Land Of The Free And The Home Of The Brave?

As regular readers know, this is a gaming and movie blog. But today – I feel the need to cover something else, something that has been on my mind the last few days. So I’m bending the rules on my own blog for a while.

Let me ask you a question, what do the following numbers represent?

8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 10, 12, 12, 12, 13, 13, 13, 13, 13, 13, 14, 14, 18, 21, 23, 27, 32, 49, 59.

Those are the number people who have been shot an killed in America during mass shootings in recent history. That’s almost 500 people murdered in total, and this does not include the injured or other gun related deaths – just the ones for what are considered mass shootings. If I included all gun related deaths, I’d wear out the numbers on my keyboard.

The recent shooting in Las Vegas was terrifying, horrific, disturbing and now the most deadliest… and yet it was not the first, nor will it be the last. So let me ask you this: After all these deaths, after all the sorrow, upset and murder, why is gun control still such a highly debated topic in America?

Full disclosure – I’m not American. I’m English and live on our tiny grey and continually raining little island drinking tea and eating crumpets (may as well get the pathetic and misguided stereotypes out of the way now) but I love America. I’ve been there many times and if things come together how I hope, I’d move out there in a heartbeat. I understand the patriotism Americans feel because I feel it whenever I’ve been over there myself. But you know what, America is a fucked up country.

As an English man, it makes no sense why gun control is constantly ignored. How many more people have to die in mass shootings before something is done?

The Second Amendment

Yeah I’ve done my research, I know what The Second Amendment is… but it makes no sense. “The right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” You guys do know that this was written and added to the Constitution in 1791 right? That’s 226 years ago. The world has changed a hell of a lot since then. The weapons of 1791 were muskets and rifles that used .70 calibre balls and were highly inaccurate. I pretty certain that the Founding Fathers could not even imagine the weapons of today when they wrote The Second Amendment. I very much doubt they envisioned fully automatic AK-47s and M16s that can spit out 600 rounds per minute. So how can so many people in America still believe and live by a right that was written over two centuries ago, a right that is vastly out-dated?

I’m willing to bet a serious amount of money that some of 22,000 strong crowd at that music festival in Vegas believed in The Second Amendment too, but just look what happened to them. 59 dead and over 500 injured – what good was “the right of the people to keep and bear arms” to them? In fact just how many times has anyone stood up against or prevented any of the mass shootings via The Second Amendment? I’ve looked into this and pretty much every single mass shooting in America has ended by suicide or police involvement with them killing the shooter or being caught and sentenced. I think I found 1 out of the 32 mass shootings where a member of the public shot and killed the shooter, in fact in this instance the shooter was shot AFTER the carnage and while he was trying to escape. The Second Amendment working well there eh?

I find it insane that so many people put the antiquated Second Amendment ahead of human life. The Second Amendment needs amending.

How Many Guns Does One Person Need?

The low-life scum that murdered 59 people (so far) in Las Vegas recently – was found to have 47 guns in his hotel room and at home loaded with high-capacity rounds. Who the fuck ‘needs’ 47 guns? I get that Americans feel the need to stick to the archaic Second Amendment, as stupid as it is, I get it… but who needs a small arsenal of guns and why is it so damn easy to obtain so many guns?

Personal protection and hunting is the reason most people own a firearm in America. And you know what, okay I understand that – own A gun… that is A gun – singular. One person does not need several dozen guns, I don’t care how much personal protection you want or how much hunting you do.

I’m not stupid, I know America will never make firearms illegal, but measures should be put in place that prevent people from amassing the amount of guns that they are. The moment a person tries to buy a second gun, alarm bells should be ringing and if they try to buy a third then they need to be restricted… how does someone build up a collection of almost 50 guns and 1000s upon 1000s of ammo rounds with no suspicion being raised? Would these mass shooting be so devastating if the shooters found it harder to obtain guns, if they were restricted to pistols for protection and specific rifles for hunting? You will never eradicate gun crime completely, but you can make it harder and far more rare.

