Category: Gun Control

MLLG

Common Sense About Preventing School Shootings – Sacrificing Children on the Altar of Gun Control

George Noga

It’s time to put gun control aside and to do what is possible to save lives now.

Common Sense About Preventing School Shootings

Sacrificing Children on the Altar of Gun Control

By: George Noga – September 25, 2022

In the wake of the Uvalde tragedy, we present a fresh look at what can be done to prevent school shootings. Sadly, the political reaction following school shootings has become a kabuki: progressives, captive to their gun control dogma, clamor for anti-gun legislation. That always is a non-starter. No meaningful changes are enacted, and schools are just as vulnerable as prior to the latest tragedy. That must change.

We begin with some perspective. Most gun deaths (55%) are suicides. Mass shootings constitute less than 1% of gun deaths. There have been 13 mass school shootings in the in the past 56 years, 1 every 4-5 years. Even though school shootings are rare, they generate great horror due to the nature of the victims. That, along with saturation media coverage, gives the impression they are more frequent than they actually are.

Solutions That Will Not Work

Gun control is a liberal shibboleth not shared by a sizable majority of Americans. That makes it impossible to pass stricter gun laws. Even if meaningful laws could be passed, they likely would be unconstitutional. Moreover, if they became law, they would be largely ineffective. By demanding gun control, liberals make the perfect the enemy of the good. They must put gun issues aside and do what is possible to save lives now.

Red flag laws won’t work. There were warnings aplenty prior to many school shootings, particularly Parkland and Uvalde. Red flags included summonses for police, foreboding social media postings, school suspensions, anti-social behavior, cruelty to animals and firearm purchases. Simply put, government can’t be trusted to enforce red flag laws; they would muck it up as they do everything else. Also, red flag laws take away a constitutional right from someone who has not been charged with any crime.

Solutions That Will Work

Universal school choice gives families control of where to school their children; they can choose schools with strong safety protocols, including the presence of firearms in the hands of trained school personnel. Competition will soon force other schools to follow suit. Perhaps some schools will advertise themselves as gun-free zones to accommodate children from progressive families. That would present an interesting dilemma for liberals. Would they risk their own children for their anti-gun religion?

Cultural pathologies and personal pathologies are inextricably linked

Harden schools to strictly control entry. A perimeter fence combined with only one point of ingress (with double doors such that a person could enter only one door at a time) could be effective both as a deterrent and for stopping shooters. The cost would be minimal, and it could be completed in weeks. It could be funded with leftover dollars from all the largess doled out to states for pandemic assistance.

Abolish gun-free zones as part of a well-considered plan. Guns in the hands of trained school personnel create serious complications for wannabee shooters. They complicate the calculus of a shooter looking for a soft target. Guns would be a powerful deterrent and a gigantic speed bump. They also provide an immediate response as opposed to waiting 10-15 minutes for police. Finally, it would minimize any casualties.

Other remedies include: (1) improve the culture; when the spectrum of acceptable behavior degrades, those at the margins go off the rails. Our highly toxic political culture of personal destruction, mainly as practiced by progressives, has removed the guardrails from our civilization. There is an inextricable link between cultural pathologies and personal pathologies. (2) reduce the copycat effect by dialing down saturation media coverage; and (3) institutionalize the violently mentally ill.

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Whenever there is a school shooting, America undergoes a national catharsis, but in the end nothing ever changes. Inevitably, we get derailed by progressive anti-gun paranoia. Regardless of one’s position on guns, let’s agree to separate the gun debate from school shootings. Liberals are making their idea of perfect the enemy of an immediate good. They literally are sacrificing America’s school children on the altar of gun control.

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Next week’s post about the spending crisis is one for the ages.

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Americans Vote With Their Guns – My Decision About Owning Firearms

George Noga

In times and places where crime surges, gun sales skyrocket.

 

Americans Vote With Their Guns

My Decision About Owning Firearms

By: George Noga – September 27, 2020

In my post of May 17, 2020 (on our website), I wrote that I do not presently own a firearm but am reevaluating that position. I now have made my decision, revealed later in this post. First, let’s look at some astounding data about recent gun sales.

