Santa Barbara Holds Candlelight Vigil for Victims, Survivors of Newtown Massacre

» PGL on 12.15.12 @ 10:49 PM

Maybe Hannah-Beth Jackson and the Coalition Against Gun Violence should turn their attention to knives. Noozhawk has two knife attack stories on its home page, including a murder. Why single out only guns?

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» Rambler on 12.16.12 @ 09:58 AM

I think the old arguments about guns not killing people don’t really hold much water. They never did.

This is about gun control, not banning guns. The ease with which crazy people legally get hold of guns is truly insane. The gun lobbies have fought hard against waiting periods and background checks, and their efforts have rewarded us here, in Santa Barbara. Who has forgotten the attack that killed six people at the Goleta Postal Service facility a few years back? The story is repeated with chilling frequency.

If you can’t wait a few weeks for a gun, or you fear that your criminal or psychological record will disqualify you, then you shouldn’t have one. If you can’t secure your weapons so that somebody else can’t take them, then you are not taking the responsibility seriously.

Adam Lanza would not have been able to do what he did if he only had a knife. Or a car.

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» oldtimer on 12.16.12 @ 02:01 PM

Well, in CA we do have waiting periods and background checks.  We have restrictions on the type of weapons, the quantity of ammunition that can be placed in any weapon, assault weapons, carrying loaded weapons outside your home/property,  securing weapons in vehicles, carrying concealed weapons, and more.  But, these don’t prevent criminals from using any weapons in illegal ways.  Following are the CA regulations:

http://oag.ca.gov/firearms

Here are some interesting articles, along with facts that dispute the statements being floated by individuals and groups lobbying for more gun control:

http://tinyurl.com/lawfullyarmed
http://tinyurl.com/criminalmonsters
http://tinyurl.com/gunfreezo

Desensitization thru play and entertainment is another thing that could be addressed.  Does it come as a surprise that we have violence when there is so much being presented in TV, movies, music, comedy, the internet, gaming and more on a daily basis?  Constant visual ‘pretend’ violence cannot but have an effect on those with less that stable mental states.  Following is one reference from today’s media, but I suspect we will not see a lot of talking about this in the press/media as the groups publishing and benefiting from these games/shows are very close to the groups lobbying in favor of increased gun control.

http://tinyurl.com/hwoodviolence

Should we limit our first amendment rights and restrict all these types of ‘pretend’ violence?  How would we do it?  There is a lot of money that goes to non-profit corporations from the revenue generators of this ‘play’ violence.  These groups will not likely bite the hand that feeds them, but should they?

I haven’t talked with one person that isn’t sad over the tragedy this week.  However, that has not stopped many from directly or indirectly using the event to promote their gun control agenda.

From a practical point of view, what would one do to solve the problem?  Would we, in Santa Barbara, implement a Fahrenheit 451 for guns?  Door to door searches?  Random stops on the street?  Turning in friends and family?  Dogs sniffing at the doors, lockers, parking lots, on the sidewalks for the smell of gunpowder?  We have seen this type of oppression in the past, it has failed in most regimes which have tried to implement it.  Sometimes at great cost to the societies who just wanted to go along because they thought it would not affect them.

We can argue for or against the 2nd amendment.  However, we have a 2nd amendment, along with many other to protect ourselves, our rights and our nation.

Let’s try and keep the conversation above board and meaningful beyond the political pandering that we too often see today.

We’ve seen local, state and national politicians making many statements in favor of gun control.  However, most of these individuals, as attorneys, are well aware of the laws which we have, and their efficacy, but they are speaking to their tribes trying to gin up some momentum for more legislation, which will likely fail to change the outcome.

In an ideal world, it would be great to wind the clock back and eliminate weapons of all types, globally, but that is not going to happen.

Lastly, in Santa Barbara, as we’ve seen with drugs, where there is demand, panga boats will deliver the product.  Regardless of legislation.  There are panga boats of many types coming across all our borders.

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» Mr.Right on 12.16.12 @ 03:27 PM

Ca has some of, if not the, strictest gun laws in the country.

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» AN50 on 12.17.12 @ 09:08 AM

When those responding to this story remove their knee from their prefrontal cortex, they may begin to realize that this horrible tragedy has absolutely nothing to do with gun control.

This evil, cowardly young man was determined to kill. That he used someone else’s weapons to do it renders the gun control issue moot. If he hadn’t used his mother’s guns it would have been some one else’s or perhaps a truck full of fertilizer and diesel fuel. If your left wing propaganda addled brain prevents you from seeing that small but significant fact, then I suggest that Toni Wellen, Hannah-Beth Jackson and those agreeing with them are in fact too far gone ideologically to assess any situation rationally and logically.

Lets all take a deep breath, allow the dead to be buried and the other psychotic weirdoes who use events like this as an excuse to copy cat, time to cool off and then use that prefrontal cortex, free of jerking knee, to assess why a 20 year old would commit such a heinous and cowardly act of evil, regardless of what ever tool he used to do it.

Keep in mind the worse act of mass murder committed in recent history was done with passenger jets, not assault rifles, pistols or any guns at all.

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» AN50 on 12.17.12 @ 02:40 PM

SBLOGIC, for someone who use the word logic in their moniker you seem to be bereft of that ability. Read what I wrote again without the veil of ignorance and leftist jingoism. The murderer was set and intent on murder, what in the world are you idiots bringing up the method used for? Because its easier to blame a tool than look at the real reason. Millions of people own these type of guns yet you want to punish them for the sins of a very few psychos. Why is that? Where is the logic in that kind of thinking?

We don’t ban passenger jets because 19 fanatical jihadist Muslims murdered nearly 3000 people with 4 of them do we? We don’t ban rental trucks, ammonium nitrate fertilizer and diesel fuel because one sick whacko murdered 148 people trying to blow up a building do we?

Sick, evil, murderous people intent on killing will do so, no matter what stupid knee jerk restrictions you numb nuts put into place and they will do so easier because you don’t look at them and instead focus on what’s in their hand.

I get it, you don’t like guns, particularly those intended to kill people. Fine that is your burden to carry. But don’t hide the awful truth of this horrific tragedy because of your uncontrollable knee and its habit of using anything bad as an excuse to vacuum your weak mind.

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» lou segal on 12.17.12 @ 09:03 PM

Most people who want to ban assault weapons have no idea what they’re talking about. Assault weapons have been banned in the US since the 1930’s. They are actually referring to semi-automatic weapons, which describes almost every gun manufactured in the US.

The weapon used by the maniac in CT. was a semi-automatic which fires one bullet at a time, although each successive bullet is automatically reloaded. No assault weapon ban proposed by any politician I know of would ban all these weapons. The assault weapon ban in the 1990’s was mostly ineffective because of the arbitrariness of determining which weapons were outlawed. Unless you ban every gun in the US and you could magically make the 200 million guns in circulation disappear, an assault weapon ban is an exercise in futility.

People are looking for a magic bullet (sorry for the pun) to deter these crazed lunatics, but the problem is much more complicated and difficult to solve than engaging in magical thinking.

One other thing: even locked doors didn’t deter this guy. He shot out the window and entered the school this way. A person determined to cause mayhem is unfortunately not going to be easily deterred by laws that my make us feel good but for all intents and purposes are ineffectual.

For anyone who wants to become informed about the prior assault weapon ban in the US or is interested in understanding the issue before proposing silly solutions, should read this:
 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/12/17/everything-you-need-to-know-about-banning-assault-weapons-in-one-post/

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