President Obama’s OFA campaign machine, recently renamed Organizing For Action, called for a National Day of Action in support of laws that would limit your right to self-defense, ban guns and magazines, and devote your tax dollars to the creation of anti-gun propaganda. I was curious what an anti-gun rally looked like, so I headed over to a planned location today for a better look.
From the Arizonan’s For Gun Safety mailer:
a number of rallies at local Congressional offices to promote the President’s Plan to Reduce Gun Violence, including Universal Background Checks, a Ban on Assault Weapons and High Capacity Ammunition Magazines, a National Gun Trafficking Law, and Research on Gun Violence by the Centers for Disease Control.
Here’s a photo outside of Congressman Matt Salmon’s Gilbert, AZ office, 15 minutes into the big protest.
I kept looking around for this protest, because surely it would be a large gathering, based on the amount of time the media provides to anti-rights groups and their anti-gun agenda. Surely, the balance in viewpoints the media claims to strive for would indicate that this should be a big rally, dwarfing the turnout for the pro-Second Amendment rally held at the state capitol last weekend.
I counted six police officers outside watching the building, which is five more than I saw at last weekend’s pro-gun rally, so I had to be at the right place. The officers were keeping a close eye on me, probably because of my snazzy GUTNTAG seasonings T-shirt. As I was leaving, I finally spotted a group of people gathered on a balcony at the same building where Congressman Salmon’s Arizona office is located. I can’t be certain these six to ten people were protesters, or just office workers outside on a smoke break, as they didn’t have any signs. If they were exercising their right to petition an elected official, I wasn’t about to interfere with their rights.
So there you have it, that’s what an anti-rights/anti-gun rally looks like in Arizona. Keep this in mind when the news media gives equal, or greater, amounts of airtime to anti-gun groups in the name of “balance”.
This is a reprint of Dr. Paul Quinnett’s thoughts on how to effectively deal with the disturbed, before they commit murder, reprinted with his permission. I don’t agree with all of his statements, but he actually is willing to have a conversation that focuses on the real issues we face, rather than just latching onto intentionally deceptive, focus group tested, “Demand a Plan” slogans.
Dr. Quinnett noted in his preface: The shooter in Newtown was suicidal first, homicidal second. This is true of most mass murderers and about 30% of domestic violence related murder-suicides.
To keep the debate from veering off into the size of AR-15 magazines and pumping vast sums of money into broad mental health reform, what we need is a targeted, proven, and effective way to address firearms access by persons suffering from suicidal self-directed violence, a few of whom are also homicidal.
Mass murderers never ask themselves, “And after I kill all these innocent people, how will I escape?”
The “escape” is a pre-planned suicide – whether delivered by one’s own hand or by a police sharpshooter.
Reducing access to firearms will surely save lives, but such measures fail to address the source code in all these terrible tragedies: the disordered brain of an utterly hopeless mentally ill suicidal person whose reasons for releasing hell on others die with him.
The vast majority of the mentally ill are not violent, but those who become suicidal represent a special threat to themselves, and sometimes others. The so-called suicide “contagion effect” travels like a virus from one suicidal mind to another suicidal mind via the media, and most mass murders follow another event previously publicized where a “like me” suicidal, rage-filled young man kills others and then himself.
Yes, our culture of violence aids and abets the suicidal mind. Yes, too many guns and large capacity magazines increase the body count. Yes, the contagion effect is real and media exposure of mass murderers inspires copycats.
But let’s be real, while some measures will help on each of these fronts, these genies are out of the bottle and they are not going back in.
Only by preventing the development of his suicidal desire, ideation, intent, capacity, planning and, yes, frustrating his attempt to acquire the firearms that his rage requires to express itself can we hope to find a compassionate and sustainable solution. Early detection, assessment, and treatment of emergent suicidal behavior in known at-risk populations will at least give us a chance for reducing violence in our nation.
The debate on gun control will produce mostly heat, not light. Gun safety is another matter and excellent light on this subject can be found at www.meansmatter.org – one of Harvard’s wonderful School of Public Health’s web sites. Gun owners who are alert to signs of crisis in a family member and temporarily store guns away from home if a family member is at risk of harming themselves or others will avert some disasters.