Gun sales in the USA are skyrocketing. March gun sales were up 85% year-over-year while April was up 71% and May was up over 80%. During June the FBI reported 3.9 million background checks, the highest monthly total since records have been kept. Gun purchases increased 136% over June 2019 and 40% were first-time gun buyers. Each week in June was in the top ten of all time gun sales. The trend continued in July with 3.6 million FBI checks and 1.8 million new gun sales, a 122% increase over July 2019. Of first-time gun buyers, 40% are women and sales to African Americans are up 58%. Thru July 2020 gun sales were 12,141,032 – nearly equal to all of 2019.

Crime Causes Guns – Not Vice Versa

The stale canard that guns cause crime needs to be put to rest for all time. Over the past few decades, the US homicide rate has fallen by 50%, despite an increase of 150 million guns and amidst a surge in open carry. Until recently, the US murder rate was the same as in 1950 and the ratio of homicides to guns fell by 70%. Guns prevent or stop crimes 3 million times each year. In Britain 45% of burglaries occur in occupied homes versus only 13% here. In the US, criminals know they may encounter an armed homeowner, whom they fear much more than the police.

Progressives blame crime on the presence of guns despite the overwhelming evidence contained in the preceding paragraph. They cite selective studies that show correlation (but not causation) between guns and crime. However, the causation just as plausibly works in the opposite direction, i.e. crime causes guns. When crime increases and people feel endangered, they are much more likely to buy firearms. That is precisely the phenomenon we are now experiencing with the 2020 gusher of gun sales.

A tidal wave of potential gun buyers, who were sitting on the fence, has decided en mass to buy firearms. They reached their decisions based on events of recent months including: (1) sustained riots, looting and mayhem in many cities; (2) violence spreading for the first time into the suburbs; (3) huge spikes in violent crime in scores of cities; (4) movements to defund police; (5) politicians who condone the violence; and (6) failure and uncertainty of police to provide protection. It is dead obvious to everyone but progressives that crime causes guns – not the other way around.

My Decision Whether Or Not To Buy Firearms

Although I always have been a strong supporter of gun rights, I have not owned a firearm since my .22 caliber rifle when I was a teenager. I never have felt the need to own guns, especially since I live in a walled, 24-hour security guarded area. Moreover, I do not relish the hassle of shopping for firearms, learning how to use and to maintain them, regular target practice and properly storing and safeguarding them. As a septuagenarian, I believed I never would need to reevaluate owning firearms.

Then everything changed. I no longer feel as secure in the suburbs. I am not sure I can count on law enforcement for protection. The mayhem America is experiencing seems to have no defined ending point. And, not inconsequentially, I may not be able to buy firearms after January 2021 if progressives take control of America.

My present calculus is that the hassles of owning firearms are far outweighed by the risks of not owning them. The worst possible predicament is to be in a situation where you desperately need a firearm but do not have one. It is akin to buying an insurance policy. Therefore, I will be buying firearms in the near future. Perhaps I will write a blog post about my experience buying and learning to use firearms.

Our next post October 4th addresses systemic racism in America.
More Liberty Less Government – mllg@cfl.rr.com – www.mllg.us

