I say yes, you say no, OR People are Strange

Oh, I absolutely, positively believe that anyone who purchases a gun should be required to page through a photograph album of murder victims, especially children.  If regressive, knuckle-dragging legislators can force women to undergo invasive, medically-unnecessary procedures in order to avail themselves of LEGAL, CONSTITUTIONALLY-PROTECTED medical care, if they can force doctors to LIE to these women, if these women must be subjected to verbal, sometimes physical harassment in order to get such LEGAL, CONSTITUTIONALLY-PROTECTED medical care, if these women are forced to look at gruesome pictures of medical waste because it is someone else's LEGAL, CONSTITUTIONALLY-PROTECTED right of free speech, then the people who want to exercise their LEGAL, CONSTITUTIONALLY-PROTECTED right to purchase a gun should be subject to some of the same things that women seeking medical care are. 

In order to buy a gun, you must look at an album of pictures of gunshot victims.  Suicides, murder victims, children who were accidentally shot playing with a gun in the household.  The Sandy Hook babies.  See what the item you are purchasing has done to others.  That's what abortion protesters are all about, aren't they?  The consequences?  There are consequences to owning a gun, too.

L

ETA - And yes, I am in favor of strong gun control -- much stronger than we have now.  Owning and driving a car is more regulated than owning a lethal weapon.  Buying sudafed is more regulated than buying a gun.

International Business Times

March 12, 2013



Guns Kill More People Than Car Accidents In 14 US States



Firearm-related deaths in the United States are expected to surpass the number of traffic fatalities by 2015, according to at least one recent study . In some states, that is already the reality.



In fact, it’s the case in at least 14 states across the country, Mother Jones reported on Monday. The publication, using information compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, determined that in 2010 – the most recent year for which data is available – nine states experienced more gun than vehicle accident deaths. In an even more grisly revelation, gun suicides alone outnumbered traffic deaths in five states – Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Nevada and Utah.



Those figures are striking, considering the statistics. Someone in the U.S. dies about every 15 minutes in a motor vehicle crash, the CDC estimates. Those accidents are currently the leading cause of death for individuals between the ages of 5 and 34.



Nationally, close to two-thirds of all gun deaths are suicides, a subject that has received little attention in the current debate about gun violence prevention. For instance, Alaska experienced twice as many gun suicides (107) than traffic deaths (56) in 2010. Utah, sometimes referred to as the “most depressed” state in the country, had 275 firearm suicides, surpassing its 236 motor vehicle fatalities.



While it can be rightly noted that those are sparsely populated states that would naturally see fewer traffic deaths (because fewer cars are on the road), firearm-related fatalities are also outnumbering automobile deaths in much more populated states like Illinois, Virginia, Ohio and Michigan.



Many of those states have relaxed gun ownership laws.



But some of the states pinpointed by Mother Jones are still pushing for looser gun restrictions. For instance, while the vast majority of Utah gun deaths in recent years have been from people taking their own lives (jumping from a rate of 7.8 per 1,000 in 1999 to 10.6 in 2010) some state lawmakers believe guns should be even easier to purchase and carry.



Last week, the Utah House of Representatives passed a bill that would allow residents to carry concealed weapons without a permit – potentially joining the ranks of other “constitutional carry” states such as Vermont, Alaska, Wyoming and Arizona. That comes soon after the state passed a law opening up gun ownership to individuals who have been indicted (though not convicted) for a violent felony.



Utah, along with Alaska and Arizona, has the weakest gun laws in the U.S., according to the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. The organization gave Utah 0 points out of 100 in its 2011 scorecard of national firearm laws.



http://www.ibtimes.com/print/guns-kill-more-people-car-accidents-14-us-states-1119072



We should be so proud. Not.

So true, Athena. Apparently, significant numbers of their members are peeling off due to that realization.

The republican hijacking of the nation's well being continues:

WASHINGTON – With gun safety measures headed to the Senate floor, members of the Senate Appropriations Committee who support gun rights have quietly added provisions that would permanently protect some gun rights favored by Republicans to a financing bill that would keep the government running through the end of the fiscal year.

The provisions, which have been renewed separately at various points, would prohibit the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives from requiring gun dealers to conduct annual inventories to ensure that they have not lost guns or had them stolen, and would retain a broad definition of “antique” guns that can be imported into the United States outside of normal regulations.

More here: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/14/us/politics/gop-senators-add-gun-protections-to-financing-bill.html?hp&_r=0

I suppose they figure that most gun victims are democrats, and that the only good democrats are dead democrats (or illegally disenfranchised ones)....

Yeah. The GOP may as well be an enemy nation - that's how well they wish America.

A little dose of cute:

Have good news to share ... After 3 months on taxol the results of my CT scan on Monday were great! My main tumor stable, no progression and a separate little nodule in the lung "resolved". Yeah! Onc is keeping me on taxol. Started round 4 today and other than my Benadryl nap, I'm feeling fine. Of course, good news always helps minimize the SE's!



Re smoking: my son who smokes has been seeing the new commercials on smoking where people have their limbs amputated .... It has made him want to stop smoking. He has cut back considerably and is determined to quit. Those commercials would make me want to quit if I smoked, especially the woman who is bald and has to put some device in a hole in her neck .... Eek!

Doing the happy dance for Glenna! 

Speaking of dancing ... never judge a book by its cover. 

https://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/photo.php?v=515882761795706&set=vb.136336876521150&type=2&theater

Great news Glenna!!

Bad day for me - up until 2 am last night worrying about work, then my back goes out this morning - absolute agony, I could barely walk. Luckily I stayed home (working) and was able to get into my physio after lunch - big improvement immediately. I really can't pin point what I did to put it out. Needless to say, it will be a really early night for me.

Sore Suzie

ETA - the new pope looks like a nice man, certainly better than the last one.

Thanks Scoot/E - lucky my physio is a genius - he does manipulation. Also cracked my neck while I was there as I'd been having some twinges if I moved a certain way. All of this probably due to that bloody bike ride, getting shaken up so much. I see him again Monday and I bet I'll be almost good to go after that - he's great he doesn't over service patients.