Monday, April 17, 2023

"Sir, There's Just An Evil In This World"--Bruce Springsteen, "Nebraska"

Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-WY) took aim at gun safety advocate Rebecca Fischer during the Victims of Violent Crime in Manhattan hearing at the Jacob Javits Federal Building.

Hageman was arguing that the gun violence epidemic was caused by moral decline, and suggested that the group New Yorkers Against Gun Violence's executive director wasn’t seriously considering the notion that guns aren’t directly responsible for gun violence.

Hageman insisted that “we're not here for grandstanding” and that “we're recognizing that across the country, there is a sickness pervading our communities that is destroying who and what we are.

“And it's not just about guns.”

It was at that point in which Hageman addressed Fischer.

“I watched you Miss Fischer as you secretly smiled at some of the Congress members on the other side as people on our side talked about the gun issue,” Hageman said.

“I understand you believe that it is an inanimate object that somehow can create or cause the mass shootings, that it's not the individual.

“One of the things that has struck me today is that as we talk about these mass shootings, nobody has talked about the drugs that these people were on. Nobody has talked about the psychology of this.”
It's not the knives, it's the people using the knives!  It's not the bombs, it's the people using the bombs!  It's not the guns, it's the people using the guns!  It's not the fists, it's....

I'm sorry.  This is just too stupid to even parody.  So, what, there's a moral decline particular and specific to the "Shining City On The Hill"?  One the rest of the civilized world doesn't suffer from?  Isn't Europe decadent and debauched and godless?  Why don't they have this problem?  Maybe because they don't have an average of two guns per citizen?

Sure, it's the mass murderer we arrest.  But without the gun, there's no mass murder.  Inanimate objects don't cause anything, which is why we seldom put them on trial for how they are used.  But they can facilitate things we couldn't do otherwise.

And that "secret smile" comment is evidence of insecurity and uncertainty about identity issues (no, not personal or sexual or what-have-you, but "identity" in the sense of being uncomfortable to the point of frightened to be among people who don't share your views on what you think are such fundamental issues.) Hageman is desperate to insist her view is right and cannot be challenged.  That fear goes beyond intellectual insecurity. That's the real "psychology of this."

And speaking of insistence on maintaining your own world-view:

“I just don’t see how am I, how I am and my kids are going to be safer if I lock up my guns,” Rep. Spartz said, referring to safe storage of firearms in the home. A study published in 2020 found 2500 lives could be saved by stricter laws requiring safe firearm storage.

“I just feel actually as a female I feel not as safe,” if her guns were to be locked up, Spartz continued, complaining that she’s unsure how long it would take the police to come to her home.

Well, there was the case of the 6 year old who shot his teacher at school because Mom and Dad left guns laying around (they claim the gun had a trigger lock.  They have no idea how it was removed.  'Tis a mystery.)  I wonder if Rep. Spartz cares how "safe" that teacher feels now.  Or is public service all about her and who serves her by not contradicting her set opinions with their lived facts?

“It’s really strange for me, we tried to take, you know, protection from law-abiding citizens and believe that criminals are not going to get guns?” she said, relying on NRA and right-wing talking points that criminals don’t obey laws.

Have a lot of home invasions in your home, do you?  I don't have a gun, and I've never had one, despite living in the 4th largest city in the country for over 20 years now.  My brother-in-law is ex-military, which instilled in him a great respect for guns.  He keeps a few, for hunting and sport shooting (mostly the latter now).  He keeps them very securely locked up, and he had a guy come in through an open window when his wife and first born were home alone (the guy ran off when he found someone at home).  That's the closest to a home invasion I know of for anyone among my friends or family.  And it didn't justify gun safety that he taught his kids.  Indeed, when I was young the NRA taught gun safety, not gun insecurity.

Spartz then went on to attack children and young adults, suggesting they are the real criminals, as she advocated for tax-payer-funding of private schools.

“Maybe we should reform education and have some wraparound preventive services and have more competition in education [so] that these kids [are] actually taught some values,” she railed, claiming that low reading scores force children into gangs.

“That [they] don’t have a 10% or 8% literacy rate that they have to get into gangs.”
Yes, but you "don't need statistics."

“If I set the record straight,” the witness continued despite Spartz talking over her, “because we’ve been talking a lot about statistics, the NYPD’s own data has shown that shootings are down –” she said before Spartz cut her off.

“I think I don’t need statistics,” Spartz declared, cutting off the witness who was trying to answer her question.

Facts are stupid things, right? 

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