Clinging to Guns

This is becoming an epidemic!
Guns, Hate and Economic Depression Don't Mix!

Washington Father Kills Five Children, Himself (Lost Job)
Binghamton NY Shooter Distraught over Job Loss (Lost Job)
NY Shooter Had Frequent Gun Purchases (Loved Guns)

Pittsburgh Gunman Kills 3 Police Officers
A gunman wearing a bulletproof vest and "lying in wait" opened fire on officers responding to a domestic disturbance call Saturday, killing three of them and turning a quiet Pittsburgh street into a battlefield, police said.

Police Chief Nate Harper said the motive for the shooting isn't clear, but friends said the gunman recently had been upset about losing his job and feared the Obama administration was poised to ban guns.
Richard Poplawski: A White Supremacist Radical

Could this surge in Gun buying and violence have anything to do with the Right-Wing anti-Obama Scare Tactics:
NRA, Glenn Beck Warn of Insidious Obama Plot to to "Grab Our Guns"
What a Killer Was Watching (Hint: Fox News & Glenn Beck)
Gun Nuts Panic About Obama

What Latest Gun Killings Have in Common: "Legal" Gun Permits!
Why are U.S. lawmakers buckling under to the NRA and Gun Lobby?

Brady Campaign: New York Mass Killing Latest Wakeup Call For Nation

Terrorist Opens Fire on TN Church

2 Dead, 7 Hurt in Tenn. Church Shooting
KNOXVILLE, Tennessee (AP) — A gunman opened fire at a church youth performance Sunday and killed two people, including a man who witnesses called a hero for shielding others from a shotgun blast.
Seven adults were also injured but no children were harmed at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church. Church members said they dove under pews or ran from the building when the shooting started.

The gunman was tackled by congregants and eventually taken into police custody.

Jim D. Adkisson, 58, was charged with first-degree murder and was being held on $1 million bail, according to city spokesman Randy Kenner, who did not know if the suspect had retained an attorney. Authorities were searching Adkisson's home in the Knoxville bedroom community of Powell, Kenner said.

WBIR.COM: Attack details
The man slain was identified as Greg McKendry, 60, a longtime church member and usher. Church member Barbara Kemper told The Associated Press that McKendry "stood in the front of the gunman and took the blast to protect the rest of us."

Linda Kreager, 61, died at the University of Tennessee Medical Center a few hours after the shooting, Knoxville city spokesman Randall Kenner said.

Five people remained hospitalized, all in critical or serious condition. Two others were treated and released.

The gunman's motive is not yet known. The church, like many other Unitarian Universalist churches, promotes progressive social work, such as desegregation and fighting for the rights of women and gays. The Knoxville congregation has provided sanctuary for political refugees, fed the homeless and founded a chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, according to its website.

Kemper said the gunman shouted before he opened fire.

"It was hateful words. He was saying hateful things," she said, but refused to elaborate.

The FBI was assisting in the case in case it turns out be a hate crime, Police Chief Sterling Owen said.
----

Since this was a "liberal" (Unitarian Univerasalist) Church that helped the poor, homeless, immigrants and gays, I can just imagine the "hateful" things the gunmen said..

UPDATE:
YEP, He Was Angry Over Liberals, Gays & Work

Obama was right! Some people are turning to "gods & guns" because they are "bitter" about the economic distress they suffer as a result of right-wing (Reaganomics) policies, but they blame liberals, blacks, immigrants and gays!

"Activist" Supreme Court Judges Overturn D.C. Gun Ban

The NRA and Gun Nuts across the U.S. are celebrating the horrible Supreme Court Decision on Guns today.

In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court overturned the Washington D.C. ban on handguns, ruling that the Second Amendment (which clearly refers to a "well regulated militia"!), guarantees individuals the right to own firearms for "security." Remember, conservatives usually argue that the Constitution should be interpreted LITERALLY according to the "original intent" of the authors, but NOT in the case of guns and the second amendment. The authors clearly were addressing the right of the states to have MILITIAS (since they opposed a standing national military in peace time). Only "activist" judges could re-interpret the Second Amendment to affirm a right for individuals to own semi-automatic weapons or handguns!

As expected, most politicians, Democrat and Republican, praised the decision so as not to offend the gun nuts.

There is only one national organization trying to fight the NRA's takeover of the United States, The Brady Campaign, along with most law enforcement groups and many mayors across the country.

