Good for the goose but not for the gander

On December 22nd, The Journal News in an area just outside of New York City published an interactive map of those people in that area holding handgun permits. By clicking on the dots on the map, you could identify the name and address of the people with these permits. As the newspaper said in its piece, “Map: Where are the gun permits in your neighborhood?”, the data does not include owners of rifles or shotguns which can be purchased without a permit. It also “does not mean the individual at a specific location owns a weapon, just that they are licensed to do so.”

The gun fetishists went nuts.

“It’s an invasion of privacy!” they cried.

“It violates my rights!” they whined.

“It’s puts people in danger!” they warned.

Watching them fall all over themselves to put their 2nd Amendment rights above the 1st Amendment rights of the newspaper to share public information has been very illuminating.

Much more after the jump.

Hypocrisy is rarely so clearly on display

Last week at his press conference (where, by the way, he didn’t take a single question), National Gun Fetishists Association (NRA) Executive Vice Chair Wayne LaPierre castigated the federal government for its inaction on forming a national registry for the mentally ill.

It’s an appalling demostration of hypocrisy given that what he didn’t mention is that his group has been actively fighting AGAINST a similar registry of gun registrations in this country.

Aye, aye, aye…

Gun fetishists are in complete freakout mode right now because they realize that the rest of the country is no longer buying their tripe about the evil unconstitutionality of controlling guns and ammunition in this country. They are so mindless about this that they have latched onto one of the weirdest reasons imaginable for not passing any gun laws.

I’m going to try to explain this but, I’ll be frank, their “logic” is anything but logical. If you don’t follow it, that’s completely understandable.

Up is down. War is peace.

NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre just went on national television to tell the country that “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.” In other words, the only solution to gun violence is gun fights.

More about the discussion of gun fetishism as a mental illness after the jump.

This isn’t about the right to bear arms, it’s about the right to be a freak

Have a look at this Bushmaster ad for their semi-automatic rifles:

In any sort of rational debate about gun control, we would be facing the fact that the most extreme elements of the “stop any restrictions on gun ownership ever at all the end” crowd are, at the end of the day, gun fetishists.

Period.

Much more after the jump.

The time for this conversation is NOW

Early yesterday morning, just hours before the horrific mass shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, the Republican-led Michigan legislature passed S.B. 59, a bill that would allow concealed weapons in public schools, churches, and day care centers. Aware of the backlash that was likely to occur after the Connecticut shooting less than 10 hours later, Michigan Republicans released an astonishing statement on their Facebook page.

That statement and a discussion of the issue of gun control laws after the jump.

It IS impressive…

If you thought the speed with which Michigan Republicans went to chit chatting about making Michigan a Right to Work for Less state and actually accomplishing that was impressive, you should keep watching because they aren’t done yet, not by a long shot. The frantic pace continued yesterday, just one day after they kicked unions to the curb and brought a record number of people to the Capitol to protest.

Read about the four major pieces of legislation that passed in the House after the jump.

Let your voice be heard

Last week, I wrote about Senate Bill 59 in my piece “Michigan Republicans move to make guns easier to get, permit concealed weapons in churches, schools, bars, & stadiums”. S.B. 59 will allow the carrying of concealed weapons in schools, churches, bars, daycares, college dorms, hospitals and stadiums. If made into law, this bill would allow those with a concealed pistol license to carry a concealed pistol in no-carry zones if they complete an additional course.

Rev. Eric A. Stone from the St. Luke’s United Methodist Church in Essexville, Michigan has put up a SignOn.org petition to fight this dangerous legislation.

Details after the jump.

What could go wrong???

Michigan Republicans are moving forward with a couple of bills that will make it easier to get handguns in our state and to ease restrictions on where concealed weapons may be carried.

Apparently, one of Michigan’s biggest problems is that it’s just too damned inconvenient to get a gun and who wouldn’t want concealed weapons in churches, schools, bars, and stadiums?

Details and more after the jump.