Ammosexuals, "Big Game" Hunters and Domestic Terrorists

American Gun Fondlers Association

Americans love their guns. They clutch their pearls and gasp at the mere mention of any kind of gun control. Doctors want to classify gun violence as a public health issue, because bullets kill and cripple and maim. Cue pearl clutchers. Some people would like to see background checks tightened, and prohibit the mentally ill from buying guns. Gasp. Gasp. Gasp.

So here we have a shopping trip in 'Murica today. "Open Carry" enthusiasts take their rifles to Target.

If I ran across any of these people while shopping, I'd leave the store immediately. Do you really think I'd stop to figure out whether these are "good guys with guns" or bad? Nope. I'm outta there.  Same goes for a restaurant. Leave my food on the table and go. Any establishment that allows these open carry nuts on their premises deserves to lose my business.

Fortunately, I haven't seen this in my neck of the woods yet.  I keep thinking about the story of the two-year-old who shot his mother in Wal Mart. She had her gun in a special zippered purse compartment. Supposed to prevent just this kind of accident. She's still dead.

We are always hearing about accidents involving firearms. Many of these accidents involve small children. Many involve people who are supposedly well-trained to prevent such accidents. I have my own gun accident story to tell.

Back in 1979 I was married and expecting my first child. Mister Motherunit, who we will refer to as Kingfish, was working at the county jail as a correctional officer.  The COs there didn't carry guns, but there were a lot of wannabe cops there and guns were a big thing with them.  Kingfish came home with a .38 special revolver one day. I was less than thrilled, but Kingfish just loved his new toy. We had to register the gun with the city of Cleveland, and I had my own gun permit with my picture on it and everything.

One fine day, I was sitting on the bed reading a book. Our Irish Setter was snoozing on the bed at my feet. Kingfish is sitting in a corner of the bedroom fondling cleaning his gun. Then...

BOOM!!!!

The gun had discharged. Incredibly loud. Not like the pop-pop-pop you hear on TV. The dog jumps up, flies under the bed. I have no idea how a full-grown Irish Setter could fit under there, but he did. Kingfish & I jump up."What the fuck? What the FUCK??" I hollered. He couldn't hear me. I couldn't hear what he was saying, as our ears were ringing so badly. We see a bullet hole in the wall, just about a foot from where I had been sitting.

We had some real asshole neighbors at the time. If they heard this (how could they not hear it?) they might call the police. We decided to get out of there for a while. We went for a ride in the car as our hearing eventually returned and our blood pressure numbers went back to something resembling normal. There weren't any cops there when we got back, and no neighbors said anything to us. We had dodged a bullet, so to speak.

I had plenty to say. Top on my list was "Who the fuck cleans a loaded gun?" Another was "Your aim was about 12 inches off!" He really had no counter-arguments. It wasn't long before he found a buyer and the gun was gone.

So, there's my story. Fortunately nobody got hurt or killed.  Way too many of these stories don't end so happily. Here's just a small sampling. 

Big Game Hunters

or Douchebags With Too Much Money

Cecil the lion is all over the news now. A tame, friendly mature lion who lived in a national park in Zimbabwe, was lured off of his safe reservation and shot with a crossbow by dickless wonder Walter Palmer. He was wounded by the arrow. Forty hours later, Palmer finished the poor creature off with a gun, then skinned and beheaded him. 

Palmer is not the first rich asshole to come to Africa and kill an endangered animal just for a trophy. Canned hunts have been around for a while.  He's just the face of this entitled little club that has captured the attention of the internet. I don't understand this at all. There is no real hunting skill involved. "Guides" assist by practically leading the animals to these hunters. Big cats, rhinos, elephants and giraffes are all targets. Giraffes! Who the fuck would want to kill a giraffe?

The pressure is on to put an end to this kind of "hunting" and make it illegal to export trophies such as heads, skins or tusks. Perhaps the rich guys will be less inclined to participate in this "sport" if they don't have grisly animal parts to display on their walls. One can only hope. Real men shoot animals with a camera. Real men work to preserve endangered species and make life better for all animals. Hug an animal shelter worker today.

Domestic Terrorists

A lot of people would like to believe that "terrorists" are all middle-eastern Muslim nutjobs. 

Or not. These white, christian, confederate flag wavers are home-grown and scary as hell. Would tighter gun control keep weapons out of the hands of people like this? Maybe, maybe not. I do know that Australia responded to their gun problem with some very strong laws, and it worked. I'll let comedian Jim Jefferies tell you the story.  He's hilarious. He's also right, IMO.

Speaking of home-grown terrorists. I believe American cities need to be a little bit more selective when hiring police officers. Take the case of Sandra Bland. If this isn't terrorism, what is? People should not have to be afraid of their own police officers.

 It's "Protect and Serve" not "Book 'em Danno" 

Why am I scared? I'm white. Well, they seem to be picking on black people right now, but who's to say that some cop might see my bumper stickers and have an issue with one or two of them? Would a Republican cop decide to rough up an old white lady for her Obama magnet?

Even if they're leaving white people alone, it's still wrong that they do this to people of color. It disgusts me what happened to Sandra Bland. She didn't signal a lane change. BFD. Nobody signals a lane change. So, basically, she gets pulled over for a DWB (Driving While Black).

Now, if you know anything about police training, you know that they are trained to DE-escalate a potentially violent situation.  They are taught ways to get people to calm the fuck down. This is part of their job.  Officer Brian Encina did the exact opposite of what he was trained to do. He took every opportunity to escalate the situation. If you watch the dash-cam video, you will see that Sandra wasn't all that uncooperative. The officer was being a dick, and went way over the line. Sandra didn't even deserve a ticket. Hardly even worth a warning. Now, she's dead.

Most of the police officers I have encountered around here have been perfectly nice. I believe that most police officers are good people who wouldn't do this. I am always happy to see stories and videos of good cops who truly care and help people.  The problem, in my opinion, is the Thin Blue Line. Yes, brotherhood, sticking up for one another, getting each other's backs... I believe in that. I think it's important for a police force to have that kind of camaraderie. However, when you start to lie out of loyalty, cover up criminal behavior, it taints the entire group.