tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post984387860099103632..comments2024-03-17T20:04:18.872-05:00Comments on Indomitable | The online home of Chauncey DeVega: Is Santa Claus Giving All the Good Little Boys and Girls Guns for Christmas? Richard Slotkin and Lt. Colonel Robert Bateman Team Up to Give the Gun Right Coal in Their Stockings One Year After the Sandy Hook MassacreLady Zora, Chauncey DeVega, and Gordon Gartrellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09138154899923808806noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-60184430406402739942013-12-22T15:13:58.235-06:002013-12-22T15:13:58.235-06:00There should be a collector's license clause. ...There should be a collector's license clause. But, it would have to be carefully written and defined so that folks who just want to have arsenals of prohibited weapons don't abuse the loophole.chauncey devegahttp://wearerespectablenegroes.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-41468217230091373792013-12-22T15:12:37.217-06:002013-12-22T15:12:37.217-06:00Yup. Which is why I say folks should join the Nati...Yup. Which is why I say folks should join the National Guard. There is a standing military now in the U.S.. If you want to join up have at it. If it actually serves to "protect" our liberties is doubtful at this point. But that is a separate conversation.chauncey devegahttp://wearerespectablenegroes.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-90404973662261584062013-12-20T16:55:33.412-06:002013-12-20T16:55:33.412-06:00We have to be precise here.
1. Scalia and other ...We have to be precise here.<br /><br /><br />1. Scalia and other strict constructionist types believe that we should take the framers at their word. Of course, on guns this does not apply. The framers said "militia" intentionally. Today's militia is the national guard.<br /><br /><br />2. Muskets are muskets. The framers were writing about weapons that could be fired by trained users about 3 or so times a minute, maybe a bit faster later in the 19th c. They were not writing about assault rifles which are a specific class of weapons developed at the end of ww2 whose current versions include the m16, ak or their "civilian" equivalents. Those weapons are order of magnitude more powerful.<br /><br /><br />3. What if the constitution said each person was allowed one knight and horse? those were the "tanks" of their day. by implication would you reasonably argue that each citizen should be allowed an abrams series mbt?<br /><br /><br />4. We have talked about the af-am tradition of self-defense and guns on the podcast. We also talked about the Gun Right's fixation on distracting language such as "assault rifles" vs. "semi-automatic rifles" and the silliness of that talking point. Do check them out. <br /><br /><br />No one is talking about machine guns. That is another distraction thrown out their by the Gun Right.<br /><br /><br />I also have a great guest coming on in the new year who has written extensively about the af-am tradition of armed self-defense in the context of Jim and Jane Crow.<br /><br /><br />Should be a great talk.chauncey devegahttp://wearerespectablenegroes.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-5394356109633230662013-12-20T08:29:06.749-06:002013-12-20T08:29:06.749-06:00Nikki Giovanni was on DemocracyNow! on Monday (12/...Nikki Giovanni was on DemocracyNow! on Monday (12/16/13). Regarding Obama's statement on the anniversary of the Sandy Hook massacre, she had an excellent retort:<br />Obama: And on this anniversary of a day we will never forget, that’s the example we should continue to follow, because we haven’t yet done enough to make our communities and our country safer. We have to do more to keep dangerous people from getting their hands on a gun so easily. We <br />have to do more to heal troubled minds. We have to do everything we can to protect our children from harm and make them feel loved and valued and cared for. And as we do, we can’t lose sight of the fact that real <br />change won’t come from Washington. It will come the way it’s always come: from you, from the American people.<br /><br />GIOVANNI: I think we need leadership. I thought that was a pitiful statement the president made. Washington certainly does make changes, and usually <br />they’re negative changes. Washington says take off your shoes before you can get on an airplane. Or Washington says we’re only going to have, you know, so much fluoride. Washington makes changes. So why is it, when it comes to gun control, all of a sudden it’s "We need the American people"? No, we need leadership. We need the president, and we need our <br />senators, we need the people who care, to be as strong in their views as the NRA is strong about wanting every American on Earth to have a gun.<br />Obviously guns are a bad idea. They’re an idea<br /> of the 18th and 19th century. They’re just not a 20, 21st century thing. You know, they’re just not necessary. It’s just not the way we do that. And we need leadership. And I’m tired of watching the people that say they care bow down to the people that we know don’t.