SedonaEye.com J. Rick Normand, Investigative and Financial Columnist
Sedona AZ – Here’s a bite of the reality sandwich characterized as “gun control”…I wrote the first Farce and Fallacy of Gun Control Laws article about three years ago and, yet, nothing whatsoever has changed in America relative to mass killings. So, I asked the SedonaEye.com publisher to republish it.
Will banning assault rifles, or even completely abolishing The Second Amendment of the United States Constitution (as if our Founding Fathers didn’t know what they were doing) stop mass killing violence? Only the dangerously naïve would believe that! In fact, a total gun ban will actually make things worse.
Here’s what I’m getting at:
Back in 1997-1998 I lived in a highrise condominium project in central Phoenix. Next door to me lived a very sweet elderly Jewish lady who formerly lived in Israel. Her name was Helen J. We became close friends. One day she took me to lunch and the subject of “why she left Israel” came up.
Take this story to heart, Dear Readers.
Sedona crosswalk on a lovely day.
On a beautiful spring day in 1973 in Tel Aviv, Israel, Helen was on her way to have lunch with three close girlfriends at an outdoor sidewalk café with a distant view of the beach and the Mediterranean. She was running late. Walking and about a block away, Helen could see her three friends sitting at a wrought iron table with a remaining empty chair, with many others seated around them. As she started to cross the street at a crosswalk, there was a sudden powerful blast that knocked Helen down, hurting her badly. Lying on the pavement, in the midst of smoke and mountains of debris trying to get her senses back, she staggered to stand up, and finally looked toward the café to see what had happened to her three girlfriends. Except, there were no girlfriends or anyone else to see. Then she realized amidst the debris all around her were human body parts. A terrorist, a mass murderer and suicide bomber, had detonated a homemade bomb in the middle of the café.
This is a common occurrence in a war zone, not to mention that our country is quickly becoming a war zone as I write this! Helen was scarred for life by the memory of that mass killing and decided to move to Arizona. Meanwhile, she shook me up badly I must tell you. So, what is the point of telling you this story?
@CollinsRhog exclusive SedonaEye.com photo
To remind you that mass killings by bombing are going on everywhere. Just a week ago yesterday, a handsome, popular, and well liked young man in Sri Lanka, wearing a backpack, entered a Christian church packed with parishioners awaiting the pastor to begin his sermon. This young man was videoed outside the church patting a little girl on the head and inside the church as he took a seat in a pew located in the center of the church. As the pastor stepped into the pulpit, the young man detonated a powerful bomb in his backpack which killed 320 parishioners and injured almost 500 more.
Remember the Austin, Texas bomber in April of 2018 or the Unibomber? Those warped persons, intent upon mass murder, did not need guns. Bombs are far deadlier and incalculably so!
Political terrorist organizations have infiltrated the U.S. and are looking for disaffected U.S. citizens to join with them in suicide bombing attacks in U.S. cities. Where can malcontents, intent on killing large numbers of innocent people to express their anger with life, get weapons to effect their plans?
Well, they can dupe the system to get rapid fire firearms, but if they can’t get those, they can build powerful bombs…bombs that aren’t for commercial sale, but can be easily built and can kill many times the number of people an assault rifle can kill. And, firearms that are commercially available for purchase don’t blow human bodies to smithereens!
Ban more and more firearms and you will get more and more bombings with ever increasing blast power and frequency. And, nothing will get better until the masses of naïve Americans understand that recognizing future perpetrators before they act out their vengeance will succeed where banning a means of killing will not.
So, what is the answer to diminishing mass killings? Forewarning of miscreant violent behavior is the only solution; for instance, using observable behavioral indicators to detect potential violent attacks such as by suicide terrorists or those laying improvised explosive devices. These will be the basis of the new “Red Flag” indicator tests now being discussed by both Democrats and Republicans.
Go to this link:
http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR215.html
Say what Rick
Banning guns will lead to more bombing attacks!!?
I’ll take the risk cause what’s going on right now isn’t working as more and more children die.
Oh, please, Rick. If our country is becoming a war zone, could that be related to how you and your followers vote?
Young white males — of which you were one once — with easy access to military style weapons and ammunition are performing these killings. Why not use a comparison with countries that have heavily restricted the mechanisms of violence, e.g. Australia?
Talk about looking for oranges in an apple orchard!
@LIn Ennis
The number one way to kill someone in the US is with a blunt object. We should ban all hammers, baseball bats and demonrat heads. Guns have been banned in England for years, the crime rate has increased. Now England wants to ban knives. If someone wants to kill a lot of people they will use a truck or gasoline, and guess what, they have.
