Blogging for gun safety reform and changing the conversation about the role of guns and gun violence in our communities. Common sense gun laws and gun safety reform and gun rights are not mutually exclusive.
Halloween is upon us. And it’s scary out there. In a few days, kids will be going door to door and hoping for lots of candy in their bags. Older kids like to scare people with their costumes and haunted houses and other haunted things are scaring people. This “older kid” was asked to remove his mask of a face with President Obama with a noose around his neck.He was attending a football game at the University of Wisconsin. Not funny. Scary and intimidating. We know what he meant.
Last night we were at a movie theater which is near a haunted ore boat that dresses up every year with all kinds of haunting music and displays of “brains”, “eyeballs” and other such scares inside. It is very popular with residents and visitors alike.
I am not so scared of things like that though I don’t particularly enjoy these kind of displays. I’m afraid of some of my fellow Americans. It’s just not funny or clever when hateful people display inappropriate halloween displays that mean something other than they look. Or maybe they do look exactly as intended. A Florida resident got himself into some trouble by hanging 2 dummies from a tree:
There needs to be a hell of a lot of hate in your heart to think lynching people on Halloween is funny. And yet, here we are, Miami. A homeowner in Three Lakes, a small community in suburban Kendall, is celebrating the holiday by lynching two black-looking dummies in his or her yard. It’s also impossible to ignore what’s just in front of the display on the same lawn: A “Trump/Pence 2016” sign.
The Trump sign just seems to go with the display doesn’t it? Donald Trump is one scary man whose frightening rhetoric has reduced our election to its’ lowest point in decades.
I think it’s safe to say that this has been one of the craziest and mind blowing elections in modern memory. With 10 days to go, “bombs” are exploding all over the place with misinformation and total melt-down of some in the media and most on the Republican side of the aisle over a report issued by FBI Director James Comey. Reasonable people can argue about this but there are also facts. The scary thing is that Trump and his GOP buddies are distorting it out of all proportion and as we learn more we learn how wrong they have been. It’s downright scary that a lie can travel this quickly and that this late election cycle report happened in the first place.
But there are a lot more scary things going on this election season.
Trump says the election will be rigged with no evidence to support the allegations. This has led to some of his supporters believing they can resort to violence if their candidate doesn’t win. Or, as an aside, actual voter fraud by Trump supporters. An Iowa Republican voter tried to vote twice, fearing that her first vote would not be counted. She was arrested for fraud. Now that is a rigged election.
But back to the potential for violence in this election. Some Americans are talking about taking up arms on election day and the day after they will start the revolution. And with so many militia and other hate groups already formed, that is certainly a possibility.
Overall, Americans own an estimated 265 million guns – more than one gun for every American adult, according to the study by researchers at Harvard and Northeastern universities. Half of those guns – 133 million – were in the hands of just 3% of American adults, so-called “super owners” who possessed an average of 17 guns each, it showed.
It is not difficult to imagine that those with hyped up fear of their own government are ready to fight against it or start a revolution when they don’t believe in the results of a democratic election. The corporate gun lobby has promoted this kind of fear and paranoia for years. And, militia groups and hate groups are at an all time high.
The former Illinois congressman said he’s used the phrase “grab your musket” multiple times over the past several years but never meant that Donald Trump supporters should literally reach for their firearms.
“If I wanted people to take up arms, why would I recommend people take up an antique like a musket?” Walsh asked. “That’s just silly.”
We know what he meant. It was a not so subtle suggestion that he would take up arms and that he wanted others to do the same. There are no excuses for this kind of talk during an election. I wonder how closely he will be watched by law enforcement authorities? I’m just saying.
I’m pretty sure this kind of public talk about violence and taking up arms during and after a democratic American election is not a first but its’ frequency and boldness is. And it has never been promoted by a major party candidate for President before. But Trump is no ordinary candidate.
