Tag: You Can’t Cure Stupid

A Case for Firearm Safety Education

That’s what this article by the Red Star Tribune should be making an argument for. As is the usual the Tribune did a scare piece about guns and once again the hysteria doesn’t add up to the truth. The article is trying to make a case that too many kids are injured by accidents involving firearms and the best way to lower this number is through stricter gun control. The actual answer of course is far different and much of what this story states is bogus and misleading.

There are a lot of facets to this particular article. First the Star Tribune provides the statistical data they are using which brings up two facts. First the data does a breakdown of 15 to 19 meaning child is being defined as anybody from a new born to 19 years of age. This is significant because a child is legally defined as being anywhere from a newborn baby to 17 years of age. Once you turn 18 you are an adult and capable of doing things like purchasing long arms. Thus it’s not until your turn 18 that you can legally ensure an exposure to firearms.

The other major item to note are the two counties with the highest rate of accidents involving firearms. They are Hennepin and Ramsey. For those of your outside of Minnesota these are the counties containing Minneapolis and St. Paul our two largest cities. The other top counties are Anoka, Dakota, Washington, and St. Louis. The first three are all part of the Twin Cities area and the last is the country with Duluth our third largest city. So this seems to be an issue with urban areas as opposed to rural areas.

Likewise Hennepin country is home to Northern Minneapolis. The saying here is, “We don’t go there.” It’s a inner city area and contains by far our highest amount of crime in the state. It’s kind of like our Chicago (if you remove Chicago from Illinois’s crime statistics the state is actually pretty safe).

What I derive from this is kids who are more likely to be educated on the proper use of firearms are less likely to have accidents (gee really?). Most kids in rural areas will go hunting at some point in their life or at least be exposed to firearms in some other way (shooting sports). This usually isn’t the case with kids who grow up in the big city (I know a lot of people from the Twin Cities area who never even seen a real gun before). This leads me to believe education is the main problem here.

In a country where firearms are so ubiquitous it doesn’t seem unreasonable to require firearm safety classes in public schools. Especially considering a few of the examples stated in the Star Tribune article. Speaking of examples some of the examples aren’t so much accidents as actual crime:

Bobby Brown uses his own pain to make that point to young people in Minneapolis. In 1997 in south Minneapolis, a few miles from where Montrell Wade was shot, a drive-by shooter’s bullet struck Brown’s spine, paralyzing him. Brown was 15. Now 28, Brown continues his battle to keep kids away from guns — or to at least respect their potential for horrible, unintended consequences.

If you are shot in a drive-by that doesn’t mean you were involved in an accident it means you were a victim in a crime. An accident generally means somebody did something they didn’t intend to. A drive-by shooting is intentional and thus not an accident. Mr. Brown was a victim of a drive-by and hence this example is not a valid one when discussing kids involved in accidents involving firearms.

Also stating the consequences of illegally or otherwise improperly using a firearm are unintended is moronic. The intent of a firearm is to be a weapon just like the intent of our freeway system in the United States is for national defense. If you are shot and injured by a firearm it’s not an unintended consequence it’s actually the consequence intended by the design of the device.

Carter regularly tries to help teens with gun troubles. He works with Cody Nelson, a 17-year-old from St. Paul who accidentally killed 16-year-old Daron Smith in December in a misbegotten game of Russian roulette.

Russian roulette isn’t an accident. You are intentionally placing a firearm to your head and pulling the trigger while hoping for an empty chamber. You’re still intentionally loading a gun, putting it to your head, and pulling the trigger.

Carter talked about 17-year-old Alisha Neeley who died when struck by a stray bullet outside a teen party in north Minneapolis.

Once again most likely a crime not an accident. If this article would have been titled kids and guns at least some legitimacy could be derived from these examples. But once again the claim is a focus on accidents. If these types of examples are listed in the statistical data used by the article than the data is flawed and thus no valid conclusion can be derived from it.

Now one of the quotes in this article both irritate me and make my case for firearm education:

“It’s like a game of chess,” McGonigal said of teens understanding actions and consequences. “As an amateur, you can see one step ahead. An expert sees six steps ahead. Expecting kids to put two plus two plus two plus two together on their own isn’t realistic. Parents or schools have to help them make the decisions.”

So apparently children are too stupid to add 2 + 2 + 2? Shit I could do that before I started school. Yeah I know that’s not what he meant but I needed to insert a little humor into this article. Beyond bad examples that have nothing to do with accidents the article also contains some other points to note:

In a culture that not only makes guns easily available, but celebrates the possession of weapons, young people cannot distinguish between being cool and the risk of being wounded or killed accidentally, said Phelps Boys and Girls Club director Mark Graves.

