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I recently wrote about Mayor Sly James of Kansas City saying that Too much violence is committed by guns.  I was skeptical that he had actually said that, because the mayor is a well-educated man and served on active duty as a Marine. Attributing violence to guns rather than those who use them is nonsensical. It transfers volition and responsibility to an inanimate object. But now that another mayor has said much the same thing, I begin to wonder . . .

Minneapolis mayor Betsey Hodges, at a “gun violence” conference in Milwaukee, used the same improper transfer of volition to inanimate objects. As reported by jsonline.com:

Hodges said urban gun violence is a moral issue, with thousands of teenagers killed each year by guns, as well as a political issue, because most victims and suspects have similar backgrounds, including criminal histories.

No, Mayor Hodges, those teenagers are not “killed each year by guns.”  They may be killed “with” guns, but the difference is crucial. They are killed each year by each other, primarily. It’s not a lack of jobs or education that causes them to kill each other, it’s a lack of responsibility for their actions. A lack of respect for themselves and others and their property, and a lack of respect for the rule of law that causes them to kill each other.

The lack of responsibility, respect, and the rule of law have numerous causes, but primary among them are “progressive” policies that have been implemented in the last 50 years. Those policies implicitly preach that they have no responsibility for their actions, a father is of no help in raising responsible children, the rule of law is repressive, and that working is a form of slavery.

These policies have created an urban frontier in which the new “tribes” are gangs that view everyone outside the their group as enemies or prey.

Guns are just a scapegoat used to cover the failure of the political policies of the last 50 years. Politicians cannot admit the failure of these policies, because they have invested their lives and careers in them. The politicians live lives insulated from the effects of these policies. It’s everyone else that has to pay.

©2014 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
Gun Watch

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33 COMMENTS

  1. “Guns are just a scapegoat used to cover the failure of the political policies of the last 50 years. Politicians cannot admit the failure of these policies, because they have invested their lives and careers in them. The politicians live lives insulated from the effects of these policies. It’s everyone else that has to pay.”

    Pardon my French, but Fuckin’ A right.

    • Bingo; absolutely, I was about to post the same comment.

      Anything to get votes from low information emotin’ sheeple and secure their political career while hiding behind the ineffective intrusive quick fix laws that politicians keep regurgitating for public consumption. Guns are the decoy.

  2. Too many beheadings are committed by knives, especially big sharp ones. Too many burns are caused by fires, especially big ones. Alcohol causes too much violence and too many lives lost on highways and many other places, so let us outlaw alcohol…oh, that’s already been tried hasn’t it? Nevermind.

  4. “Politicians cannot admit the failure of these policies, because they have invested their lives and careers in them.”

    Actually, I think it is much more sinister than that. Politicians create problems and count on their constituents to demand that they (politicians) provide solutions. It is quite literally the “job security” meme taking to its most horrendous extreme.

    • I think we are overcomplicating this.
      They have never cared about statistics, no matter what the topic is. Even if it’s completely unrelated to guns, these are people who thrive on emotional responses to get as many votes as possible.

  6. Ah, yes. Betsy “Bat Shit” Hodges… Why anyone would listen to a word this person says is beyond me. When she speaks it’s like NPR only slower…almost medicated.

    I started avoiding anything she says or does after Her Honor put on a hijab to meet with local Somali elders, as if she is meeting them in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia instead of in a building off Lake Street in south Minneapolis. She is so off her progressive rocker, I’m not sure where to start except to say I am happy I’m no longer a resident…

  7. We need to focus Society on Crime, especially Organized Criminal Activity, IE Gangs, Cartels, Mafia and similar. If these problems were reduced, if not eliminated, gun crime would be significantly less.

    • Well said.
      Most educated sources attribute most of the ~1/3rd non-suicide firearms deaths to gang on gang violence.
      If we actually had the FBI do a detailed study and break down who, when, where, and what each homicide was…

  8. You have to remember that these big city mayors need big bad bogeymen to cover for their inept and possible corrupt administration of their cities. For example, this blame gunfest…..er conference took place in the home city of arguable one of the laziest and ineffectual mayors in the nation, Tom Barrett of Milwaukee. For those that may not know, Milwaukee hasn’t had any strong leadership in decades now. Barrett ended up mayor because he gave up a cush job in the House of Representatives to run for Governor but lost in the Democratic primary. Like all lifetime pols, he ran for the next possible elected job with a high salary and low workload, ie Milwaukee mayor. Since then, he’s basically wanted to show up at 9, sit in his office doing nothing until lunch, then sit doing nothing after lunch until it is 5, then go home. In the mean time, the downtrodden parts of the city have gotten worse, jobs don’t come to the city with good reasons, and if the crime cannot be contained to the north side and near south side, the city may get closer to being Detroit 2.0 or 3.0, depending on how fast Chicago goes.

