• Got the Contributing Memberships stuff finally worked out and made up a thread as a sort of "How-To" to help people figure out how to participate. So if you need help figuring it out, here's the thread you need to take a look at -> http://www.corvetteflorida.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3581 Thank you, everyone! Rich Z.

Idiotic blather....

Rich Z

Internet Sanitation Engineer
Staff member
Stop the insanity: Ban guns

Gerald Ensley, Tallahassee Democrat 11:42 a.m. EST November 23, 2014

It's the guns, stupid.

The shootings Thursday at the Florida State University library. The shootings Saturday in a northwest Tallahassee neighborhood. The shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut. The shooting of Arizona U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. The shootings at Virginia Tech. The 10,000 senseless shooting deaths that happen every year in this country.

Take away guns and they don't happen.

How is it that the supposed greatest nation on earth refuses to stop the unholy availability of guns?

I'm not talking about gun control. I'm not talking about waiting periods and background checks.

I'm talking about flat-out banning the possession of handguns and assault rifles by individual citizens. I'm talking about repealing or amending the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The Second Amendment has been misinterpreted. It says guns are permitted to a "well-regulated militia." That means trained citizen soldiers called into action for emergencies — because in colonial times every able-bodied man was required to be a member of the militia. It does not mean everyone with $50 and a driver's license is entitled to own a gun.

That's what former Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger said in 1990, when he called claims of Second Amendment protection of individual gun ownership, "a fraud on the American public." Earlier this year, retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens called the Second Amendment one of the six great flaws with the U.S. Constitution. He called for it to be amended to say gun possession was only for state militias, not individuals.

Every legal opinion for 200 years denied individual gun ownership was a right — until the steady lobbying of the National Rifle Association created a climate that allowed a conservative U.S. Supreme Court in 2008 to strike down a handgun ban in the District of Columbia, and fuel the sense of entitlement of gun owners.

Gun supporters say, "It's not guns that cause gun violence, it's mentally ill people with guns; fix the mentally ill." Even if those same people did not oppose government spending on the mentally ill — which they have for decades — there is no predicting when mental illness will express itself in violence.

All of those who knew FSU library shooter Myron May called him the "last person" from whom they would have expected violence. They all knew he was mentally troubled. But they said he didn't even like guns.

You can't prevent mental illness. You can prevent humans from having easy access to tools they can use to harm other people.

Talk about mental illness: The United States is insane about guns. We lead the world in gun ownership, with almost one per capita. That's twice the percentage of the next closest country.

The United States doesn't lead the world in gun violence. Just the civilized world.

According to a United Nations survey, the United States annually averages 3 firearm homicides per 100,000 population. Fourteen countries topped that figure — but they were almost exclusively Third World countries.

Among the 24 most affluent nations of the world, the U.S. is the far and away leader in gun homicides. None of the other 23 affluent nations has a rate above 1 firearm death per 100,000 population.

Gun freaks insist we need to arm more people. They glibly say shooting sprees happen in "gun free zones," like schools and universities, where gunmen could be stopped if everyone had a gun. That theory is absurd.

Police and military train for years to use a gun competently in stressful situations – and even they don't always respond correctly. Think Ferguson, Mo. Think Charlotte, N.C. Think New York City in 2012 where two cops shot nine bystanders as they wildly tried to shoot a man who had gunned down a co-worker.

The idea of 500 students in a college library or a dozen teachers in an elementary school pulling out guns to shoot a gunman is ludicrous. They would wind up shooting each other.

Gun freaks say if you take away their guns only outlaws will have guns. That's a chance worth taking. Because if we ban guns, eventually the tide will turn. It might take 10 years or 20 years. Hell, it might take 50 years. But if we make it illegal to own a handgun, eventually there will be no handguns.

The same gun freaks believe in banning drugs. They believe in banning abortions. They recognize society bans certain things for the good of society. We should ban guns for the good of society.

People have romanticized guns. The Founding Fathers. The Old West. Self-defense — and never mind the average American has only a one in 250 chance of being the victim of a violent crime. It's all a delusion. Guns kill. They kill people from a distance. They kill strangers and children who have no relationship with the gunman.

Let the hunters keep their rifles and shotguns; those weapons are ineffective tools in a mass shooting. But we need to ban handguns and assault rifles for all but police and military.

This is an uphill battle. Despite daily front-page stories of shooting sprees and killings, Americans don't want to give up their guns. Over the past 10 years, the percentage of Americans who support stricter guns laws has dropped from 60 percent to 47 percent. In a recent survey, 73 percent of Americans oppose banning handguns.

But those of us who think widespread handgun ownership is insane need to keep speaking up. We need to teach our children handguns are wrong. We need to support any measure that limits their availability — and work to repeal the Second Amendment. We need to keep marching forward until someday this nation becomes civilized enough to ban guns.

