When Mayor Michael Bloomberg appeared on the show a few weeks ago, he spoke to Lawrence about his campaign for stricter gun control laws across this country. He is the co-chair of Mayors Against Illegal Guns and even funded an undercover operation to show how easy it was for someone without a permit to get a weapon at a gun show.
Today, Mayors Against Illegal Guns released a four-minute video featuring families of victims of gun violence. It's called "34 Americans" as a tribute to the 34 Americans that die a day because of gun violence. The powerful video includes friends of victims of the Tucson shootings and Martin Luther King III speaking about the assassination of his father.
Check it out below and let us know what you think about it in the comment section.
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(R-AZ) guns dont kill people, people dont kill people, BULLETS KILL PEOPLE. If you kill someone with BFT with a gun its not gun violence. If you fire a bullet out of a random tube and kill someone its gun violence. WE NEED TO GET BULLETS OFF OUR STREETS. Without bullets a gun is just metal, paint, and plastic.
A ROCKET LAUNCHER IN EVERY GARAGE
February 23, 2011
I once saw a sign in someone's front yard that read: God, Guns, and the Constitution. It was printed in large white letters on a deep red heart. I don't know the family that posted that message, but I doubt they were making an appeal for God or the Constitution. For many Americans, the right to gun ownership is akin to a religion. To question one's right to own any kind of weapon is taken as blasphemy to their god. In some places they march into church, packing. They go into bars (but do not drink -HA HA), packing. They stand just outside a building where the president is speaking, carrying defamatory signs, and packing. My gun, my god. Oh my God!
Today, a bill is about to be introduced into the Texas legislature allowing public university students, over the age of 21, to carry concealed weapons at all times on campus. If passed, they will be able to sit in philosophy class, the cafeteria, or the TV room, packing. I would not like to be a professor in one of those schools who must deliver a failing grade. Without a bullet-proof vest, that is. Oh wait, they can probably use armor-piercing bullets. Oh well, what the hell! Is this the well-regulated militia that the constitution gave the right to arm itself? Oh barf.
It has been determined by the courts in our country that almost anyone can own almost any weapon. And they can get around any ownership-limiting laws by buying at gun shows. You know, like the person who has been arrested for threatening lives with guns. Just go to a gun show. They want your business. You can leave, packing.
The National Rifle Association, shill for gun manufacturers and sellers, what I consider purveyors of death, operates as the church structure for this religion. The high priest was Charlton Heston, and is now a character who appears to be of French extraction. They whip up the emotions of hunters into a near-insane froth, keeping them loyal to the faith. And they vote. And the purveyors of death get rich. And 10,000 Americans die by gun each year.
So today, February 23, 2011, I am proposing that Americans, all Americans, be required, or at least allowed to have a rocket launcher - -armed. The neighbor's dog craps on your lawn - launch. Paper boy throws your newspaper onto the porch roof, launch. People will treat you much better; the cable guy will never be late for an appointment, and the Post office will allow your package to ship, even if it weighs a bit over 70 pounds. Your pringles will never come broken, and your call for service will never be diverted to India. Otherwise, launch. And always remember - - rocket launchers don't kill people - - people with rocket launchers kill people.
Now let's talk about my right to have a vial of anthrax on the mantle, and a little nuclear material behind the furnace. I just don't feel fully armed without them.
Bob Fassbach, editor, seniorark.com
Where is the video with the families of the victims of automobile accidents? How about for those who have died as a result of the ban of DDT? Come on and get a clue that it is the actions of individuals that result in deaths, not an inanimate object.
Guns don't kill people, PEOPLE with guns kill people!! How we allow anyone to have a gun is beyond me. And, to think that the Texas legislature is considering their ill conceived law to allow students over 21 to carry a concealed weapon on campus! I wonder if their student population will shrink?
@patriot-3092398 - You are right about the actions of individuals resulting in deaths. But the topic in question is about why individuals with violent histories, and documented criminal tendencies and/or mental instability are able to acquire guns with such ease.
The video's point is well stated by the closing title card which reads, "Let's talk about reducing that number." Simply saying, "come on get a clue," and that guns are, "inanimate objects," is a good observation of an obvious fact, but is not a constructive idea.
People mistaking firearms for animate objects doesn't seem to be a contributing factor in most gun-related homicides, so do you have any other ideas for ways that we can address this issue?