Sandy Hook anniversary and America's gun sickness

Whenever FOX needs somebody to say why gun control is bad, they call on John Lott.

Here Lott is gloating that stricter gun control hasn't come to pass one year since the Newtown massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary where 26 people were shot and killed, including 20 children ages 6-7, most of them left beyond recognition even by their parents. Here is the website created by the 26 families in their memory.

As I've described before in meticulous detail, when it comes to gun violence, Lott bends and twists the truth. For instance this: "But gun control advocates aren’t giving up. They are patient, and they have money."

They are spending more money lately, but gun control advocates are still being outspent 13 to 1 by gun rights groups.

Sure, Lott can gloat about even more lax gun control laws passed since Sandy Hook in Red States such as Utah, Virginia, Kentucky, West Virginia, Oklahoma, Mississippi, North Carolina, Indiana, Louisiana, Arkansas, South Dakota and Kansas, while only a few states such as New York and Delaware passed even more strict gun control laws. 

But he can't simply lie that a clear majority of Americans opposes gun control. Over the past 10 years, the share of Americans favoring stricter gun laws has fluctuated between 44 and 60 percent, with the most recent Gallup figure at 49 percent in favor, 37 percent for the status quo, and 13 percent for even less strict gun laws.  

So, about half of Americans have a sickness that's killing all of us, and they need an intervention. Indeed, since 9/11, about 364,000 Americans were killed by firearms. That's more Americans than died in combat in the Civil War. 

The truth is though, fewer and fewer Americans are choosing to own guns. So how are gun makers' profits at an all-time high since Sandy Hook? Easy. They use the NRA to scare fewer people into buying more and more guns to "defend" themselves against tyrannical Big Government and hordes of non-existent criminals (usually in the guise of minorities). 

It's a sickening paradox, but gun rampages like Sandy Hook are good for gun makers, because as soon as politicians make a peep about sensible measures afterwards like universal background checks, the NRA's fear machine cranks into high gear -- "They're coming to take your guns away!" -- Red States make pre-emptive attacks on existing gun laws, and sales to gun nuts go through the roof again.

1 year after Newtown, support for stricter gun control has disappeared

By John Lott

December 13, 2013 | FoxNews

URL: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/12/13/1-year-after-newtown-support-for-stricter-gun-control-has-disappeared/?intcmp=HPBucket

2,243...and rising

That's how many Americans were killed by guns since the Newtown shooting massacre when 20 children were shot and killed, many of them more than 10 times, their tiny bodies destroyed beyond recognition.

Here you can read some of the stories of recent victims.

By comparison, 2,191 U.S. troops were killed in Afghanistan since 2001.  We exceeded that KIA figure in just 3 months in the homeland, where we are definitely not secure.    

UPDATE (03.24.2013): Slate and the Twitter feed @GunDeaths have been crowdsourcing gun-deaths data, and on March 7, they came up with the figure of at least 2,923 Americans killed by guns since Sandy Hook. That's about as many Americans who were killed on 9/11, which sent us into spasms of rage and remorse and precipitated two disastrous wars that cost trillions of dollars. Yet the same number of deaths at home in the span of about 3 months doesn't give us a moment's pause.  

Mourning in America: Thousands Killed Since Newtown

By Jason Cherkis

March 22, 2013 | Huffington Post

URL: http://huff.to/14d4g2J

Grieving over Newtown - without God

Here's a brave voice! To see this on CNN shows that the times they are a-changin'. It's no longer shameful to proclaim your non-belief.

But back to Krauss's argument: if God causes everything, or at least in His infinite goodness allows everything, having been forewarned, to happen, then God wanted these 20 children to be murdered. Then, in our grief, we are obliged to pray to Him lovingly, seek solace and give thanks. GWTF?

Sums up Krauss:

If instead of automatically assuming that prayers to a deity callous enough to allow this sickness, or worse, to encourage it out of divine retribution, are what families in grief need from their president and from the media, that we focused on rational grief counseling and community support, including better mental health care combined with sensible gun control, we as a society might ultimately act more effectively to stop this madness.

Why must the nation grieve with God?

By Lawrence M. Krauss

December 26, 2012 | CNN

URL: http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/26/opinion/krauss-grief-faith/index.html?hpt=hp_bn7