCAA laws. driven not by need, but by the corporate greed our Babbitts of Congress allow.

Paradox often, if not always, includes a measure of irony. Intents of action ironically negated by the actions themselves. 

In 2020, with 320+ million people in the United States and through Corporate entitlement we have negated our American Constitution. From Article One, Through Article Two and on to the Preamble and Amendments, our legislative actions prove that our leaders no longer hold these truths to be self-evident.

It may be time to form a society for the friends of the intent of the Constitution.

All this, after un-nesting only one doll.

Mac/

Getting Real with Statistics

In line with my last post, yes, let's get real.
Let's break down our American situation concerning firearms and lets put ideas where they belong.

It isn't easy being in the middle, neither side is willing to listen to the other or even the middle. Our Capitalist lives demand that we pay attention to money rather than the humans around us. Our attitude as a whole seems to be that, "another dead person is one less trying to take my money... or my opportunities." This type of subliminal thought is predominant in America, until of course it was your daughter that killed herself, or your husband that was caught inside the store in the hail of bullets.

But those twists of fate only happen to other people.

In 2019 suicide by gun totaled  24,090.
Gun death from all other means totaled 15,336.
Gun injury from all means totaled 29,646
Total 39,426 killed  -  29,646 injured
Actual total of all is  69,072.            *GunViolenceArchive

There are a few ways to look at these numbers. The first way is to see the injury number, the injured count also. We never see or are told of the injury number. That injury number includes people that are now permanently crippled and are a weight on the US economy. That number also includes some that have a scar and mental issues now because of their incident. That number also includes police officer "lawful," shootings, failed suicides, all forms of accidents and failed murders. All still fall in the category of total aggressed incidents. These injured people were inches from death and that counts too, they were also shot with a gun.
It counts because for every person that is killed or injured come another ten people that know and love them that are now soured on firearms. As that number rises the gun fervor will get worse, the injured can still think and talk.

The far left towards the middle claims the total number of gun deaths as their talking point without separating the number by means. The Far right to the middle negates the suicide number and gives very little weight to the remaining considering it very low in the grand scheme of 320 million Americans. The middle separates these numbers but realizes it is all death by gun and then tries to pick this number apart by reason.

The reasons for ALL gun violence in America is either mental anguish or incompetence.

Shot by a stolen gun? - incompetence of the original owner
Shot by a meth addict?  - mental anguish
Shot accidentally?  - incompetence
Shot in a drive-by? - mental anguish and incompetence of thought of the shooter
Shot by your lover?  - mental anguish

And on, and on, and on. All means of American domestic gun violence can be boiled down to its root, which is primarily one of these two things. But then we could actually say that as a whole, Apathy is the culprit. We don't care unless it affects our families and friends, so it will continue. And because of this apathy the number will continue to rise until it knocks on your door or rings your phone.

To me, the most urgent number that should be addressed by the pro-gun crowd is the huge number of friends and family that have had a loved one shot and / or killed. The murder by gun number for 2019 was actually a small sliver of our populous. 15,000 last year. Considering that this is out of 320 million people, it is a number easy to dismiss with a paranoid American mindset. But that number is the basis for at least 150,000 more people to dislike guns and the people that use them. The Suicide number of 24,090 brings with it another 240,000 people and the injury number of 29,646, urges another 290,000 people soured on firearms.
Standing on the Second Amendment isn't going to work forever when over a half million or better are freaked out every year by our American right to bear.

We need to address why people kill themselves, why people shoot others purposefully and we need to address our own incompetence as gun owners.

Guns have a place and a reason. In the right human hands for the right reason.
Our reasoning is the Second Amendment, our reason is fear.

The right human, is a trained and respectful one.

LL/ Mac/

Disingenuous Claims & Use of Statistics

One of the most frustrating angles to consider concerning our American Gun Violence problem is the disingenuous use and presentation of gun violence statistics.
Here are two for us to consider:

"In 2018 there were nearly 40 thousand Americans killed by a gun !!"

We will see this claim quite a lot. It is true from a certain angle but disingenuously presented because the people saying this, purposefully lump all gun deaths together. Suicide is gun violence, Yes. But suicide is primarily a mental anguish issue. There is really very little anyone can do about suicides with a gun unless the underlying mental issues are addressed. Suicides make up 60% of that 40k number. In our fervor to present outrageous numbers to further our cause for less gun violence, the rest of the deaths by gun in that 40k number are lessened in the public eye.
This does not help, in-fact it lessens the "anti-gun" position.

The numbers for purposeful and accidental gun violence are bad enough without this skewed presentation. We can still champion less suicide by gun and keep these numbers related, yet not lumped together. All of our American gun violence problems are primarily mental anguish and incompetence issues no matter how they manifest.
It is those issues we need to address.

