Home » City Council, Community, General » The Farce and Fallacy of Gun Control Laws

The Farce and Fallacy of Gun Control Laws

SedonaEye.com J. Rick Normand, Investigative and Financial Columnist

SedonaEye.com J. Rick Normand, Investigative and Financial Columnist

Once again headlines are questioning the role of gun control in American society. At the request of SedonaEye.com columnist J. Rick Normand, let’s go back three and a half years ago:

Sedona AZ The farce and the fallacy of gun control laws? The reality of the problem is that it’s not an epidemic, it’s a pandemic!

A recent study recited in the Journal of Patient Safety, by John T. James, PhD, says that between 210,000 and 440,000 patients each year who go to the hospital for care suffer some type of preventable harm that contributes to their death. That would make medical errors the third-leading cause of death in America, behind heart disease, which is the first, and cancer, which is second.

The Centers for Disease Control report that ethical drug overdoses were the cause of 38,329 deaths in 2010 which contributes to the above mentioned scourge.

Yet none of these facts are daily front page news. These reports don’t sell newspapers, broadcasts, and talk shows. The media would have to describe these findings as an “epidemic” to do that.

gun Of 33,636 deaths from firearms counted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2013, some 62% or 21,175 were suicides, 11,208 were murders, 748 were motive undetermined, and 505 were accidents.

In light of all this, the Obama administration is still seemingly hellbent on going after stricter gun control, notwithstanding that research from the Pew Research Center, the FBI and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, all reveal that gun violence in the United States is actually on the decline, and is at its lowest since the 1960s. But this is not upsetting headline-worthy news, is it?

To reiterate, gun crime – despite an exponential increase in privately owned firearms over the same period – has steadily declined for about 20 years, except for high profile shootings in gun-free zones which is headline worthy.

Yes, gun crime is a problem that needs attention and prevention, but it is not an epidemic.

Nevertheless, on December 5, 2015, for the first time since 1920, the New York Times published an op-ed on its front page.

The editorial, entitled “End the Gun Epidemic,” takes aim at what is perceived by the New York Times’ editorial board as a lack of federal government enforced gun control across our country.

In the piece, the Times’ editorial board writes: “It is a moral outrage and a national disgrace that civilians can legally purchase weapons designed specifically to kill people with brutal speed and efficiency.”

The editorial board’s piece then dispatches U.S. politicians who offer their thoughts and prayers for victims of gun violence, “…and then, callously and without fear of consequence, reject the most basic restrictions on weapons of mass killing.”

Yet, the Times concedes a point often underscored by gun-control opponents...that tougher gun laws won’t stop “determined killers” from acquiring weapons. And that statement cannot be contested thus rendering the remainder of the Times’ article null and void. What you are about to read will show you why.

Looking to place blame, California Governor Jerry Brown said Arizona and Nevada gun laws provide a “back door” for terrorists. Despite Brown’s remarks, the weapons used in the San Bernardino massacre were purchased from gun dealers in San Diego and Corona within the past three years, a federal official, who can’t comment publicly, told USA Today. Arizona had nothing to do with the mass killings in California.

While nearly 40 states have relaxed gun rules in the last two decades, California has enacted more than 50 major gun bills since 1994. The “pro gun control” Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence based in San Francisco, naturally, gave California’s laws an “A-” in 2014, the highest grade given to any state. Guns & Ammo Magazine, with a “pro-gun rights” stance, ranked the state fourth worst in the country for gun ownership.

Prior to the San Bernardino mass shooting, California had seen seven public shootings since 2006 that claimed four or more lives (not counting those the police believe were gang related) according to USA TODAY’s “Behind the Bloodshed” tracker. Maybe this is why Governor Brown was looking for somewhere else to place blame!

Writer Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post has concluded that Marco Rubio’s claim that gun control wouldn’t have prevented the mass shootings that have occurred in “last few months or years” is, indeed, accurate.

Rubio’s statement stands up to scrutiny…at least for the recent past, as Kessler framed it. “Notably, three of the mass shootings took place in California, which already has strong gun laws including a ban on certain weapons and high-capacity magazines,” Kessler wrote.

Homeland SecurityAnd yet, states like New York, on their own, cannot block sales of guns to those who are on the Department of Homeland Security’s “U.S. Terror Watch List” because it is restricted by the Feds. So, U.S. Senator Charles Schumer and Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, in the last couple of weeks, have announced a push to prevent known or suspected terrorists from purchasing guns in New York State. Efforts of Schumer and Cuomo come on the heels of federal failed efforts to close terror gaps. The problem is for the naive Messers Schumer and Cuomo that terrorists and gang-bangers don’t buy guns from the retail trade, they buy or earn them from the worldwide black market cartels of drug and gun runners! However Schumer’s and Cuomo’s efforts will make you feel good, won’t they?

Nevertheless, Schumer and Cuomo are asking the federal government to officially add the U.S. Terror Watch List to the criteria it uses for federal background checks in New York State. This would, purportedly, prevent known or suspected terrorists from legally purchasing guns and would cross-check the terror watch list with a National Instant Criminal Background Check System request. Why then, I ask, has the Obama Administration been so uncooperative? Why has there been no use of the President’s vaunted Executive Order tendency relative to this critical issue?

Moving on, Eugene Volokh, a professor of Constitutional law at UCLA and writer for “The Volokh Conspiracy,” a legal blog hosted by the Washington Post, points out that [gun] violence has dropped nationwide even though most states have loosened gun control laws and California is widely known to have the strictest laws in the nation. But those strict gun control laws haven’t reduced the rate of gun related deaths in California at all. The percentage of homicide victims killed by firearms has remained steady in California since 1990, according to the California Attorney General’s Homicide Report.

Realistically, the battle to prevent mass tragedies with legislation may be futile, Volokh said.

“Let’s look at somebody who is a would-be mass shooter. This person has essentially decided to have the defining event of his life, and possibly the concluding event of his life, be mass murder,” Volokh said. “This is somebody who is very motivated to commit the crime, and again, we know he is motivated because he’s willing to give up his life to do that.”

So, let’s examine the real reasons the Feds can’t seem to halt the mass shootings that now dominate media headlines. The root of the problem has little to do with retail gun shops, background checks, published terrorist lists, kids with legal guns, and gun show loopholes. Those are assertions for consumption by the gullible public!

Below, I will describe to you how the incomprehensibly massive and complex transnational black market in illegal weapons works: It’s not an epidemic (geographically limited to a single area or country), it’s a pandemic (spreading world-wide)! But first, we must begin with the two following proven premises: First, there’s no way to separate the merger of the international drug cartels from international gun-running. They work hand-in-hand. And, secondly, the vast majority of small arms on the black market were produced and traded legally before being diverted into an illicit network.

METHODOLOGY for CIRCUMVENTING OFFICIAL REGULATION aka The Black Market:

Sourcing Arms Inventories, Manufacturers, Wholesaling Networks

The Shadow Economy of the Trans-National, Allied, Inter-Operable Crime Syndicate Organizations is comprised of illegal drug cartels and dealers, covert contraband smuggling operators, covert gun-running cartels, covert international money laundering banks, and gun-barter brokers for non-cash trades for other commodities, such as mined gemstones, who use bogus private nominee agreements and proxy statements in their trade documentation. There are professional pirates and human traffickers as well (immigration coyotes, human slave traders, child sex slave traders, prostitution rings and sea born pirates) who now work together with drug cartels and gun-runners across borders with the help of aircraft transport and shipping companies who bribe corrupt government officials in third world countries for seemingly legitimate operating licenses (AOCs) and import-export documentation. Within all contraband, there are usually included military grade weapons. It’s a great recession-proof high cash-flow business.