Found this interesting tit-bit: Nevada has some of the country’s most relaxed gun laws; the state does not require firearm owners to have a license, does not require registration of weapons, and does not limit number of firearms someone can possess.

Question… why? Why do you not have to posses a licence, why do you not have to register them and why is there no limit on how many guns you can own? This is fucking stupid.

Right now, the FBI can’t find a reason, a motive as to why the shit-stain did what he did in Vegas, and does that not make it even more scary? Maybe he had no motive, maybe he just felt like killing people? A ‘normal’ person can just book themselves into a hotel and rain down relentless gunfire onto unsuspecting people… but there’s in no gun problem in America right?

You can walk into a store in America to get the shopping in. Some milk, bread, a rifle, coffee, couple of hundred rounds of ammo and some donuts. I mean, places like this exist…

Guns Don’t Kill People…

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I’ve heard all that crap before and to some level, I agree. But here’s the thing – the majority of people who kill people use guns. Nobody knows exactly how the human brain works, even the most highly regarded specialists around the world don’t fully understand how the brain works. So why put guns into the hands of people who could snap and go on a shooting spree? I’m sure that cowardly bastard in Vegas passed all sorts of medical/psychological tests before buying his guns. Point is, anyone could do something similar and the fact that there are others living in America right now and sitting on a mass of guns – this will happen again and again and again…

And I’m sure there are gun collectors out there right now thinking ‘I’d never do anything like that’. As I covered earlier, the FBI can find no reason why the Vegas massacre happened either. I bet that murderer also thought to himself that he’d never do anything like that… but he did. His friend’s and family members have all stated how he was a perfectly ‘normal’ person, his girlfriend has been reported as saying:

“I knew (I refuse to use that cunt’s name on my blog) as a kind, caring, quiet man. I loved him and hoped for a quiet future together with him, it never occurred to me in any way whatsoever that he was planning violence against anyone.”

He was a “kind, caring, quiet man” I wonder how many other gun enthusiasts around America – sitting on dozens and dozens of guns are also kind, caring and quiet?

Its around here where gun supporters will bring up the fact that cars (or other) can kill people – so ban cars right? Well no, you are comparing apples and oranges there as you can’t take a car up into a secluded spot and murder a mass of people from a distance can you?

Guns don’t kill people. They just make it a whole lot easier to kill people.

WTF White House

I’m really not sure where to start with this mess. I guess first I need to address the fact that your President refuses to call the Vegas shooting a terrorist attack. Of course it was a terrorist attack. Not all terrorists are dark skinned and have foreign sounding names. When that arse-wipe opened fire on hundreds, thousands of innocent bystanders – he was not trying to convey a message of love and peace… he fully intended to cause harm, death and terror. The Vegas shooting WAS a terrorist attack by the very definition of what a terrorist is. But I guess because he was a white, wealthy American – he gets a free pass.

Hundreds of lives have been ruined by this wanker and yet he is still being ‘defended’ by the President of the United States.

Journalists and pundits have been praising Trump for his response over the shooting. Are you fucking serious? Describing him as ‘very presidential’ – fuck me America, wake up! Here is a quote form Trump’s response:

To the families of the victims we are praying for you and we are here for you, and we ask God to help see you through this very dark period.

Yes, your President is asking God for help – he’s the fucking President of the United States. Without getting into a theological discussion, you do know there is a good chance that God does not exist. Now whether you believe in God or not is irrelevant when you have a real life man with the power to change things. Here’s an idea, instead of asking God for help, why doesn’t Trump stand up to the gun lobby and change laws? But Trump won’t do that seeing as he accepted a $30 million donation from the NRA. Money is more important to your President that human life.

Also according to Trump, guns would have prevented the terrorist attack in Paris back in 2015:

Paris has the toughest gun control just about in the entire world. France has the toughest gun control just about in the entire world. If a few of those people that are now dead, if a few of those people had guns strapped to their ankles or strapped to their waists – you wouldn’t have the problem.