In other words the kids need to be educated. A simple firearm safety class shows you what happens if you are shot. Likewise it would teach proper firearm handling.

That means the number of accidental shootings of young people remain stubbornly consistent in urban and rural areas, said the U’s Resnick.

Consistent and low in rural areas where firearm education is practically a given.

The teenager who killed Matis’ son pointed what he thought was an unloaded handgun at Brandon’s face and pulled the trigger.

Rule one of firearm safety. Also a violation of rule two. Again education.

Finally the article contains one completely irrelevant statistic:

The Star Tribune also found that in 2008, Minnesota children ages 10 to 14 had a greater chance of being accidentally wounded by firearms than being hit by cars.

Considering kids don’t get driver licenses until they turn 16 it seems very plausible. Likewise the definition of hit by a car has two meanings. The first means they are physically hit by a vehicle and the other means they are inside of a car when it is hit by another car. In the latter case generally speaking only the driver is considered to be hit by a car. Either way the exposure to vehicles is much less for youths and thus they are less likely to be involved in such an accident.

Exposure to firearms on the other hand is higher being kids spend much of their time at home where parents generally have firearms. This is where education matters. If you’re a parent with young children you should have your firearms securely stored (for instance your carry piece should be on your hip so you know where it is and thus have control over it at all times). When your children are old enough to grasp concepts you should teach them the rules of firearm safety as well as the consequences of disobeying those rules.

Another thing that is important is getting kids over the mysticism of firearms. Kids are always curious about things they’ve had no exposure to. For instances many kids are fascinated by automobiles right up to the point they’ve been driving for a while. So beyond education it is smart to expose your children to firearms in a safe environment so you get rid of that curiosity. Take your children shooting when they want to go shooting.

A combination of education and exposure would probably eliminate a majority of accidents involving firearms and youth. Guns aren’t scary bogeymen who will kill your children if left unattended. No guns are tools without a mind nor conscious of their own. They have no ability to think, no desire, and no ability to make decisions. If used properly firearms are perfectly safe tools. It’s only when used improperly that they become dangerous devices (do note I don’t consider self defense shootings a dangerous use of firearms by a safe use by virtue they keep the user of the gun safe).

Nice try Star Tribune but your article falls to pieces in seconds along with your “argument.”

Some Facts about the Ground-Zero Mosque

The latest event everybody has their knickers in a bunch over is a group of Muslims who want to build a giant mosque and cultural center near ground-zero of the 9/11 attacks. If you want to spark up heated and emotional debates over something this is the way to do it. Everybody I know is pissed as Hell about this. Personally I decided to look into the matter a bit before making a comment and there are a couple of things I found. First:

.”This is a place which is 600 feet from where almost 3,000 people were torn to pieces by Islamic extremists,” said Debra Burlingame, whose brother died in the attack on the Pentagon that day.

This is the first thing to note, it’s not being build at ground-zero just near it. Another thing to note is:

The 13-story mosque and cultural center will be built on the site of a four-story building that was a Burlington Coat Factory retail store until 9/11, when part of a plane’s landing gear crashed through the roof. The building, which will be razed, currently houses a mosque.

So the building that is being demolished to make room for this giant mosque housed… a mosque. This isn’t a new establishment, just a much larger version of what was already there. And then we have:

The New York City Mayor’s office says “It’s private property, and the area is zoned for uses that include this one.”

I bring up this point because most of the people I know who are pissed off about this are also huge believers in property rights and the right to do what you want on your own property. If you want the absolute right to do whatever you want on your property you should extend the same courtesy to others (otherwise it’s not a right it’s a privilege that you enjoy). Personally I think this is the biggest and most important point of this entire story.

But let’s ask an unbiased and neutral source about this:

Pamela Gellar, executive director of Stop Islamization of America, blasted the organization behind the plans, Cordoba Initiative, and its leader, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, saying the project is “an insulting flag of conquest of Islamic supremacism.”

Um… never mind.

Let me be fair and ask the man who heads the organization that is going to build this facility:

Though the Cordoba Initiative’s website calls part of the $100 million-plus project a mosque, its founder, Imam Rauf, says the project is not a mosque but a community center for all faiths that will include recreational facilities, a prayer space and a 500-seat theater that can be a part of the neighborhood’s trendy Tribeca Film Festival.

Rauf insists the effort is meant to help heal the wounds of 9/11, “We’ve approached the community because we want this to be an example of how we are cooperating with the members of the community, not only to provide services but also to build a new discourse on how Muslims and non-Muslims can cooperate together to push back against the voices of extremism.”