Pulse Nightclub Tragedy and the Laramie Project

George Noga
Orlando observes the 2nd anniversary of the Pulse tragedy with The Laramie Project.  
Pulse Nightclub Tragedy and the Laramie Project
By: George Noga – June 3, 2018
       This is a post I’d rather not write, but it must be written. June 12th is the second anniversary of the Pulse shooting. The occasion is being observed (beginning June 2) with a month-long production of The Laramie Project, a play about the 1998 brutal murder in Laramie, Wyoming of Matthew Shepard, a gay 21 year old college student.
The Progressive Narrative
       The common agenda of the OnePulse and Matthew Shepard Foundations is to fight hate crimes and gun violence against the LGBTQ community. Barbara Poma, Director of the OnePulse Foundation, said, “The increase in hate crimes targeting the LGBTQ community . . . puts the responsibility on foundations like ours to work together.” Her narrative is that both the Pulse and Laramie killings were hate crimes targeting gays and that constitutes the rationale for sponsoring The Laramie Project.
          Late one night, Matthew Shepard made a pass at two strange men in a Laramie bar. He later left with the two men, was taken to a remote spot, brutally beaten, crucified to a fence post and left to die – solely because he was gay in what universally was (and still is) regarded as the hate crime of the century. Shepard’s murder became a liberal shibboleth about the homophobia and hatred permeating middle America.
         The Laramie Project, one of the most performed high school plays ever, depicts Matt as an innocent martyr but portrays life in flyover land as ugly, violent, intolerant, bigoted and psychotic. Schools use Laramie study guides that direct classroom discussions to homophobia and injustice in middle America, which is depicted as a crucible of hate, violence and savagery inhabited by gun-toting, homicidal rubes.
The Plain Truth
       Neither the Pulse shooting nor the Matthew Shepard murder was a hate crime directed at gays. The trial of Noor Salman, wife of Pulse killer Omar Mateen, brought out the facts of the Pulse shooting. According to FBI testimony at the Salman trial, the original intended target for Mateen was Disney Springs, a crowded shopping and entertainment venue. Only after Mateen observed the heavy security at Disney Springs, did he search “downtown Orlando nightclub” on his phone and find Pulse. There is no evidence or indication whatsoever that Mateen knew Pulse was a gay nightclub.
         Shepard’s murder resulted from a methamphetamine deal gone bad. One of Matt’s murderers, Aaron McKinney, also was gay and had a prior sexual relationship with Matt. The crucifixion to a fence post never happened. Everything people were told about Matt was a lie; he was a drug dealer murdered by his homosexual lover over a soured meth deal. The facts about Shepard came to light in The Book of Matt written by Stephen Jimenez, who is liberal and gay, after 13 years of research, interviewing hundreds of witnesses and scouring thousands of pages of public records. His book was critically acclaimed by gay groups and favorably reviewed by the Advocate.
The Lesson from Pulse and Laramie
      The takeaway, particularly from the Shepard case, is its exposure of the visceral hatred progressives and the media have for America. They blindly accepted anti-gay accounts from biased sources with unhidden agendas because it fit their narrative that America’s heartland is a cauldron of hate and homophobia. To them, it doesn’t matter if they got their facts wrong because, after all, their narrative was correct. The true hate crime of the century is the revulsion progressives and the media have for America.
      Since neither Pulse nor Laramie were LGBTQ hate crimes, will Ms. Poma cancel the collaboration with the Shepard Foundation? If The Laramie Project is performed in Orlando, will Ms. Poma tell audiences the truth about Matthew Shepard? Surely, there is a better way to commemorate the Pulse tragedy than by performing a play based entirely on lies and that depicts everyday Americans as demented monsters.
       Ms. Poma should travel across our great country to talk with ordinary Americans; she just might discover that we are not a nation of  hating, homicidal homophobes.
Next – we revisit the issue of protecting students from school shootings.

Preventing Future Parklands

George Noga
The response to the Parkland attack is different from the other school shootings. Most Americans (except progressives) seem prepared to support realistic actions.
Preventing Future Parklands
By: George Noga – February 28, 2018

        Is it different this time? After Parkland, most Americans, for the first time, seem ready to eschew ideology and to embrace realistic preventive measures. The skunks at this garden party are progressives and the media, who are determined to regurgitate the same ineffectual and symbolic canards that are non-starters with the public and the Supreme Court. We owe the Parkland victims more than empty political posturing.

        In that spirit, we outline a practical plan to prevent school shootings; it involves gun control, mental illness, school security, media, law enforcement and progressives. The plan excludes banning AR type guns; this was tried and failed. It also excludes banning large magazines; that would make no practical difference. Groups pushing for banning ARs and magazines are simply posturing and are not serious about solutions.

