More on Gun Safety in the USA (plus Tweets)

by | Feb 27, 2018 | Gun Control, Tweets | 15 comments

As all presidents do after a major school shooting, President Trump has been saying he will make changes. No one seems to believe him though. As a result of that, you’ll find a tweet in the “Political Tweets” section that shows his approval rating is at a new low.

At the moment, the phrase “Gun Safety in the USA” is a bit of an oxymoron. The more I find out about the subject, the more I can’t believe what I’m learning. Almost every gun death is unnecessary and possible to avoid. Some of the changes would be quite simple, although there are always opponents who are able to come up with a reason not to change anything.

Trump is probably sincere in his desire to make things better, but the cynicism of the public on this issue and his own track record make this unlikely. It doesn’t help that he’s proposing stupid things like arming teachers as a solution.

(The link above goes to my last post, which addresses the issue of guns in schools. In the comments reader Peter linked to a Vox article that includes two excellent videos on the subject, both of which I highly recommend. They are:

‘Proof that Concealed Carry permit holders live in a dream world, Part One‘

‘Jordan Klepper: Good Guy with a Gun: The Daily Show‘

There are some other good links in the comments section too from both Peter and others if you are interested in finding out more on the issue of arming teachers.)

In April 2017, President Trump spoke at the NRA annual convention. He told the ecstatic audience that they had a “… true friend in the White House.” Despite that, he is now supporting some gun control measures against the wishes of the NRA. For example, he’s directing Congress to move on banning bump stocks and suggesting a raise in the legal age to purchase guns to 21.

Reagan, Palin, Romney, Obama on gun laws.This is a positive move and on the subject of gun control, Trump could be a hero. A Republican president, especially one as popular with the gun lobby as Trump, can do things that a Democrat never could.

However, whatever Trump says, no one currently believes Congress will act on his recommendations. The response of the Florida state government said it all. Just a few days after the incident they refused to even talk about banning assault rifles. They did ban porn, because it might be damaging to children. But assault rifles apparently don’t damage children?

If you watch the second of the videos linked to above, you will see that virtually anyone in the country can get a Florida conceal carry permit by post with just one day of firearms training. That then entitles that person to carry a concealed firearm in 31 states. I find this outrageous, but then it was Florida who brought us the case of George Zimmerman 6 years ago yesterday (26 Feb 2012). It seems they learnt nothing from that. We learnt that the Florida legislature is prepared to sacrifice children so they can have fun shooting up the place with an AR15.

According to The Hill, Congress has announced they are “preparing a legislative package aimed at bolstering school safety…”. However, it seems that it includes an increase of guns in schools and the completely stupid idea of arming teachers. (Imagine if that money went into things like books and teacher salaries instead.)

Further, due to the firm opposition of the NRA, Trump looks like he may be preparing to back away from increasing the age to purchase guns. This is what The Hill writes about that:

In comments later on Monday afternoon, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump remained supportive of the “concept” of raising the age limit but would need to see legislation on how it is implemented.

“In concept, the president still supports it, but in terms of legislation, we’d need to see what that looks like before we weigh in further,” she said.

It doesn’t look like the “package” will contain much, if anything, around improving the background check system. Many other measures that would help keep guns out of the hands of bad guys don’t get a mention either.

So basically there has to be enough so that Trump can say he did more than any other president ever without pissing off the NRA.

 

 

There are quite a few tweets below, and some are a few days old now I’m sorry. I started this post immediately after the last one, but life intervened.

 

Political Tweets

Who knew? Aussie PM Malcolm Campbell does a great impersonation of Trump!
(Via Ann German.)

 

I suspect Trump thought he could raise his popularity over the gun safety issue. But so far there’s no actual progress and no one realistic is expecting any from the moves made so far.
(Via Ann German.)

 

#CrookedTrump Tweets

This is one of the things about the 2016 US Presidential Election that frustrates me the most. There was an FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton’s handling of emails. It was over by the time of the election and she was not charged.

There were multiple investigations into Donald Trump and his associates, and because they were ongoing they were not discussed. Many charges have now been laid, and there are most likely more to come.

But it’s Hillary who was called “Crooked.” #CrookedTrump!
(Via Ann German.)

BTW, if you look up the #CrookedTrump hashtag, you’ll find really scary things like this:

 

 

Justice Department Tweets

Just to separate it from the Mueller Time Tweets section, here’s a link to information all about the Mueller team, and their areas of expertise.
(Via Ann German.)