To understand the prime source code of violence – the suicidal mind – we must first understand that persistent suicidal thoughts and feelings are markers for unremitting, unendurable psychological pain and suffering. If we are thinking about killing ourselves or others, something is terribly wrong and something needs immediate attention and balm.
Psychological pain is one term that covers distress, despair, depression, rage, anxiety, isolation or hopelessness. More than 90% of suicide deaths are by people suffering from serious mental illnesses or substance abuse problems, the majority of which remain untreated, but all of which can cause what may become unbearable psychological pain.
According to a 2008 federal survey, in one year the adult American psychological pain index was as follows:
8.3 million of us seriously considered suicide
2.2 million of us made a plan to kill ourselves
1 million of us made an actual suicide attempt
For 2010, unbearable psychological pain contributed to 38,364 completed suicides. That’s 105 Americans a day. Imagine what Congress and the President would do if a commercial airplane loaded with 100+ Americans crashed not once a year, not once a month, not once a week, but every single day, day after day after day?
Yet because suicidal people usually die alone and devastate only their family and friends, it is only when suicidal people commit mass murder that Congress rises from its lethargy. But it is not just broad mental health reform; it is bringing a laser focus to the prevention of suicide – the source code to violent injury death.
We who work to prevent suicide for a living strongly support this statement by former Surgeon General of the United States, Dr. David Satcher, “Suicide is our most preventable death.” Rather than arming our teachers, we should ask: What actionable public health knowledge do we have to reduce suicide and, with it, collateral violence toward others?
Unknown to the vast majority of the public, we actually have a lot of actionable knowledge. Published only this past September, the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention 2012 represents our best scientific thinking on how to prevent suicide and its related violence toward others. The plan includes achievable goals, objectives, and action steps.
Will it help?
Yes!
Need proof?
In 2003 our own US Air Force published a multi-year study in the prestigious British Medical Journal clearly demonstrating that a robust, mandatory, suicide prevention/mental health promotion program dramatically reduced violence of all kinds. Findings:
33% drop in suicides
18% drop in homicides
54% drop in serious family violence
30% drop in moderate family violence.
18% drop in accidental deaths (some of which were likely disguised suicides)
Several large means restriction efforts to prevent suicide have proven successful in other countries, and in the Air Force study reductions in other-directed violence were a happy and unexpected byproduct.
So let’s focus on what will work. Let’s implement our new National Strategy for Suicide Prevention 2012 now.
Implementing the National Strategy will have a wide, generalized harm-reduction effect through the improvement of the mental health of an entire nation. Remember calm, happy, mentally healthy people – including millions of America gun owners – do not kill themselves or others.
So as the gun debate unfolds let’s not get lost in the bushes of how many bullets a Bushmaster holds, but view it through this lens:
Almost all mass murderers die by suicide.
Suicide is preventable.
Prevent suicide and you prevent violence.
An estimated 39,000 Americans will die by suicide in 2013. Among them will be our children, our teenagers, our working brothers and sisters, and hundreds of doctors, police officers, firemen, and veterans. Since each 1% rise in unemployment drives up the suicide rate by 1%, America’s psychological pain index stands at an all time high. Thanks to improved safety engineering and fewer motor vehicle accident fatalities, suicide deaths now exceed those from car crashes.
So, let’s recalibrate and resource safety-focused interventions that will not only lower our nation’s psychological pain index, but lead to broad reductions in self and other-directed violence, including the risk of mass murders.
When our national grief work is done, let us memorialize our collective loss by taking bold, science-based positive actions. We have a plan. America, it is time!
Paul Quinnett, Ph.D. is President and CEO of the QPR Institute, Inc., an educational organization dedicated to the prevention of suicide @ www.qprinstitute.com. He is also Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Washington School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health. A free e-book on preventing suicide is available from the Institute’s web site.
NRA Executive Vice-President, Wayne LaPierre, was at Scottsdale Gun Club today to announce NRA’s endorsement of Congressman Jeff Flake for U.S. Senate. Representative Flake is running for retiring Arizona Senator Jon Kyl’s seat.
NRA’s endorsement is vital in a pro-gun state like Arizona.