Please, put a sign in your front yard ” No guns here “
Your article(if you can call it that) is a bunch of self serving crap!
A solution the diversity cat lady crowd is promoting is banning and exterminating white males. That would solve the problem too don’t you agree Lin.
“CNN former host Reza Aslan, now a professor at the University of California, tweeted: “The President is a white nationalist terror leader. His supporters—ALL OF THEM—are by definition white nationalist terror supporters. The MAGA hat is a KKK hood. And this evil, racist scourge must be eradicated from society.”
Instead of banning modern sporting rifles, (Deleted by Editor). Let’s make the world a better place !!
Repugnant liberal communists like Ennis are all plantation mistresses in disguise. As a great man once said, cloak yourself little lambs in the field as wolves to guarantee all survive and not one of you dies.
Tyranny of the minority.
@laura grant( aka JRN)
Wow Lin has a difference of opinion and you attack cause your fragile EGO is bruised.. FYI Lin is a smart intelligent women. You sound like a small minded racist. Your the only person in Sedona who thinks we’re being taken over by communists. Hope Sedona Eye posts this or can only “the hateful crowd” who post here regularly ATTACK those with opposing viewpoints.
https://www.acsh.org/news/2018/08/02/most-common-methods-murder-13264
Gee Mike. Why oh why do you continue to make stuff up?
A cup of tea and for gods sake @belinda stop mouthing words you’ve no idea what they mean. Please. “Racist” has lost its power because it’s used so inappropriately by people like you these days.
I find it interesting here in Sedona that no one clambers for the former CNN employee to be fired from the University for that comment and demands to be sent packing to a cult deprogrammer. What hateful bigotry that’s not factual, only meant to incite uneducated sycophants of the Far Left and Far Right.
As for white and black and red and yellow and whatever colors, science has proven that men and women are directed and molded from birth to age five, and that women are their primary life choice influencers. Own it or disown it, but studies of any value unanimously lay the responsibility of “deviance” on the female role. The “stabilizer” is almost always the male role. Government social programs exclusively use this data research field.
Don’t attack me because personally because I don’t care that your opinions differ from mine. Good for you. Figure it all out for yourself. I truly will prefer that you find others to associate with, but I’ll cope respectfully if you wield your way in.
Years of reading here and I’m still surprised it hasn’t caved into a toady publication like the RRN. Good news with my Sedona tea.
100%
Violence committed with rifles of ANY KIND is such a low number.
More murder occurs with bare hands by FAR.
People don’t care that the EXTREME MAJORITY of owners of these weapons are good people that would put their own lives on the line to protect others.
We must retain our natural rights to self protection.
Why do you people continue to lie..
https://www.acsh.org/news/2018/08/02/most-common-methods-murder-13264
I’m for thorough background checks. I am against taking guns away from citizens.
@rick Normand
Your words are those of a true coward who hasn’t the courage to disclose your real name. What, or whom, are you afraid of?
J. Rick Normand
Why do you continue to let this guy rattle on about everything. He is pompous.
Damn good thing he prattles with a brain. So many of you @paleaze prattle without one.
To All Readers at The Eye:
1. The purpose of the 2nd Amendment is to protect the 1st Amendment
2. All totalitarian states, in the modern era, who were once free states first legislated “gun control!” For instance, the British Empire in America before the Revolutionary War, The Turkish genocide against the Armenians, Bolshevik Russia’s genocide against the Ukrainians, Nazi Germany’s Holocaust, Communist China’s class-warfare annihilation of their farm owners and Uighur’s, and the Khmer Rouge’s class-warfare genocide in Cambodia… and the list is nearly endless!
3. What good have our nation’s strictest gun-ownership laws done in Baltimore, Chicago, Detroit, etc,?
J. Rick Normand
@ Otis Lansberry,
How thrilling it is to know that you’re “willing to take the risk…” with the lives of all the rest of us who understand history a helluva lot better than you do, sir!
J. Rick Normand
@JDN
Not to worry J Rick. Nothing will get done. Your weapony are safe. There will be another Mass murder soon where more children die. All is forgotten already. You can drop your mental health “talking point “now. You win and children and mothers lose once again…(Deleted by Editor)
There is one issue. Only one issue. It’s that guns are our right to own as citizens. It’s in the Constitution. What you need or fail to do is teach your kids about our rights and privileges and raise each of them to respect and protect those rights and privileges. Period. Done. Pass laws to keep guns out of criminals hands fine. Pass laws to keep guns out of mental health nutcases fine. The rest of us aren’t the problem. It’s your kids that you failed to raise properly or give a damn about.
