Chaotic thinking after chaotic events.
A rambling, murderous nutcase drove down a pedestrian mall in Melbourne, Australia, yesterday.
He killed at least 4 people, and injured more than a dozen others.
This has triggered some passionate gun rights/gun control rhetoric online, and I want to touch on a couple of fairly obvious double standards which have steered the debate, going largely unnoticed and unexamined.
While the tragedy was still unfolding, a libertarian senator, and vocal gun rights advocate tweeted;
"Probably one of those semi-automatic assault cars."
Unsurprisingly, the response was swift and furious.
Few commenters engaged his implied argument, but hundreds criticised his crass opportunism.
It would seem that using a tragedy to further a political agenda is underhanded and demonstrates a lack of compassion, unless that agenda is gun control, in which case, you needn't even wait until the spent cartridges have stopped rolling before you start building your argument on the bodies of the innocent.
The second double standard is the assumption that armed civilians would not have prevented or halted the rampage.
I've read a lot of comments implying that since he was in a moving vehicle and driving in a crowded area, that armed civilians panic-firing indiscriminately would have increased, rather than decreased the death toll.
Those same commenters praise the quick action of police, who successfully ended the spree by shooting the driver in the arm.
Now, the situation either called for skilled marksmanship or it didn't.
The assumption that level headed, deliberate, responsible trigger fingers can only be found on policemen, is an incredibly arrogant double standard, particularly when you consider that there is no way for a civilian to qualify as a responsible firearm holder, regardless of their demonstrable skill level or history of competent, level headed, civic minded decision making.
While a lot of civilians are incapable of making good decisions in stressful situations, particularly around firearms or blood, those people don't want to be armed, and nobody is demanding they should be.
The personal choice position is the humble one.
'I don't know the mindset or capabilities of millions of strangers, but they do. Each individual should decide whether or not to take on the responsibility of carrying a firearm, based on their own knowledge of their own abilities. If I demanded they be disarmed, I would bear partial responsibility for any terrible outcomes my well-intentioned ignorance renders them unable to prevent'.
Naturally, my thoughts and prayers are with the affected families, bystanders and the policeman who fired the shot.
Oh wow! That obviously went right over his head. He can't even see his own duplicity! Maybe he means we should only discuss car violence after car violence. 🤔
You keep reading all my old posts and you're going to know me better than many of my closest, oldest friends.
Lol! I doubt it! I think I'm caught up now though. The chess match was a great, strategic move (pun intended 😁).
Yes, it was certainly lucrative, considering the comparatively low price of steem at the time.
We'll be saying the same of today at some point in the future, when steem is $20 or $100.
Helps to get your face out there, show some character; just like our meetups.
Seeing a smiling face can make all the difference :)
Good post!
https://steemit.com/writing/@giantbear/steemit-experiment-my-creative-writing-class-signed-up-for-steemit-part-2
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And no surprise it happns in the most weapons prohibiting state of Australia. Also the centrum of the worst drug gang violence in australia. Coincidence?
Yes, the war on drugs has certainly made violent thugs wealthy.
The irony, of course, is that nobody imagines he'd have been unable to source a gun had he wanted one. I'm quite sure he knew all the right people to talk to, he just picked a car instead.
Anyway, funny also how nobody declares that they should tighten licence conditions to exclude known violent and crazy people. And how hard is it to misappropriate a "friend's" car, compared to a gun? People tend to be more careful.
People can be very myopic.
Heaps of Australians claim that guns make suicide easier, and point to higher suicide stats in the US.
They don't notice that high speed, high blood alcohol, late night, single vehicle, single occupant car 'accidents' are far more prevalent in Australia.
Not officially recorded as suicides though, so they don't count in a 'guns' discussion.
Yeah, by far, and for a long time before 1996, Australia's road fatalities are amongst the highest in the world. I remember being in traffic on major roads in Sydney back in about 1998 or so, and with the way some people drive it's no surprise it's so bad. Just like in the UK, the bans on knives has yielded a higher rate of this type of violence as well. Gun control only works in Australia because it's easier to control how it gets into the country with its remoteness.
The problem with these reactionary schemes for limiting violence is they always move it elsewhere because the real source of violence is in corruption stimulated by prohibition.
But the psychiatric system needs to be held accountable too. Because also Australia is the most aggressive drug regulator, worse than the USA, the options for treatments are second guessed almost to the n-th degree for doctors, and almost every antipsychotic and antidepressant lists 'psychosis and suicidal ideation' as potential side effects, even when there is others that are not legal and cost stupid amounts to get approved that don't have these issues. Not to mention the situation with the illegal drugs and their therapeutic potentials that are completely out of bounds for everyone in Australia.
There is many reasons I hate the Australian government, but I think probably the number one is drug and medicine regulation. I would be willing to bet that this is a major factor involved in this incident.
Even soft stuff like marijuana.
Jenny Hallam just got raided here in Adelaide a few days ago. She's been sending cannabis oil to desperately sick and terminally ill people around Australia, for free.
How do they sleep at night?
Mate you need to get out of the city and see the state of the roads in western Victoria and your argument would go to water family's die every day on these roads and it has nothing to do with what you just said I drive a truck loaded with heavy machinary and the stress is eating me alive I just want to quit my job and catch the train you have no idea how bad they are
Thankyou for your service.
I'm talking about a specific type of crash, which is actually suicide.
The fact that we have no right to defend ourselves is ridiculous. I always have time to listen to David Leyonhjelm. I wish more people would, we have a growing problem here on this matter, the matter of free speech and the increasing taxes.
He didn't do himself any favours criticising the aged pension.
It had to be said though. The money they 'paid' in (were robbed of) is long gone.
If they want money from the state, they have to rob their children and grandchildren to get it.
There's no big pile just waiting for them to cash their chits.
I missed that, I need to turn my TV on a bit more. Is there an article somewhere?
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/melbourne-cbd-horror-four-dead-bourke-street-mall-closed-as-city-reels-after-car-mows-down-pedestrians-20170120
Sorry, posted the wrong link.
https://twitter.com/DavidLeyonhjelm/status/816594235465945088
Thanks for the post matt and no to guns in Australia imagine what it would be like with all these ice heads running around with guns.as for leyonhjelm and all his mates grow some balls you dont need guns to protect yourself in a gun less society .
I agree. How do we go about achieving one?
easy you have to take away all the illegal guns from criminals.
Me personally?
Don't worry , we'd arm ya first.
And when I've succeeded and I'm the only one left with a gun, how are you gonna take it from me?
Easy you stand up for your self win loose or draw
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