Are there really more "mass shootings" in the U.S.?

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(1) Just because it’s illegal doesn’t mean people don’t do it.

(2) Nah militias as in “unregulated militias,” most (all?) of which are on the far right and it’s due to their belief that there will be a race “war.”

We outnumbered the protestors 3 to 1. They spouted off, then left, and the officers escorted us to the county border after the protestors were several miles away. The funny thing is that the protesters had some racist intent as well, but now, the protestors' leader is now a liberal father and father-in-law of some racially different children and grandchildren. He also marches in the Las Vegas Pride Parade every year with his gay son. Again, you never know who you are meeting for the first time unless you ask.

From the sound of that he was very conservative, then he discovered his children or child (depending on if the racially different children are the gay son's or not) weren't which led to reform rather than that always being the case. Just from the description there - who he was with vs who he is now.

Camel's nose, Spooky. Camel's nose....

I don't have a daughter, but I would be equally amused at the idea of a daughter inviting her boyfriend over to do "homework" together in her room and telling her parents that by wanting to keep her bedroom door closed isn't remotely the same as having sex. "I'm not asking to have sex with him in my bedroom, Dad!".

Come on now, you don't really believe that passing in increased number of "sensible gun laws" has a finite stopping point which would never come close to approaching the venerable 2nd Amendment, do you? If you say you do, I'm sorry, but I wouldn't believe you.

We already have proof against such a notion. The UK. Banned guns. Violence continued. Now from what I understand the UK is considering banning knives if they haven't already.

You don't really personally believe that a ban on so called "assault weapons" or "high capacity magazines" will do the trick and even if it doesn't and gun violence continues, too bad, have to stop there?

For the record, I don't own any such thing and don't have any desire to. I do know law abiding people that do own such weapons and I could give a rip about it and have zero fear of them owning such things.

Yes. Yes, there are. Significantly more. Because of the "Wild West" cultural mentality and, of course, lots and lots of blood money courtesy of the НPA (That's NRA in Cyrillic, Tovarisch.)

Does the nra encourage murder? Incite violence? Nope....

Kids riffles are assault rifles to them.

Does the nra encourage murder? Incite violence? Nope.

The NRA recruitment video THAT IS EVEN UPSETTING GUN OWNERS

“They use their media to assassinate real news,” the woman’s voice says scornfully. “They use their schools to teach children that their president is another Hitler. They use their movie stars and singers and comedy shows and award shows to repeat their narrative over and over again.”

It may sound like an excerpt from North Korean state television railing against the evil Americans and their corrupt democracy on the far side of the Pacific.

But these are the opening lines of a new recruitment video by the National Rifle Association of America that is headlined by conservative television host Dana Loesch. The Blaze personality and NRA spokeswoman doesn’t hold back, painting a stark picture of the U.S. political climate that some have interpreted as an ad designed to provoke fear, if not incite violence.

The video is just over one minute long, but it has generated more than 3.3 million views, thousands of comments and shares, and lots of controversy.

“I’m an old white guy and a life member, but this BS is disgusting,” Facebook user Eric Eugene Rush commented under the post. “When you spew crap like this, you don’t speak for me anymore. I try to avoid doing things on the spur of the moment, but I’ll be thinking about canceling my membership.”

“Jeeeeesus … it almost looks like you’re encouraging violence against demonstrators,” Steve van der Lacy wrote. “Just let the police do their jobs when or if protests get out of hand.”

The video elicited a strong reaction from Black Lives Matter activist DeRay Mckesson, who called the video “an open call to violence to protect white supremacy.”

Former talk show host Montel Williams also chimed in, saying, “I find it disgusting.”

Loesch did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment about the video, nor did the NRA.

“I hardly think that condemning violence is inciting violence,” she told the New York Times when asked to comment on the video. “I think the ad is very clear — there are excerpts from actual riots that are included in the ad, and that’s exactly what I’m addressing.”

Critics released a petition calling for Facebook to remove the video, which the petition refers to as “inflammatory.”

“All we have to do is look at the increase in violence since the election to see how unchecked violent rhetoric has real life consequences,” the petition states. “Letting this disturbing video stay on Facebook would be extremely irresponsible and could very well lead to disastrous repercussions.”

“The video tries to create an ‘us-vs-them’ narrative and pit Americans against one another,” the petition, which has garnered about 10,500 signatures, adds. “It paints liberals as liars and as violent, unruly protesters who law-abiding gun owners need protection from.”

