The most violent of animals?
I was doing some thinking about homo sapiens today and it left me with a bad impression. Here's why:
•Enablers of gun violence
Victor at Balasubramania has continued to keep a story I believe deserves more attention in the spotlight. Bull's Eye Shooter Supply is a problem-plagued gun dealer that has sold thousands of weapons and 'lost' many others for years under its current name and a previous one. Among the weapons it 'lost' is the semi-automatic rifle used by the alleged D.C. area snipers. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearm's hands are pretty much tied when it comes to any real law enforcement powers thanks to Republican malfeasance.
The article catalogues Bull's Eye and its proprietor Brian Borglet's dismal record of record keeping and compliance with regulations (some staggering facts):
1. guns sold by Bull's Eye (b/w 97-2001) were involved in 52 crimes;
2. Bull's Eye could not account for 238 guns or confirm whether the purchasers (if there were any) underwent background checks; and
3. between 1997 and 200, it sold 663 guns to 265 buyers.
In addition, Borglet is a longterm tax cheat.
The Seattle Times article Victor cites is a must read if you want to understand what is really going on in regard to enforcement of laws meant to protect the public from purchases of guns by people who should not have them.
•Violence here
It has been revealed that David Brame, the Tacoma, Washington Police Chief who killed himself in an attempted murder suicide should never have been allowed to become a policeman.
Tacoma Police Chief David Brame would never have been a Tacoma cop if a psychologist had had his way more than 20 years ago.
Dr. Steven H. Sutherland, a clinical psychologist hired to give police candidates pre-employment mental examinations, recommended against hiring Brame in 1981.
Crystal Brame, who was shot in the head by her husband, is still in a coma.
David Brame also was accused of rape in 1988.
The Brame situation, a developing scandal, has been covered extensively at Silver Rights and will continue to be.
•Violence there
Eric, one of the group bloggers at Antidotal, wrote to remind me the slaying of more than a dozen Iraqi civilians by American forces deserves more attention than it has gotten, too.
. . .There's the 13 Iraqi protesters who were shot by U.S. forces who clearly have no place in a peacekeeping-type situation. You almost certainly have already heard about this, but I'm astonished that this isn't causing an uproar in the general public: it's incredible that body armour-equipped American troops who were in a protected and elevated position thought they had to KILL THIRTEEN PEOPLE to get the situation under control. And not ONE of the U.S. soldiers was injured.
The details are striking. Either the troops involved were incompetent or they were indifferent -- not caring whether they needlessly injured or killed Iraqis. Unless we raise our voices about situations like this, we may see other mini My Lais in Iraq. Read more about this topic at
Antidotal.
•Violence out of the blue
Have you ever been blindsided, either emotionally or physically, by someone you either barely knew or had been kind to? If so, you may have encountered a person who has Asperger's Syndrome. Read about this malady, which can range from a minor to a major problem here.
People. Hmmm.