Which came first, Donald Trump’s paranoid and frightening rhetoric or the rhetoric of his supporters, some of them white supremacists and racists? What we are now seeing is encouragement of these types of groups and sentiments rising to the surface. It’s an ugly side of America that has the rest of the world worried. Other countries have seen the result of these kind of dangerous despots and “patriots”.
“Are you prepared?” Guandolo called out. “Are you prepared for the two or three dozen jihadis in, pick a city in Minnesota, with mortars or shoulder-fired rockets? You don’t think they can get those in the United States?”
North and central Minnesota have become fertile ground for traveling speakers who have built national careers spreading alarm about the danger they say Islam poses inside U.S. borders. At dozens of rural churches and schools, speakers have warned crowds about refugees and called on them to be prepared to oppose Muslims in Minnesota. This comes at a time of mounting political tension over immigration ahead of the contentious presidential election.
Thanks to Donald Trump, the anti-Muslim fear has risen to the surface and been exaggerated to the point of possible violence. And more, from the article:
“Islam is not a religion,” he said, highlighting one of his frequent talking points. “It’s a savage cult. Therefore, it is unconstitutional for a Muslim to practice Islam in America.”
Dakdok argues for the mass deportation of Muslims from the United States. He wears a Donald Trump pin on his suit jacket. He warns of the end times.
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, Guandolo often works with ACT!, which they call the largest grassroots anti-Muslim group in America.
Dakdok holds the bulk of his Minnesota events in small northern towns — places with few, if any Muslims. So does Guandolo, and he said that’s intentional. The Twin Cities, he told the Warroad crowd, are overrun with Muslims.
Where is common sense? Why do Americans believe such hyperbole and fear? Without proselytizers like Trump and Dakdok, this would not bubble to the surface but be held at bey by those with integrity and the best interests of our democracy in their hearts and minds. But when hatred and venom against and fear of someone who could become the first woman President in a free and fair election take over hearts and minds, this is what some believe is justified. From the linked article by above: by Bill Moyers:
A Democrat running for president is going to be smeared by the Republicans. This goes without saying. But a Democratic woman running for president gets extra layers of smear, though the smear required new material to work with. Clinton could still be viewedfavorably when she ran for the presidential nomination in 2007-08 — consistent, overall, with how she was viewed during the more than two decades between 1992 and 2014. Benghazi and emails were not yet in the picture. Now, should Clinton get to the White House, Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) will be ready: He’s sharpening his pencils and knives, planning “years” of hearings on Clinton depredations. (…) So much for the traditional political niceties. I suppose it’s remotely possible that a male potential president would be treated this way — but none has been. Ever.
Moyers is right. No male candidate has been treated to the abuse that Hillary Clinton has endured. President Obama was certainly treated to racism and a fear of our first Black President in addition to the decision by Republican leadership to refuse to work with him. We will look back on this time period in our history and hang our heads in shame.
Its no secret that I am a supporter of Hillary Clinton. I agree with her policy statements and her embrace of the gun violence issue to represent the majority of Americans who want stronger gun laws. I find what is happening now about Wikileaks and James Comey’s letter to Congress to be frightening for our democracy. This Washington Post article gets to the core of why the email “scandal” should be an eye opener to all of us and not because of anything Hillary did wrong but because of an invasion of privacy that could affect all of us. From the article:
A question we need to ask is why the leaked emails have been embraced as acceptable contributions to public discourse, rather than shunned as stolen property, and what this means for how we think about politics and privacy. Richard Nixon faced impeachment as a result of his coverup of the Watergate break-in, a parallel attempt to steal private communications from an opponent’s campaign. Somehow, a physical break-in sparks visceral repugnance in a way that hacking into computer accounts does not. That should give us all pause, because it is a testament to a frightening new reality: That communication technology has steadily amplified the breakdown in the line between public and private. Without a zone of privacy in which we can talk freely to those who are close to us, no one is safe. That’s the sense in which WikiLeaks is a threat not only to the presidential campaign of a particular candidate, but to us all.
