Warning. This is one of those posts which has left me more confused after I finished it than I was when I started it, so please be warned. I simply cannot follow the logic of either the gun control activists or the thought processes of those who get to decide who gets to be a victim and who doesn’t, which means I may need psychiatric help. (More later on that; please try to bear with me…)
Even though I was annoyed by the calls for gun control occasioned by the murder-suicide committed by football player Jovan Belcher, I did not want to write a post echoing what many (including the highly articulate Bill Whittle and others) have already said. Of course I think blaming guns for murder or suicide is illogical to the point of stupid, but what is even more annoying is the attempt to cast a man who murdered the mother of his three month old daughter — in the presence of his own mother and the baby, and who had a history of domestic violence — as some sort of victim.
Yet that is exactly the meme. From Belcher’s Wiki entry:
Police said the handgun Belcher shot his girlfriend with was different from the one he used to commit suicide. Both were legally registered, but he did not have a permit to carry a concealed weapon. Belcher had other guns at his house.[42] The day after the shooting, NBC broadcaster Bob Costas said during a segment of Sunday Night Football that “in the coming days, Jovan Belcher’s actions and their possible connection to football will be analyzed. Who knows? But here, wrote Jason Whitlock, is what I believe. If Jovan Belcher didn’t possess a gun, he and Kasandra Perkins would both be alive today.”[43] The comments prompted criticism and support from both side of the gun control issue.[43] Five other current or former NFL players have killed themselves since 2011: Dave Duerson, Ray Easterling, Junior Seau, Kurt Crain and O.J. Murdock. All the players died of self-inflicted gunshot wounds.[34]
OK, so last night I let the above sink in. Reading their Wiki posts and Googling them, I learned that what the listed suicides seem to have in common is brain damage — apparently from concussive injuries related to repeated hits during the game. I have no problem with the argument that they are victims, but I have a huge problem with blaming guns, and an even bigger problem lumping Belcher in with depressed men struggling with chronic brain injuries who took no lives other than their own. Saying or implying that a murderer is somehow “like them” is extremely disrespectful, and, I believe, immoral.
Murder is the worst crime that a human can commit, right? So, since when does a murderer merit victim status because he later committed suicide? Might it be because a show of remorse makes the murder somehow more forgivable? I don’t see why, but even if we assume that is the case, then wouldn’t other suicides committed out of remorse also convey victimhood? Funny, but I don’t remember much talk about Mike Current being a victim. He shot himself in January, yet his name is not listed among the “other current or former NFL players have killed themselves since 2011.” Why is that? Might it be that the criminal conduct which drove him to suicide is considered less forgivable?
On Monday January 16, 2012, Current died after committing suicide by shooting himself in the head with a 20 gauge shotgun at the scenic outlook at Baskett Slough National Wildlife Refuge near Dallas, Oregon.[1] Current was accused of sexually assaulting three victims, two girls and one boy all 14 or younger, at least five times between 2004 and 2010 in Marion County, Oregon. He allegedly used pornography, such as videos and photos, to elicit sex from the children.[1]
On Tuesday January 17, 2012, Current was set to enter a plea on the charges. He faced a minimum of six years and three months for each of the five sex-abuse charges, a total of more than 30 years without parole, and no chance at reduced time.[1] The Silverton Police Department had been looking into Current since June 17 and were investigating the possibility of other victims.[3] Tara Lawrence, the attorney for the vicitms, indicated that she would be pursuing justice through the civil courts since Current’s suicide did not allow the victims to get their day in court. “Our hope is that with Current’s death, any additional victims may feel empowered to break their silence and speak out about their own abuse,” Lawrence said.
I’m not defending Current any more than I’m defending Belcher, but since when is kiddie porn worse than murder? Why wasn’t Current’s death seen as another occasion to call for gun control?
If I missing something here, please fill me in.
I’m also unable to understand the notion that gun control will prevent football players from committing suicide. Absolutely not so.
Consider Clarence Herschberger “attached a rubber hose to a laundry gas burner and had inhaled illuminating gas.”
Or Terry Long, who killed himself by drinking antifreeze.
And how about John Mohardt, who went out by severing his femoral artery.
(Not to belabor the point, but why no calls to control hoses, gas burners, antifreeze, and knives?)
And why are football players being singled out as victims of an epidemic? Granted, Wiki lists 21 of them.
Yet there are 62 baseball players who committed suicide.
Over 300 police officers per year.
And as to the people who might be best able to help stop the epidemic, 953 psychiatrists according to one study committed suicide.
As to how many of the above used guns, I do not know. However, if we assume the guns have some sort of evil animus which makes them single out people and kill them, I would like to know not only how Jovan Belcher’s gun made him pump nine bullets into his girlfriend, but apparently singled out so many psychiatrists.
Did the guns know that the latter are supposed to be the front line in preventing suicide?