What an idiot! I’ll just copy & paste a point from earlier… I’m willing to bet a serious amount of money that some of 22,000 strong crowd at that music festival in Vegas believed in The Second Amendment too, but just look what happened to them. 59 dead and over 500 injured – what good was “the right of the people to keep and bear arms” to them?

If someone opens fire on an unsuspecting crowd of people with a fully automatic weapon – It does not matter how many guns you have strapped to yourself, chances are you’ll be dead before you even realise what is going on. Why does your President (and a lot of America) blame any and everything else except guns?

Another quote from Trump in regards to gun crime:

You have people who are mentally ill and they’re going to do things that people will not even believe are possible.

See, its not a gun problem, its the mentally ill according to your President… so why did he sign a bill to allow the sale of guns to the mentally ill? So Trump blames the mentally ill for gun crime but then gives them the right to buy guns? I guess anything is okay as long as the money keeps coming in eh Donald?

Thoughts and prayers don’t work. Every time there is a attack like this that leaves dozens dead. The first thing people do (including the President) is offer thoughts and prayers. Yet more and more death occurs afterwards from similar events. So instead of praying, how about you start leading Mr Trump, you have the power to change things – not God but YOU the President. Enough with the empty sympathy messages, take action!

Mr President, you should be ashamed of yourself.

America Makes No Sense

As I mentioned before – I love America, I genuinely do. But the country makes no sense. Here’s a link to a story where a 10 year old girl is given a shotgun as a birthday present. Now I’m sure this girl has been taught gun safety and all that crap (so was the murderer in Vegas) but here is why America makes no sense. You have to be 21 to buy alcohol in America – but a 10 year old can own a shotgun? A minor can’t go to see a R rated film unless they are accompanied by an adult – but a 10 year old can own a shotgun? Oh I’m not done yet as I’ve saved my personal favourite…

Kinder eggs, little chocolate eggs that contain a plastic toy. These are illegal in America because of fears that the plastic toy could be dangerous to children – but a 10 year old can own a shotgun? Plastic toy vs a shotgun – does any of this make any sense? Do you know how many Kinder egg related deaths have been reported in the entire world? 3. And just how many gun related deaths have there been in America alone? A fuck-load more than 3. America has stricter rules and restrictions on chocolate then it does on guns and there is something seriously wrong with that.

Do you know what I was doing when I was 10? Playing video games, trying to complete my ThunderCats sticker album and attempting to transform Optimus Prime without looking at the instructions. The only time I was exposed to guns was when watching The A-Team. My point is, let 10 year olds be 10 year olds, let them be kids. If they find and enjoy guns later in life then fine. But America is a strange place to be if people think parents giving a 10 year old a shotgun as a birthday present is acceptable.

While researching this article – I found the following image…

Amusing right? Well allow me to rebuttal…

I apologise to anyone affected by or involved in the Vegas shooting – but I needed to make this point. Pretty brutal and a bit more severe than a hypothetical cartoon. This shit is happening right now, the lack of gun control is killing innocent people. I wonder how vehement defenders of The Second Amendment would feel if that above image showed the dead body of a friend, a family member, their son or daughter? And remember, only 1 of the people behind of the recent mass shootings out of 32 has been stopped by a gun carrying civilian.

There are other countries where guns are illegal or they have far stricter gun laws where gun crime is much lower and less serious – that can’t be coincidental can it? Someone gets shot here in England – its rare and shocking. Someone get shot in America and its just one of those things, an everyday occurrence, nothing to see here.

Land Of The Free And The Home Of The Brave

But is it really? People can’t attend a music festival without being murdered, they can’t go to a gay club, a cinema, McDonald’s, school, etc. Just how ‘free’ is that?

As for brave. When you have chicken-shit individuals picking off innocents from hotel rooms at distance with fully automatic weapons. How is that ‘brave’?

God bless America… I guess?