I’m sorry that seems way too much like political speak. Maybe a better idea would to be use that money to fund programs that could help fightback extremism and thus enhance the overall American perception of the religion. Heck I’m not the only one who thinks that:

But Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, president of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, says there are more productive ways to fight Islamic extremism.

“Even when they have the resources, they are using it for a place of worship, a cultural center for organizations,” he said. They are not using it for a counterterrorism research center.

“They are not using it to lead the war like Americans need to see us do and they are wasting our resources, not to mention that being close to the hallowed ground that is so sensitive in the souls of the families of 9/11. I think it is extremely poor judgment.”

I agree with that. It seems this is really a waste of resources as far as trying to increase the public perception of Islam in America. Likewise it won’t do anything to help fight extremism either (it’s akin to holding hands around a fire and singing in my opinion). And you can say it’s insensitive due to the fact anybody with a brain could see it would piss off a lot of people, but frankly I don’t give two shits about that.

The fact of the matter is there was already a mosque on the property in question which was shutdown after the 9/11 attacks. Further the property is privately held and hence the owner has the right to do whatever the Hell they want. If they want to build a giant monument of a middle finger with a sign that says “Fuck you New York!” that’s their right in my not so humble opinion.

This does seem like a poor move politically. It sure isn’t going to gain anybody points in popular opinion field. But they have a right to build it and what I think is irrelevant.

EDIT 2010-08-16 21:25: I forgot to add in a link to where I got my information. Sorry about that, it’s corrected now.

Oh My God Signs Kill

Apparently advertising can cause suicide! Every Day, No Days Off brought up a quote from a hack individuals claiming to be a counselor that really struck me as well researched and reasonable:

Year after year, I have been disgusted with the blaring and offensive gun show billboards that show no respect to women and millions of victims of violence. I have been disturbed by the plethora of “Buy & Sell Guns” signs littering our streets when the gun show comes to town.

And now the offending stupidity:

It’s a lot easier to pull a trigger than it is to use alternative, and often less successful, means. Putting “guns, knives, and machine guns for sale” advertisements in people’s faces – especially those who are feeling hopeless, or worse yet, angry – is a recipe for death. So stop the suggestive selling because the bottom line is, you don’t know who’s responding to your advertising and what your ads may “trigger.” Or alternatively, expect that people will die, and don’t be surprised by it.

Yes obviously my last statement was sarcasm. I like how this individuals said it’s easier to pull a trigger than to use alternative methods. You know there are a lot of drugs you can take that will kill you silently and with far less room for error (no I’m not talking Tylenol, if you want to kill yourself using that be prepared for a very painful and lingering death). So by this person’s “logic” we should ban all pharmaceutical advertisements because people can kill themselves via overdosing on drugs. Fuck we need to pan automobile advertisements to because some suicidal person may decide to buy one and ram it into a wall (of a school containing teh childrenz of course) at 100 miles per hour.

What this really comes down to is the moron who wrote this doesn’t like guns shows and therefore believes they shouldn’t be allowed to advertise (and I’m sure if you ask the individuals will state they should be outright banned as well).

Brady Bunch vs. NRA Events

The Truth About Guns has a nice post up comparing the NRA convention to a Brady Campaign shindig. Let’s see all members of the NRA get to attend the convention at no cost (besides that of the membership) while the Brady Bunch want:

RSVP:
Sponsorship Levels
James S. Brady Council Table – $25,000
Power Table – $15,000
Benefactor Table – $10,000
Patron Table – $5,000
Sponsor Table – $3,000
Sarah Brady Activist – $1,500

Those who purchase tickets for $1,500 and above are invited to attend a special VIP cocktail reception with honoree Helen Thomas, Jim and Sarah Brady and Brady President Paul Helmke.

Individual Tickets
Friend Ticket – $500
Supporter Ticket – $250

Holy Hell! I guess when you’ve only got a handful of members you really have to milk them for everything you can get just to pay the bills. In this case the NRA certainly, excuse the pun, give you more bang for your buck.

The Brady Bunch Prove to Be Even Bigger Pricks

Wow the Brady Campaign are dicks. Days of our Trailers points out those pricks are jockeying for more gun related deaths by opposing the NRA’s Eddie Eagle program while offering nothing as a replacement. Why are they doing this? Simply because they don’t like the NRA. Seriously I’m not even exaggerating this:

When I look at the full record of NRA activities, it’s difficult for me to believe that the NRA leadership is serious about gun safety for children or anybody else.

But let’s look at their arguments:

Yet there is absolutely no evidence directly linking the use of the Eddie Eagle program to a decline in children’s deaths by guns.

