Tag: police

Police Violence and Mass Shootings Are Two Sides of the Same Coin

America has devolved into an armed war camp, a state we used regard with pity when observed in other countries. It is time to take steps the first steps to end America’s armed standoff. Please note that neither mass shootings nor police violence happen as frequently in any other first world country. We have seen forty-five mass shootings and several unnecessary police killings in the last 30 days. It begs the question: is the United States a first-world country anymore?

The way I see it, police violence and citizen’s gun violence are two sides of same coin. That coin is lethal weapons in the hands of scared and/or unhinged humans.

The cycle of violence starts with citizen vs. citizen crimes. Those crimes instruct a nation to create a force to protect its citizens. That force needed must exceed the force in the hands of the criminals.

In the United States, there are now more guns than citizens and that includes children and infants. The US is the only country on earth with that sad statistic and no large country stats are even close. And most Americans realize this is not a good problem to have. In Japan, a densely populated modern country, there is only one gun per three hundred citizens.

rankGUNS per 100 citizensrank GUNS per 100 citizens
1United States120.5 51 Russia12.3
2Falkland Islands62.1 68Colombia10.1
3 Yemen52.8 81  Brazil8.3
4New Caledonia42.5 97  Spain7.5
5 Montenegro39.1 103  Iran7.3
6 Serbia39.1 106  Ireland7.2
7 Canada34.7 107  Israel6.7
8 Uruguay34.7 108  England4.6
9 Cyprus34 127  China3.6
10Finland32.4 139 Netherlands2.6
12Iceland31.7162  Bolivia2
24Pakistan22.3174  Vietnam1.6
26France19.6180  Uganda0.8
28Germany19.6200American Samoa0.7
42Saudi Arabia16.7202  Ethiopia0.4
45Turkey16.5214  Japan0.3
51Australia14.5219  South Korea0.2
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estimated_number_of_civilian_guns_per_capita_by_country

In the USA, police are rightly afraid of its citizens. So for those who say we have a police violence versus people of color problem, while I won’t disagree, the problem begins and is compounded because police don’t know what Americans have unlicensed guns any more. Yes, police are often a bit trigger happy, but it’s largely because they are rightfully afraid for their own lives. That fear is higher where police patrol people they don’t know and live among. It certainly makes the case for police looking more like the people they patrol. It is worth noting that in England, where there is one gun per 22 citizens, regular officers only carry Tasers and batons.

Police will always use the “I was scared for my life” excuse, when they cross the line that separates policing and murder, even if they were not. This is never going to change. It’s natural to fear lethal force. Reducing arms in the hands of citizens, and the mortal fear on the policing side will follow. That is natural too.

Since police are only needed because citizens pose dangers to other citizens, we must start with lowering the number of guns in the hands the free radicals in our citizenry. The chart above seems to indicate a reduction of arms by 70% would put the United States in line with countries like Germany.

We know the GOP congressmen always side with the NRA. If Sandy Hook couldn’t bend their cold souls, nothing will. But they are ignoring the will of their constituents now and their constituents know it. There are voting cycles every two years. The constituency of GOP congressmen is one target to educate.

I do not buy the “work with the other side” meme. The other side is now a criminal organization selling Americans out for profit. They don’t work for the American people. They work for themselves the way their leader, Donald Trump, did. The trick for the Biden Administration will be to not come off like they’re coming for our guns. That is just too easy a meme for the GOP to exploit

Licensing All Guns and Gun Holders

Aside from automatic weapons, which should all be bought back immediately, every other gun or rifle should only be in the hands of licensed gun holders. Every car is assigned to a licensed driver. We can certainly do the same for machines designed to kill people. We should know where very gun is. A national gun registry is a necessity now for the public’s welfare. We cannot let interpretations of the Constitution’s Second Amendment stand in the way of the public good, or we will descend further into darkness. After all, the Constitution was written to make life better for Americans.

Most of all Americans support bans on high-capacity magazines, assault-style weapon buybacks and bans, background checks, removal of loopholes and common-sense gun solutions. The resistance to common sense gun violence solutions comes primarily from gun makers, their paid lobbyists, GOP congressmen, and the few citizens who like things the way they are for their own selfish reasons. Their profits, amusements and nefarious plans are not worth more than our lives.

We license cars and drivers. Passing one’s driver’s test has become a rite of passage into adulthood these days. I suggest we follow that model for gun owners, focusing on training, mental health, and the social media posts of applicants. The idea of owning a gun as a right must be replaced with the idea that gun ownership is a privilege to be earned. Being a licensed gun owner should be something one can be proud of again. Licensing gun holders will create the method to review the stability, maturity, and the motives of gun holders. In for no other reason, focus on the innocent children that would be alive today had we taken these steps long ago.