 

 

Mueller Time Tweets

These are the first four tweets in a thread that makes very interesting reading. Click on the first tweet to go to the thread for more.
(Via Ann German.)

 

 

 

 

And this is the last tweet in the thread:

 

Gun Safety Tweets

A few of mine again …

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fun Tweets: Others

Ann German found a whole thread which compares members of both the Trump administration and some other to characters in the Simpsons. I’ll reproduce a few here, but it you click on the first one, you’ll find a whole lot more in Twitter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fun Tweets: Trump Administration and Other GOP Politicians

Here are the ones matching members of the Trump Administration.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ann also found this excellent one:

 

And then there’s this (from Ann too):

 

Entertainment Tweets

As I’ve said multiple times, since Donald Trump declared his candidacy for to presidency, Sean Hannity’s show has been an infomercial for Trump.
(Via Ann German.)

 

Olympics Tweets

A few days ago, New Zealand won its first Winter Olympics medals for 26 years. I can’t let that go without a mention! First Zoi Sadowski-Synott won a bronze in the women’s Big Air. Just an hour later Nico Porteous won a bronze in the men’s Half Pipe. (Beau James-Wells came fourth in the same event.) Both are only sixteen years old!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Science Tweets

Science is cool!

 

Scenic Tweets

You never know what you’ll see on the London Underground!
(Via Ann German.)

 

Something to soothe the senses …

 

And this …

 

Flora Tweets

A new one for me!
(Via Ann German.)

 

Paleontology Tweets

Dippy the Diplodocus goes to Dorchester in Dorset!

 

Reptile Tweets

I’m glad we don’t have snakes in New Zealand. I like looking at them, and many are beautiful, but it’s great living in a country with virtually no dangerous fauna.
(Via Ann German.)

 

Other Animals Tweets

Badger rescue!

 

This otter seems to be enjoying the hairdryer!
(Via Ann German.)

 

It’s Ratty!

 

Dog Tweets

What a cutie!

 

Cute dog!

Cat Tweets

This cat does not want to share!

 

I’d never heard of a jaguarundis until Ann German sent me this tweet:

 

What happens next?!

 

Gorgeous creature, and an important message.
(Via Ann German.)

 

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15 Comments

  1. rickflick
    rickflick on 27th February 2018 at 6:12 pm

    Good account of the gun issue. Living in the US is so, so embarrassing and frustrating. We have a lot going for us in this country, but when there’s a problem it can be a very big problem indeed.
    Great tweets today. Thanks for collecting them.

    Reply
    • Diane G.
      Diane G. on 10th March 2018 at 9:58 pm

      “Living in the US is so, so embarrassing and frustrating.”

      You said it, pal!

      Reply
  2. Mark R.
    Mark R. on 28th February 2018 at 9:29 am

    I’ve seen that one video about how people react in an active shoot out, even if they’re trained and they know it’s not “real”. Trump and the NRA can’t seem to grasp simple facts about panic and human nature. In Fantasyland America, people with guns think they’re magically Clint Eastwood or John Wayne; their bullets never miss and panic is an unknown emotion.

    Congrats on the Kiwi medals! I saw Zoi get hers, but I had no idea NZ was in a 26 year slump.

    Those Simpsons and other cartoon comparisons were f’n hilarious.

    I also enjoyed the Cambridge fire experiments…liquid Oxygen! Where do I get some…just kidding.

    Looks like Mueller has himself a solid team of experts.

    Reply
    • Heather Hastie
      Heather Hastie on 28th February 2018 at 9:58 am

      Per capita, we’re always at or near the top in the Summer Olympics, incl the Disabled ones, but we’ve never done well in the Winter ones. I suppose it’s because no one lives anywhere here where there’s snow all winter. If snow makes the streets of a town, it’s big news. If people want snow, they have to go to a mountain in the winter months, and go overseas the rest of the time, which is expensive. Summer Olympics sports are all comparatively cheap here – even golf and water sports incl yachting. Hopefully, more kids will get interested with Zoi and Nico doing so well.

      Reply
      • Mark R.
        Mark R. on 28th February 2018 at 12:53 pm

        Makes sense…from watching LOtR, it seemed you had many good ski mountains. As if you can glean anything about a country by a film. LOL!

        Sorry for the double post. I corrected “if” experts to “of” experts and didn’t realize I had posted before making the correction.