Here's the statement of the Brady Campaign on the Supreme Court Ruling

UPDATE:
More Than Half Firearm Deaths are Suicides:
* Suicides accounted for 55 petcent of 31,000 firearm deaths in 2005 in the U.S.
* More gun-related suicides than homocides and accidents in 20 of last 25 years.
* Research shows if gun in homes, higher likelihood of suicide or homocide in the home

NRA Gathering Ammo Against Obama
No matter how much Obama or any Democratic presidential candidate says they support the "right to bear arms", the NRA will convince millions of gun nuts that he/she is out to take away their guns.

Gun Control: Let the Debate Begin

Hillary Attacks Obama on Guns!

Here's ANOTHER example of how Hillary Clinton is trying to run to the RIGHT of Barack Obama by appealing to those "bitter" working class voters who cling to God & Guns!

Clinton Drops Indiana Mailer Attacking Obama on Guns

Does Annie Oakley really believe the gun nuts are going to believe anything she says about guns?

Another School Shooting: Why?

The Northern Illinois University Shooting should put gun control back into the U.S. political discussion, but both parties ignore the problem of guns and pander to the gun nuts, the NRA, and the gun lobby.

Steve Kazmierczak, the shooter who killed at least 6 people at North Illinois University, used the same website as the Virginia Tech shooter, Seung-Hui who purchased a gun to kill 32 people at that school.

Gun violence and mass kills are almost daily news:

Virginia Tech, the Omaha mall shooting, Colorado church shooting, the Missouri City Hall shooting, as well as the three other school shootings — in the last week — in Louisiana, Tennessee, and California

Also, this week: In an apparent hate crime, a Gay Teen Shot in the Head, Declared Brain Dead. Lawrence King, a 15 year old transgender boy, was shot by 14 year-old Brandon McInerney. Where did a 14 year old get a handgun?

Why is it so easy for people, even people with mental problems, to buy handguns and assault weapons in the U.S.? Why won't our political leaders, especially the so-called "progressive" ones, stand up to the NRA and gun lobby?

Let's STOP THE NRA!

Spineless Politicians Won't Stand Up to NRA

Our spineless DEMOCRATIC leaders are unwilling, even after another "largest massacre in U.S. History" by a mentally ill person with semi-automatic weapons purchased LEGALLLY, to stand up to the NRA and the gun industry profiteers. CNN says Gun Control Unlikely to Get on the Agenda Despite The Shootings, Senate Majority "Leader" Harry Reid Warns Against Rush to Gun Control. We have such spineless political "leaders" in the U.S.

And the few gun laws politicians do throw out, like background checks and waiting periods, are not enough to stop the LEGAL purchase of the semiautomatic weapons that allow people to kill 30 people in a matter of minutes. The guns the VA Tech killer used were bought LEGALLY, under current laws. There is no way to stop people like him, withouth crimninal records or any officially recognized "mental illness", from legally buying weapons of mass destruction, designed for the sole purpose of killing other human beings, quickly and efficiently. In addition to doing a better job of detecting and addressing mental problems, we have to BAN the legal purchase of these kind of weapons which have NO legitimate sporting purpose, and we can do so WITHOUT infringing on the "rights" of hunters and sportsmen to have hunting rifles. Why is everyone bending over backwards to kiss the asses of the gun nuts in this country???

Not Again: VA Tech Massacre (Stop the NRA!)

It's happened again, each time the death toll gets higher. Over 30 people killed in the VA Tech Massacre. How many more will die needlessly before our political "leaders" (Democrats and Republicans) stand up to the NRA and the gun lobby that funds them and profits from the culture of guns and violence? When will our media (movies, music & video games,etc.) quit glorifying guns and violence? The NRA is little more than the lobbying arm of the gun industry. It pays politicians, mostly Republican, millions of dollars a year to stop or weaken meaningful gun laws. The groups opposing the NRA have dwindled down to ONE: Handgun Control which is now under the umbrella of the Brady Campaign to Stop Gun Violence Go there for more information on gun violence, the gun lobby, the myth of the Second Amendment, and to join and get involved with the campaign to STOP THE NRA! If you haven't seen it yet, or even if you have, now would be a good time to buy or rent Michael Moore's excellent film on gun violence in the U.S. : Bowling for Columbine
No the problem is not JUST guns, but guns and gun control is a big part of the problem. There are cultural issues and mental health issues, etc.. as well, but can we at least get some sensible gun control laws?