Jeff Flake’s Democrat opponent, Richard Carmona, was personally recruited by President Obama to run for Jon Kyl’s senate seat. Carmona supports gun control and does not view the Second Amendment as an individual right, in spite of two Supreme Court rulings to the contrary, and his own defensive gun use:
We want to make sure that anybody who owns a weapon legally has the appropriate training, education, and that we can be assured that society is safe with a person who owns a weapon. We do the same thing for automobiles or any other technology, if you will, that the average citizen gets to use. We ensure that they can use it safely, because we have to look at the greater good of society. – Richard Carmona to Democracy Now, Jan 11, 2011
Would Richard Carmona’s “greater good of society” approach lead to encroachments on rights? Absolutely!
An aristocratic, megalomaniac mindset convinces the holder that he is the final arbiter of determining whether an “average citizen” gets to exercise a fundamental right. Mr. Carmona doesn’t seem to understand the fundamental basis of our nation – a government of the people, by the people, for the people. We do not select politicians to run our lives for us or determine if we are worthy enough to protect ourselves from criminals. What’s next for Carmona? Internet access permits? Privacy licenses? Birth control permits? Big Gulp possession licenses?
Representative Flake has an excellent record on gun control issues, along with his adoption of the Republican Liberty Caucus position statement in 2000. The endorsement of Jeff Flake by NRA should go a long way towards reassuring Arizona voters that they can trust Flake to oppose infringements on our Second Amendment rights. Vote for freedom, not “free” handouts.
It’s time for the special election primary race for those seeking to win Representative Gabby Giffords’ recently vacated seat. The Republican special election primary is set for April 17, 2012, and the special election is scheduled for June 12. The Republican race for the seat is heating up now that several candidates have announced their campaigns.
The choices so far in the Republican Primary are:
Arizona State Senator Frank Antenori was the first to declare his candidacy for the seat. Senator Antenori is an Army Special Forces Veteran who co-authored the book, Roughneck Nine-One: The extraordinary Story of a Special Forces A-Team at War, about his experiences at the Battle at Debecka Pass in Iraq. His record on gun rights is great. Antenori’s experience as a legislator, his A+ AzCDL rating in 2010, and proven voting record give him a distinct advantage in the race.
Jesse Kelly will run again for the AZ Congressional District 8 seat. In 2010, Kelly was narrowly defeated in the race with Ms. Giffords. He served in the Marines for four years. After the tragic Tucson shooting at the Gifford’s event, Kelly was vilified by Democrats for his prior campaign events where supporters could shoot M16s with him. I’ll take that as a sign of his pro-gun credentials.
Martha McSally announced her intention to run for the vacant seat yesterday. Ms. McSally is the first woman to fly an Air Force fighter in combat. She is a Distinguished Graduate of the United States Air Force Academy, has a Masters Degree in Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, and retired from the Air Force as a colonel in 2010. She has also served as a national security adviser to Senator Jon Kyl. At this time, her website does not list her positions on current issues.
So far, the only candidate to come forward for the Democrat primary is Giffords’ aide Ron Barber.
The current race would allow the winner to serve in the seat through the rest of this year. The winner will need to simultaneously run in the Fall general election, but in the newly redrawn Congressional District 2 to keep the seat. The Republican contenders should make this race very interesting to watch.
Representative Gabrielle Giffords has announced her plan to resign from Congress in order to focus on recovering from her injuries. Hopefully, this move will enable her to focus strictly on recovery and rehabilitation, without the distraction of those attempting to exploit Gabby for political gain.
Her video announcement is moving and honorable.
Thank you for serving Arizona, Representative Giffords. May your recovery be speedy and complete.
Ten of Arizona’s County Sheriffs joined together to demand accountability for those involved in Operation Fast and Furious, a Federally sponsored gun running program which supplied weapons to Mexican drug cartels from at least ten U.S. cities. The Justice Department and Eric Holder have been obstructing a House Oversight Committee investigation into the operation that went as planned.
Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever called Operation Fast and Furious a dishonor to law enforcement and a betrayal of law enforcement officers everywhere. These weapons have been used in crimes on both sides of the border. One of the weapons passed to the cartels by the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF) was used during the murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry in December 2010. Agent Terry’s brother Kent Terry said,”My family and I are very thankful for the Sheriffs of Arizona and the fact they are helping us demand justice for my brother’s murder.”
Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu held the press conference at the base of the Peace Officers Memorial, where Agent Terry’s name has been etched.