        Reply
        • Heather Hastie
          Heather Hastie on 28th February 2018 at 1:25 pm

          No worries. You’ve just reminded me to get rid of one. I’ll make the correction if it’s the wrong one we’ve been chatting on too.

          Reply
    • nicky
      nicky on 1st March 2018 at 8:14 am

      You mention Clint Eastwood and John Wayne. There are many more: JC Van Damme, V Diesel, B Willis and worse: S Seagal and his ilk. In my modest opinion Chuck Norris is the worst of them all by far.
      Even as a youngster I thought his exploits totally incredible and with really stupid story lines. Taking on automatic guns with a simple revolver, or even bare hands! And, of course, always winning:boring!!!.

      Reply
      • Diane G.
        Diane G. on 10th March 2018 at 10:01 pm

        Srsly! How can you suspend credibility when the feats are always so preposterous?!

        Reply
  3. nicky
    nicky on 1st March 2018 at 6:45 am

    I knew about the Jaguarundi’s because they figured in a cat book I had when I was about 7. One of those books where you had to stick the coloured picture in the box on the right page. From those pictures I know there is a melanic morph (comparable to the black morph in leopards?). Although not afraid of climbing, they are considered one of the most terrestrial of small cats
    They are indeed a bit mustelid-like, with short legs, long body and tail, flattish skull, round ears, short-ish whiskers etc., but apparently -from your photograph- retractable claws.
    I haven’t a clue whether those are ‘retained characteristics’ (the common ancestor of carnivores is supposed to have been a bit weasel-like) or convergence, I’d bet on the latter, but that is an uneducated guess.

    Reply
  4. nicky
    nicky on 1st March 2018 at 7:22 am

    I also like tha comparisons with the Simpsons. I guess several of them are not coincidental, but drawn to life.
    The “Not Simpsons…but seriously perfect” is kinda … seriously perfect? 🙂

    Reply
  5. nicky
    nicky on 1st March 2018 at 7:56 am

    The Reagan-Palin-Romney-Obama illustration indeed gives us reason to believe that serious gun regulation measures must come from a GOP-er. If not, it will be voted down out of sheer petulance.
    Makes me think of the EFF (‘Economic Freedom Fighters’ a far left political party) who were in a coalition in several metropoles in SA with the DA (a kinda centrist party*) reneging on that coalition in PE (Port Elizabeth). The reason given was to ‘punish’ the DA for not supporting their proposal for ‘land expropriation without compensation’**. It hence logically follows that the DA mayor of PE (Mr Trollip) did not do a bad job, that was not mentioned.
    * In say Holland, Denmark or NZ it would be considered slightly right of centre, in the US quite leftist.
    ** an asinine measure, immo, not only because not necessary, [the problems of land reform in SA are not about ‘lack of land’, but about expropriated lands (with compensation until now) not being put to proper use; no ‘mentoring’ of the new owners, there are scores of expropriated, formerly productive, farms derelict now], but also asinine because it is a certain way to get SA graded down even deeper into ‘Junk’ status by the rating agencies. It is not through yet though, it would need a change in the Constitution.
    But I’m diverting from the subject….

    Reply
    • Heather Hastie
      Heather Hastie on 1st March 2018 at 12:40 pm

      Pretty much what happened in Zimbabwe. All those previously productive farms now worthless because those taking them over didn’t know how to run a farm.

      Reply
      • nicky
        nicky on 4th March 2018 at 11:34 pm

        At least Ramaphosa ordered an inquiry into what has been done with the lands already handed over, I quote: “The real issue, though, is that most of the redistributed land is lying derelict at the moment, it’s not being worked.” This official survey should be done before the end of August, when the proposal is up for discussion and vote in parliament.
        I think he’s personally quite opposed to expropriation without compensation, but he has to support the ANC policy decision at Nasrec about 2 months ago.
        Since it would need a change of the constitution about a subject that affects the core of the constitution, a 3/4th majority and at least 6 of the 9 provinces need to agree.
        Note, the IRR (Institute for Race Relations) survey shows that land reform is considered an priority issue by less than 1% of the population (down from 2% a year ago). 92% of all beneficiaries chose a financial compensation over actually taking possession of the land.
        Understandable: the life of a small farmer is a harsh and often poverty stricken one.

        Reply
        • Heather Hastie
          Heather Hastie on 5th March 2018 at 7:10 am

          I expect the issue to be handled much better by SA too, and Cyril Ramaphosa seems to be reliable. And they can see what happened when it wasn’t handled well in other countries and avoid the same mistakes.

          Reply

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