Drug cartels have merged drug sales and distribution into covert gun running operations with common street gangs in almost every mid-sized and large city of America and the western world.

Islamic jihadist organizations have entered into joint ventures with crime/cartel syndicates to distribute overseas stolen, captured, illegally traded and purchased, as well as, hijacked and pirated weapons, derived from pirates and contraband smugglers who engage heavily in trafficking of captured and stolen military-grade weapons from current and past conflict zones. More wars generate more black market weapons!

3D Printer manufacture of guns and ammunition and the advent of gun design software have made it even more challenging for gun control supporters to corral the rise of homemade arsenals, as a recent YouTube video uploaded to the “Taofledermaus” channel in the last few days demonstrates. And people have already started to download patterns (software) for their future firearms. According to a 2015 January report, more than 150,000 patterns were downloaded immediately following a pro-gun control speech by President Obama. No, these bullets are not even close to commercial or military grade yet, but the speed at which technology progresses will assure that quality untracked 3D manufacture of high grade guns and ammunition isn’t far off.

Distributing Arms Inventories, Retail

moneyThe illicit drug trade (and its black market weapons partners) is the largest, most profitable and best cash-flowing business on Earth, and accounts for more than 8%-9% of world trade today. Illegal product(s) cartels simply cannot function without cross-border banking services from the largest of international banks including money laundering, equipment financing, currency conversion, as well as, jury-rigged export-import documentation and investment banking facilities. There is a consensus among U.S. Congressional Investigators, former bankers and international banking experts that U.S. and European banks launder between $500 billion and $1 trillion of dirty money each year, half of which is laundered by U.S. banks alone. Bank of America, Western Union, JP Morgan/Chase, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo (through its Wachovia Bank acquisition) are among the institutions allegedly involved in the drug trade. Meanwhile, Britain’s giant HSBC has admitted its laundering role, and evaded criminal prosecution by paying a fine of almost $2 billion. In fact, all these banks evade criminal prosecution by paying large fines without admitting guilt which is a permissible legal tactic in the United States. The drug cartels, gun-runners, smugglers, contraband traffickers, etc. cannot exist without banking partners…the same banks who serve in your local Chamber of Commerce.

Professional straw buyers for non-qualifying buyers who work different state retail stores (who report most brokered sales to police as stolen weapons so that when they’re tied to a future crime there will be no associated liability for the straw man). These people operate a huge cottage industry.

Drug Cartels have merged drug sales and distribution into covert gun running operations with common street gangs. Every under aged “gangsta” knows how to buy or earn, through drug sales or a contract killing, a firearm and ammunition without ever entering a retail gun store.

Every millennial in the U.S. and western world who is unemployed, disillusioned, lonely, highly indebted, and sees no future, who has a hand-held communications device and understands ever app that runs on it as well as all social media communications, is already being targeted by the drug/gun-running cartels through exceedingly sophisticated social media online marketing. You older progressives just don’t get it…your political leaders, laws, and law enforcement are doomed to be in control of nothing that these cartels don’t want controlled…but they do want you to help them with gun control laws which drive more customers to them!

Sales made by legally licensed but corrupt at-home commercial gun dealers, without retail store facilities, are proliferating.

Gangs are now so sophisticated that they have central weapons vaults for temporary loan of “gang community guns” to young gangstas who haven’t earned ownership of a weapon. They also hire college MBAs for their financial management needs.

Secret online gun-running and Internet weapons-trafficking syndicates are proliferating. All they need is a private Tor Browser Bundle and a skilled hacker.

Stolen guns derived from ordinary street crime, burglaries, home invasions, mini-storage locker thefts, etc., are bought by the crime syndicates. Continuously stealing guns is an organized cash-flow business for the unemployed these days since there’s always an available illicit buyer/reseller.

Foreign unregulated gun and ammunition manufacturers, of which there are over a thousand manufacturing in more than a 100 countries, use illegal crime/cartel syndicate’s distribution systems in the U.S. just as if they were straight-up import/export businesses.

Unreported gun and ammunition sales between private parties happen every day. There’s no way for police to know about these transactions.

Provided to the illegal guns black market are U.S. Government unaccountable mass firearms distribution, such as Obama’s botched Fast & Furious operation and an unaccounted for 15,000 National Park Service assault weapons, not to mention provision of weapons to friendly jihadists and middle east government militaries that surrender in battle and leave U.S. provided weapons behind for capture and sale.

Many governments, including the U.S. Government, and that of the U.K, France, Germany, Belgium and Israel, not to mention China and Russia and several Balkan countries, enter into the gray-market trade, in which arms sold legally can end up on the black market.

“This involves weapons that originate from a legal government transfer,” a Conflict Awareness Project official said, “but when they arm proxy forces to carry out their national security agendas, they may use illicit channels or black market arms brokers to carry out the deal.” Virtually all international illegal arms brokers work the world’s conflict zones.

COMMONLY DISCUSSED CAUSES OF MASS GUN VIOLENCE:

phone cell computer laptopDesensitized Gamers playing/viewing endless online war games, DVDs, television shows and movies glamorizing war; these guys are targeted for recruiting into the military.

Emergence of Religious, Political and Polarized Lifestyle Cult Groups:

ISIS and al-Qaeda are sophisticated brainwashers and seducers. Internet advertisement is horrendously popular for terrorist recruiters. Charismatic Imams use fiery anti-American sermons at mosques to attract young men. These potential recruits are “in-betweeners”: in between jobs, in between relationships, in between their family homes and their own marriages, in between schools or, in general, in between young adulthood and adulthood. The key psycho-dynamic patterns in homegrown terrorists are:

  • Ambivalence toward or disappointment in early parental figures, often resulting in father hunger or longing
  • Ambivalence about vocation, marriage, and intimacy
  • Being an “in-betweener” with prolonged adolescent identity searching
  • Ambivalence toward authority, fear of authority and hate of authority, yet longing for effective authority.

The recruitment of homegrown terrorists involves the charismatic exploitation of “in-betweener” life situations by radical Imams as cult figures. Terror cults and their recruiters use well-recognized mind control, thought-reform techniques, and social group atmospheres to accomplish their ends vis-a-vis the Internet.

Death of the Nuclear Family and Golden Rule in favor of promotion of self-esteem (“it’s all about me” attitude), Political Correctness, Failure of State Welfarism, Multiculturalism and Religious Diversity, as well as, emergence of unfathomable cost of a business or entrepreneurial education.

Emergence of electronic non-face-to-face communications which reduces moral compunction!

Utter rewriting of history to promote current political and social belief-systems.

Replacement of a loving and merciful God with a politically correct God.

Complete collapse of morality, in general, since the “Love Generation” of the 60s.

Complete failure of a manufacturing based economy resulting in sustained high unemployment.

Loss of faith in the objectivity and truthfulness of the news media.

Promotion of military conquest and settlement of international disputes by economic coercion and subterfuge.

Complete divergence from original Constitutional Law reflecting our Founding Fathers principles.