<br /><br />Watch or read the entire interview here: http://www.democracynow.org/2013/12/16/nikki_giovanni_on_1_year_since<br /><br />and here: http://www.democracynow.org/2013/12/16/nikki_giovanni_on_poetry_grief_andkokaneehttp://www.byebyedemocracy.org/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-33586044200819808462013-12-19T20:52:30.531-06:002013-12-19T20:52:30.531-06:00This is a sad story, but indicative of what this g...This is a sad story, but indicative of what this gun "debate" is really all about:<br /><br />http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/15/newtown-anniversary_n_4446587.html?ref=topbar<br /><br />"In Conway, S.C., Sheila Gaskin is still trying to save enough money for her grandson’s headstone. Last Christmas, 2-year-old Sincere Smith swiped his father’s loaded pistol off a table, and accidentally shot himself in the upper chest. He died hours later from his wound. Gaskin’s visits to her grandson’s bare gravesite are a daily pilgrimage."<br /><br /><br /><br />"Everyone knows where Sincere’s father, Rondell Smith, is. After pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter, he was sentenced in August to five years in prison. Now behind bars, he keeps a journal documenting his grief. Every memory he has of Sincere counts as something to reflect on. He thinks often of driving with Sincere, and looking back at him in the rear-view mirror, he tells HuffPost during a call from prison."<br /><br />What happened here is like so many of these incidents, where they don't charge the parents or whoever the "responsible gun owner" is with a crime, because the thought is that, the "loss of a loved one is punishment enough." To do that is to have empathy for the survivors, including the errant gun owner.<br /><br />But this just goes to show that racism is really ingrained, that a father who is suffering with his loss, as a result of his neglect, as much as this man apparently is, is accorded no such empathy that whites routinely are. When was the last time, or have you ever, heard of anyone white, and most of them are, who are in the same situation, end up in prison? You don't.<br /><br />This also illustrates the dog whistle the term, "responsible gun owner" really is. Its another term for a white person. You cannot be black and be a responsible gun owner. And to say it plainly, they see the intent of the second amendment as giving rights exclusively to white folk to own guns to protect themselves against blacks. Therefore, the second amendment does not exist to protect people like Marissa Alexander, or to define this father as a "responsible gun owner" afforded the empathy to grieve in the wake of an accident like this that caused the death of a loved one.Gable1111noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-745388410253643592013-12-19T09:20:26.846-06:002013-12-19T09:20:26.846-06:00I think there would have to be some modifications ...I think there would have to be some modifications to your "maximum guns per person" idea. My grandfather pointed out to me once that he has 9 guns and never bought one of them. And all of them, including his grandfather's pistol (the rest are shotguns and small rifles), are going to me one day, and these laws would not subject me or someone in my position to any background check, mental evaluation or waiting period. Even though I have no plans to buy myself a gun at any point, at that time I'll be the owner of several guns, and not really wanting to part with any of them for sentimentality's sake. I'd be willing to have some of them rendered inert, but I doubt collectors of antiques or heirlooms would feel the same way I would, as it would turn their historic tool into a mantelpiece, in their eyes. And even I would prefer to keep them intact, as I won't be buying any ammo for them anyway unless I decide to go shoot targets with a .22 for fun.Justin M. Whitenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-34775861631441766212013-12-19T09:13:38.098-06:002013-12-19T09:13:38.098-06:00Why aren't we just calling this the "Shoo...Why aren't we just calling this the "Shoot-em Up Game," as parallel to the "knockout game?"kscoyotenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-23853758369480641262013-12-19T06:01:26.265-06:002013-12-19T06:01:26.265-06:00The almighty framers--sound like superheroes huh--...The almighty framers--sound like superheroes huh--wanted citizens to be equipped w. "modern day muskets", i.e. assault rifles. Will we take the Scalia road when pulse and plasma rifles are developed too? Got to make sure the militia is well-equipped!<br /><br /><br />Hee haw!<br /><br /><br />You know my position. It is shared by others--the modern militia is the national guard. If you want to play soldier join up. Folks can have 2 guns 1 pistol and 1 long rifle. No need for more. The idea that a bunch of individuals running around w. guns are some type of guarantor of civil liberties against the modern warfighting and surveillance power of the state is a joke.chauncey devegahttp://wearerespectablenegroes.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com