In the ad, Loesch accuses “their” ex-president of endorsing “the resistance,” a movement of demonstrators who “smash windows, burn cars, shut down interstates and airports — bully and terrorize the law-abiding.”

“The only way we stop this, the only way we save our country, and our freedom, is to fight this violence of lies with a clenched fist of truth,” Loesch concludes. “I’m the National Rifle Association of America and I’m freedom’s safest place.”

If Loesch’s rhetoric is an attempt to draw battles lines and stoke outrage, she’s feeding into a clearly-defined narrative that exists among right-wing websites on the Internet, one that views a clash between conservatives and liberals in almost prophetic terms.

After James T. Hodgkinson opened fire on Congress members at a baseball practice in Alexandria, Va., wounding five — including House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) — some far-right websites used the shooting as an opportunity to advance the sense of impending doom, according to Washington Post reporter Abby Ohlheiser.

“Within an hour, Infowars.com had published a story headlined, ‘LEFTIST GUNMAN SHOOTS REPUBLICAN CONGRESSMAN IN MEDIA-INSPIRED TERROR ATTACK,'” Ohlheiser wrote. “The gunman had not yet been publicly identified when the story was published, nor had his motivation or political views.”

“We have been warning for months that the mainstream media’s hysterical anti-Trump narrative and the left’s insistence that Trump is illegitimate will radicalize demented social justice warriors and prompt them to lash out with violence,” Infowars’s Paul Joseph Watson wrote in the article. “It looks like that’s exactly what happened today. The blood is on their hands.”

More recently, conservatives including Newt Gingrich and Eric Trump have criticized what they have called “an increasing hostility on the left,” in clashes at Berkeley, Calif., and Portland, Ore., and from celebrities such as Kathy Griffin.

On the NRA’s Facebook page, one user said the “biggest problem” fueling the impending violence narrative is “the idea of ‘Team’ politics — Red vs Blue.”

“We need to stop believing that our chosen ‘Team’ will always do what is right,” Albert Stroh wrote. “Start researching your elected politicians. Study their voting history, their campaign donors their level of connection and commitment to the communities they are elected to serve.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/pos ... 4d3667b067

Yep.

I think people are too hard on cops. Nobody stops to think about the fact that when you work as a police officer you run the risk of getting shot or killed every time you pull somebody over for something as simple as a speeding ticket. Cops are lied to by everyone when they are trying to do their jobs and they always get treated with contempt plus they see horrific things on a daily basis that the rest of us civis couldn't imagine in our worst nightmares. Things like women using their own babies as human shields against violent boyfriends.

People HATE cops, and yet without them murderers and rapists would be allowed to run free and do whatever they want to whoever they want. Some cops are jerks and seem to take advantage of having a badge but some really are just trying to do their jobs and keep law and order.

Sometimes cops slip up and make mistakes but they are only human. That doesn't mean that all cops are bad people. Most of the ones I have met were decent people.

I tend to agree with you here. I've been following the news of a town in my state where apparently the police want to obtain $80,000 worth of riot gear to have on hand in the event it's needed. There is push back from some members of the public and the majority of that town's city council, as apparently, riot gear would make future protesters uncomfortable (I believe that's the current argument against the idea).

I think those people opposed to the police having riot gear on hand to protect themselves if needed would be better serving their community if they signed up as volunteer uniformed police officers and when needed, be the first in line (without riot gear) to quell any violent protest while the regular police force stays behind in case they're needed. That way that can actually play an active role in upholding their belief that police should not wear riot gear during a riot. A "practice what you preach" scenario.

There is such a thing as a volunteer police officer so my above suggestion would be possible. They wear a uniform but are unarmed (so much the better?) and assist during functions or events where additional traffic control is necessary for example.

I think that would be a great idea and then not only would those people learn to understand what cops have to go through every day but they might even start to appreciate them more. Being a cop really is a thankless and dangerous job.

And let's face it, I bet that over half the people who hate cops are doing something illegal themselves and they have a personal grudge against the police because they feel like somehow they deserve to get away with doing something crooked.

I think people are too hard on cops. Nobody stops to think about the fact that when you work as a police officer you run the risk of getting shot or killed every time you pull somebody over for something as simple as a speeding ticket.