Sheriff Babeu was joined by nine other Sheriffs, four other Republicans and five Democrats. They made the call for a special investigator into the operation, Eric Holder’s resignation or firing, and criminal charges for those accountable. Sheriff Babeu also noted the Sheriffs found out about the operation through press accounts. (months after the Sipsey Street Irregulars blog broke the story.) He also suggested that the investigation needs to investigate other departments involved in the operation, such as the FBI, DEA, Department of Homeland Security, and the State Department.
Sheriff Larry Dever expressed his embarrassment that he had to apologize for the criminal actions of other elected officials.
One reporter noted a prior operation called Operation Wide Receiver, and mindlessly alluded to this being a partisan jab. If the lazy, partisan reporter had bothered to spend a minute on Google, she would have found out that the firearms in Operation Wide Receiver actually had tracking devices and were under surveillance. Operation Wide Receiver didn’t go as planned, the guns were lost and the program cancelled as a failure. The lazy reporter could then understand that a plan to illegally sell firearms to felons to deliver to Mexican drug cartels, without tracking or surveillance, could not be the next step in an investigation.
Navajo County Sheriff KC Clark said, “I’m outraged that our own Federal Government has betrayed local law enforcement by arming violent foreign criminals and it now appears that Attorney General Eric Holder may have lied under oath.”
Yavapai County Sheriff Scott Mascher said, “The Attorney General can’t be trusted to fairly self-investigate these possible criminal charges of gun running which has resulted in murders of both individuals from the U.S. and Mexico. A Special Counsel must be appointed.”
Previously, pro-second Amendment blogger Bob Owens was a lone voice calling for a Special Prosecutor. As more and more evidence of perjury and White House participation are released, the chorus grows stronger. Even congressman Paul Gosar has suggested that participants in this illegal operation are “vigilantes from DOJ going unchecked” and accessories to murder.
It is time for the President’s staff to stop playing politics with Operation Fast and Furious. This scandal is worse than Watergate, as people have been murdered in this scandal. The President must appoint a special investigator to bring those responsible to justice, or have the history of his administration forever tarnished by this corrupt, murderous operation.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) appears to be attempting to bypass the Gun Control Act, in turn, creating a national firearms registry.
On December 20th, 2010, Acting Director of ATF, Ken Melson, announced Demand Letters for Multiple Sales of Specific Long Guns in Four Border States. This action would require Federal Licensed Firearms dealers in California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas report purchaser information when two, or more, of certain long guns are purchased (semi-auto rifles) within five days. These reports would include the purchaser’s personal identifying information, as well as specific information on the rifles.
1. The reporting requirement will apply only to FFLs doing business in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California, which are major source states for crime guns seized in Mexico and traced to federal firearms licensees.
2. The reporting requirement applies only to those rifles having all of the following characteristics:
A semi-automatic action;
A caliber greater than .22; and
The ability to accept a detachable magazine.
3. We propose to implement this initiative as a pilot project for a period of one year.
While many take exception to the collection of this information, which is illegal under 18 USC §926(a), almost unnoticed is that this is a “pilot program” that would lay the groundwork for a nationwide gun registry.
The accepted definition of ‘pilot program’ means a limited roll out of a new system in order to test it under real world conditions, prior to use by an entire organization.
Almost all gun registries in history have turned into lists used by law enforcement to go door-to-door, disarming law abiding citizens by confiscating private property and a citizen’s primary means of self-defense. These confiscations were usually done under the guise of crime fighting measures, but in reality, resulted in oppressive control of law abiding citizens.
The ATF is seeking approval from the Office of Management and Budget to ignore the laws of the United States, for the greater good. Yes, a Federal Agency is asking another Federal Agency for permission to violate U.S. law and ignore Congress.
I doubt anybody would disagree with the stated goals of the ATF request, but there are ways to disrupt criminal smuggling enterprises without creating data files of law abiding citizens and burdening small businesses. Law enforcement operations that disrupt smuggling routes across our border with Mexico would surely accomplish more than additional paperwork.
NSSF recommends that you voice your concern by doing the following:
1. Call the Office of Management and Budget, Office of Information and Regulation Affairs, Department of Justice, Desk Officer at (202) 395-6466.
2. E-mail Barbara A. Terrell, ATF, Firearms Industry Programs Branch at Barbara.Terrell@atf.gov
3. Call your Senators and Representative: United States Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121
