I don’t understand. Some doofuses decided it was a good idea to execute an armed takeover of a bird sanctuary in Oregon? Does that make any sense? Does anyone know what is going on here, besides a bunch of good ol’ boy’s desire to show off their shiny new rifles they bought themselves for Christmas? That just pisses me off, especially since the ringleader of this “militia” is a son of Cliven Bundy. What a stupid shit he is. What the heck is going on here. I guess I’ll have to waste a good chunk of my valuable time and get to the bottom of this.
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OK, I’m back. I studied up on this. But in the meantime so much more has happened in the realm of gun control futility that I can’t control myself. We’ve got this bird refuge thing going on, the president was on TV explaining his executive order that will finally at least do something about our gun chaos, and we are greeted by the news that there are already over 500 gun related murders in the U.S. this year and we have only just entered week three. I apologize to all who are thinking about continuing to read this. I am overly passionate about this subject and I know this blog is way too long. You will probably have to get yourself a snack half way through. You surely have better things to do with your time. That’s the point. I don’t. When I get incensed, I just keep typing.
There are so many things that are interwoven here that just piss me off. Before anyone thinks I’m a liberal hell bent on taking away everyone’s guns, let me put that idea to rest. I seriously don’t give a shit if you own a rifle if you use it for hunting. No one cares. I used to hunt myself. I will say I am not a big advocate of keeping a hand gun around the house, but if you feel more secure doing so, I am perfectly fine with it. I am however not a fan of open or concealed carry. I think we are just asking for trouble if we have the general population walking around carrying heat. I worked as a retail pharmacist my entire working life. If you knew how many people walked into my pharmacy on a daily basis that had “potentially unhinged” written on everything about them except their medical record, not to mention those stamped certifiably wacko, I would have to think you would also have second thoughts about passing out hand guns haphazardly. During the thirty years I worked as a pharmacist at my first place of employment, there were two armed robberies. I had the distressing experience of having a pistol pointed directly at me during one of them. In both situations, everyone involved was extremely grateful there was no one around to escalate the drama by pulling out a handgun of their own. Both perpetrators were apprehended. My only regret is that they were never given an appropriately long prison sentence for using a hand gun to commit a crime.
There have been several alarming road rage incidents ending in gun tragedy, and there is no doubt in my mind we are headed for an old fashioned wild west shoot out in some busy restaurant or night club one day if enough people subscribe to unbridled gun possession. But laws in an overwhelming majority of our states have been passed allowing this, so like most I am stuck trying to remind myself to be fastidiously observant to suspicious looking characters as I walk down the street. It’s the law- how all that happened I don’t know- but it is the law and so I shall learn to live with it. And please, all you 2nd amendment paranoids out there. No one is going to take your guns away from you. Have you any idea how stupid that sounds. How in the hell would any agency be able to confiscate three hundred million of anything? That should not be any kind of worry, unless your intent is criminal or you happen to be crazy.
No Problem Might be a Problem Definitely a Problem
Which brings me to point number one that has so recently triggered my anger. Crazy people should not have guns. Even the NRA agrees with that. Or did. “Guns don’t kill- people do” is their mantra. Unserved citizens with mental health issues is the definitive argument the NRA always, underline always, defers to whenever a gun tragedy occurs in this country, or at least it has been in the past. So what is the big issue the gun lobby objects to in President Obama’s just announced executive action? A mental health provision. Before the executive order, the gun lobby’s position was always get guns out of the hands of the mentally disturbed. Now, any medical reporting about the state of an elderly person’s mental health is an invasion of privacy. Where in the world are we supposed to start? If my doctor believes I am coming unhinged, I don’t care who he notifies, Social Security, state Health and Human Services, relatives, it doesn’t matter. If I appear to be a danger to myself or others, someone, somewhere should be following up and probably be taking my gun away from me, if I had one. Which I don’t. But under the circumstance I would not care if someone gets nosey. There’s an appeals provision anyway. Sure it’s probably a violation of earlier HIPAA rules, but for god’s sake we have to start somewhere. What in the hell does the NRA want? If I am a danger to society, society’s right to not get shot would, you would think, take precedent over the precious right to bear arms.
And this Bundy business, come on! Best case scenario concerning the Hammonds is they fucked up and let a fire get out of control. Then the punishment probably does not fit the crime, but they can appeal. Maybe prosecuting this case under counterterrorism law was federal overreach, but the Bundy’s and their militia have once again defined overreach. Over 33,000 gun deaths a year is certainly the 2nd amendment’s embarrassing failure to protect the public, but these clowns threatening the federal government with their macho display of gun worship is, contrary to what they believe, exactly what gives the 2nd amendment a black eye. Sure, one of the reasons the 2nd amendment was drafted by our founding fathers was to provide regular citizens the recourse of armed insurrection in the event government is deemed tyrannical by the majority. But this is another one of those outdated considerations of this amendment.https://www.quora.com/Second-Amendment/Would-gun-ownership-really-allow-people-to-fight-back-against-their-own-oppressive-government. Nonetheless, people like the Bundy’s fall back on this interpretation to try and bully a path to their demands. And I think if you research the demands of most of the morons participating in these types of armed insurrection, underneath it all you will find their demands are basically self serving attempts to avoid personal responsibility, like repaying loans, paying taxes and legally assessed fines and fees. Cliven Bundy still has a million dollars worth of unpaid grazing fees. God damn it that makes me mad. These are the kind of dim wits that should be prosecuted under counterterrorism laws.
The younger Bundy, Ammon, an Arizonian who is behind most of the Oregon stink-up, has no problem availing himself to a half million dollar loan from the federal government’s SBA program, and he and/or his family members have undoubtedly partaken in many handouts the government generously extends to ranchers in our country http://usuncut.com/news/5-government-handouts-bundys-receive/. The Hammond’s don’t appear to know what in God’s name Ammon is doing all the way up in Oregon anyway. Kind of looks like they’d rather go to jail than deal with a Bundy. It seems one of the armed protester’s demands is an insistence that the government return all federal lands to their original, rightful owners. The group is not sure who that is. It could be this guy or that guy. If they bothered to think that through, that would be the people below.
This Guy (Oregon) That Guy (Arizona/Nevada)
I seriously doubt that is the intention they have in mind.
All this supposed tyranny is going on by the government, when possibly the most tyrannical aspect of this armed takeover is suppression of the rights of us normal citizens not participating in this armed fiasco. It might sound trivial, but I like watching birds. Bundy, you’re fucking that up for the rest of us. This bird sanctuary is actually a pretty important habitat for a number of migratory birds http://www.upworthy.com/these-photos-show-why-the-land-currently-occupied-by-armed-ranchers-is-protected?c=ufb1. Ammon, for Pete sakes go home and mind your own business. You need to apply yourself to paying off that half million dollar loan.
How about all the Republican presidential candidates and members of congress getting all bent out of shape over Obama’s executive order. I would like to see how empty the halls of congress get if the decision was ever made to remove the metal detector from their building. Remember, Ammon Bundy hates you. If that did happen, maybe congress would invoke the Trump rule. Stop all gun sales till we figure out what the hell is going on.