Gun Control
  • Institute mandatory universal background checks
  • Impose a 3-day waiting period that sunsets in 5 years to permit NICS compliance
  • Loss of gun rights including confiscation for those subject to a court injunction
  • Ban on bump stocks and similar devices
Mental Illness
  • Increase hospital/institutional beds for mental illness patients
  • Force treatment/institutionalization for the untreated violently mentally ill
  • Take away gun rights including confiscation during period of illness
  • Criminalize knowingly or carelessly making guns available to the mentally ill
School Security
  • Train and arm school personnel including bonus pay for those armed
  • Make clear that schools no longer are gun free zones
  • Increase readiness via realistic planning and drills
  • Adopt relevant parts of the successful run-hide-fight business paradigm
  • Enhance school choice to permit parents to choose more secure schools
Law Enforcement/Criminal Justice
  • Change the culture at the FBI; hold accountable those who fail to respond
  • Enable courts to suspend gun rights, including confiscation, for cause
  • Enact penalties for failure to timely post to the NICS system
  • Fire and charge officers who fail to confront an active shooter situation
  • Penalize making guns available to anyone not permitted to own them legally
  • Charge chronic troublemakers with crimes that suspend their gun rights
Media  (Due to the first amendment, these must be voluntary)
  • Substantially limit coverage of all mass casualty attacks
  • Rarely, if ever, show pictures or use names of perpetrators
  • Do not use body counts, comparisons, talk about records or use superlatives
  • Honestly report instances where legally armed citizens prevent crime
  • Do its part to change the toxic political culture in America
Progressives
  • Cease politicizing school tragedies and promoting fake, feel-good measures
  • Allow treatment and institutionalization of the violently mentally ill
  • Do their part to change the toxic culture permeating America

      Nothing will prevent all school attacks, but implementing the above outline will go far. It is a non ideological, practical and effective compromise. There are virtually no attacks on businesses, theme parks, airports and sporting venues because they are highly prepared, have guns and are adept at understanding personality and risk. We owe our school children nothing less. Is it different this time? Only time will tell.

On March 4th post explains why intellectuals hate capitalism.

2018 Preview – Gun Laws – Trump’s Decorum

George Noga
After every mass casualty attack, the same suspects trot out the same fusty canards. New gun laws would be palliative, therapeutic, ineffective and would save no lives. 
2018 Preview – Gun Laws – Trump’s Decorum
By: George Noga – December 10, 2017
       As 2017 fizzles out, we evaluate the past year and plan improvements for the next. Total readership is robust but hard to pin down because most of the growth comes from other blogs that pick up our posts and from an incredibly large number of forwards – in some cases, four generations of forwards. We had 50,000 visits to our website in 2017. Our commercial email service reports we have one of their highest open rates. We have a strong presence on social media. Our Red October series achieved primo placement on Google’s search engine – competitive with that of The Wall Street Journal.
       We are taking a short holiday break from publishing; hence, this is our penultimate post for 2017. The final post likely will be in late December when the final outcome of  tax legislation is known. That will be the last part of our series: Taxation in America. Our weekly blog will resume in mid-January. Thanks again to all of you for your loyal readership, forwarding and financial support during this past year.
      Changes are afoot. Most of our posts have followed a pattern: we identify issues, marshal facts, draw logical inferences and present perspectives not often found elsewhere, always fact based and principled. We will continue doing some of that but plan to take more of a cosmic approach. In addition to issues, we will write about the juxtaposition of man and state – sometimes from a highly personal perspective. We will reprise our popular Montana Moments segments during the summer and will continue shamelessly flogging what has become our signature issue – climate change.

Mass Casualty Attacks and Gun Laws

      The US has suffered many mass casualty attacks and after each one, gun control advocates engage in the same kabuki. They espouse antediluvian bromides that would be palliative, ineffective and would not save lives. Proposing futile laws apparently is therapeutic for liberals. Not one law they ever proposed would have prevented any mass casualty attack. They mask their real goal of banning and confiscating all guns.
       The mass casualty problem is – first and foremost – one of untreated mental illness. WND News has compiled a list of 24 mass shooters with untreated mental illness during the past 20 years, which accounts for a large percentage of such events. In recent shootings in Sutherland Springs,TX and Charleston, SC, the killers were able to obtain weapons because of government failure to post data to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. Progressives’ solution is to place more trust in government – the very same government that failed abysmally in TX and SC.
     The dirty truth is that progressive beliefs are responsible for the large number of people with untreated mental illness roaming the streets. Liberal dogma forbids forcing treatment or institutionalization. The number of hospital beds for psychiatric patients in the US is down over 95% in the past 50 years – thanks totally to progressive ideology.
Note: There are 2 main causes of mass casualty attacks. This post addressed untreated mental illness. A future post will focus on the second leading cause – copycat attacks.