We can and will continue the push to have them voted out in 2022. But I think we have a path to act faster than that. Brian Kemp, Governor of Georgia, arrested the black Congresswoman, Park Cannon, for knocking on his door while he was signing a voter suppression bill. Why are we not arresting GOP congressmen? We have more cause than knocking on a door. Those that support the Big Lie are in direct violation to the Constitution’s 14th Amendment. And that discussion follows here:

The 14th Amendment Protects Us from Renegade Statesmen

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The Dawning of the Age of Government Accountability

When police do bad things and are allowed to continue their policing work, they are not being held accountable for their “crimes”. If they are given a slap on the wrist, it’s that tiny slap that perpetuates a culture which allows our worse people to repeat the same crimes, over and over again. That’s how we got Derek Chauvin. (On a different level, that’s also how we got Donald Trump.)

Would-be autocrats like Trump ( and Nixon) love the power of the presidency more than the duties attached to it. They think they need only paint themselves as “law and order” icons. But when push comes to shove, that law and order they want is for others. They want neither the law nor order to apply to them.

Most Americans now believe, as I do, that Donald Trump must continue to try to stay president so he never has to pay for his many financial crimes vs. the American commonwealth. That’s why he does not want to show his taxes. We can see that is all he cares about. He’s not fooling people so easily in 2020.

Trump also knows he is way down in the polls. He has seen the resistance now. It is in the House, the streets, online and on the airwaves. The George Floyd murder made it apparent to Americans of all stripes and ages that something was seriously wrong here. The resistance is not only about BLM now. The protesters serve as the new hippies. They know it’s their turn to shape their fate or surrender to subservience.

Peeps like Donald Trump will always be around – new, young sold-out, talentless, wannabe rich types like Kushner, Kayleigh and Steven Miller. The smarter countries don’t allow such opportunists and grifters access to their governments. That can only be done when transparency and accountability for one’s past record is part of the candidacy process.

Does anyone think Trump would have even run for office if he had to show his taxes to get on ballots? Of course not. When Trump said “Russia if you are listening”, it should have been legally disqualifying for candidacy right there. But it wasn’t and it still is not here in the USA. In the USA, the smartest place for a financial crook to aspire to work is the government. That has to change.

Like Any Smart Boss We Must Watch Our Employees

There’s an easy way to stop all this nonsense: make sure would-be criminals who seek government posts know what they have done will be under scrutiny by “we the people” before they are allowed to be candidates and then again while they are in public service. Like any smart boss, we must watch our employees. Only then, will those with bad intentions steer clear of public service positions in the US government. They will steer clear because criminals have an inferiority complex. They don’t think they can make it in life without cheating.

Etymology: The word CANDIDATE hides the word candid, which means honest. As I see it, can-did is comprised of two smaller words – can (ken, know) and did ( diety, god). Someone knew that honesty in government was important a long time ago. We have forgotten what we once knew – again.

Deciphering the English Code, Joseph Aronesty

Today Kasey Hunt was saying #DEFUNDTHEPOLICE meant REFORM THE POLICE. She was asking what that reform was going to look like. Why do we send an armed policeman to wake up a guy in his car and check him out? And that’s when it hit me. Big changes are not happening here so fast. They will trim the hedges for sure. But something else has to change before we have big changes. And it’s not just the president.

In the USA there are more guns than peoplE

There are about one billion guns in the hands of civilians worldwide. About 40% of them are in the hands of Americans. Civilian gun ownership is eight times larger in the USA than in the average country. On top of that, the pandemic created a huge gun buying rush. So yes, it would be nice if a social worker could tap someone’s car window and check him out. But in Atlanta, would he want to do that? I don’t think so. That one example shows the magnitude of our problem here in the USA. It’s racial, yes. But it’s also our ingrained culture of violence and that goes to the Sandy Hook and the NRA. The USA is a powder keg. Why should we be surprised when police are violent?

Al Sharpton said it right. Talk is cheap. We will know we are sincere about the changes we need, and talk about so loudly lately, when people start paying for their transgressions. But big changes will require new gun laws. And that is something we should not discuss until after the election. That’s why I write this new age is a dawning. The work has just begun.

The Floyd protests have gained traction because, on many levels, we are all demanding accountability now. There is a nearly universal resentment: people in key positions enjoy different standards of justice. It’s not right, and we all resent it now. People want these double standards to be gone not only for policing and race, but status and wealth as well. A democracy means all people are treated equally. At least, we seem to know that collectively, at last.

There’s a new generation taking over the stewardship of this earth we share. They have their hands full, but they can handle this. They are armed with the historically unique ability to communicate instantly with everyone in their “base” quickly through social media. They have cameras on their cell phones and they are not afraid to use them. And to quote George Floyd’s brother, “There’s a lot of us”.

Strange to write, but true: I feel more hopeful today that change is coming than I did on the day Obama was elected.