Acceptance of a new moral construct, i.e. avoidance of responsibility for one’s acts while attempting to find a social cause for every immoral transgression or micro-aggression:

“…[E]very free individual must protect themselves against the evil will of the man, the mob and the state.”
Tiffany Madison

GUNS ARE NOT THE ISSUE. WE ARE.”
Aaron B. Powell, Guns

***********************

1. The Conflict Awareness Project (CAP) is an international non-profit organization dedicated to investigating, documenting, and bringing to justice major arms traffickers, war profiteering networks, and transnational criminal operations that fuel war and conflict around the world. See http://conflictawareness.org
2. “The Tangled Web of Illicit Arms Trafficking by Rachel Stohl.” See http://conflictawareness.org/
3. “The Making of a Homegrown Terrorist” by Peter A. Olsson, MD  http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/trauma-and-violence/making-homegrown-terrorist?GUID=21A28F6B-4D09-45C1-8017-E51A24CF1790&rememberme=1&ts=10122015
4. “3D Printed Bullets-Latest Gun Control Nightmare” http://www.inquisitr.com/676556/3d-printed-bullets-latest-gun-control-nightmare/
5. Table 10. Number of deaths from 113 selected causes, Enterocolitis due to Clostridium difficile, drug-induced causes, alcohol-induced causes, and injury by firearms, by age: United States, 2013…Centers for Disease Control
6. Death by Prescription, by Deborah King, The Huffingon POST 09/23/2013
7. Doctors Are the Third Leading Cause of Death in the U.S. by Joseph Mercola, D.O.
8. [Search domain www.wsws.org] wsws.org/en/articles/2011/05/mexi-m20.html
9. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/avinash-tharoor/banks-cartel-money-laundering_b_4619464.html
10. Banks Financing Mexico Drug Gangs Admitted in Wells Fargo Deal http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2010-06-29/banks-financing-mexico-s-drug-cartels-admitted-in-wells-fargo-s-u-s-deal
11. US Bank Money Laundering – Enormous By Any Measure by James Petras, Professor of Sociology, Binghamton University

Read www.SedonaEye.com for daily news and interactive views!

Read www.SedonaEye.com for daily news and interactive views!

163 Comments

  1. West Sedona Resident says:

    The above post is by JRN…. Not West Sedona Resident

    Way to go Ricky….you are now a bull blank artist.

    You must be really board and need to stop bothering people in the gym…

  2. J. Rick Normand says:

    @West Sedona Resident,

    There are at least four, maybe five, blog trolls using the West Sedona Resident handle at this site. I am not one of them nor the one you’ve addressed your remarks to. But, I will concede that I don’t think the West Sedona Resident above is the original West Sedona Resident, which is you, who is educationally-challenged and has an acute drinking problem. The remarks by the false WSR above (which you think is me) contribute knowledge to the article, which the original WSR never does since the original is only into relentless ad hominem attacks. Attacks, I might add, that get worse with the consumption of drugs or alcohol while writing your invective.

    Nevertheless, why would I want to use the handle of a mean drunk? That is, your meanness which shows up relative to my 4-day-a-week heavy lifting workouts at the gym…the results of which you so obviously envy!

  3. Thomas Walls says:

    Have the Military dip all our ammo in pigs blood and have our allies do the same!

  4. West Sedona resident says:

    @little Rickey

    Don’t drink or drug fyi

    Also if you could power lift 10 percent of your body weight that would be quite a load based on your overblown frame…

  5. I See Through You says:

    To All Readers at Sedona Eye:

    and to West Sedona Resident,

    WSR, do you ever contribute anything constructive about the articles written by JRN or is your only demented purpose to launch personal attacks? Your presence at this site is getting overwhelmingly tiresome. If you’re as smart as you seem to think you are, then why don’t you write articles? You’re obviously not smart enough to do that, are you?

    Meahwhile, under the subtitle in JRN’s article entitled “Distributing Arms Inventories, Retail,” there is a sentence that says:

    “Secret online gun-running and Internet weapons-trafficking syndicates are proliferating. All they need is a private Tor Browser Bundle and a skilled hacker.”

    If some of you readers are interested in learning more about what J. Rick meant as to this sentence, go to this fascinating link:

    http://www.wired.com/2016/01/heres-what-tors-data-looks-like-as-it-flows-around-the-world/

    It’s obvious that guns and ammunition manufactured in eastern Europe and Israel use this network to facilitate arms flow and sales into the U.S. black market and, therefore, none of President Obama’s Executive Orders will accomplish much of anything.

    Sorry, J. Rick, I didn’t mean to appear to be trying to one-up you. That sentence just got me thinking, though. How many educated people have any idea that this online network even exists?

  6. Ariana Helmet says:

    Truth based, facts.

  7. Bob, VOC says:

    Q. How many educated people have any idea that this online network even exists? Answer = Two tops

  8. Fran McCall, Cleveland/Sedona says:

    Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump talks to Jimmy about how his controversial remarks have helped his campaign, why he defended President Obama’s tears over gun control and sets the record straight about those secret-Democrat conspiracy theories.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GBnxfTkICs Trump won NH, Bernie won NH. Weep Sedona weep. America is waking up, sleep Sedona sleep.

  9. Sue Me says:

    Let me be frank as my guy Bernie says & here’s tit for tat…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fgBT0eec_4

    Hillary frequent use of the gender card annoys me. The entire idea of feminism and sexism is about equality! The idea that ppl should vote for her just simply because she is a women goes against the ideas that feminist fought for and it’s sexist. I mean, its great that we can finally have a women as a president but we should not vote for simply because she is a women just like men should not get better jobs simply because they are men. She claims she fights for women but she trashed Bill’s Girls to retain power. She didn’t do it, why should we do it for her? I’m not. She’s a power hungry back stabbing fake, the worst kind of woman to elect. We’re better than that as Rachel Maddow implies.

  10. Michele says:

    what the hell’s this got to do with guns?? this city’s neva eva eva boring & that’s good too/missed debate & went they head to head & thx4share, watched to 1st commercial break & might catch more after work/they hate each other!!

  11. Dave, VOC says:

    TRUMP AND HILLARY IN A BAR NO MATTER IF YOU ARE REPUBLICAN, DEMOCRAT OR INDEPENDENT, YOU CAN’T DISPUTE THE FOLLOWING ACCOUNTS.

    Old news, but what the hell……….

    Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are in a bar. Donald leans over, and with a smile on his face, says, “The media are really tearing you apart for That Scandal.”

    Hillary: “You mean my lying about Benghazi?”
    Trump: “No, the other one.”

    Hillary: “You mean the massive voter fraud?”
    Trump: “No, the other one.”

    Hillary: “You mean the military not getting their votes counted?”
    Trump: “No, the other one.”

    Hillary: “Using my secret private server with classified material to hide my activities?”

    Trump: “No, the other one.”

    Hillary: “The NSA monitoring our phone calls, emails and everything else?”
    Trump: “No, the other one.”

    Hillary: “Using the Clinton Foundation as a cover for tax evasion, hiring cronies, and taking bribes from foreign countries?
    Trump: “No, the other one.”

    Hillary: “You mean the drones being operated in our own country without the benefit of the law?”
    Trump: “No, the other one.”

    Hillary: “Giving 123 Technologies $300 Million, and right afterward it
    declared Bankruptcy and was sold to the Chinese?”
    Trump: “No, the other one.”

    Hillary: “You mean arming the Muslim Brotherhood and hiring them in the White House?”
    Trump: “No, the other one.”