Here is another:

"Every year, guns are used over 80 times more to protect life than to take one !!"


That is an actual verbatim claim from a very pro-gun "statistics" site here on the net. But honestly, from a very narrow angle, I can see how people are thinking when saying that and it isn't completely wrong, just presented wrongly. But if presented correctly, the pro-argument is lessened.
We cannot say that we stopped gun violence merely by showing someone a gun when they were acting out. We have no idea, nor can we make a viable guess how any situation would turn out no matter how we threaten. The only number we can trust in this respect is an actual verified circumstance number. One of the good things about this skewed presentation is that it has brought this issue forward and these actual verified numbers are being collected and presented.
These numbers are actually something to think about without any bolstering.
In 2018 there were 1888 verified defensive uses of guns. Thats a lot actually, but pales next to the purposeful shooting and murder number. That is why it's presented in this way.
Yes, the secondary use of a gun is threat, but this issue is about positive stop and aggressed stop situations. Imagining that a person was stopped because you wore your gun around town or in a store is ridiculous and lessens the argument, nullifying the actual value of that 1888 number.

If you read my book, you will read how we can bring these numbers down and the people together, while still maintaining our American Gun Rights without pitting Americans against Americans.
Honesty goes a long way towards understanding.

All statistics are from the Gun Violence Archive.

The Parkland Florida murders were two years ago today.

Today (and every day) tell someone you love them.

Live Love
Mac/

The Federalist Papers

How many Americans know what the Federalist Papers are? 
How many people have even heard of them?

Well if you are an American you should at least know more about the them than you do the locations of your local Starbucks.

The Federalist Papers have been the underlying reasonings and arguments that give YOU your American Freedoms. These papers were essays written by our Constitutions Framers. They were written and printed in the newspaper for the average American to look over and make decisions about ratifying the new proposed Constitution. These were arguments for our freedoms. Back then, nearly every American read the newspaper every day and what was there was discussed throughout the day with those around you. A kind of local area network of the day. 
You can look and even download them   >> HERE <<    From Congress.gov
But today, the only people that crack the book on the Federalist Papers are those looking to further their own agendas of greed and power.
I recommend all Americans at least peruse the listings of all 85 essays. When you do this, you may find that they are easier to understand than we have been led to believe. These essays that we have put together and now call "The Federalist Papers" were meant for people like you and me.
Written under the pseudonym of Publius, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay are the Authors of these documents and these three were united in their efforts.

This is something to think about.

How modern Americans leave the Federalist Papers to the lawyers to interpret. The documents that were offered up to the everday normal people of the United Colonies. Essays that are nothing more than reasonings for the parts of the Constitution they felt most important. Ideas written in common language of 1788 are now picked apart by lawyers to serve the interests of those with enough money, time and greed to take up the task.

We are now told that the common man has no idea of the depths and meanings of the Federalist Papers. If we look back in our own modern past we will find that all modern interpretations of the Federalist Papers and the parts of the Constitution that they address, have been claimed by Corporate America. All are interpreted for corporate advancement. And let us be perfectly clear, a business / corporation only exists to make money. Nothing else, no other reason, the rest is marketing. 

Money is not Freedom, it is the antithesis of freedom. Our Constitution should not be construed to champion money.

Freedom allows us to make money for our life's comforts and advancement as our personal intellect allows. Freedom and money do not go hand in hand.
Considering that the Federalist Papers were written for common man, lets take a light look at one paragraph in Federalist number 29.
Here is how it starts:

Federalist #29 - Concerning the Militia 
From the Daily Advertiser, Thursday, January 10, 1788 
Author: Alexander Hamilton as publius, To the people of New York.
(this was originally in the newspaper)

"If a well-regulated Milita be the most natural defense of a free country, it ought certainly to be under the regulation and at the disposal of that body which is constituted the guardian of the national security." - Alexander Hamilton

If we take this at face value, which we really know was the way it was intended, our Second Amendment arguments for private Militias are quashed and validation of our current National Guard fills the spot as the natural progression of service our Militias were intended to fill.
But, this Federalist #29 was merely an argument before the fact of actual ratification of our Constitution. It holds no legal or Constitutional weight. Yet it tells us something about the intent of our framers in relation to the Second Amendment doesn't it?
Our National Guard is a volunteer American homeland force, a Militia.
I started my own Naval service in the National Guard.

Then a lawyer will point out a different Federalist Paper where James Madison lays out an argument for private dissemination of firearms as a means to keep our Government at bay (you look that one up).
Lawyers will pit Hamilton against Madison when needed to serve the corporate interests of their clients, a practice that should not be allowed 240 years after the fact. This practice is about greed and power and taking control of the Government from the people and giving it to the highest bidder.