The Dignity and Decorum of Donald Trump

      My liberal friends like to complain about the lack of dignity and decorum of The Donald. They often ask if I too am turned off by it; here’s my answer to them.
       In the 1970s you called Richard Nixon “tricky dicky” and mocked him incessantly. During the 1980s you labelled Ronald Reagan, arguably the best president of our time, an “amiable dunce“. During the 2000s you referred to George W. Bush, a man of quiet dignity, as stupid and evil. You called him a chicken hawk, liar and an international embarrassment. You savaged John McCain, a man who sought collegiality. You turned Mitt Romney, a genuinely nice human being, into an unrecognizable monster.
    Now you come and attack Trump as evil incarnate. We have repeatedly tried collegiality, dignity and decorum; where has that gotten us? We are locked in a bitter, divisive culture war and, unlike the others, Trump is fighting back. Yes, sometimes he can be short on decorum but I am not shedding crocodile tears over it. Trump is our president during the midst of the culture war and he is a fighter. Get used to it!
Our next post will follow final disposition of tax legislation.

Guns in Switzerland and Honduras

George Noga
The gun homicide rate in Honduras is 44,000% that of Switzerland. The countries
are equal in population and Honduras has stricter gun laws and 90% fewer guns. 
Switzerland Versus Honduras
Gun laws, Ownership and Homicide
By: George Noga – November 27, 2016
      Switzerland (population 8.1 million) has gun laws similar to the USA and in sharp contrast to the highly restrictive laws of the European Union. Swiss males between ages 20 and 30 (34 for officers) are supplied with military assault rifles which they are required to keep at home. Once their service ends, they may keep their weapons. It is a common sight to see a person in active military service carrying his rifle in public.
       Data on Swiss gun ownership are maintained at the canton level and such statistics are often not reliable, especially for guns acquired before registration was introduced. Estimates of gun ownership vary but the accepted number is 60%, ranking Switzerland third highest in the world – behind the USA and Yemen. Switzerland has a strong gun culture and the government subsidizes and actively encourages recreational shooting.
      For the most recent year data are available, Switzerland experienced 49 homicides with 18 involving firearms. The total homicide rate was less than 0.5 per 100,000 and the homicide rate from guns was .000000225 – equal to .2 per 100,000. Both metrics are among the lowest in the world along with those of Japan, Iceland and Singapore.
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      Honduras’ population of 8.1 million is identical to Switzerland. Under current law, it is legal for Honduran citizens to own guns, but only under a strict regimen with mandatory registration and many other restrictions. Gun ownership in Honduras is 6.2% which is the 87th lowest in the world; few citizens own guns. Guns may be sold legally only by one outlet which is a branch of the Honduran armed forces.
      The homicide rate for Honduras is 104 per 100,000, ranking it highest in the world and twice as high as the second most dangerous place on the planet – Venezuela. Of all the homicides, 85% are with guns; this equates to a rate of 88 per 100,0000.
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   Comparisons are stark. Switzerland has relatively permissive gun laws – even requiring military and reservists to keep weapons at home. Gun ownership of 60% is third highest in the world; yet the gun homicide rate is among the lowest in the world. Honduras restricts gun ownership with only 6% owning guns, ranking 87th worldwide. Nevertheless, the gun homicide rate is the world’s worst – higher than Switzerland by a factor of 440, i.e. for every gun homicide in Switzerland, there are 440 in Honduras.
       I understand: (1) gun laws and gun availability are not related to gun violence and may even be inversely related, i.e. more guns equal less violence; (2) economic, cultural and social factors account for differences in gun violence; and (3) comparing countries as different as Switzerland and Honduras is problematic and that the ideal is to compare countries that are identical except for gun laws and availability. Note: go to www.mllg.us to see my “Guns in America” series which contains such comparisons.
      Nonetheless, the juxtaposition of Switzerland and Honduras is too tantalizing to pass up as it proves beyond any reasonable doubt, and in the starkest possible terms, that gun laws and gun ownership do not beget gun violence. It renders moot the entire gamut of gun control dogma and liberal orthodoxy about banning and confiscating guns. Honduras suffers forty-four thousand percent (44,000%) more gun homicides despite much stricter laws and only 10% the gun ownership of Switzerland.
Our next post, rescheduled from November 13, addresses voter ignorance.