    Hillary: “Whitewater, Watergate committee, Vince Foster, commodity deals?”
    Trump: “No the other one:”

    Hillary: “The IRS targeting conservatives?”
    Trump: “No, the other one:”

    Hillary: “Turning Libya into chaos?”
    Trump: “No, the other one:”

    Hillary: “Trashing Mubarak, one of our few Muslim friends?”
    Trump: “No, the other one:”

    Hillary: “Turning our backs on Israel?”
    Trump: “No, the other one:”

    Hillary: “The joke Iran nuke deal? ”
    Trump: “No, the other one:”

    Hillary: “Leaving Iraq in chaos? ”
    Trump: “No, the other one.”

    Hillary: “The DOJ spying on the press?”
    Trump: “No, the other one.”

    Hillary: “You mean HHS Secretary Sibelius shaking down health insurance executives?”
    Trump: “No, the other one.”

    Hillary: “Giving our cronies in SOLYNDRA $500 million dollars and 3 months later they declared bankruptcy and then the Chinese bought it?”
    Trump: “No, the other one.”

    Hillary: “The NSA monitoring citizens?”
    Trump: “No, the other one.”

    Hillary: “The State Department interfering with an Inspector General Investigation on departmental sexual misconduct?”
    Trump: “No, the other one.”

    Hillary: “Me, The IRS, Clapper and Holder all lying to Congress?”
    Trump: “No, the other one.”

    Hillary: “Threats to all of Bill’s former mistresses to keep them quiet?”
    Trump: “No, the other one.”

    Hillary: “I give up! … Oh wait, I think I’ve got it! When I stole the White House furniture, silverware and china when Bill left office?”

    Trump: “THAT’S IT! I almost forgot about that one”.
    **********
    Everything above is true.

    Yet, she still gets the Democratic votes.
    Could there be that many shortsighted people in this country?

    Does anyone understand this?

    Are we doomed?

  12. I See Through You says:

    @Fran, Michele, Sue Me, & Dave, VOC

    Would you all mind getting back to the issue of gun control? Check this out:

    http://twitchy.com/2016/01/08/watch-this-sheriff-expose-what-obamas-gun-control-really-means-for-america/

  13. Cal Nave, Berlin says:

    “In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes an act of rebellion.”
    – George Orwell

  14. J. Rick Normand says:

    @All Readers at The Eye:

    Yesterday, Feb 29, the Arizona House passed a bill to prohibit the State of Arizona from using personnel or resources to enforce any new federal gun control measures, setting the foundation to nullify them in practice within the state. The vote was 35-24. It wasn’t even close!

    Rep. Anthony Kern (R-Glendale), Rep. Darin Mitchell (R-Dist. 13) and Rep. Steve Montenegro (R-Avondale) filed House Bill 2300 (HB2300) in January with three other cosponsors. The legislation would prohibit any state or local agency and their employees from knowingly and willingly participating in any way in the enforcement of any future federal act, law, order, rule or regulation issued regarding a personal firearm, a firearm accessory or ammunition “that infringes the right to keep and bear arms guaranteed by the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution or that impairs that right in violation of Article 2, Section 26 of the Arizona Constitution.”

    The bill would also ban the use of state assets or money in the enforcement of future federal gun laws.

    JRN

  15. J. Rick Normand says:

    @All Readers at The Eye:

    From the World Health Organization
    The latest Murder Statistics for the world:

    Murders per 100,000 citizens per year;

    Honduras 91.6 (WOW!!)
    El Salvador 69.2
    Cote d’lvoire 56.9
    Jamaica 52.2
    Mexico 50.9
    Venezuela 45.1
    Belize 41.4
    US Virgin Islands 39.2
    Guatemala 38.5
    Saint Kitts and Nevis 38.2
    Zambia 38.0
    Uganda 36.3
    Malawi 36.0
    Lesotho 35.2
    Trinidad and Tobago 35.2
    Colombia 33.4
    South Africa 31.8
    Congo 30.8
    Central African Republic 29.3
    Bahamas 27.4
    Puerto Rico 26.2
    Saint Lucia 25.2
    Dominican Republic 25.0
    Tanzania 24.5
    Sudan 24.2
    Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 22.9
    Ethiopia 22.5
    Guinea 22.5
    Dominica 22.1
    Burundi 21.7
    Democratic Republic of the Congo 21.7
    Panama 21.6
    Brazil 21.0
    Equatorial Guinea 20.7
    Guinea-Bissau 20.2
    Kenya 20.1
    Kyrgyzstan 20.1
    Cameroon 19.7
    Montserrat 19.7
    Greenland 19.2
    Angola 19.0
    Guyana 18.6
    Burkina Faso 18.0
    Eritrea 17.8
    Namibia 17.2
    Rwanda 17.1
    Chad 15.8
    Ghana 15.7
    Ecuador 15.2
    North Korea 15.2
    Benin 15.1
    Sierra Leone 14.9
    Mauritania 14.7
    Botswana 14.5
    Zimbabwe 14.3
    Gabon 13.8
    Nicaragua 13.6
    French Guiana 13.3
    Papua New Guinea 13.0
    Swaziland 12.9
    Bermuda 12.3
    Comoros 12.2
    Nigeria 12.2
    Cape Verde 11.6
    Grenada 11.5
    Paraguay 11.5
    Barbados 11.3
    Togo 10.9
    Gambia 10.8
    Peru 10.8
    Myanmar 10.2
    Russia 10.2
    Liberia 10.1
    Costa Rica 10.0
    Nauru 9.8
    Bolivia 8.9
    Mozambique 8.8
    Kazakhstan 8.8
    Senegal 8.7
    Turks and Caicos Islands 8.7
    Mongolia 8.7
    British Virgin Islands 8.6
    Cayman Islands 8.4
    Seychelles 8.3
    Madagascar 8.1
    Indonesia 8.1
    Mali 8.0
    Pakistan 7.8
    Moldova 7.5
    Kiribati 7.3
    Guadeloupe 7.0
    Haiti 6.9
    Timor-Leste 6.9
    Anguilla 6.8
    Antigua and Barbuda 6.8
    Lithuania 6.6
    Uruguay 5.9
    Philippines 5.4
    Ukraine 5.2
    Estonia 5.2
    Cuba 5.0
    Belarus 4.9
    Thailand 4.8
    Suriname 4.6
    Laos 4.6
    Georgia 4.3
    Martinique 4.2
    And ………
    The United States 2.2 !!!!!

    ALL (109) of the countries rated higher than the United States of America,
    HAVE 100% gun bans.

    It might be of interest to note that SWITZERLAND is not
    shown on this list, because it has…NO MURDER OCCURRENCE!
    However, SWITZERLAND’S law requires that EVERYONE:
    1. Own a gun.
    2. Maintain Marksman qualifications … regularly .
    Did you learn anything from this?

    I think the message is – loud and clear…

    *GUN bans and restrictions…*
    *DO NOT work!*

    JRN

  16. West Sedona Dave says:

    JRN…………..

    Love your straw man…..No one has, is, or planning on banning guns?

    If anything people are asking for common sense background checks..

    But you keep sticking up to that invisible boogie man….Really?

    I find it very sad that in 2016 people dont understand it takes 2/3 of a vote from congress to remove or add an amendment to the constitution!…

  17. West sedona redident says:

    Hey Rick

    I never heard of any politician say anything about banning guns!!!

