It's the Taliban, now we're outraged.

Really, in country where our own citizens target children in schools, we’re outraged now, demanding action?

Even worse, we did nothing about it, and pretended it had something to do with the 2^nd Amendment.

Our gun toting mob of tea party, concealed carry, “Second Amendment remedies” backers may not like the comparison, but there is one to be made. Along those lines, here's a more recent example of their conscience free passion.

Take a look at the reaction to a new law requiring background checks, passed by a majority of voters in Washington state:

A "I will not comply" rally in Olympia, Washington, (protested) Initiative 594, which expands background checks on the sales of guns between private owners. This riled up the state's gun-rights-supersede-everything-else crowd, and approximately 1,000 people showed up, mostly men, mostly white, and all of them toting weapons.

The worst thing was … when Gabby Giffords was mentioned by a speech maker, she was booed. Gabby Giffords name was booed. A woman who was shot in the head and almost killed by a gun nut, she was booed on the very anniversary of the massacre of little kids at Newtown, Connecticut. These people have no shame, no compassion…

Yes, 2^nd Amendment backers booed Giffords. We’re so far gone on guns that even this happened in the election to replace Giffords:

On December 17, pro-Second Amendment candidate Martha McSally (R) was officially declared the winner in the race (167 votes) for Arizona’s second congressional district over pro-gun control Representative Ron Barber (D)

Fear Grips America, as Americans Grip their Guns and Target Sane Gun Laws. Voters Oust Two Colorado Democrats for Background checks and 15 Round Mags.

Perhaps I overreacted, and I'm hoping that's the case after hearing what Rachel Maddow had to say about this NRA victory:



Here's what I originally posted: 
There are those who are trying to play down the Colorado recall over gun regulation, but I’m not one them.

This was a big, fear laden victory for an ever growing movement of civil vigilantism.

When Americans are faced with this…

 …two mass shootings last year – at an Aurora, Colo., movie theater and a Newtown, Conn., elementary school.

…that resulted in two sensible attempts to reduce the ease of committing these public acts of execution:

Both (recalled) state legislators voted for 15-round limits on ammunition magazines and for expanded background checks on private gun sales.

You've got to wonder just how bad this is going to get. Knowing a few of my conservative friends has opened my eyes to the right wings volatility over events in the news, mostly imagined, that anger them to the point desperation and near hopelessness.

The Colorado state senate president who faced a backlash after casting votes for gun control has conceded in a race to recall him from office, and … a second state lawmaker (also) lost her recall vote. "We as the Democratic Party will continue to fight," the Denver Post quoted Sen. John Morse as saying. "The highest rank in democracy is citizen, not senate president, so soon, along with many of you, I will hold that rank and there's nothing citizens can't accomplish when they put their minds to accomplishing it."

Attempts to pass reasonable gun laws isn't just dead, is created a backlash that now has the ability to control elections, bringing about an entirely different and unpredictably violent society based on one issue.    

Kurt Bardella, a communications consultant for the recall said, "The people of Colorado have made history tonight sending a loud and clear message that will reverberate through-out the county and alter the terrain of the gun-control debate."

The gun culture continues to rot away at human nature. And the majority of American who choose not to arm themselves may soon have too. Hows that for liberty and freedom? 

Democratic-leaning Connecticut, Maryland, and New York also passed tougher gun laws without a recall effort making a state ballot.

Defeating Gun Control brings out the Ugly: Now's not the time for Civility?

The truth is, the bullet riddled bodies of 20 1st graders doesn't take precedent of over the imagined loss of constitutional rights by a ruthless movement of selfish mentally impaired numskulls. If we did go after the mentally ill as they so conveniently suggest, these blood soaked Americans  would be the first to lose their guns.

So imagine the father of one lost 1st grader being interrupted by a knuckle dragging protester! Yeah, what's wrong with that grieving father, speaking out like that, he should be silenced.

CTPost: The sometimes boisterous public hearing -- after nearly four hours of testimony from State Police, parents of slain Newtown first-graders and city mayors -- seemed dominated by gun owners, who railed at more than 90 proposed bills.