    Speaking of Chicago, or example 2 in this story, notice how Rahm is flopping on crime and pretty much all other administrative duties. So Tommy, Rahmbo, and all the other mayors need convenient scapegoat distractions. It becomes blame the guns, blame the state government, blame the private sector, anything other than their neglect. It would not surprise me if Minneapolis has the same issues.

  9. TL,DR: more progtard propaganda that is too pathetically transparent to believe…

    Perhaps its worth looking at where the information came from- per the article:

    “at a seminar hosted by PERF, paid for by Joyce”
    In Milwaukee, for a “Gun Violence Reduction Summit”.

    Starting to smell like MAIG lame-o recycled progtard agitprop yet? No, lets read on…

    Here’s John Lott a few years back on PERFs credibility- http://www.foxnews.com/story/2007/03/26/crime-statistics-con-job/

    And where does PERF get its money? From Wikipedia:
    “Incorporated in 1981, PERF’s primary sources of operating revenues are government grants and contracts, and partnerships with private foundations and other organizations. PERF’s research and publications are targeted in areas its members find important to their agencies and for professional development. Its conferences and training programs are targeted to audiences who want to be on the cutting edge of relevant policing topics.”

    And is the Joyce Foundation non-partisan? Hmm…let me see…google is my friend…

    http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/funderprofile.asp?fndid=5310&category=79

    Scroll down to second of six giving programs Joyce supports:

    “(b) The Gun Violence Prevention Program seeks to drive small gun dealerships out of business by placing the firearms industry completely under consumer-product health-and-safety oversight. It also misrepresents the findings of research on gun-related deaths by failing to distinguish between the astronomically high gun-death rates of inner-city gang members, and the very low rates among the rest of the American population. By conflating the two sets of statistics, JF depicts gun violence as a national epidemic—”each year nearly 100,000 people are shot in the U.S., and nearly 30,000 of them die”—thereby suggesting a justification for “effective public policies” that will erode Second Amendment rights. Further, JF laments that while “a growing body of research shows that strong gun laws correspond with lower rates of gun death and injury,” the “‘gun rights’ drumbeat has drowned out … common-sense approaches.”

    Yeah, not gonna pay much attention to what JSONLINE, or this reporter have to say.

    Bottomline- Seems like the progtards in Madison still have their panties in a wad,

    1. over the black sheriff who beat Bloombergs money,
    http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2014/08/13/pro-gun-milwaukee-sheriff-defeats-challenge-from-bloomberg/

    and

    2. Governor Walker beating the recall astro-turfed by the teachers unions that he spanked severely.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisconsin_gubernatorial_recall_election

  10. Think the reason a statement like that is considered by some to be rational at all is a symptom of the lack of responsibility in our society. Everything is always someone else’s fault. Not the guy that shot someone but that fact that he had a gun. Transfer of the responsibility to someone else or an inanimate object seems to be the common way to deal with problems today. But, the problems never get corrected that way. Politicians can use this as a tactic to pretend to deal with problems but never really solve anything.

  11. Minnesota is full of nice folks, Lutherans, farmers, hunters- but Minneapolis has been progtarded for years and years- maybe the citizens ought to be asking the good Mayor to spend more time at home, rather than giving speeches on guns over in the next state…

    http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/07/us/for-Jihad-recruits-a-pipeline-from-Minnesota-to-militancy.html

    http://www.startribune.com/local/blogs/266680821.html

    But, then its soooo much easier to point at an inanimate object, than hold a person responsible, like maybe even the MAYOR for avoiding doing her job…

  13. Dean good article sir. I was never allowed the honor of putting on a military uniform and due my duty as a patriotic American. I was the teenager that was young and dumb but not very lucky in a car crash. I used to blindly give all veterans the respect that they deserve for serving our country and say Thanks for your service. I wrongly assumed that all men and women who would risk life and limb protecting the constitution were honorable. I’ve found out in life that some folks have no moral code even if they swore an oath to God and country, and are only out to serve themselves just like Sly James. Now when I meet a veteran I say Thank You for having a sense of duty, honor and courage at one point in your life, hopefully it stayed with you. This statement encompasses the cowards that signed up to be soldiers in name only and who wanted to acquire bragging or political points.