    So the whole pretense of your List above is not even relevant to anything…

    Where you get the info from a tea party BS report

  18. magickj says:

    While everyone is on edge due to the impending collapse of the economy, Obama nominates a judge to superior court that could do away with the 2nd amendment altogether. Those that aren’t paying attention will be the first to be moved to the nearby FEMA camp. This from the NY POST:

    This week, Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz warned that Antonin Scalia’s death leaves us “one justice away from the Second Amendment being written out of the Constitution altogether.” Although I share the Texas senator’s concern about the fate of the right to keep and bear arms if a Democrat nominates Scalia’s replacement, the short-term consequences may be less dramatic than Cruz implies.

    Writing for the five-justice majority in District of Columbia v. Heller, the 2008 decision in which the Supreme Court recognized that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to armed self-defense, Scalia said that right was violated by a law that banned handguns and required owners of long guns to disable them with trigger locks or keep them unloaded and disassembled. But he strongly implied that nearly every other existing gun control law would pass constitutional muster.

    Scalia wrote that “nothing in our opinion should be taken to cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings, or laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms.”

    He also said the Second Amendment applies only to weapons “in common use for lawful purposes,” a condition that seems designed to justify any pre-existing national ban, and mentioned “prohibiting the carrying of ‘dangerous and unusual weapons’” as “another important limitation on the right to keep and carry arms.”

    Heller thus blessed a policy that permanently disarms people who have never committed a violent crime or shown any propensity to do so and left open the question of whether and where people have a constitutional right to carry guns outside their homes.

    It gave wide latitude to “conditions and qualifications” for selling guns, which might including licensing and registration of buyers as well as background checks and waiting periods and provided a potential rationale for outlawing guns that politicians deem especially dangerous (such as “assault weapons”).

    In another 5-to-4 decision two years later, the Supreme Court overturned Chicago’s handgun ban, confirming that the Second Amendment applies to cities and states as well as federal domains, but leaving its scope unclear.

    Defining the scope of the Second Amendment is where the legal action is now, and that could remain true even if a Democrat picks Scalia’s successor. Rather than overturn Heller completely, a new Supreme Court majority friendly to gun control laws could simply read the right to arms narrowly enough to accommodate them.

    There were two dissents in Heller, both joined by all four justices in the minority. One dissent, written by John Paul Stevens, argued that the Second Amendment does not protect an individual right to armed self-defense. The other dissent, written by Stephen Breyer, argued that the D.C. handgun ban was consistent with that right.

    By embracing Breyer’s reasoning, which tolerates wide variation in gun controls based on local conditions, a new majority of Democratic appointees could approve whatever restrictions come their way while still claiming to respect Second Amendment rights. That is essentially the position taken by Barack Obama and the two Democrats vying to replace him, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.

    Politics would once again be the main constraint on gun laws, meaning that jurisdictions like D.C. and Chicago would once again be free to ban handguns. In other words, the most likely short-term consequence of adding another Democratic nominee to the Supreme Court is that Democrats would succeed in disarming their own constituents.

    At the national level, existing laws would be upheld, but that is probably also true under Scalia’s approach. New gun controls — whether the universal background checks Democrats are pushing or the Australian-style mass confiscations that Clinton admires — would not suddenly be more likely to pass.

    That could change over the long term, of course, which is why constitutional constraints are important. You don’t wait for a fire to break out before you buy an extinguisher.

    http://nypost.com/2016/02/17/what-it-means-for-gun-rights-if-scalias-replacement-is-a-liberal/

    In related news, ALL of the mass shootings have been by someone who was under the influence or recently stopped taking of SSRI type anti-depressants. This fact is also true about the guy who purposely ran into a car full of tourists from India on Cook’s Hill last year. SSRI type drugs = start there.

  19. Kelly Roberts says:

    Curiosity sent me to fact check a couple comments @majickj. Thanks for a well thought out response to a well thought out article. This is America at its best; political discourse with purpose. And thanks for helping me discover there is a third Democratic candidate – who knew? And why not?

    http://www.ontheissues.org/Mark_Stewart.htm

    http://www.ontheissues.org/Celeb/Democratic_Party_Gun_Control.htm
    http://www.ontheissues.org/Democratic_Party.htm

  20. @ JRN says:

    Hay J Rick you ask “Did you learn anything from this?”

    You betch’a I learned something it’s that you still think that you’re smartest guy in the room.

  21. West Sedona Resident says:

    Ok Parinoids!!!!!

  22. J. Rick Normand says:

    @West Sedona Dave, West sedona redident (you half-wit), @JRN (not me) and West Sedona Resident,

    Angela LeFevre never stops talking about gun control West sedona redident. Redident? You must be Steve Segner. West Sedona Dave, you say “I find it very sad that in 2016 people dont understand it takes 2/3 of a vote from congress to remove or add an amendment to the constitution!…” Dave, neither Congress nor the Supreme Court has the constitutional power to expunge the 2nd Amendment or any Amendment to the Constitution. Only an Article V (of the Constitution) Convention of States ratification of state’s delegates can do that. Three-quarters of the states would have to ratify whatever is decided as to any constitutional amendment submitted to the Convention. If you want to talk the Constitution to me, learn something about it. The fact that you have no idea what you’re talking about is sad. @JRN (not J. Rick) I’m not the smartest guy in town, but I’m sure as hell one helluva lot smarter than you since you’re too illiterate to even learn how to outwit our local former dog food salesman who comments at this site more than any other troll. BTW, “Hay” is for livestock, you meant “Hey.” And, West Sedona Resident, it’s “Paranoid” not “Parinoids.” Why don’t all of you form a debate team to exercise your collective wisdom and I will debate you all in a public forum? We could hold it at the library or the Cowboy Church. I promise you, such an event will attract a large crowd. No, none of you cry babies will do that because you’re all gutless, and that’s being kind!

    JRN (the real one)

  23. West Sedona Resident says:

    @JEN

    You are a legend in your own mind…. You must be very impressed with yourself….with is good cause most people think your a pompous A-hole

  24. West Sedona Dave says:

    Rick,….
    Now Angela LeFever has enough power to make gun control laws????(again straw man)

    Im all for second amendments right for people that can prove it…..I am not for someone who we find out after the fact they shouldn’t of owned a gun!!! Is that very difficult to understand????? (must be)

    So again….who is this invisible person so hell bent on taking your silly gun from you? (it better not be Ms. LaFevere?)

    Ant thanks for showing its even more difficult to remove the 2nd amendment!!!!

    Been a while since I took my constitution test….I really dont understand why people must light there hair on fire over non existent problems….

    I hate to say it…..But you really need some form of entertainment or a hobby instead of peddling lies and hate…. Im sorry…..the average Joe find you a bit over the top….

  25. West Sedona resident says:

    Yea Rick

    What west sedona Dave said:;; Get your fat ass moving in the gym instead of holding people hostage with your conspiracy theories..

    Your a joke JRN

  26. steve Segner says:

    Local former dog food salesman who comments at this site more than any other troll. So I m a troll for calling rick on his bull?
    If you notice all my post come with facts,

    ss

  27. West sedona resident says:

    Sorry Rick I didn’t take my meds. I really have a crush on you. I just can’t stand it that you never noticed me.
    Love ya more than you’ll ever know.
    xoxo
    Wsr

  28. West Sedona resident says:

    Sometimes I can’t control myself. i criticize people that speak the truth. I have an agenda,
    WSr

  29. Observation says:

    Has anyone else noticed how West Sedona Resident (in various forms) manages to keep the “recent posts” column filled with the insignificance of repetition accompanied by inane contributions?

    Of course it’s an attempt to keep other contributors from having the opportunity for their comments to be read.