"The Second Amendment!" was shouted a couple of times by as many as a dozen gun enthusiasts in the meeting room as Neil Heslin, holding a photo of his slain 6-year-old son, Jesse Lewis, asked why Bushmaster assault-style weapons are allowed to be sold in the state. "There are a lot of things that should be changed to prevent what happened," said Heslin, who said he grew up using guns and was undisturbed by the interruption of his testimony.

"That wasn't just a killing, it was a massacre," said Heslin, who recalled dropping off his son at Sandy Hook Elementary school shortly before Lanza opened fire.

As usual, it's opposite day every day in Republican world: would "another responsible gun owner" be willing to do nothing at all? This is an insult to bumper sticker slogans.

Tea Party blames Sandy Hook Shooting on radical union teachers and liberals who destroyed family and coddled shooter!!!

How much longer are conservatives going to put up with this bat crazy crap from the teatards for the Sandy Hook massacre? There’s something deeply wrong with these people, from Right Wing Watch:

Tea Party Nation head Judson Phillips sent out an email to members yesterday featuring an article by TPN member Timothy Birdnow attacking teachers over the school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. He said that parents must “take away the power of the radicals in the classrooms” and lawmakers must introduce right to work laws to cripple teachers’ unions. He says liberals “destroyed the family” and encouraged the shooter to be “coddled all his life, given free rein to indulge his senses but not to face the responsibilities that freedom necessitates… He lived in a world of the Progressives making, not in reality.” Birdnow even suggests that President Obama will use the shooting to “to advance the cause of disarming the American People” and argue that people like George Zimmerman (!) should be guarding schools.

And what does “freedom and liberty” look like under Tea Party Republicans? Anything but…

1. Back Right to Work legislation for the public sector. Teacher’s unions have helped cement much of this in place. As long as we have group think in the classrooms we will never see the end of this.

2. Engage in more frank discussion of race and culture. For far too long we have tiptoed around these issues, fearful of being branded a racist. If black thugs kidnap and rape a woman, ask if there is something in the black culture that fostered that.

3. Work to devolve power back to the parents, the local officials, and the communities. A society that is top-down will inevitably lead to alienation of the sort we have seen here. He lived in a world of the Progressives making, not in reality.

4. Individuals - especially immature individuals - need to be taught how to live, how to think, how to believe. Man’s animal passions must be placed in check and his rational faculties engaged. His moral compass must be set. Liberalism sought to destroy all the controls.

5. Restrict the sex in movies, television, on the internet. There is a reason why young people commit these sorts of crimes, and sex plays no small part. Their passions are eternally inflamed, and they wander the Earth with no outlet for their overstimulated glands.

6. Support the creation of local organizations to act as “neighborhood watch” for schools.

More "Low Road" Rage by Media Trackers, who wants a break from Nations Shocked Outrage over Newtown Tragedy!

Brian Sikma, the sick son-of-a-bitch who wrote the following vacuous trash for Media Trackers, couldn’t have been crasser condescending to those who demand “domestic tranquility,” and aren't getting it with gun lunacy.

This low life started out blasting One Wisconsin Now, for blaming pro-gun, constitutional carry/no regulation zealots and the NRA for the gun crisis. Dah, you think? But Sikma is so sensitive to the rights of gun hobbyists:

Even as the details were still being made public about the Connecticut school shooting tragedy last Friday, one liberal Wisconsin group was going all out to politicize the event. Without so much as an expression of condolence for the survivors and families of the slain victims, One Wisconsin Now and its executive director, Scot Ross, engaged in profanity laced rants about Republican office holders, suggesting the shooting was a result of their positions on gun issues.

Unlike Sikma, normal Americans were profoundly shaken by the events in Newtown, and weren't going to take it anymore:

Following the tragedy, the group asked their supporters on Facebook to “bomb” U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R – Wisconsin) with phone calls on the matter of gun control. The violent theme of the request was jarring in the context of the unbelievable loss of life.

