There is zero incentive for firearms manufacturers to not actively hope their specific make and model product is what was used in a massacre. Sales always spike.
— zeddy (@Zeddary) June 5, 2022
Three separate mass shootings across the country yesterday killed at least 7 people and injured 36 others. https://t.co/nNJAFjNOg6
— Axios (@axios) June 5, 2022
44% of Republicans say mass shootings are something we have to accept in a free society. https://t.co/zkFgGTMgdS
— Margaret Brennan (@margbrennan) June 5, 2022
Medium Cool with BGinCHI – The Rise of Fascism!
JMG
When coronavirus hit in 2020, gun sales soared, because of course a firearm is needed to shoot a deadly virus. In 2022, as I understand it, the reason most people are mad at Biden is the price of gasoline. According to that Georgia gun store owner, that’s why you need a gun. To rob filling stations I suppose. Do those buyers feel safer? I doubt it. It just makes them have more vivid fantasies of shooting the people on TV they think are the reason their lives suck.
Baud
I thought it stood for Asshole Rifle.
Baud
That’s about 10% of the U.S. population. It’s actually much lower than I would have expected given how crazy the GOP is.
schrodingers_cat
We had a nominating convention for Mass Dems yesterday. Many contested statewide races this year so that was exciting
Lighthouse from Johanna Basford’s Flourish.
Last time I shared it in a dying thread.
Baud
@schrodingers_cat:
What is a nominating convention?
Alison Rose
*glances in the general direction of basically every other “free society” on the planet
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: Mass Democratic delegates elected from all the towns of MA nominate candidates who go on the primary ballot.
Candidates need
>15% to go on the ballot
> 50% to be endorsed by the convention
There are 5 contested primaries this year
Governor
Lt. Governor
AG
Auditor
Secretary of the Commonwealth
Steep’s Helper
@schrodingers_cat:
How about a nice apostrophe for your nym?
Baud
@schrodingers_cat:
Oh interesting. I thought people just got signatures to get on the ballot. Maybe that’s other places. Anything noteworthy happen?
Aziz, light!
It’s not hardcore fascists getting elected that worries me, it’s the prospect of their followers shooting any Democratic leaders and government officials they believe it is their patriotic duty to kill.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: They have to get 10,000 signatures to get on the convention ballot
I was one of the 3 delegates from my town, I was wooed by the candidates, it was like being in high school. My phone was ringing off the hook. I attended virtually. Did my research on the candidates, asked them questions, attended Zooms etc.
All the candidates I voted for ended up on the ballot
2 were nominated by the Convention too.
So not exciting in general but exciting for me to watch democracy in action and participate in it.
Suzanne
I don’t even want to accept Republicans in a free society at this point.
I am afraid everywhere I go now. I just got back from Philly on Friday. On Saturday, there was a mass shooting only a few blocks from my office.
Baud
@Suzanne:
The Philly shooting, or was there one in Pittsburgh?
Mike in NC
@JMG: Well, Trump wanted to try to nuke a hurricane.
debbie
This country has lost its fucking mind.
Raven
@Baud: Philly
Tony G
“Anecdotes are not data”, as the kids say, but here’s my anecdote. Back in 2012 I was employed at an IBM software support office in East Fishkill, New York. That’s only about 50 miles north of New York City, but culturally it might as well have been Idaho. A lot of guys who were nice enough in everyday encounters, and who were smart enough to code, but who really loved, with a passion, their semi-automatic rifles with high-capacity magazines. The year 2012 was the year of two of the worst mass shootings in our sordid history — the one in Aurora, Colorado and the one in Sandy Hook. The reaction of my meathead co-workers, needless to say, was to buy more guns and ammunition (while loudly bragging about it). They were very concerned, you see, that the Kenyan usurper Obama would start grabbing their guns, so they stocked up ahead of time. In hindsight, these boneheads (and others like them) explain how Trump was elected in 2016.