Fake Solutions to Fake Problems

George Noga

America is facing economic stagnation, failed schools, a nuclear Iran and is fighting global Islamic terrorism. Progressives are fighting for men to use the ladies’ restroom.
Fake Solutions to Fake Problems
By: George Noga – October 2, 2016

      As we approach the election, we are bombarded from the progressive side with a panoply of phony issues to which they proffer equally phony solutions. They don’t have real solutions to real problems; all they can offer is maskirovka and rope-a-dope.

     The most serious issues America faces are: weak economic growth with income stagnation, radical Islamic terrorism, Iran as a nuclear threshold state, chronic debt and deficits approaching critical mass, and failed government schools. Progressives don’t want to discuss any of these issues; instead, they talk of climate change, gun control, a war on women, transgender restrooms, and environmentalism – all phantom issues.

     Climate change is fake because it is man-made in only an inconsequential way, if at all, as well documented in prior posts. It is a classic Baptists-bootleggers political coalition of true believers (environmentalists) and their fellow travelers (government) who stand to benefit. The latest fake solution is the climate deal signed earlier this year in Paris where politicians from 175 countries agreed to keep doing whatever they intended to do anyway and with no consequences for non compliance. In an ultimate irony, the fake climate deal to fight a fake enemy was signed in the same city where just a short while earlier a real enemy, Islamic terrorism, slaughtered 130 real people.

     Gun control is progressives’ go-to issue. We published a series, Guns in America, available at http:\\www.mllg.us which proves to any scient person there is no positive correlation between guns and crime and there likely is a negative correlation, i.e. more guns equals less crime. We followed that up with a Harvard study showing social, cultural and economic factors (and not guns) are the determinants of violent crime.

     Gun control is a phony issue for which progressives have proposed a long train of phony solutions. Not one proposed measure would have prevented any mass gun violence in America. Their most recent phony solution is the “no fly, no buy”  proposal to ban gun sales to anyone on the no-fly watch list. This is a small and notoriously inaccurate list that excludes all recent terrorists; it would have no effect on terrorism.

     A war on women and the campus rape culture likewise are imaginary issues. Duke, UVA and Harvard (The Hunting Ground) have been debunked. College campuses actually are safer for women than elsewhere. Women’s pay is equal to or higher than men’s when making proper adjustments for education, experience, danger, etc. Liberal solutions also are imaginary such as constant ongoing affirmative consent for sex. Progressives refuse to criticize the real war on women in Moslem countries, replete with, inter alia, genital mutilation, no driving, burkas and Sharia law. Go figure!

     Transgenders constitute .00006 of the population, making this issue a tempest in a teapot. Progressives insist anyone who self identifies as any gender can use any public facility at anytime. They demand young girls accept showering with men and that they simply get over any discomfort. Yet, they dictate transgenders not be required to use facilities conforming to their biological gender because it may cause them discomfort.

     Environmentalism is a totally ersatz issue. Every metric (100 of them) shows both human and environmental well being to be the best they have been in the past 50-75 years and getting better all the time. Their fake solution is to spend ever more and more money to eke out ever less and less imperceptible benefit and to elevate a tiny fish (delta smelt) over the well being of hundreds of thousands of real human beings.

     Take the real issues identified in this post and contrast them with the phantom issues and solutions put forth by progressives. They use misdirection, smoke, mirrors, and rope-a-dope for emotional appeals to low information voters. They never address serious issues with serious solutions. They choose instead to fight for transgenders against young girls but not for all Americans against radical Islam and a nuclear Iran.

The next post in our 2016 election series addresses political correctness.

Guns in America – Liberty vs. Government – MLLG Update

George Noga

We address: (1) Guns in America redux; (2) MLLG status and website; and (3) the eternal struggle between personal freedom and government power.

By: George Noga – June 26, 2016

    This post touches briefly on three topics beginning with a followup to our February 2016 series: Guns in America, which enjoyed phenomenal distribution that propelled it to a high position on search engines including Google. Recently, we noticed a paper published in the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy. Although it was published years ago, it has just now begun gaining widespread traction in the gun control debate.

  The paper is entitled: Would Banning Firearms Reduce Murder and Suicide? To read, simply click the title. It documents that gun control has no correlation with criminal violence and, in fact, has a negative correlation, i.e. more guns, less crime. The authors concluded that gun control is ineffective because it does not affect the social, cultural and economic factors that are the real determinants of violent crime. Note: The main sources for the study include the CDC, US Academy of Sciences and United Nations.