We die in the streets, at school, at a concert, in church...

The Second Amendment was about need for our country in the 1700's and their foreseeable future. Never about pitting Americans against Americans.

The Second Amendment says we can have guns... Great !! Really, I'm all for it !!

But it doesn't say we should digress as humans till the end of time. It doesn't take into account our burgeoning population, degradations of society, rampant mental issues from many unforeseen angles, our state of weaponry or unbridled corporate capitalism.

We know that our founders were moral, god fearing men. Their thoughts stood on a foundation of moral integrity based in their God and religion. So considering our modern 2020's American gun violence situation, where do you and your religion stand? Do you strictly follow your religion's tenets or do you skew them to fit your own agenda?

When one one of our loved ones are needlessly killed here in our own country by one of our own people, how will we justify ourselves to our mourning families and friends? 
Prayer?  Confession?  Allege it never happened at all until our own death?

We need to create a Federal Public Safety Policy that leans on personal responsibility and a staircase of vetting.

LL/ Mac/

New on SSRN, "Public Safety & the Right to Bear Arms"

SSRN is a research paper publishing site. A person can go there and find research on nearly every subject imaginable. No Bozos here, all professional industry stuff.
I got a ding yesterday from The Duke Law Blog I subscribe to called "Second Thoughts," telling me to check out this new research paper posted on SSRN, it's on my favorite subject. I checked it out, and in fact, the title of the paper is like a synopsis of my book "American Druthers."

The Duke Law blog link is in the gutter on the right, I recommend looking it over if you are interested in the legal and Constitutional aspects of guns in America. They will keep you up to date and explore the ramifications no matter the politics of the situation.

The paper posted is by Robert J. Cottrol and Raymond T. Diamond through George Washington Law School. It is titled, "Public Safety and the Right to Bear Arms."

It's   >> HERE <<

Live Love
Mac/

Scary Knife / Scary Gun

I have a pocket knife, it's a scary knife.

It is a folding style with one blade, and when open, the knife looks like a dagger with its pointed blade, thin profile and thumb grips. The blade itself is a little more than 3 inches long and the whole knife is around 8" long total when open. The blade also has a serrated section at the lower part which looks like teeth. The knife is black, blade and all, and after sliding the lock forward, a light push with your thumb and it will open by itself yielding a metallic shwoosh fit for a theatrical sword fight soundtrack.

Point being... this is a very scary looking knife. It was designed to be a scary knife. It was designed to look and perform like a switch blade without breaking the existing knife laws that ban knifes that open in a fully automatic fashion. Switch Blades are banned. Gerber Coverts are not.

It was designed to perform like a fighting knife, having an ambidextrous grip, thin profile and dual cutting edge blade. It's a scary knife to person that knows knives also. Being a pocket knife, it is not easily seen, either that you have it, or that it is in your hand.

I use it for daily, general purpose knife stuff. It lives inserted and clipped onto my back pant pocket. I do enough each day that throughout a week I'll use my pocket knife 3 or 4 times. I also play with it for a minute or two each time I take it out of my pocket at night and before I put it in my pocket in the morning. It's semi-automatic opening, and produces a cool sound as it does, it's fun to play around with. 

I also have this knife for protection. This one is designed to fit the bill nicely while still having daily utility. 

So, how does the average American view my knife? If I were in a group of folks and someone playing with rope asked to borrow a knife to cut the rope, would my knife evoke fear? Interest? Nothing?

My knife is just as capable as a gun in killing, with two exceptions. It must be used at close distance and you have to feel the results as you physically deliver them. In my mind, a much more intimate and scary proposition than shooting someone with a gun.

Also like a gun, my knife has another ancillary use, threat. It is scary to look at, and when opened, the sound is similar to that of racking a shotguns action in that it lets the threatened hear what is coming.

So why is it that this knife of mine stirs up no national controversy?

It's probably because in America, 40 thousand people a year aren't killed with a knife. 

Thats just a guess...

Let's look that up.... nope, the internet website Statista.com displays the FBI's 2018 numbers and these numbers say that in 2018:

1515 people were murdered with a knife or cutting instrument

10,265 people were murdered with a handgun.

Let's clarify that I was only looking at the numbers for handgun and knife murder. 

The reason is actually because a knife of any kind, even a sword, it not good enough. A knife's power only extends a few inches past your arm length, or maybe 10 feet if you can affectively throw one. A gun's power extends along your line of sight. A person holding a gun can put holes in anything they can see. No need to be close up, no need to feel the blade slice, no need to get blood on yourself.

A gun gives the holder the power to be in control of all of the lives within sight. 