    OMG, talk about being egotistical and self-centered. WSR – look in the mirror – better yet along with SS – and you will not need to seek further importance with your pathetic prattle on Sedona Eye.

  30. Fair and Balanced says:

    U.S. Has More Guns – And Gun Deaths – Than Any Other Country, Study Finds

    Home
    >
    Health
    U.S. Has More Guns – And Gun Deaths – Than Any Other Country, Study Finds
    September 19, 2013
    By SYDNEY LUPKIN
    Sydney Lupkin More from Sydney »
    Health Reporter
    via GOOD MORNING AMERICA
    Share

    Handguns are on display during the annual New York State Arms Collectors Association Albany Gun Show in Albany, N.Y. (Credit: Philip Kamrass/AP Photo)

    The United States has more guns and gun deaths than any other developed country in the world, researchers found.

    A study by two New York City cardiologists found that the U.S. has 88 guns per 100 people and 10 gun-related deaths per 100,000 people – more than any of the other 27 developed countries they studied.

    Japan, on the other hand, had only .6 guns per 100 people and .06 gun-related deaths per 100,000 people, making it the country with both the fewest guns per capita and the fewest gun-related deaths.

    Drs. Sripal Bangalore, who works at NYU Langone Medical Center, and Dr. Franz Messerli of St. Luke’s Medical Center studied the statistics of guns per capita and gun deaths. They used firearm injury data from the World Health Organization and guns per capita data from the Small Arms Survey to put together a list of 27 developed countries.

    They said they carried out their study because of what they said are seemingly baseless claims on either side of the gun control debate.

    “I think we need more of what I would call evidence-based discussion and not merely people pulling things out of their hats,” Bangalore said. “We hear time and time again about these shootings, especially in the last year or so. A lot of claims are made…so we wanted to look at the data and see if any of this holds water.”

    They concluded that more guns do not make people safer.

    David Hemenway, a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health who specializes in injury research and is considered one of the top gun violence researchers in the country, said the there’s “no question” that the relationship between guns and gun deaths is real.

    “It shouldn’t be really a surprise to people,” Hemenway said.

    There are some caveats to the data, such as countries’ records of illegal guns, but it seems to be “reasonable” and on par with previous research, Hemenway said.

    The National Rifle Association did not immediately respond to ABCNews.com request for comment.

    Here’s the full list:
    Country Guns per 100 Total Firearm-related Deaths per 100,000
    United States 88.8 10.2
    Switzerland 45.7 3.84
    Finland 45.3 3.64
    Sweden 31.6 1.47
    Norway 31.3 1.78
    France 31.2 3
    Canada 30.8 2.44
    Austria 30.4 2.94
    Iceland 30.3 1.25
    Germany 30.3 1.1
    New Zealand 22.6 2.66
    Greece 22.5 1.5
    Belgium 17.2 2.43
    Luxembourg 15.3 1.81
    Australia 15 1.04
    South Africa 12.7 9.41
    Turkey 12.5 0.72
    Denmark 12 1.45
    Malta 11.9 2.16
    Italy 11.9 1.28
    Spain 10.4 0.63
    Ireland 8.6 1.03
    Portugal 8.5 1.77
    Israel 7.3 1.86
    United Kingdom 6.2 0.25
    Netherlands 3.9 0.46
    Japan 0.6 0.06

    The United States has more guns and gun deaths than any other developed country in the world, researchers found.

    A study by two New York City cardiologists found that the U.S. has 88 guns per 100 people and 10 gun-related deaths per 100,000 people – more than any of the other 27 developed countries they studied.

    Japan, on the other hand, had only .6 guns per 100 people and .06 gun-related deaths per 100,000 people, making it the country with both the fewest guns per capita and the fewest gun-related deaths.

    Drs. Sripal Bangalore, who works at NYU Langone Medical Center, and Dr. Franz Messerli of St. Luke’s Medical Center studied the statistics of guns per capita and gun deaths. They used firearm injury data from the World Health Organization and guns per capita data from the Small Arms Survey to put together a list of 27 developed countries.

    They said they carried out their study because of what they said are seemingly baseless claims on either side of the gun control debate.

    “I think we need more of what I would call evidence-based discussion and not merely people pulling things out of their hats,” Bangalore said. “We hear time and time again about these shootings, especially in the last year or so. A lot of claims are made…so we wanted to look at the data and see if any of this holds water.”

    They concluded that more guns do not make people safer.

    They concluded that more guns do not make people safer.

    David Hemenway, a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health who specializes in injury research and is considered one of the top gun violence researchers in the country, said the there’s “no question” that the relationship between guns and gun deaths is real.

    “It shouldn’t be really a surprise to people,” Hemenway said.

    There are some caveats to the data, such as countries’ records of illegal guns, but it seems to be “reasonable” and on par with previous research, Hemenway said.

    The National Rifle Association did not immediately respond to ABCNews.com request for

    Well well….?…. I guess just having the 3rd world countries make it look better????

  31. west sedona resident says:

    Rick, I can’t stop thinking about you. You know all you have to do ask. For ANYTHING. You know who I am. KD

  32. J. Rick Normand says:

    @Fair and Balanced

    Your recited study says “They concluded that more guns do not make people safer” followed by “There are some caveats to the data, such as countries’ records of illegal guns, but it seems to be “reasonable” and on par with previous research, Hemenway said.” Then there’s the matter of what you and the study didn’t mention, namely lives saved by defensive gun use. See this link…http://www.storyleak.com/woops-obama-ordered-gun-report-guns-save-lives/.”

    Taken together, all I’ve just said leads to the conclusion as to your purpose that it results in Reductio ad absurdum by virtue of a gross non-sequitur! In other words, you’re trying to prove a conclusion to a deductive logic thread that is missing the major premise which is that the black market in guns fill any void created by federal gun control legislation which, realistically, is unenforceable anyway. Therefore, as made clear in my article above, federal gun control legislation is ineffective and is only a dream in the sub-conscious of progressive liberals.

    There are over 200,000,000 guns in the hands of private gun owners in this country. The Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association reports that the vast majority of county sheriffs across the U.S. will defend the Constitution’s 2nd Amendment and will NOT serve warrants for federally defined illegally owned guns. Hillary Clinton, who commented that “all [military] military veterans are mentally ill” made the comment because they are mostly all gun owners. They (Veterans) are respected by currently SERVING military who largely will NOT accept illegal orders from a President or federal officer, or court, to seize firearms from American citizens. The number of municipal police officers is miniscule compared to the number of gun owners who will not surrender their guns.

    So, considering that the BLACK MARKET sells guns and ammunition to anyone clever enough to avail themselves of it, that it can do so in any quantities or types of weapons it finds profitable to sell, and that the manufacture of all these firearms and ammunition, and the distribution thereof, are clandestine on a world-wide basis and has the cash (black market operatives) to bribe government personnel who are supposed to regulate the gun market, legal and illegal, not to mention that there is virtually no enforcement means to enforce gun control, just how exactly to you propose to make gun control a reality Fair and Balanced? You’re living in progressive liberal LaLa Land sir! And, BTW, if you’re truly so committed to your misguided point, then why do you hide your identity and plagiarize some widely contested study that only appeals to academia?