  15. Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges belongs to ex-NYC Mayor and Rich Guy Mike Bloombergs astro-turfing org, Mayors Against Illegal Guns.

    Wow. Would never have guessed. Wonder what Minneapolis citizens think about that, her going out of town to campaign for the Littlest Nanny.

    Almost makes me wonder who her biggest donors might be…

  16. There are too many guns out there, The police can turn theirs in and law abiding citizens keep there guns, Police violating our right would go way down.

  18. “Attributing violence to guns rather than those who use them is nonsensical. It transfers volition and responsibility to an inanimate object.”

    @Dean, thank you for not calling it “passive construction” but rather, correctly identifying the error.

  20. “Hodges said urban gun violence is a moral issue, with thousands of teenagers killed each year by guns, as well as a political issue, because most victims and suspects have similar backgrounds, including criminal histories.”

    Who’s morals ? Not mine. My morals say, if criminals, whether teenagers or not, want to kill each other, I couldn’t care less, That’s their cross to bear.

    Live by the sword, die by the sword.

  21. Please explain to me why all these college educated morons can’t speak or write in plain, simple English? Is it because they are so f**king stupid? Or is it intentional?

  22. “These policies have created an urban frontier in which the new “tribes” are gangs that view everyone outside the their group as enemies or prey.”

    This sentence more than any other in the article sums up the violence problem in a nutshell. Since these individuals refuse to assimilate to society (respecting life and property of others) they decide to separate from it and leech from the productivity of those that strive to better themselves (enabled by politicians stealing the fruits of their labor). Until everyone looks the devil in the eye and acknowledges it’s existence, this will continue to fester and break our communities, cities, states, and eventually the nation as a whole.

  23. “…working is a form of slavery”

    That last one is actually true to some extent. The progressives have made it so, and are pushing to make it more that way. They all seem to agree that owning 100% of the fruits of someone’s labor is slavery, but I never can get any leftists to tell me the exact percentage at which it becomes slavery.

  24. “The lack of responsibility, respect, and the rule of law have numerous causes, but primary among them are “progressive” policies that have been implemented in the last 50 years. Those policies implicitly preach that they have no responsibility for their actions, a father is of no help in raising responsible children, the rule of law is repressive, and that working is a form of slavery.”

    Sorry but now you are no better than anti gun liberals. You are taking the single issue of gun rights and twisting and turning it for a political agenda. Your hyperbole about ‘progressive’ policies is just as ignorant. No policy, progressive or not, implicit or explicit, teaches that a person has no responsibility for their actions, a father is no help, the rule of law is repressive, or working is a form of slavery. You, just like anti gun liberals, are removing the blame from individuals and placing it on policy matters that you personally do not like. The issue of inner city youth run much deeper than simply your aversion to progressive policies. The issues that you have against those policies are obviously strawmen. I don’t like all progressive policies but I have a tremendous respect for logic and truth. I also despise outright partisans who do not have a respect for such things.Glen Beck and Hannity may make you feel superior by reinforcing your biases and telling you what you want to hear but I promise they couldn’t care less about the truth.

    • No policy, progressive or not, implicit or explicit, teaches that a person has no responsibility for their actions, a father is no help, the rule of law is repressive, or working is a form of slavery.

      Are you truly so naive as to believe what you just wrote? It’s as if you have no concept of Fabian socialism, its philosophy, or its tactics.

    • The primary topic of this article, the use of the terminology “people killed by guns”, is a pretty clear message that people are *not* responsible for their actions.

      I have seen these implicit messages for 50 years. It is pretty hard to miss the implicit message that people have a right to others property, that people are poor because others are rich, that women do not need men to raise a family, that men are the root of evil in society.

      How about the policies of appeasing rioters? They have been in place since the ’60s. Even now, people are calling for prejudging the case in Ferguson before the facts are in. We cannot have a young black man be held accountable for his actions. That is racism, the message that the rule of law in Missouri is repressive is on the news every night, and Governor Nixon has reinforced it.

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