Uncommon Wisdom about Liberty and Government

    It doesn’t get better than this; that’s why MLLG is publishing a lengthy quote. The case being discussed was before the Texas Supreme Court and involved eyebrow threading, a safe and traditional South Asian practice to remove unwanted hair. The State of Texas demanded threaders obtain cosmetology licenses requiring 750 hours of training (that did not include eyebrow threading), shut down of their businesses and fines of thousands of dollars. The threaders took Texas to court. Justice Don Willet wrote the following in his opinion supporting the threaders, who won the case 6-3.  

   “This case concerns the timeless struggle between personal freedom and government power. Do Texans live under a presumption of liberty or a presumption of restraint? The Texas Constitution confers power – but even more critically, it constrains power. What are the outer boundary limits of government actions that trample Texans’ constitutional right to earn an honest living? Must courts rubber-stamp even the most nonsensical encroachments on freedom? Are even the most patently farcical and protectionist restrictions unchangeable, or are there judicially enforceable limits?

    “This case raises constitutional eyebrows because it asks building-block questions about constitutional architecture – about how we as Texans govern ourselves and about the relationship of the citizen to the State. This case concerns far more than whether (Texans) can pluck unwanted hair with a strand of thread. This case is fundamentally about the American Dream and the unalienable human right to pursue happiness without curtsying to government on bended knee. It is about whether government can connive with rent-seeking factions to ration liberty unrestrained and whether judges must submissively uphold even the most risible encroachments.”

MLLG Preview and Website Update

    So far in 2016, MLLG has published two series, Guns in America and Inequality in America. We have blogged about, inter alia, the US election (3 times), climate change (3), government and socialism (3), school choice, tax inversions, Pope Francis, Islamic terrorism, Scandinavian economics and Jefferson-Jackson Day. Whew!

    For the second half of 2016, look for multi-part series on (1) climate change; (2) poverty, hunger and homelessness in America; and (3) financial repression, negative interest rates and the war on cash. Other pithy topics may include: China, political correctness, Greece and Puerto Rico, Uber and gay marriage (you’ll really like that one) and media bias. This summer, as customary, we lighten things up with posts about life in Montana – our summer home. We call these posts “Montana Moments“; enjoy!

Guns in America – Summary and Conclusions

George Noga

MLLG Icon

Facts about guns are far different than most believe. Gun violence is down 50%; we
compare favorably with other countries; solutions are possible if we abandon dogma.
By: George Noga – February 14, 2016

     There is one overarching reality about guns in America. The Constitution grants Americans the right “to keep and bear arms” (underlining added). Thus we have a right not just to own guns but to bear them, i.e. to hold and to carry them. The Second Amendment is broadly misunderstood as being about target shooting, hunting, militias or self defense. It has nothing to do with any of these. According to well documented and copious references, the framers understood the second amendment as a political right for citizens to protect their liberty against tyrannical government.

     Guns are a political and cultural flash point exacerbated by media anti-gun bias. The facts are far different than widely believed. Gun violence is down 50% in 20 years. Most (60%) gun deaths are suicide; other causes include police, self defense, mental illness, crime and accidents. Homicides are a distinct minority. Guns stop crime 2.5 million times a year and have stopped a terrorist attack (Texas) and numerous rampage shooters. The ratio of murders to guns has plummeted 70% providing prima facie  evidence that more guns do not result in more crime.

     Liberals like to talk about gun control because their vapid dogma has no solutions to Islamic terrorism, horrific public schools, economic stagnation or mass shootings. They live in plastic bubbles and go through life without ever knowing a gun owner. They only hear about guns in connection with crime. They can’t imagine the many places where guns are a normal part of life. Paradoxically, gun violence is greatest where there is long-term liberal governance and uber-strict gun laws.

     Most Americans (and foreigners) believe gun violence in America is much worse than in other developed countries. Yet, most of America compares favorably with Canada, England, Europe and Asia. Many places in America are safer than all of the aforementioned places and some are safer than Australia, which forcibly confiscated guns in 1996. Gun crime is a regional issue; national gun laws are largely irrelevant. There is no correlation whatsoever between gun violence and gun laws.