Tony G
@Suzanne: Clearly the problem was that South Street in Philadelphia should have been covered with bullet-proof armor with a single locked door. That would have prevented the shooting.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: It was an antidote to all the negativity on the leftie blogs and Twitter. There are a lot of good people doing good things and putting themselves out there. (I am talking about the candidates, even the ones I didn’t vote for)
patrick II
I moved back to the Chicago area this year and was listening to a local news radio report this past Thursday.
First story. Covid is on the uptake in Chicago and one of the radio stations offices has had a local outbreak. Everyone is sick or very sick, but no one has been so sick that they have been hospitalized or died. Except perhaps for one guy who they haven’t heard from for a week.
Second story. A police officer and his dog were shot while serving a warrant. They both made it after heroic action by the officer to drive his dog to the hospital.
Third story. (carried over from the day before) An officer’s condition has been changed from critical to serious after she had been shot at a traffic stop the day before. When the police put on their flashers the other car at first stopped, but then took off. As the officers prepared to chase after, the car u-turned, returned and fired at the officer driving the car. After the officer in the passengers seat moved her out of the seat and drove her to a hospital at high speed, likely saving her life.
Fourth story. At the funeral of a gang member, seventeen people were wounded when a passing car opened fire on the crowd exiting the funeral service. The crowd returned fire and the car sped off, crashing two blocks away. Two suspects ran off and have not yet been captured.
I really can’t think of an appropriate summation.
f
Baud
@schrodingers_cat:
I can believe it. Goodness doesn’t seem to get engagement. Seeing real people is always more inspiring.
Matt McIrvin
44% of Republicans figure it probably won’t be someone like them who gets shot.
dexwood
@Baud: Asshole’s Rifle works better.
mrmoshpotato
@schrodingers_cat: Very nice.
MagdaInBlack
@Baud: From this point on, it will to me.
O. Felix Culpa
@schrodingers_cat: I did that in NM too. My first was pre-covid, so in person and high energy. It was a fascinating learning experience. I had no idea previously how the whole state party thing worked and, in fact, I had never heard of nominating conventions before. It’s cool to be part of the grassroots selection process. (And you’re right about being wooed by candidates as if in high school.)
ETA: Good for you for getting involved in local politics. I didn’t even know how it was done until reaching…a certain age. Pro-tip for others: it’s a lot easier to get involved in the local Democratic Party than you’d think. First thing is to show up. Second thing is to be willing to do a little work. Third thing is to continue showing up and doing a little work. :)
MagdaInBlack
My childhood friend in the tiny town of Sheridan, Il, has twice in the last few years had her family touched by gun violence.
One was a mass shooting in Aurora, IL, in which a close friend of her grandson was killed. The other was her DIL’s ex brother-in-law killing his in laws. That trial just ended and he won’t be getting out of prison ever
Eta: my friend sat through every day of that trial, her son and dil both testified. I cant imagine.
schrodingers_cat
@O. Felix Culpa: This was hybrid. I was considering going but since I am going to be traveling soon I thought it was best not to risk a large in person gathering.
schrodingers_cat
@O. Felix Culpa: I decided to get involved after the Orange Ogre was elected. His election was a rude awakening to me. I was happy being a GC holder before he was elected.
oatler
“Have you heard the news?” he said, with a grin
“The Vice-President’s gone mad!”
“Where?” “Downtown.” “When?” “Last night”
“Hmm, say, that’s too bad!”
“Well, there’s nothin’ we can do about it,” said the neighbor
“It’s just somethin’ we’re gonna have to forget”
“Yes, I guess so,” said Ma
schrodingers_cat
@mrmoshpotato: Thanks!
O. Felix Culpa
@schrodingers_cat: Same. The horror of the tangerine tyrant’s “election” propelled me to get involved. Long story, but I ended up as county party chair. Be careful, or that might happen to you too. ;)
Suzanne
@Baud: The Philly shooting was close to my office. There was also a Pittsburgh shooting, though.
Dangerman
I wonder what percentage of Republicans would support “a progressive tax rate is the price you pay to live in a free society”…
…”or making Election Day Tuesday a paid National Holiday to get more people to vote is the price you pay to live in a free society”…
…or “choice is the price you have to pay to live in a free society”.
