Some facts related to Violence In America:
The Congressional Research Service in 2009 estimated there were 310 million firearms in the United States, not including weapons owned by the military. 114 million of these were handguns, 110 million were rifles, and 86 million were shotguns. In that same year, the Census bureau stated the population of people in America at 305,529,237. Data analysis of crime gun databases showed that 70% of guns recovered at crime scenes in Virgina were purchased within one year of the crime, suggesting that in some cases guns are purchased with the intent to commit a crime or murder
In 2009, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 66.9% of all homicides in the United States were perpetrated using a firearm.There were 52,447 deliberate and 23,237 accidental non-fatal gunshot injuries in the United States during 2000. Two-thirds of all gun-related deaths in the United States are suicides. In 2010, there were 19,392 firearm-related suicide deaths, and 11,078 firearm-related homicide deaths in the United States.
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At least eleven assassination attempts with firearms have been made on U.S. presidents (over one-fifth of all presidents); four were successful, three with handguns and one with a rifle.
Assassination of President Abraham Lincoln
Shooting of President William McKinley in 1901
Semi-automatic versions of the AK-47 assault rifle
Americans for Responsible Solutions was started in January 2013 as a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to "encourage elected officials to stand up for solutions to prevent gun violence and protect responsible gun ownership by communicating directly with the constituents that elect them." The organization was announced on January 8, 2013 by Gabrielle "Gabby" Giffords, a former Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives for Arizona's 8th congressional district, and her husband Mark Kelly, a retired American astronaut. In an op-ed published in USA Today, Gifford and Kelly referred to the NRA lobby and sought to counter it by creating a lobby dedicated to responsible gun control measures.
I like the response of George Will concerning toy guns being given to children: "Some parents say it is toy guns that make boys warlike. But give a boy a rubber duck and he will seize its neck like the butt of a pistol and shout "Bang!"
My last thoughts (as of today) on the subject:
Where the Americans for Responsible Solutions organization seems on the surface to be a sensible undertaking, I can't help falling back onto my basic belief: A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.
Please Children of this century . . . never forget that. And never forget that every new bill passed into law restricting gun ownership, although seemingly innocent on its face, still becomes a "foot in the door" for later embellishments and additional laws that are not so innocent, and can be acted upon by future governmental leaders whose aims and motives are 'not' so innocent.
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HISTORICAL CLIP
On February 21, 1965, one week after his home was firebombed, Malcolm X was shot to death by Nation of Islam members while speaking at a rally of his organization in New York City.
Born Malcolm Little in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1925, Malcolm was the son of James Earl Little, a Baptist preacher who advocated the black nationalist ideals of Marcus Garvey. Threats from the Ku Klux Klan forced the family to move to Lansing, Michigan, where his father continued to preach his controversial sermons despite continuing threats. In 1931, Malcolm's father was brutally murdered by the white supremacist Black Legion, and Michigan authorities refused to prosecute those responsible. In 1937, Malcolm was taken from his family by welfare caseworkers. By the time he reached high school age, he had dropped out of school and moved to Boston, where he became increasingly involved in criminal activities.
In 1946, at the age of 21, Malcolm was sent to prison on a burglary conviction. It was there he encountered the teachings of Elijah Muhammad, the leader of the Nation of Islam, whose members are popularly known as Black Muslims. Muhammad's teachings had a strong effect on Malcolm, who entered into an intense program of self-education and took the last name "X" to symbolize his stolen African identity.
After six years, Malcolm was released from prison and became a loyal and effective minister of the Nation of Islam in Harlem, New York. In contrast with civil rights leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X advocated self-defense and the liberation of African Americans "by any means necessary."
In the early 1960s, he began to develop a more outspoken philosophy than that of Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm formally left the organization and made a Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, where he was profoundly affected by the lack of racial discord among orthodox Muslims. He returned to America as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz and in June 1964 founded the Organization of Afro-American Unity, which advocated black identity and held that racism, not the white race, was the greatest foe of the African American. Malcolm's new movement steadily gained followers, and his more moderate philosophy became increasingly influential in the civil rights movement, especially among the leaders of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee.
Malcolm X was shot to death on February 21, 1965.
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WORD FOR TODAY
firearm
noun
A weapon, especially a pistol or rifle, capable of firing a projectile and using an explosive charge as a propellant.
A firearm is a weapon that launches one projectile or more at high velocity through the confined burning of a propellant. In older firearms, the propellant was typically black powder, but modern firearms use smokeless powder or other propellants. Most modern firearms have rifled barrels to impart spin to the projectile for improved flight stability.
Born Feb 21, 1955
Age: 57 years old
Age: 57 years old
Kelsey Grammer is an American actor and comedian. Grammer is most widely known for his two-decade portrayal of psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane on the hit NBC sitcoms Cheers, Wings, and Frasier. He has won five Emmy Awards, and has also worked as a television producer, director, writer, and as a voice artist.
Born Feb 21, 1934
Died June 3, 2010
Died June 3, 2010
Rue McClanahan was an American actress, best known for her roles on television as Vivian Harmon on Maude, Fran Crowley on Mama's Family, and Blanche Devereaux on The Golden Girls, for which she won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in 1987.
Born Feb 21, 1963
Age: 49 years old
Age: 49 years old
William Joseph "Billy" Baldwin is an American actor, producer, writer, brother of Alec Baldwin, known for his starring roles in such films as Flatliners (1990), Backdraft (1991), Sliver (1993), Fair Game (1995), Virus (1999), Double Bang (2001), as Johnny 13 in Danny Phantom (2004–2007), Art Heist (2004), The Squid and the Whale (2005), as himself in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, as Senator Patrick Darling in the TV drama Dirty Sexy Money (2007–2009) on ABC, Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths (2010), and now Baldwin is currently a regular guest on Gossip Girl as William van der Woodsen and Parenthood as Gordon Flint.
Born Feb 21, 1946
Age: 66 years old
Age: 66 years old
Ellen Tyne Daly is an American stage and screen actress, widely known for her work as Detective Mary Beth Lacey in the television series Cagney & Lacey and as Maxine Gray in the television series Judging Amy. She is also known for her role as Alice Henderson in the television series Christy. She has won six Emmy Awards for her television work and the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical in Gypsy: A Musical Fable in 1989.
Daly appeared in John and Mary (1969), the movie adaptation of Play It As It Lays (1972), and The Adulteress. She was cast as Inspector Harry Callahan's first female partner, Kate Moore, in the 1976 Dirty Harry film The Enforcer.
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After a shooting spree, they always want to take the guns away from the people who didn't do it. I sure as hell wouldn't want to live in a society where the only people allowed guns are the police and the military.
--William S. Burroughs
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