    JRN

  33. Shelby & Sunset says:

    No matter whether Dem or Rep, read this. The stats & reasoning for black supported & demanded crime bills in the past stand the test of time.

    http://nypost.com/2016/04/11/bill-clintons-in-trouble-for-telling-the-truth-to-black-lives-matter/

  34. I See Through You says:

    To All Readers at The Eye,

    On March 21, 2016, the US Supreme Court issued a rather stunning opinion, with no dissents from the liberal justices, upholding the 2nd Amendment right of the individual citizen to keep and bear arms for self-defense. It struck down a Massachusetts state supreme court ruling which upheld the conviction of a young woman for carrying a stun gun for protection and strongly reaffirmed the previous Supreme Court ruling of District of Columbia v. Heller, which had definitively interpreted the 2nd Amendment to apply to individuals and not just police and military.

    Typically, this landmark unanimous affirmation of the 2nd Amendment was all but ignored by the main stream media- confirming its liberal bias and control by liberal progressives.

    Below is the first section of the opinion. A link at the end provides the entire opinion.

    Cite as: 577 U. S. March 21 (2016) 1 Per Curiam
    SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES JAIME CAETANO v. MASSACHUSETTS ON PETITION FOR WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT OF MASSACHUSETTS No. 14–10078. Decided March 21, 2016 PER CURIAM.

    The Court has held that “the Second Amendment extends, prima facie, to all instruments that constitute bearable arms, even those that were not in existence at the time of the founding,” District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U. S. 570, 582 (2008), and that this “Second Amendment right is fully applicable to the States,” McDonald v. Chicago, 561 U. S. 742, 750 (2010). In this case, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts upheld a Massachusetts law prohibiting the possession of stun guns after examining “whether a stun gun is the type of weapon contemplated by Congress in 1789 as being protected by the Second Amendment.” 470 Mass. 774, 777, 26 N. E. 3d 688, 691 (2015).

    The court offered three explanations to support its holding that the Second Amendment does not extend to stun guns. First, the court explained that stun guns are not protected because they “were not in common use at the time of the Second Amendment’s enactment.” Id., at 781, 26 N. E. 3d, at 693. This is inconsistent with Heller’s clear statement that the Second Amendment “extends . . . to . . . arms . . . that were not in existence at the time of the founding.” 554 U. S., at 582.

    The court next asked whether stun guns are “dangerous per se at common law and unusual,” 470 Mass.,at 781, 26 N. E. 3d, at 694, in an attempt to apply one “important limitation on the right to keep and carry arms,” Heller, 554 U. S., at 627; see ibid. (referring to “the historical tradition of prohibiting the carrying of ‘dangerous and unusual weapons’”). In so doing, the court concluded that stun guns are “unusual” because they are “a thoroughly modern invention.” 470 Mass., at 781, 26 N. E. 3d, at 693–694. By equating “unusual” with “in common use at the time of the Second Amendment’s enactment,” the court’s second explanation is the same as the first; it is inconsistent with Heller for the same reason.

    Finally, the court used “a contemporary lens” and found “nothing in the record to suggest that [stun guns] are readily adaptable to use in the military.” 470 Mass., at 781, 26 N. E. 3d, at 694. But Heller rejected the proposition “that only those weapons useful in warfare are protected.” 554 U. S., at 624–625. For these three reasons, the explanation the Massachusetts court offered for upholding the law contradicts this Court’s precedent. Consequently, the petition for a writ of certiorari and the motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis are granted. The judgment of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts is vacated, and the case is remanded for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.

    It is so ordered.

    Read the entire opinion at:
    http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/15pdf/14-10078_aplc.pdf

  35. J. Rick Normand says:

    To All Readers @ The Eye:

    HEADLINE: “Medical Error” Is Third Leading Cause Of Death In America – Estimated At 250,000 Annually. After heart disease and cancer, medical errors kill more Americans than anything else, claiming a quarter of a million lives a year, according to a study by researchers at Johns Hopkins University.

    http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-05-06/medical-error-third-leading-cause-death-america-%E2%80%93-estimated-250000-annually

    Maybe we should ban allopathic medicine and Big Pharma rather than legally owned guns?

  36. J. Rick Normand says:

    To All Readers @ The Eye:

    See this report on the American gun culture using Wikepedia statistics @

    https://www.youtube.com/embed/pELwCqz2JfE?rel=0&autoplay=true

    The U.S., while having the highest personal gun ownership rate in the world, has only the 111th highest murder rate in the world by personally owned guns. And, if you took all the U.S. cities with total gun control ordinances out of the equation, then the U.S. would only rank 211th on the list. BTW, the U.S. city with the highest gun ownership in the U.S. is Plano, TX. Want to guess what city in the U.S. has the absolute lowest murder rate by gunfire? I think you can guess that with a high degree of certainty.

  37. Fair and Balanced says:

    And here is another opinion….because a coin has 2 sides not one….

    http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/34349-gun-culture-and-the-american-nightmare-of-violence

  38. J. Rick Normand says:

    @Fair and Balanced,

    In light of my two comments posted immediately prior to yours, you actually believe Giroux’s commentary is fair and balanced? If posting fair and balanced comments are really that important to you, then why don’t you mention that 100% of mass shootings have come at the hands of the children or family members of registered [progressive liberal] democrats while not a single mass shooting has ever been perpetrated by an NRA member. Why haven’t you mentioned that all over Europe, suddenly, gun ownership has become the preference of millions who formerly would have been aghast at the idea? Better yet, why don’t you find articles that have some solid research findings attached that show the hordes of Americans who have been killed by allopathic cancer treatments and drug prescriptions? I’m sorry Fair and Balanced, but I don’t find any reliable research findings to support Giroux’s claims that our culture is a blood-soaked culture. Personally, I don’t fear being killed in a mass shooting, but I do fear dying in a hospital at the hands of incompetent surgeons and oncologists. Read my two comments again and then reassess your feeling that guns are the problem in this country. Giroux’s piece reads like nothing more than an hysterical opinion from someone who’s never lived in a gun right’s state. And, he sure as hell doesn’t understand who the real mass killers are in the U.S.

    JRN

  39. J. Rick Normand says:

    @ All Readers at The Eye,

    At least 20 deaths or violent crimes have been linked to Fast and Furious-trafficked guns.

    Yet, the deadly-but-forgotten government gun-running scandal known as “Fast and Furious” has lain dormant for years, thanks to White House stonewalling and media compliance. But newly uncovered e-mails have reopened the case, exposing the anatomy of a coverup by an administration that promised to be the most transparent in history.

    At least 20 deaths or violent crimes have been linked to Fast and Furious-trafficked guns.

    A federal judge has forced the release of more than 20,000 pages of emails and memos previously locked up under President Obama’s phony executive-privilege claim. A preliminary review shows top Obama officials deliberately obstructing congressional probes into the border gun-running operation.

    Fast and Furious was a Justice Department program that allowed assault weapons — including .50-caliber rifles powerful enough to take down a helicopter — to be sold to Mexican drug cartels!

    JRN

  40. Eddie Maddock says:

    But Rick, isn’t the current policy in DC all about secret policy and e-mail cover-ups? And, as Mrs. Clinton publicly stated, “What difference does it make?:” Just another day in the life and business as usual. Shameful. .

  41. West Sedona Resident says:

    Just goes to show that whatever side of the coin your on…. There a “so called expert” that has a written article either pro or con regarding any issue..

    That includes YOUR so called experts or informational articles JRN..

    Just because someone has a well written informational article it can still be BS

  42. J. Rick Normand says:

    @ All Readers at The Eye:

    see this link if you dare:

    Prescription Pain-Killers: “Far Riskier” Than Gun Ownership

    http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-05-23/prescription-pain-killers-far-riskier-gun-ownership

    JRN

  43. J. J. says:

    We watch helplessly while good people are gunned down either by rogue cops, mercenaries, or those taking SSRI-type pharmaceutical drugs.

