I’m not sure how many of you have been following the story of the recent spa shooting in Wisconsin, in which an (angry, controlling, abusive) estranged husband murdered his wife and two others at a spa where she worked, before turning the gun on himself.
Unfortunately, stories like this are far from uncommon – domestic violence often escalates when female victims break off relationships with abusive men. (While dumped women often stalk male exes, they are far less likely to resort to violence.) All those studies that MRAs like to cite about how domestic violence between men and women is somehow equal don’t take into account violence that happens after the relationship is brought to an end.
I was reading this article, about the heroic efforts of Zina Haughton, the murdered wife in the spa shootings, to convince her ex to spare the lives of others in the spa at the time, when I made the mistake of reading the comments, which had degenerated into a bizarre “debate” over gun control. The, er, highlight of the discussion was this bizarre conspiracy theory:
Apparently gun enthusiasts can be as paranoid, delusional and self-absorbed as any entitled asshole in the manosphere.
Y’all know that confronting a burgler, even armed, is a terrible idea, right?
If somebody is in your house, they want your stuff. LET THEM HAVE IT. If a burglar is armed with a gun, confronting them is the most dangerous thing you can do.
I don’t understand why the home break-in is one of the most common pro-gun arguments. If somebody has broken into your house to take things, call the cops and get out of the house if you can. Otherwise, hide.
Twomoogles: The problem is that we’ve tried that, in many states, and it didn’t work. States that tried to regulate guns had pretty much the same shifts in crime rates as the ones that didn’t bother, or even loosened gun laws.*
The crime rate stems not from gun ownership, but from social conditions. On the one hand you have economics, and on the other, you have culture. American culture is violent, often shockingly so, and the economy is in the toilet. This is where the problem is, not the ownership of guns.
I think there is room for a middle ground on gun control debates. I don’t mind people collecting rifles, shotguns, pistols, or revolvers. I like that Missouri is a conceal carry state, too. You have to have a permit to for it anyway. My dad and brother have guns and hunt deer, quail, squirrel, and rabbit. My husband has gone to gun shows, but he doesn’t buy any, because they’re expensive and I don’t want them around our kids. That said, I think the NRA is way too extreme in their views. It’s not like people need tanks to kill deer. The NRA was also too harsh in their grading of Claire McCaskill, giving her a D even though she is firmly in support of the 2nd Amendment.
It’s also gross how the NRA tries to use tragedies like this from the OP for their agenda.
Thebionicmommy: Oh, hell, yes. The NRA is filled with whack-a-loons. They actually make it more difficult to argue for sane and rational gun ownership, and of course, they are big into the conspiracy theories (the spokesmen don’t spread the rumors like the one in the OP here, but they sure as hell don’t try to stop them from spreading, either).
@AWorld
You could live in Alberta where voting PC is your most lefterly (it’s a word!) choice.
We’d vote NDP at Chez Halite if we could, even though the thought of an NDP majority makes Mr H (an ex-farm boy from Saskabush and current oil worker) have heart palpitations. (They’re comin’ fer my oil! And mah wheats!)
Do we know anything about whether this guy was an MRA or anything like that?
Hey, NWOSlave, have anything to say about HAARP? We could use some amusement.
I’m in Alberta. I voted NDP. I despaired when Our Tyrant got a frigging majority government with a minority of votes.
I think too many of us lefties worry too much about voting strategically, and don’t worry enough about being strategically politically active. My current hypothesis is that, as compassionate human beings who are aware of the real human impact of conservative ideological policies, we get bummed out and have to back away from politics. (Said hypothesis based on the fact that I’m bummed out and have had to back away from politics a little.)
Conservatives get all righteously energized by people who aren’t following their One Right Way of Doing Things and just keep going and going and going. They vote and we don’t. It makes me sad.
If it came down to me and my buddies from the shooting range vs the 1st Marine Division supported by a tactical air wing – I’d put my money on the Marines.
Feel free to ask any surviving residents of Fallujah (if you can find any) or Misrata (prior to NATO air support) just how well civilian militias stand up to modern military forces.