Yeah, I thought so.
Another Scott
@patrick II: We’ve been here before, unfortunately. I hope that lawmakers learn the right lessons of the past.
I got to thinking about the old “Saturday Night Specials” – really cheap handguns – and how they were addressed in the past. This piece at Firearmslaw.Duke.edu argues that attempting to ban guns with “arbitrary” characteristics is much more difficult now than then.
Easy solution!
Regulate and tax the hell out of them. You want eleventy-seven semi-automatic rifles and ammo for them? Fill out these forms, pay these excise taxes, …, and we’ll see.
Maybe MS-13 and the Chicago, LA, and NYC gangs should be encouraged to buy memberships at Mar-a-lago and Pebble Beach and Augusta and … Maybe fellow members will feel a little more urgency about urging their lawmaker buddies to address the American gun problem then.
Grr…,
Scott.
Chetan Murthy
@Another Scott:
Wasn’t it Chris Rock who said “it’s easy: just tax the fucking bullets” ? A gunhumper can make his own reloads, I guess, and inhale enough lead fumes to make him permanently brain-damaged, probably die early, I guess.
Another Scott
@Chetan Murthy: Yup. Bullet Control (1:17)
Cheers,
Scott.
opiejeanne
@oatler: What is that? Oh, Bob Dylan.
bbleh
44% of Republicans is like 21% of the country, which is about the usual proportion of authoritarian revanchists in industrial societies. (Our unusually heavy elderly population has swung us more so recently, but I’d doubt that extends to acceptance of mass violence.) I wouldn’t be at all surprised if similar questions, appropriately worded for other societies (maybe something about “cleansing” or “tradition” that doesn’t involve guns) got similar levels of approval.
There are large numbers of violent and totally self-absorbed people in every society who cannot be reasoned with. Things tend not to turn out well when they manage to take over (see, e.g., Germany in the 1930s-40s). The challenge is to keep them from destabilizing everything. And since they’re outnumbered around 4-1, that oughta be do-able, with the right leadership.
Biden’s speech was pretty damn good IMO. Sorta still looking for other leadership-type things to say something similar about…
Nettoyeur
In Germany, families have to have liability insurance to pay for damages, like when your kid breaks a window or your dog bites the mailman. In the US, you pretty much have to have liability insurance for your car. So let’s extend that. And for those you say ‘but mah freedumb”, I ‘ll give the example of the new Tennessee law making it illegal to camp on public land. Homeless people living in parks are now liable to get thrown in jail for three years. In other words, we have passed a law making utter poverty illegal. (we will see how that holds up to legal challenges.) If we can do that, surely we can make people liable for what damage their pets, kids, and guns cause.
JoyceH
@Aziz, light!:
This fellow who shot the judge and had a ‘hit list’ – the hit list sounds like it was all people involved in his previous criminal history, judges and DAs and the like, and political figures. I’m gonna predict right now – the thing that all the politicians on the list have in common will turn out to be that they were all publicly criticized by Trump.
Doc Sardonic
God Damn these fuckers…..I never, ever, wanted to carry again. But like an old, comfortable lover, my load out beckons
prostratedragon
@JoyceH: Your last sentence might explain why McConnell was reported to be on the list.
Tony Jay
@Dangerman:
That would be a nice line for Democrats to take.
“Republicans want society to pay the price for their ‘freedoms’.”
“Democrats want you to enjoy the benefits of a free society.”
I’m sure someone could tidy that up and get it on a bumper sticker.
Lacuna Synecdoche
Anne Laurie @ Top:
How sad is it that I’m actually surprised it’s that low? I expected it to be around 75% +/- 8.
Geminid
@Lacuna Synecdoche: Virginia does not register by party, but the Wason Center regularly polls registered voters and asks pollees to self-identify. The last poll I saw had Republicans at 28%. So the 44% of Republicans who say we have to accept mass shootings would constitute 12-13% of people here. There are probably some self-described Independents who believe this too, but over all it’s definitely a small minority.