One of the frequent refrains of gun freaks about President Obama is "He's coming for our guns." Obama never said such a thing. But I will:

We're coming for your guns. And someday, we'll take them.

Contact Gerald Ensley at 599-2310 or gensley@tallahassee.com.

Source: http://www.tallahassee.com/story/op...y/2014/11/22/stop-insanity-ban-guns/19426029/

Connie read this this morning and she showed it to me. She was already hinting about dropping our subscription to the Tallahassee Democrat (she was thinking that maybe the coupons made it worthwhile keeping), but this was the last straw. We just do not want to use our money to help pay the salaries for these people who write this sort of blather.
 
I agree,

How can someone that incompetent be a columnist?

In 2012 there were 33,561 deaths by motor vehicle. Let's just ban cars all together, not talking about a 16 year waiting period and $10 allowing someone to drive. How can we be the greatest country in the world and allow this senselessness?

:banghead:
:banghead:
:banghead:
:banghead:
 
Thanks for the warning Mr. Ensley.

1. It will never work. There are ____ million guns in the United States of America. Just pick a number and fill in the blank. No one actually knows how many guns are out there so that makes your quest that much harder.

2. Even if all the upstanding citizens hand over all their guns(they won't, but we'll pretend)do you REALLY think the bad guys will?

3. If you look at history you will see that a nation disarmed is ripe for communist take-over.

4. Can you name one country that has successfully disarmed their citizens and had all their gun violence end? The answer is no.

5. The only way you will succeed in abolishing the second amendment is by violating the fourth amendment with illegal searches to determine who has all these guns. And if you think gun violence is bad now.....

Let me guess. I'll bet you voted for Obama in 2008 and 2012 didn't you? And you'll vote for Hitlary in 2016 too won't you?

Fact. We live in an evil world. Some of us know this and we prepare ourselves to deal with it using the constitutional rights given to us by our forefathers. Candy asses like yourself would rather bury their heads in the sand and pretend that we'll all live happily ever after.

Rant over.
 
There is only 1 newspaper for the Tampa- St. Pete area and I would not bother reading it if I was paid. I think that is the trend across the country anymore when it comes to newspapers.
 
I sent the newspaper an email a few minutes ago cancelling my subscription and requesting a refund of the balance I have prepaid. I told them exactly why I am cancelling.

On an even brighter note, one of the people commenting on Ensley's article stated that 90 percent of the staff there have already been laid off. Not sure if this is just referring to the Tallahassee Democrat or Gannett publications as a whole. So it appears that they are just swirling around the toilet bowl now anyway on the way to the BIG FLUSH.
 
Let me guess. I'll bet you voted for Obama in 2008 and 2012 didn't you? And you'll vote for Hitlary in 2016 too won't you?
Reminds me..........I saw a bumper sticker that said...
"I'm gonna vote for Monica Lewinsky's ex-boyfriend's wife in 2015"
Got a chuckle out of that one!
Andy
 
:lmao: Now this is really funny. The Tallahassee Democrat deleted my comment I placed this morning about my subscription cancellation obviously having been accepted since I did not get a newspaper this morning.

So much about their professed stance concerning the First Amendment. I guess that only applies to people who are willing to align lock step with their own views.

Which, to be honest, is not at all a surprise.
 
Yeah man. I found out a week later that I couldn't cancel my newspaper subscription via email, so I had to call on the phone. So that's what I did, and waited for the girl to ask me why I was cancelling. So I told her. I told her that I just flat out refuse to help pay Gerald Ensley's salary any longer. So she asked me if I wanted to just temporarily put a hold on the newspaper till this blew over and I felt better about it.... :lmao: Yeah, like THAT was going to happen.

Of course, I haven't gotten my refund check from them yet for the balance of my subscription. And wouldn't you know it? They called earlier today wanting to know if I wanted to get the newspaper delivered to my home. So cancelling the newspaper evidently puts you on a "prospective customer" list with them. :rolleyes:
 
And even as of today, the Tallahassee Democrat STILL hasn't sent me the refund on my balance of that subscription. I've sent them a bunch of emails about it without producing any results, much less replies. So I've started posting about this issue on their Facebook page and their YouTube channels.
 
I think they're broke Rich. They'll probably offer to trade you out in newspapers! :rofl1:

Probably right about them being broke. They sure have a stranglehold on that $100 they owe me.

But on the bright side, that means that that jerk Ensley will soon be out of a job....... :thumbsup:
 
Hmmmmmmmmmm

:hehehe: Haven't have a rag subscription in years. Best utilized at the bottom of a bird cage.

I've told people I have a gun because its easier than throwing the bullets! :)
 
After filing a Better Business Bureau complaint and posting on their YouTube channel and FaceBook page, it finally got someone's attention. They overnighted me a check.

But get this, the idiots are soliciting me on the phone to renew my subscription.... :rolleyes: So I tell them when Ensley doesn't work there any longer, give me a call then. :lmao:
 
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