If the gun grabbers are right, clearly guns are far more intelligent and diabolical than anyone realized.
Comments
10 responses to “What makes guns so much more intelligent than hoses, gas burners, antifreeze, and knives?”
His gun was “legally registered”*, and yet somehow he was able to commit crimes with it. Baffling!
(* Always sounds weird to me, having lived only in sensibly Western states where you can’t register a gun because there’s no such thing as a registry.
[At the State level; Federal NFA registry is its own matter.]
Makes me wonder what kind of savages they are back East [or in California] that they think that’s wise or useful.)
And had it been a steak knife? Or a rock? Or a rolling pin or frying pan (female references, sorry).
And what Sigivald said. Registry? Why? Would you (asking anti-weapon sorts) require registration of the above-mentioned? People could kill with any of them (or any number of other things – anything can be a weapon).
Just wondering – is there any state that requires black belts (in any discipline) to register as a lethal weapon? Because they are…
Both were legally registered, but he did not have a permit to carry a concealed weapon.
If he had just had a permit….
Consider Clarence Herschberger ”attached a rubber hose to a laundry gas burner and had inhaled illuminating gas.”
Gas hasn’t been used for illumination for a very long time. Musta been an old house.
What is scarier yet is that there has been a school massacre in Newtown Conn., 27 people dead, the pos shooter had a .223, don’t get me wrong, I feel bad for the victims, but we all know that the libtards will be dancing in the blood of the victims screaming for gun control. The 2nd amendment is one of the very few rights that the government hasn’t screwed with too much, but I can see that is going to change, then what?
Don’t worry Chris, no matter how many children die, the right-wing impulse will still be immediately think of the real victims (gun owners) You just showed us yourself.
TheAJ-
Actually, the “right-wing” impulse is to think of the future victims. That is, victims of the increased incidence of homicides after the law-abiding population is disarmed. Look up violent crime stats for Britain.
The left-wing impulse, which you have displayed so succinctly, is toward ineffectual or downright destructive moral vanity.
In the case of Ryan Lanza the school shooter, he was from NJ, which has some of the strictest gun control laws in the country. It will be interesting to see how many of those laws he violated.
They work so well.
My last comment may have been mistaken.
http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2012/12/hoboken_man_identified_by_medi.html#incart_river
“National media has identified the Newtown, Conn. school shooter as Ryan Lanza of Hoboken, but a Ryan Lanza who lives in Hoboken has posted on Facebook that he isn’t the shooter.”
The cops seem to have raided his place in Hoboken anyway.
http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2012/12/hoboken_police_bring_in_two_ro.html
It’s tough to make sense of it right now.
Reports don’t even seem to agree on whether the shooter was Adam or Ryan Lanza:
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/potential_connecticut_school_shooting_8HMOSbP38TXwSYYsVGkYLO
Now it seems to be Adam who is dead, possibly carrying his brother’s ID:
http://www.wral.com/ap-source-suspect-drove-to-mother-s-school/11882046/
***QUOTE***
WASHINGTON — The suspect in the Connecticut school shootings is Adam Lanza, 20, the son of a teacher at the school where the shootings occurred, a law enforcement official said Friday. A second law enforcement official says the boy’s mother, Nancy Lanza, is presumed dead.
Adam Lanza’s older brother, Ryan, 24, of Hoboken, N.J., is being questioned by police, said the first official. Earlier, a law enforcement official mistakenly transposed the brothers’ first names.
[…]
former Jersey Journal staff writer Brett Wilshe said he has spoken with Ryan Lanza of Hoboken, who told Wilshe the shooter may have had Ryan Lanza’s identification.
***END QUOTE***
If in fact he had his brother’s ID, he may have used it to buy the handguns, which licensed gun dealers are not allowed to sell to people under 21.
And more:
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/potential_connecticut_school_shooting_8HMOSbP38TXwSYYsVGkYLO
***QUOTE***
The shooter was found with an ID that bore his brother’s name, a law-enforcement source said, but there is no indication that it was stolen. A source told The Post Ryan has told investigators he last saw Adam in 2010 and that Adam is autistic.
***END QUOTE***
It strikes me that it would have been tough for an autistic minor to buy guns. I can’t be sure, but I strongly suspect gun laws were violated.
TheAJ:
Wasn’t the school a gun-free zone?
If it was gun-free, then there couldn’t have been a shooting. Because we know all laws, like schools being designated Gun-Free Zones and gun control (preventing people from owning and using guns) would never let this happen.
(note: yes, sarcasm. Yes, tragedy. Give it a day or two for facts to filter out. Lots of people are likely in shock right now, and they’re going to need lots of help. Right now, we’re not close to the epicenter, which makes it easier for snark and politics.)
(note #2: partial hypocricy, but I do explain why – distance).