Insensitive or ginned up phony outrage by Sikma? Sikma continued to careen down the low road by supposedly “setting aside” a time for reflection, which in conservative world means give us time to fill the media with bullshit so nothing gets done. I don’t remember Sikma’s outrage over Republican trash talk about Benghazi just moments after the tragedy:

Policy debates will come in the wake of the killing spree as elected officials and citizens look to prevent a repeat of the tragedy. But on the day of the tragedy it would have been utterly appropriate for both sides of the gun debate to set aside their thoughts, their opinions, and offer the deepest and most sincere condolences to those suffering. Immediately using for political purposes the suffering and heartache of an entire community looking for comfort amidst a heart wrenching tragedy is classless and disrespectful.

Media Trackers and Sikma ride the low road often, but this, at the expense of 20 first graders, is their lowest. 

JB Van Hollen wants Armed Officers in Schools and Bushmaster AR15 an ASSAULT RIFLE!!

I'm fed up with the press trying NOT to say "assault rifle" when talking about the school shooting. Where did they pickup this ridiculous and mindless disclaimer?

jsonline: State Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen questioned passing new gun control laws … said some had taken a “knee-jerk” reaction … said he wasn’t convinced proposals to ban such weapons, often referred to as “assault rifles,” would have made any difference in this case.

“Often referred to...?” The AR is short for assault rifle.

I want to buy into anything people can show me will reasonably reduce horrible senseless acts of violence like this,” Van Hollen said.

It’s not reasonable to ban a weapon, which would take that weapon over time, off the street. Is that reasonable? Until then, what we have now is working? Or should we wait till we change the subject?

But J.B would rather turn schools, what used to be a safe haven for kids, into security compounds so gun nuts can caress their hobby:

The attorney said policy-makers should look at the possibility of spending the money needed to put armed police officers in schools and at limiting the access of firearms to the mentally ill.

How would we have limited access to the mentally ill in the Newtown tragedy, take the mothers guns away? 

The Newtown Truth.

West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, in my eyes, is a Democrat in name only. So it’s sad when a conservative like Manchin makes a statement that sums up the way the nation feels right now about the Newtown tragedy. It’s powerful:

Politico: West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin — who has an “A” rating from the NRA and is a lifetime member of the pro-gun rights group — said Monday that it was time to “move beyond rhetoric” on gun control.

“I think opening up and seeing a massacre like this, of innocent children, it’s changed things,” Manchin said. “It’s changed America.”

“Never before have we seen our babies slaughtered,” he added. “It’s never happened in America that I can recall, ever seeing this type of carnage. Anybody, anybody that lives in America, anybody that’s a proud gun owner, anyone that’s a proud member of the NRA, they’re also proud parents, they’re proud grandparents. They understand this has changed where we go from here.”

What can be done, what works? Here's something from Slate about the Australia solution:

On April 28, 1996, a gunman opened fire on tourists in a seaside resort in Port Arthur, Tasmania. By the time he was finished, he had killed 35 people and wounded 23 more. It was the worst mass murder in Australia’s history. Twelve days later, Australia’s government did something remarkable; it announced a bipartisan deal with state and local governments to enact sweeping gun-control measures. A decade and a half hence, the results of these policy changes are clear: They worked really, really well.

At the heart of the push was a massive buyback of more than 600,000 semi-automatic shotguns and rifles, or about one-fifth of all firearms in circulation in Australia. The country’s new gun laws prohibited private sales, required that all weapons be individually registered to their owners, and required that gun buyers present a “genuine reason” for needing each weapon at the time of the purchase. (Self-defense did not count.) In the wake of the tragedy, polls showed public support for these measures at upwards of 90 percent.

What happened next has been the subject of several academic studies. Violent crime and gun-related deaths did not come to an end in Australia, of course. But as the Washington Post’s Wonkblog pointed out in August, homicides by firearm plunged 59 percent between 1995 and 2006, with no corresponding increase in non-firearm-related homicides. The drop in suicides by gun was even steeper: 65 percent. Studies found a close correlation between the sharp declines and the gun buybacks. Robberies involving a firearm also dropped significantly. Meanwhile, home invasions did not increase, contrary to fears that firearm ownership is needed to deter such crimes. But here’s the most stunning statistic. In the decade before the Port Arthur massacre, there had been 11 mass shootings in the country. There hasn’t been a single one in Australia since.