     There are actions we can take immediately to reduce mass shootings. The biggest impact would come from treating or institutionalizing possibly violent schizophrenics. The copycat effect is real and fueled by over-the-top media coverage of mass shootings which contributes to future shootings. The media could report the news without sensationalizing it to attract other psychopaths. We can implement the successful run/hide/fight strategy that businesses have used to reduce workplace shootings by 70%. Gun free zones are an open invitation for mayhem and must be eliminated. Finally, we can change the culture and restore the guardrails for society.

     The sine qua non for progress against gun violence is to make guns non-political and non-ideological as we have with tobacco. As a corollary, there must be a laser-like focus on truth, logic and real world solutions. Myths and shibboleths about guns must be abandoned no matter how comfortable they are to intellectuals, the media and political, religious and cultural elites. The alternative is Groundhog Day where after each inevitable tragedy we perform the same kabuki and nothing ever will change.

The next MLLG post describes the origin of government – don’t miss this one!

Guns in America – Minimizing Mass Shootings

George Noga

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Some mass violence is inevitable; however, it can be greatly reduced if we take off
our political and ideological blinders. This post shows the way to achieve that goal.
By: George Noga – February 7, 2016

     Following are five actions we can take to reduce mass gun violence; they are listed in the order of importance, i.e. the most effective are listed first.

1. Treat or institutionalize the violently mentally ill. Imagine living in a country where those with advanced dementia wander the streets without medical care, food or shelter. Imagine such a policy was based strictly on political dogma? That is precisely America’s policy for untreated violent schizophrenics. The 70,000 untreated and potentially violent mentally ill are condemned to tortured lives – and all in obeisance to liberal dogma. When there is a shooting by one of these miserable souls, liberals blame it on guns – also in obeisance to their dogma. Progressives refuse to institutionalize or force treatment due to their twisted beliefs. Since 1960, beds in US public psychiatric hospitals are down 90% despite an increase in population of 150 million.

2. Reform media coverage. Media should begin its reform with honest reporting about guns, including the 2.5 million times each year legal guns prevent or stop crime and all the mass shootings that were stopped by guns (listed in Part I). The key media reform is reducing the copycat effect caused by their over-the-top 24/7 reporting. When there is a copycat shooting, the media blame it on guns, ignoring their own culpability. The copycat effect is real and well documented since 1774 when Goethe’s classic, The Sorrows of Young Werther, resulted in a spate of copycat suicides.

3. Eliminate gun free zones. Signs proclaiming gun free zones are welcome mats for rampage killers. Gun free zones increase the danger to those within. The Gun Free School Zones Act of 1990 needs to be repealed. We need to make school choice universal so parents can choose to send their kids to a school where they are safe. How many liberals would then choose to send their children to a gun free school or to erect a sign in their front yard proclaiming: This home proudly is a gun free zone?

4. Learn from business. Mass killings in the workplace are down 70% in the past 20 years and without any changes to gun laws. Only 5% of recent shootings have involved businesses, which have become adept at understanding personality and risk. Most businesses use the run-hide-fight paradigm; they don’t ignore threats; they have violence prevention programs and they practice deterrence. They change the calculus in a killer’s mind that he will be able to control events until the SWAT team arrives. And yes, that involves guns. Corporate shootings are way down because businesses are non-political, non-ideological and are interested only in real solutions.

5. Change the culture. We have lowered standards for personal and civil conduct; long established rules, limits and barriers have been ignored and destroyed. We have removed all the guardrails for our society. When standards are lowered, those at society’s margins go off the tracks. Intellectual, political, media, cultural and religious elites need to rediscover good manners. Progressives need to bestir themselves and consider the effects of the vitriol they have injected into the public discourse.

We must recognize some mass killings are inevitable and not consternate over every one in a never-ending, in-your-face, 24/7 news cycle. There is much we can do now to reduce rampages. Taking the five actions outlined herein is a great place to begin. First, however, we must shed liberal shibboleths about guns and move forward in a non political, non dogmatic manner. We need a laser-like focus on truth, logic and real solutions, even if that means abandoning cherished myths about guns in America.

 Next up is Part IV – the final in our series: Guns in America.