@Otis Lansberry
Apparently, Otis, you believe that you’re both smarter and more moral than our Founding Fathers as authors of our Constitution. And, that’s not to mention all those who died in our Revolutionary War, Civil War and two World Wars. The creators of our Constitution had as their rationale for the 2nd Amendment the following:
It was not added to the Bill Of Rights to go hunting. The Founders primarily added it as a deterrent to a tyrannical government. One which they had escaped from.
So, ask yourself, Who is promoting more restrictions and “infringements” of the Second Amendment and who is defending it? That’s all.
“The laws that forbid the carrying of arms are laws of such a nature. They disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes…. Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.”
– Thomas Jefferson
“To disarm the people…[i]s the most effectual way to enslave them.”
– George Mason
“…the ultimate authority, wherever the derivative may be found, resides in the people alone…”
– James Madison
Let’s face facts, Otis…you’re essentially a fascist, whether you know it or not, and you’re principal concern isn’t children!
JRN
Sorry, we have a right to a well maintained militia it has never been defined by the Supreme Court on gun ownership . The NRA Reads it broadly. People only want to keep assault rifles AK-47s so they can turn on the government if they think the government turns on them so what’s that make them anti-government , Patriots? This idea of keeping it away from people who are mentally ill is bs just who is going to decide who is mentally competent it’s white males that are causing the problem with guns not people off their meds
@JDN
Wow Rick my last t comment really set you off to “throw up” and name call in such a way. Over 80 percent of the US(both Dems and Republicans) are looking for some common sense reforms… No one is trying to take away your guns.. Your a walking talking point. Lol. Hey how long til the next mass murder Rick. Get you re
talking point ready… You already used “more bombing”. Get your next one ready (deleted by editor).
@Otis Lansberry
Who the hell is “JDN” or are you just dyslexic? At the very least, you apparently never proof-read what you write!
JRN
Sorry, Normand, but I don’t believe your story about Helen J and Israel. I stopped reading at that point.
@tommyknocker
Do you actually believe that I care what someone thinks who is too much of a coward to use his/her own name? Helen lived in Apt 11C at the Executive Towers in Phoenix in 1997-1998.
To All Readers at The Eye:
Here are some interesting statistics! These statistics coincide with the research of Prof. Lott at the University of Chicago who is one of our nation’s most noted experts on gun laws and related stats.
There are 30,000 gun related deaths per year by firearms, and this number is NOT disputed. The U.S. population was 324,059,091 as of June 22, 2016. Do the math: 0.00925% of the population dies from gun related actions each year. Statistically speaking, this is insignificant! What is never told, however, is a breakdown of those 30,000 deaths, to put them in perspective as compared to other causes of death (source study recited below this comment):
65% of those deaths are by suicide, which would never be prevented by gun laws.
15% are by law enforcement in the line of duty and justified.
17% are through criminal activity, gang and drug related or mentally ill persons – better known as gun violence.
3% are accidental discharge deaths.
So technically, “gun violence” is not 30,000 annually, but drops to 5,100. Still too many? Now lets look at how those deaths spanned across the nation.
480 homicides (9.4%) were in Chicago
344 homicides (6.7%) were in Baltimore
333 homicides (6.5%) were in Detroit
119 homicides (2.3%) were in Washington D.C. (a 54% increase over prior years)
So basically, 25% of all gun crime happens in just 4 cities. All 4 of those cities have strict gun laws, so it is not the lack of law that is the root cause.
This basically leaves 3,825 for the entire rest of the nation, or about 75 deaths per state. That is an average because some States have much higher rates than others. For example, California had 1,169 and Alabama had 1.
Now, who has the strictest gun laws by far? California, of course, but understand, it is not guns causing this. It is a crime rate spawned by the number of criminal persons residing in those cities and states. So, if all cities and states are not created equal, then there must be something other than the tool causing the gun deaths.
Are 5,100 deaths per year horrific? How about in comparison to other deaths? All death is sad and especially so when it is in the commission of a crime but that is the nature of crime. Robbery, death, rape, assaults are all done by criminals. It is ludicrous to think that criminals will obey laws. That is why they are called criminals.
But what about other deaths each year?
40,000+ die from a drug overdose–THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR THAT!
36,000 people die per year from the flu, far exceeding the criminal gun deaths.
34,000 people die per year in traffic fatalities(exceeding gun deaths even if you include suicide).
Now it gets even more stunning:
200,000+ people die each year (and growing) from preventable medical error s. You are safer walking in the worst areas of Chicago than you are when you are in a hospital!