    Good for AZ: http://investmentwatchblog.com/arizona-state-legislators-call-for-states-to-bring-legal-action-against-oregon-leo-and-fbi-over-shooting-death-of-lavoy-finicum/

  44. J. Rick Normand says:

    @All Readers at The Eye:

    In a gun free zone under the nations strictest gun control laws, namely Chicago, today, June 2, 2016, comes the proof that the black-market in firearms can and does completely overwhelm legislated gun control, the latter leaving only the law-abiding public at risk of slaughter.

    From today’s Chicago Tribune: Fatal shooting of boy, 15, closes deadliest May in Chicago in 21 years

    15 year old Fabien Lavinder was the 66th and final homicide victim last month, the deadliest May in Chicago since 1995 when 75 were slain, according to official Police Department records. After just a 2.9 percent gain in homicides in April over the year-earlier period, killings jumped 40 percent in May, Department data show. In other words, the black-market in firearms filled any void created by total limitation of legal gun sales.

    What is happening in GUN-FREE ZONES is the complete collapse of American civilization into all-out urban war zone not much different than in the streets of Syria and Iraq! Gun sales don’t cause warfare…corrupt, incompetent and far-left or far-right politicians do.

    JRN

  45. Fair and Balanced says:

    Well JRN…..

    Or should I call you mister goody ,goody gun guy……Here we go again…..and we will do nothing as usual……right?

    You get on a terror watch list you cant fly on a airplane, but you can buy a gun….

    Stupid, ignorant people who stand behind the ridicules NRA….

    I do hope that some day any one who believes this is a good thing, has a loved one effected by gun violence….

    Kinda simple hea????

  46. J. Rick Normand says:

    @Unfair and Unbalanced,

    So now the Orlando shooting is described as the worst mass shooting in U.S. history. That’s another progressive media gun-control fabrication. And, for the record the shooter was a registered democrat. In fact, ALL mass shooters in the last two decades were either democrats or children of progressive democrats. And let’s not forget the fact that the “institutionalized violent” Democrat Party was the political party of slavery, the Ku Klux Klan, Jim Crow Law’s, and Lychings across the South. As you’ll recall from your history classes at the end of the Civil War, emancipated slaves were given 40 acres and a mule by a Republican Administration who freed them. What you may not remember is that they were given one other thing…a gun, to protect themselves from marauding Democrat black-hating klansmen. Meanwhile, no mass shooter has ever evolved from the membership of the NRA or the Tea Party.

    Meanwhile, back to the Orlando mass shooting, it wasn’t even close to being the worst! Here is the truth:

    THE LARGEST MASS SHOOTING IN US HISTORY HAPPENED December 29,1890 when 297 Sioux Indians at Wounded Knee Creek on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota were murdered by federal agents & soldiers of the 7th Cavalry who had come to confiscate their firearms “for their OWN safety and protection”. The slaughter began AFTER the vast majority of the Sioux had peacefully turned their firearms. The Cavalry began shooting, and managed to wipe out the entire camp. 200 of the 297 victims were unarmed and never-armed women and children.

    Wounded Knee was among the first federally backed gun confiscation attempts in United States’ history. It ended in the senseless MURDER of 297 people.

    The Second Amendment, was intended to memorialize the right of the people to take up arms in defense of themselves, their families, and their property in the face of invading armies or an oppressive government. The Second Amendment was written by people who fled oppressive and tyrannical regimes in Europe, and it refers to the right of American citizens to be armed for defensive purposes, should such tyranny arise in the United States.

    Wounded Knee is the prime example of why the Second Amendment exists, and why we should vehemently resist any attempts to infringe on our “Right to Bear Arms.” Without the Second Amendment we will be totally stripped of any ability to defend ourselves and our families.

    [Credit for most of the last four paragraphs goes to Robert Fitch on Facebook]

    As for your last statement of ignorance as to the U.S. Constitution and the black market for guns, Unfair and Unbalanced, I will assure you that you are more likely to be the victim of gun violence than any member or the NRA. If fact, the odds are that you’ll more likely be the perpetrator of gun violence than a member of the NRA. And, for the record, while I believe in the 2nd Amendment, I am NOT a member of the NRA, the Republican Party, the Tea Party, Oath Keepers or any gun-ownership sponsoring organization. I do, however, believe that the Founding Fathers knew what they were doing and I believe that the Constitution of the United States allowed the U.S. to evolve into the greatest nation on earth. BTW, it’s easy to prove that you’re a half-wit. 50 people are killed every couple of weeks in Chicago by illegally possessed guns in gun-free zone subject to the strictest gun-control ordinances in the country. As I made clear in my article and proved beyond a shadow of a doubt, “gun control ordinance political jurisdictions” ALWAYS create demand for guns filled by the black market. The reason we have so much gun violence in this country is directly attributable to fools of your personal belief-system, not to properly vetted gun ownership!

    JRN

  47. I See Through You says:

    Dear Fair and Balanced,

    So, you think you’re fair and balanced? How can you be fair and balanced when you’re supremely ignorant. Didn’t you read the article at all or do you normally make comments about written matter you’ve never actually read? The following is taken from the below website link:

    http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-06-13/17-facts-about-orlando-shooter-every-american-should-know

    “Well, when you combine radical political correctness with extreme government incompetence and the dramatic growth of radical Islam inside the United States, you create an environment which is absolutely primed for Islamic terror.

    The truth is that the FBI knew about this guy well in advance. In fact, they had even interviewed him three separate times over the years. And at one point the government had been investigating the mosque that he had been attending, but that investigation was shut down by Hillary Clinton’s State Department.” Mateen had told the FBI that he hoped to be a martyr someday, and those were not just idle words. He made pilgrimages to Saudi Arabia in 2011 and 2012.

    Your kind of stark ignorance, not to mention your intentional mischaracterization of your anti-constitutional left-wing belief system as “fair and balanced” is more dangerous to our country than responsible gun ownership, dimwit!

  48. J. Rick Normand says:

    @All Readers at The Eye:

    See this story link and headline;

    Jun 14, 2016

    An Inconvenient Truth: How The Obama Administration Became Earth’s Largest Arms Dealer (link below)

    http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-06-14/inconvenient-truth-how-obama-administration-became-earths-largest-arms-dealer

    JRN

  49. J.. Rick Normand says:

    @All Readers at The Eye:

    See this link entitled “[Obama’s] Fast & Furious Guns Linked to Paris Attack”:

    http://www.infowars.com/paris-attack-guns-linked-to-fast-furious/

    JRN

  50. Vito says:

    http://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2016/06/law-enforcement-sources-gun-used-paris-terrorist-attacks-came-phoenix/

    Law Enforcement Sources: Gun Used in Paris Terrorist Attacks Came from Phoenix – Judicial Watch

    One of the guns used in the November 13, 2015 Paris terrorist attacks came from Phoenix, Arizona where the Obama administration allowed criminals to buy thousands of weapons illegally in a deadly and futile “gun-walking” operation known as “Fast and Furious.” A Report of Investigation (ROI) filed by a case agent in the Bureau of … to read full post click link.

Leave a Reply

Copyright © 2008-2017 · Sedona Eye · All Rights Reserved · Posts · Comments · Facebook · Twitter ·