That’s probably true, I haven’t heard of any such study. Of course the number of children killed by accidents involving firearms has been on a steady decline so the Eddie Eagle program certainly isn’t hurting anything.

In fact, a study published in 2004 by the American Academy of Pediatrics found that children could memorize Eddie’s simple advice about avoiding guns, but that advice went unheeded when children were put in real-life scenarios and asked to role-play a response. Indeed, not a single child out of 11 in the Eddie Eagle program study “used the skills in a real-life situation.” The authors noted, “Studies have found that when children find guns, they often play with them,” and concluded: “Existing programs are insufficient for teaching gun-safety skills to children.”

Of course the linked study is only an abstract and you need to pay to read the entire thing. So I have no idea how the study was conducted and Helmke doesn’t seem willing to provide those details so let’s move on:

Another study published in the late 1990s by the Violence Policy Center (VPC)

That’s all I need to say there. The Brady Bunch referencing the Violence Policy Center is the same as the NRA referencing Gun Owners of America. It’s a bias study where a goal exists and anything will be done to ensure the conclusion reflects that goal. Oh and I love this one:

Children in the United States die from gunfire at a higher rate than in any other industrialized nation, underscoring the need for gun safety education. But the responsibility for protecting children from these lethal weapons should not be dumped on already overburdened teachers and fiscally-strapped school districts that have limited instruction time. The responsibility belongs to parents, gun owners, and gun manufacturers.

This has to be the only time we’ll see Helmke state parents need to take responsibility for something. Because every time a child dies in a gun related accident he goes blames the gun. I just wanted to preserve this moment in history since it’s more rare than people who fully understand quantum mechanics. This is also golden:

When you consider the heart-ripping tragedies that mount every day in the form of accidental gun deaths, gun suicides, and the alleged gun homicide of a three-year-old by his sibling, one has to ask why. Why does the NRA continue to stand in the way of adult education and child safety laws that could stem the carnage?

So the NRA should stop the Eddie Eagle program to education children on gun safety but should not stand in the way of adult education (here’s a hint they don’t stand in the way, they actively try to educate adults as well as children). Likewise the NRA doesn’t stand in the way of child safety laws, they stand in the way of gun control laws which do not make children safer in any way.

You know I think the only play Helmke gets anymore comes from gun bloggers linking to his dribble and pointing out the lies and lack of logic.

Bloomberg’s So-Called Terror Gap

You’ve all seen the massive amount of propaganda Super Douche Bloomberg and his posse have been vomiting up. They want to deny anybody who’s name appears on the “no-fly list” the right to buy firearms. Well let’s look at some of the people on the no-fly list whom Bloomberg wants to strip the rights of for life.

First let’s meet Sam Adams. No not that Sam Adams but a 5 year-old child who is a suspected terrorist:

Saw the article you posted on Boing Boing about the five year old on the no-fly list. My son, also five, is on that same list and it’s a nightmare. Every time we fly with him, we can’t use the computer terminals to check in and the attendant has to call some never named government agency to make sure he’s not a terrorist. Some attendants joke it off but some are insanely serious about it. His seat always goes unassigned (even if it was assigned when the reservation is made) which always causes problems.

I’ve tried everything that anyone has suggested. There’s a TSA form that you can fill out for this situation, which I did, but they won’t tell you if they’ve removed your name. We got him a passport — that didn’t work. We’ve tried booking the tickets with his full name (including middle name), that didn’t work. We tried booking the ticket under Master Samuel Adams, with still no luck.

How about Mickey Hicks? He’s an 8 year-old boy on the no-fly list:

On its website, the TSA specifically denies that there is an 8-year-old on any of its watch lists. But try telling that to Mikey Hicks, who has had problems getting on airplanes his entire life. As a baby, Hicks was denied a seat on a plane because, officials told his mother, his name “was on the list.” He started getting full pat-downs when he was 2, his mom tells the New York Times.

Although arguably deserving Senator Ted Kennedy was also on the list:

U.S. Sen. Edward M. “Ted” Kennedy said yesterday that he was stopped and questioned at airports on the East Coast five times in March because his name appeared on the government’s secret “no-fly” list.

Federal air security officials said the initial error that led to scrutiny of the Massachusetts Democrat should not have happened even though they recognize that the no-fly list is imperfect. But privately they acknowledged being embarrassed that it took the senator and his staff more than three weeks to get his name removed.

Unlike you and me he was probably able to get his name off of the list. Let’s meet Michael Martin a 7 year-old “terrorist” who would be barred from owning firearms for life:

The name of a seven-year-old Coral Springs boy is on the no-fly list.

For the third time in his young life, Michael Martin recently had to check in with an airline agent before flying. His name appears to share a moniker with a suspected or known terrorist.