710,000 people die per year from heart disease . It’s time to stop the double cheeseburgers! So, what is the point? If the liberal loons and the anti-gun movement focused their attention on heart disease, even a 10% decrease in cardiac deaths would save twice the number of lives annually of all gun-related deaths (including suicide, law enforcement, etc.).
A 10% reduction in medical errors would be 66% of the total number of gun deaths or 4 times the number of criminal homicides …Simple, easily preventable 10% reductions! So, you have to ask yourself, in the grand scheme of things, why the focus on guns?
Actually, it’s pretty simple:
Taking away guns gives control to governments. The founders of this nation knew that regardless of the form of government, those in power may become corrupt and seek to rule as the British did by trying to disarm the populace of the colonies. It is not difficult to understand that a disarmed populace is a controlled populace.
Thus, the Second Amendment was proudly and boldly included in the U.S. Constitution. It must be preserved at all costs . So, the next time someone tries to tell you that gun control is about saving lives, look at these facts and remember these words from Noah Webster: “Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed.”
Source:
http://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/is-it-true-that-getting-killed-by-police-is-a-leading-cause-of-death-for-young-black-men-as-the-la-times-claims/?utm_source=pjmedia&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl_pm&newsletterad=&bcid=bd1c1044f79337273abdadf13daa6037&recip=20301642
if just one life was saved ….
Oh wow JDN.
What a stand up guy. Nice “talking pts” also I’m sure your statistics have been skewed to support you opinion. FAKE NEWS .. The fact of the matter is that more and more children will die from gunfire and thier Mother’s will miss them.
While the do noting politicians give “thoughts and prayer” but do NOTHING. Yes JDN 80 percent (both dems and reps) want some common sense gun reform.
I know you never had any children that you worried about sending off to school that they might get shot up in thier classrooms. I have and so have millions of school age kids. So you just stick to your NRA fake facts and BS “talking points”. . Oh as I’ve said before your weapons are safe cause the do nothing lip service politictionsvthat you support and most importantly that the NRA supports have a ship load of thoughts and prayers for the next incident.
Common sense isn’t something people in Sedona have because they’re trying to shove communist gun control on poor people on welfare and quiet sycophants in AZ. They left could care less about the rich or middle class because like Bernie Sanders, Nancy Pelosi, Adam Schiff, Elizabeth Warren, they are so filthy stinking rich that the rich are in awe! They want to control the poor like every communist socialist country has done. Why did Mao kill millions? Why did Russia kill millions? Why don’t the youth of China know about Tieneman Square or Hong Kong protests? Why are re-education camps the camps for kids from Norway to Korea? Give me your young, I will control your elders. How is it that AOC the bartender could pay her boyfriend millions? Give us a break from you socialist hypocrites. You wouldn’t give up your car for a bus and you wouldn’t turn off your A/C and heat for a year of saving the planet’s climate.
Communists!!???
Oh your hilarious (deleted by editor)
@vern You’re not hilarious, but you must be what was deleted? Like I said, you wouldn’t turn off your wifi to save the planet. Don’t bother replying because I’m not. Keep head high SedonaEye. Sedona needs you.
J D Normand
There’s been yet another mass shooting today in Texas. Before I comment I’ll leave a space below for your “thoughts and prayers”
How come these Mass Shooters are always killed or taken out by law enforcement!?
Not by “tough guys” like your self who are loaded up with weapons to prevent a government takeover. Where are you and your guns when the . S…t hits the fan
What about mass shooter in TX? That’s got nothing to do with the article or most arguments here.
It’s a right to own a gun. You don’t get to take it from me. I don’t get to take it from you. It’s ours. Don’t buy one if you don’t want one. I will if I do.
@ dyslexic Otis Lansberry,
As a practicing die-hard communist, which you are Otis, you can’t leave your thoughts and prayers to anyone because, philosophically, God means nothing to you. BTW, communists who believe in your belief-system kill people by the millions. Read your history books, Otis!
JRN
Why is it OK to have laws against meth or heroin or other drugs that can hurt people. But somehow we can’t talk about taking away products manufactured by man ,that hurt other people it’s kind of a religion we can’t be talked about as a rational subject people use guns to kill people so you take away the guns
JDN
Communists? Your a hoot. When someone says something that makes you look at yourself in the mirror …..you name call. Very intelligent. (deleted by editor) Your a real snooze converstionist and writer as well.
