Something true

If laws controlled guns the way the NRA currently controls politicians, the US would be the safest country in the world. -- Andy Borowitz

In times of economic hardship the best thing to do, according to some in the US, is to buy a gun!!

I just blogged how a mother who had no money to feed her children, yet had money to buy a gun, kill herself and fatally injured her children. Now, I just found out that this year's gun sales broke all previous records. That's in an economy that needs fixing.

Let's see the news:

(NEWSER) – This year's Black Friday gun salesbroke a record set in 2008 by nearly a third, and while fears about President Obama outlawing some types of firearms are thought to be behind 2008's record, analysts say this year's surge in sales is part of a long-term trend. Gun ownership was "politically incorrect" five years ago, but "what seems to be changing is social acceptance," an analyst at investment firm Avondale Partners tells MSNBC. "I think there might be a changing view of firearms."

"Politically incorrect?", well, it is not safe to carry a gun, period. If we trust our government, then we pay our taxes so they can hold social cohesion, but Americans don't trust not even their next door neighbours.

But if some type of guns are going to be outlawed, the alternative is not to pile on those guns, since if you are found with them, you are going to be braking the law. What sort of thinking these people apply to themselves, is beyond me!!

Every state except Illinois now allows residents to carry concealed weapons, and a recent Gallup poll found that 47% of American households own a gun, up from 41% just a year ago. Analysts say the number of first-time gun buyers and women buying guns has been rising for several years, with handguns selling especially well. The director of communications at the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, however, says this year's surge is sales is a "one-time event" which may be "the result of marketing."

So, marketing death goes far, as we can see. Notice, "women buying guns has been rising for several years, with handguns selling especially well". So well, that they can try to kill their own children with them!!!!

In a country where anger is going through the roof, and people are willing to kill one another just for a parking space, carrying a gun, makes things way more dangerous.

Mother shoots herself and her children for food stamps. A society where guns are freely allowed is dysfunctional

I am not against owning a gun, but I am against that some people seem to use their guns as a last resort, not to fix a situation, but to destroy it totally. Look at this example:

SAN ANTONIO — A Texas woman who for months was unable to qualify for food stamps pulled a gun in a state welfare office and staged a seven-hour standoff with police that ended with her shooting her two children before killing herself, officials said Tuesday.

And why this woman did what she did? Because she didn't get support for food stamps from the state of Texas:

Grimmer first applied for food stamps in July but was denied because she didn’t turn in enough information, Texas Department of Health and Human Services spokeswoman Stephanie Goodman said.
Goodman didn’t know what Grimmer specifically failed to provide. In addition to completing an 18-page application, families seeking state benefits also must provide documents proving their information, such as proof of employment and residency.

Isn't it crazy, that it is easier to get a gun that kills, but it is almost impossible to get  food stamps!!!

The woman and the children apparently had recently moved to Texas from another state, and that made it harder for her to provide the info the state wanted.

“This wasn’t like a knee-jerk reaction,” said Baeza, adding that Grimmer felt she was owed restitution of some sort.
Grimmer let a supervisor go unharmed around 7:45, but stayed inside the office with her children. After hanging up the phone around 11:45, police heard three shots, and a SWAT team entered the building. Inside, they found Grimmer’s body and her two wounded children.
The children were “very critical” and unconscious when taken from the scene, Baeza said.

I see two problems, a woman who somehow had a gun, yet, not food to feed her children, and a government, who is full of bureaucracy, and  did not want to help a family in need.

I lived on food stamps when I was a teenager in California, and I could see the desperation in my aunt's face when we didn't have anything to eat. But she never went out and bought a gun, she knew better, that money would be used to feed us, not to kill us.

Let's pray that those two kids make it, and that gun laws are tightened, and that the states have better trained people to avert this incidents in the future.