His mother had to ask an airline agent for help earlier this month when she couldn’t print Michael’s boarding pass from an AirTran kiosk at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.

An Write named Chris Kelly notes his 12 year-old daughter is a “terrorist” as well:

My middle daughter’s name seems to be on the No Fly List. Since she’s only twelve years old, and neither practices nor endorses acts of political violence, I can only assume there’s been some kind of mistake.

No one at the airport will tell us how she made the list. They won’t even confirm that she’s on it. Every time we go to the airport, the electronic kiosk simply refuses to issue her a boarding pass, and we’re sent to the ticket counter, where five people look at the whole family’s I.D., and then specifically hers, and then someone calls someone, and they call someone, and that person tells the person on the phone, “No, she’s a little girl.” And eventually we’re allowed to run for our flight.

BoingBoing notes another 5 year-old is getting started in the field of “terrorism” early as well:

A five-year-old boy was taken into custody and thoroughly searched at Sea-Tac because his name is similar to a possible terrorist alias. As the Consumerist reports, “When his mother went to pick him up and hug him and comfort him during the proceedings, she was told not to touch him because he was a national security risk. They also had to frisk her again to make sure the little Dillinger hadn’t passed anything dangerous weapons or materials to his mother when she hugged him.”

This is just a small sample of people Super Douche Bloomberg wants to prohibit from buying firearms for life.

A Natural Progression

In the realm of things that are bound to happen Robb Allen informs us that machines with sentience and the desire to murder humans is no longer reserved just for Skynet guns but now also includes vehicles:

“Spira is in the Progressive Insurance Automotive X Prize to educate the world that the #1 cause of deaths in 15 ‐ 25 year olds is from unsafe vehicles that slaughter people.”

Quick we need to enforce strict national vehicle control laws before more people die!

Respect Our Authority

This story can be labeled, “Only in America.” Five kids, California no less, were sent home on Cinco de Mayo for wearing shirts that had the American flag on them:

The five students — Daniel Galli, Austin Carvalho, Matt Dariano, Dominic Maciel and Clayton Howard — were then told they must turn their T-shirts inside-out or be sent home, though it would not be considered a suspension. Rodriguez told the students he did not want any fights to break out between Mexican-American students celebrating their heritage and those wearing American flags.

Galli told NBC Bay Area, “They said we could wear it on any other day, but today is sensitive to Mexican-Americans because it’s supposed to be their holiday so we were not allowed to wear it.”

Yup the kids weren’t allowed to display American colors in America because it might offend the students of Mexican heritage (whom are most likely American citizens and therefore shouldn’t be offended by people taking pride in their country).

Don’t get me wrong if you want to celebrate your heritage on any day by wearing the colors of your ancestor’s country by all means do it. You have that freedom because this country strongly believes in your right to free speech. But realize you are in America and therefore can not be offended by citizens celebrating their heritage of being American.

Obama Doesn’t Like Technology

This article perfectly portrays the meaning of double speak. Apparently Obama believes the following:

“What Jefferson recognized… that in the long run, their improbable experiment — called America — wouldn’t work if its citizens were uninformed, if its citizens were apathetic, if its citizens checked out, and left democracy to those who didn’t have the best interests of all the people at heart.

“It could only work if each of us stayed informed and engaged, if we held our government accountable, if we fulfilled the obligations of citizenship.”

I actually agree with Obama on something, namely this. I think part of the problem with America today is the apathy of its citizens and their lack of being informed. If you ask most Americans who their state representatives are they won’t be able to tell you. Of course if you ask a really important question like who won American Idol they can tell you right off of the spot.

One of the best things about technology is that is provides you with a constant 24/7 stream of news and information. There is no excuse to not being in the know these days. Thankfully Obama is bringing this to light and asking everybody to embrace this technology… oh wait:

“You’re coming of age in a 24/7 media environment that bombards us with all kinds of content and exposes us to all kinds of arguments, some of which don’t always rank all that high on the truth meter,” Obama said at Hampton University, Virginia.

Like everything Obama says:

“With iPods and iPads and Xboxes and PlayStations, — none of which I know how to work — information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation,” Obama said.

He bemoaned the fact that “some of the craziest claims can quickly claim traction,” in the clamor of certain blogs and talk radio outlets.

So being in the know and having access to information is great unless that information doesn’t jive with what he thinks. For instance it’s just crazy to believe that people could be cooking the books on global warming climate is changing OMG!!!! climate change. It’s also crazy to think that GM used government money to pay back their loan from the government.

I love how Obama is all of the sudden an expert on technology that he admits to not knowing how to use. Seriously what a smug asshole.