@ Otis Lansberry (the latent Communist),
Otis, your first sentence should read “Communist? *You’re* a hoot.” And, the word you meant to write fourth from the last in your final sentence is spelled “conversationalist.” You’re, indeed, dyslexic and illiterate! Not to mention that you can’t discern the correct initials “JRN” when they’re right in front of your eyes, thus you write, time and again, “JDN” (whoever that is). Finally, you don’t know how to make anyone (including yourself) do anything since you are utterly lacking in the power of persuasion.
JRN
All of us need to remember that it’s all political theatre staged by DC parties to keep their power. Like imaginary Russian influence and like imaginary Impeachment reasons. Three ring circus to influence the illiterate and uninformed masses.
Seattle!? Ha ha
3 ring circus to influence the illiterate and uninformed!, you seem to be describing yourself…..
We are discussing political theater and gun laws, weigh in please when you are familiar with the topic.
To All Readers at The Eye:
FBI crime stats for 2018 show over five times as many people were killed with knives and/or other cutting instruments than were killed with rifles.
Breitbart News, Oct 1, 2019: FBI data shows a total 1,515 deaths by knives and/or other cutting instruments vs. 297 deaths by rifle in 2018.
This means the gap between murders with knives vs. murders with rifles has grown since 2017, for which FBI stats showed nearly four times as many stabbed to death as killed with rifles.
JRN
@JDN
More FAKE NEWS and stats from your TEAPARTY news source Breitbart news
Come on JD.. come up with some factual information.
I’ve been here long time OL but don’t recall that name and think I might know you by another one. Instead of attacking comments because you don’t like the commenters, try going to the official US crime course.
Remember you asked for this dog in the fight. Don’t forget to admit that @JRN got it right. Gives you more credibility in future if you own your mistakes. Be seeing you around town (name deleted by editor).
https://ucr.fbi.gov/
Hey I don’t remember the last time 30 school kids were killed by a lunatic wielding a knife.
Ronnie don’t see ANYTHING in the web link you pasted that’s shows anything that backs up JDN. Perhaps you should of read it first.. Also now you Tea Party types want to believe what the FBI says. Trump doesn’t believe his own law enforcement angency but now you do when it supposedly backs up your statement. How convient .
https://www.statista.com/statistics/195325/murder-victims-in-the-us-by-weapon-used/
This statistic displays the number of murders in the United States by state. Data includes murder and nonnegligent manslaughter. In 2018, the number of murders in California amounted to 1,739 victims, the highest of all the 50 states.
Murder in the United States
Violent crime statistics, particularly murder and homicide data, provide key insights into law enforcement in the United States and inform national debate surrounding crime policies.
There were a total of 16,214 reported murder and non-negligent manslaughter cases in the U.S. in 2018. Although the number of cases has declined in the past twenty years, when viewed in international comparison, the U.S. murder rate is still high. In 2012, Germany’s murder rate stood at 0.8, compared to 4.7 in the United States.
The most dangerous U.S. state in 2017, if measured by the number of murders per hundred thousand inhabitants, was Louisiana. The murder and non-negligent manslaughter rate in Louisiana came to 12.4 that year, more than twice the national average. The least dangerous state in 2017, on the other hand, was New Hampshire, with a murder rate of 1. In 2018, Louisiana greatly improved and fell to 12th place with 530 murders while New Hampshire rose to 45th place (District of Columbia included at 31st place) with 10 murders. California remained the highest of all states with the most murders again.
Murder, homicide and violent crime statistics regularly influence America’s current political debate on gun law. Under the Second Amendment, U.S. citizens are entitled to own and carry firearms, though gun control and regulation laws are hotly contested. The amount of firearms in circulation in the U.S. is fairly high, when compared with European countries. About 39 percent of American households have a gun in their home.
Though any causal connection between firearm circulation and homicide rate is purely speculative, murder by firearm is nonetheless high. About 73 percent of murders and non-negligent manslaughter cases in the U.S. were carried out using a firearm, including handguns, rifles, and shotguns. This number sums up to 11,004 murders by firearm.
The ranking of the most dangerous cities in the world based on murder rate per capita can be accessed here.
You know JDN. Based on the above post showing REAL stats on homicides as related to gum violence ……it reminds of how you and that AZ liberty group twists facts. Perhaps that’s why your group lost every election issue that you/they endorsed .
Breaking news in Canada this week: Massive manhunt on after 10 stabbed to death in Canada. The deaths in an Indigenous community and nearby town in Saskatchewan represent one of the nation’s deadliest mass killings this year.
Well written.
(SedonaEye.com editor’s Update: Thank you, sir, for your comment. We fact checked sources and, in addition to the known ten murder victims, a reported three dozen victims may have been admitted to hospitals and clinics for injuries. Canadian police suspect victims may be unreported due to vast land area of this crime.)