"They can all be killed, or I can let them all live. MY choice. I hold the power in this crowd. I may not have two pennies to rub together, I may have a sniveling family and I may hate my job but I have this gun that gives me power over even the richest person, I can kill them too. It depends on the state of my mania that day. That and the depth of my personal drama and mental state. 

I'll know soon after I come down off this high."

Let's think about guns from different angles.

Live Love

Mac/

Bad Edit Copies... Ugh

When in the course of human events...

...a person may make a few mistakes here and there.

At least, in the course of writing a book, dumb things happen. Dumb things like sending out mistake copies by accident.

In the course of writing my new book "American Druthers," ideas evolved.
Of-course they do, how else to write a book?

Along the way an Author will order edit copies to hold and read. I usually ordered 4 at a time and I'll do that four or five times. The ones not used were stacked on the shelf and during a whirlwind clean-up somehow found their way in to a box of finished books.

So.... It looks like a few of these bad edit copies were mailed out for review. Ugh.

Hopefully after I send out replacement copies of the finished book this can all be swept under the rug. My embarrassment is as loud as the mistake itself. I hope we can all live happier lives and move on.
Anyone else that may have ended up with one of those copies can email me with a mailing address and I will send out a proper copy at no charge.

I recommend self publishing a book... not so much.

LL / Mac/

Mid-Jan Update

For future readers to this blog; as the books I have mailed are read and as the first few handouts are looked over, I'll go over this years schedule and where I am at in the scheme of things.

Soon, this blog will be looked over by people wondering, looking for more or just plain pissed-off.
So here is the schtick;

Right now, my new book, "American Druthers" is out. I have mailed out over 50 copies for content review and literary consideration. I am ordering and stockpiling new copies at my cost. After the painfully slow initial steps are over, I will be traveling to communities all over the country that have been affected by gun violence and will be passing out free copies of my book as well as searching out victims and their families to help create a solidarity of compassion for our situation. I will be covering all of this right here on this blog with writing, pictures and perhaps even video.
This will be a seemingly never-ending quest, but along the way I will be trying to gather sponsorship to put a copy of American Druthers on the desk of every Senator and Congressional Representative in the country. Currently, that is 535 books.
To this end I will need to scrape up $2150 for the books and another amount for either postage, or travel to personally deliver them.
I will do as much of this with my own means as I can but could use some help if people feel so inclined.

I did not write this book for me. I wrote this book for ALL Americans. I am not intending to become rich or famous, I am intending to keep the issue alive until an amicable end is seen, and to spurn thought along the way. 
I could easily just sit back and complain for the rest of my life, then die a penniless, angry old man. But that's not me. I would like to be thought of as that guy that smiled, helped, and faded away.

If you would like to help, my PayPal email is  macztuff@gmail.com  Please annotate your donation as a gift or donation so I can keep track. I will keep an accounting of any and all donations, here on this blog without naming names. That email address is for my PP account only, correspondence there is not received and will get no response. If you want to be heard or join in the conversation somehow, email me here at:  sanegunsforamerica@gmail.com  or just comment here on this blog. 

There will be spurious installments to this blog till I take off for El Paso. Currently that is looking like late February or early March.

LL/ Mac/

White Settlement, Texas

There have been quite a few shootings in the news lately.
Standard issue though, nothing special it seems.

It is this point in time when we need to shake ourselves. This monthly, weekly and daily shooting stuff is becoming ho-hum, so-what.
Its the first of the year and I just happened to look at the coverage of the incident at White Settlement, Texas. The one where the guy started shooting in the church and killed two people before being killed himself.
I looked at this incident in particular because of the positive stop situation that happened, it's a rare thing. I feel real bad for the people in the church needing to have guns at the ready to praise ideals of peace and love.
How can we keep from having to break our own religious tenet of "Thou Shalt Not Kill" to simply gather in the name of, and offer praise to God?

Have you read my book?   Check it out Here.

But the real story is the two people that were killed. The real story is of the families of these men and the unimaginable feelings of loss they must be experiencing. Are they feeling a need to place blame? If they do, and most people do, will they place blame in the same places that you would?

Two, American, church going men. Anton Wallace who was 64 years old and Richard White who was 67. Innocent humans praising God.
How long will we mourn them?

DO NOT FORGET THEM in the fervor to pat ourselves on the back in adding a single verified positive stop situation. The shooter was stopped, good, he was a piece of human neglect to be dealt with. But let's hear about the two people that we traded his life for.

Realize that we didn't REALLY stop this guy. Two innocents died, he succeeded and we failed again.

On to the next senseless murder(s)....

I will be starting my journeys in El Paso, Texas at the Wal-Mart that was unwitting host to the horrific killing there a few months ago. I'll be there close, handing out my book for free and talking issues with the locals... as soon as I can.

Live Love
M/