I get this one. My computer has been hacked and there are people in the gun rights community who hate what I write and stand for. Some years ago, one of them threatened to post my home address. Someone tried to take over my blog as well. And I have been on the receiving end of some not so subtle comments intimating violence and threats. Many people working on gun violence prevention have had this experience. Why? Take a guess. This kind of invasion of privacy and intimidation is scary. There are actual trolls out there waiting to do harm and not just on Halloween.
Social media has made all of this even scarier. There are obvious benefits to the use of social media and email to organize people and voters. But when it is used to intimidate and interfere with free and fair elections, that is scary.
And speaking of scary, some elementary school polling places have canceled classes on election day because of fear of violence and whatever the far right element of our country have in mind for the day. Our kids and teachers should not have to be scared on election day. That is for third world un-democratized countries.
Jared Halbrook, 25, of Green Bay, Wis., said that if Mr. Trump lost to Hillary Clinton, which he worried would happen through a stolen election, it could lead to “another Revolutionary War.”
“People are going to march on the capitols,” said Mr. Halbrook, who works at a call center. “They’re going to do whatever needs to be done to get her out of office, because she does not belong there.”
“If push comes to shove,” he added, and Mrs. Clinton “has to go by any means necessary, it will be done.” (…)
No question about what Mr. Halbrook means here. These are the guys with the guns talking big and making threats. Their fear and paranoia, stoked by the NRA and the corporate gun lobby and now their very own candidate Donald Trump, have taken over any reasonable thinking about the issues of the country and what democracy means. It’s frightening stuff at the least.
It doesn’t have to be this way. We are a democracy. Power is passed from one party and one President to another without violence or threats of violence. It has been since the birth of our democracy. What makes the people whose thoughts are so contorted believe that democracy includes this kind of violence? What makes them believe that our democratic election will be rigged causing them to want to overthrow the results? We know the answer to that. Donald Trump. His suggestions about voter intimidation and suppression have now been legally challenged by the Democratic National Committee. This is not what we do in a democracy. Why do they believe they can get away with this?
On this Halloween eve, let us all hope for non-violence and common sense. Working together towards peaceful and reasonable solutions is the way to solve our nation’s most pressing problems. We have been treated to some pretty scary tricks during this election season. Violent solutions would be frightening to say the least.
We are better than this.
This election can’t be over soon enough. But even after it is over, I am scared that threats against our first woman President and total obstruction to her agenda will lead to an inability to work together and make our country worse.
One thought on “Halloween frights, elections and violence”
Thank you for the thoughts. I do have one comment about the folks who own “arsenals” of weapons. I’m sure there are those owners out there that “fear buy” firearms when there is a threat of increased legislation such as an “assault weapons ban” or magazine restriction. Whenever this is threatened, it seems the gun store shelves become stripped of every modern rifle and magazine available.
Many folks are buying guns when they are afraid of impending legislation that will outlaw the purchase of certain firearms but there are also those who own many different guns simply because they use each one for a different purpose. Much like a craftsman that will have many different screw-drivers and wrenches for different tasks, many shooters own different guns; each one suited for a specific job.
For example one might own a 12 gauge shotgun for defense of their home with a shorter barrel then one that would be used to hunt waterfowl. One might own a full size handgun to keep near the bed at night, fitted with a flashlight but prefer to own a smaller, more easily concealable gun for carry. The same school of thought will apply to rifles. White tail deer might call for a long gun chambered in .243 while bagging elk will require a larger caliber like the .300WinMag or 7 mm Magnum. The long range competition shooter will use different calibers as well and even different rifles tuned specifically for separate distances. The very popular “Three-Gun” competitions are contests in the use of newer “tactical” guns such as polymer framed handguns, semi-automatic shotguns and the ever popular AR-15 style rifles. It is therefore no stretch of the imagination to see why some would own 10, 15 or even 20 different firearms.
Three years ago there was also a shortage of ammunition in the market. Many gun shop fear-mongers claimed that government agencies were buying up all the ammo in an effort to disarm Americans. This falsehood was further perpetuated after reports came out that certain agencies were placing orders for millions of rounds of ammunition. In reality, orders of that size are not strange or extraordinary. For example the FBI employs some 35,000 agents. If they place an order for 1,000,000 rounds of ammunition that would only equate to 29 rounds per agent; not nearly enough for each agent to train, qualify with and carry in their duty guns.
The same math can be applied to civilian orders. The cost of ammunition is on the rise and buying in bulk is a great way to lower costs. For those that shoot often in competition or train with the weapons they carry, buying ammunition in bulk just makes sense. For example I buy 9x19mm in bulk at about 1,000 rounds at a time. While this might look like an alarming purchase to some, I typically fire around 300 rounds in an eight-hour defensive gun class. Paying .19 cents per round versus .35 cents just makes sense. I’m not saying that the fear buyers are not out there, (I believe there are many ammunition hoarders) but not all online bulk ammo purchases are nefarious.
Halloween is upon us. And it’s scary out there. In a few days, kids will be going door to door and hoping for lots of candy in their bags. Older kids like to scare people with their costumes and haunted houses and other haunted things are scaring people. This “older kid” was asked to remove his mask of a face with President Obama with a noose around his neck.He was attending a football game at the University of Wisconsin. Not funny. Scary and intimidating. We know what he meant.
commongunsense 
Thank you for the thoughts. I do have one comment about the folks who own “arsenals” of weapons. I’m sure there are those owners out there that “fear buy” firearms when there is a threat of increased legislation such as an “assault weapons ban” or magazine restriction. Whenever this is threatened, it seems the gun store shelves become stripped of every modern rifle and magazine available.
Many folks are buying guns when they are afraid of impending legislation that will outlaw the purchase of certain firearms but there are also those who own many different guns simply because they use each one for a different purpose. Much like a craftsman that will have many different screw-drivers and wrenches for different tasks, many shooters own different guns; each one suited for a specific job.
For example one might own a 12 gauge shotgun for defense of their home with a shorter barrel then one that would be used to hunt waterfowl. One might own a full size handgun to keep near the bed at night, fitted with a flashlight but prefer to own a smaller, more easily concealable gun for carry. The same school of thought will apply to rifles. White tail deer might call for a long gun chambered in .243 while bagging elk will require a larger caliber like the .300WinMag or 7 mm Magnum. The long range competition shooter will use different calibers as well and even different rifles tuned specifically for separate distances. The very popular “Three-Gun” competitions are contests in the use of newer “tactical” guns such as polymer framed handguns, semi-automatic shotguns and the ever popular AR-15 style rifles. It is therefore no stretch of the imagination to see why some would own 10, 15 or even 20 different firearms.
Three years ago there was also a shortage of ammunition in the market. Many gun shop fear-mongers claimed that government agencies were buying up all the ammo in an effort to disarm Americans. This falsehood was further perpetuated after reports came out that certain agencies were placing orders for millions of rounds of ammunition. In reality, orders of that size are not strange or extraordinary. For example the FBI employs some 35,000 agents. If they place an order for 1,000,000 rounds of ammunition that would only equate to 29 rounds per agent; not nearly enough for each agent to train, qualify with and carry in their duty guns.
The same math can be applied to civilian orders. The cost of ammunition is on the rise and buying in bulk is a great way to lower costs. For those that shoot often in competition or train with the weapons they carry, buying ammunition in bulk just makes sense. For example I buy 9x19mm in bulk at about 1,000 rounds at a time. While this might look like an alarming purchase to some, I typically fire around 300 rounds in an eight-hour defensive gun class. Paying .19 cents per round versus .35 cents just makes sense. I’m not saying that the fear buyers are not out there, (I believe there are many ammunition hoarders) but not all online bulk ammo purchases are nefarious.