Sources: PressTV (Feb. 8, 2013)
In the background of this President Obama on February 6th formally proposed the most expansive gun-control policies in generations and initiated 23 separate executive actions aimed at curbing what he called “the epidemic of gun violence in this country.” Meanwhile a Nobel Prize-winning economist has described America’s largest gun lobby group as an “insane organization” that is pushing the country towards dystopia. “What strikes me is we’ve actually gotten a glimpse into the mindset, though, of the pro-gun people…It’s bizarre,” Krugman said, adding that the NRA believes “America cannot manage unless everybody’s prepared to shoot intruders.”
Krugman’s remarks come nearly two months after the Sandy Hook elementary school massacre in Newtown, Connecticut where 20 small children and six school staff members were murdered. Experts believe the deadly mass shooting served as a tipping point in the gun control debate and that the NRA is targeted to fail as a result.
Press TV has talked with James F. Tracy, associate professor at the Florida Atlantic University to further discuss the issue at hand. What follows is an approximate transcription of the interview.
Press TV: Considering the figures that have come in with nearly 1500 people killed in gun-related violence since just December alone and one mass shooting taking place once a month since 2009.
Do you think that Barack Obama’s package of gun-control law reforms is enough?
Tracy: Well, thank you for having me. I believe that more or less what he is proposing involves making things more strict for law-abiding citizens. It is not going to make things more difficult for criminals or the equivalent from purchasing guns. If we really want to have a solution to the epidemic of mass shootings in this country, one thing we could do is to look at the fact that many of these shootings involve individuals who have been on psychotropic drugs, anti-depressants, atypical anti-psychotics that cause homicidality and suicidality. That is something that is not actually being considered. I do not think that there is actually anything that the government can do to prevent criminals or those intent on mass shootings from obtaining weapons.
Press TV: Right but professor, also looking at the way guns have been marketed thus far, specifically by gun lobbyist groups; they seem to be really banking on the second amendment, which gives the constitutional rights of bearing arms. However do you think that it has been marketed in such a way that Americans do feel that they need to have guns in order to preserve their freedoms?
Tracy: Well, gun sales are certainly up and there is concern among many regardless of their political stripe that there are going to be increased governmental measures preventing individuals from being able to lawfully purchase and own firearms. So that may very well be a concern. I am not sure as to whether or not it is not a matter of marketing. I think there is also a concern among a good percentage of the population that we could face an economic crisis or the equivalent and one would desire that sort of protection.
Press TV: Well, also on the one hand there is this debate about stricter gun control and basically a tight-fixing loopholes within the laws that already exist but on the other hand we are seeing steps taken such as schools requiring the teachers and janitors to be armed to protect the children. Is this the answer?
Tracy: It may very well be because these schools and other areas where no one is actually armed, you do have police in some schools and certainly in schools that cater to more affluent groups of individuals and their children–they have armed guards. But it is not the case with the majority of the public schools. So if someone is intent on doing harm, they know where to go to find a disarmed body of people.
Trolling spiders come not here.
Dr. Tracy, I am glad you have decided to moderate the forum even though it is more work for you. It seems to be a huge target for nair-do-wells. I like how the blog has evolved over the last couple months. It looks great.
Thanks so much.
Hello, Prof. Tracy, I started following your blog not too long ago. I wish I had more time to keep up but I am able to catch up. Changing the attention from the school issue, would you be so kind as to share your thoughts and observation on the west coast Chris Dorner mahunt? All things about it do not sit right. I even had thoughts that he may not have been alive already before the manhunt, like the La*den style. All the reports and the drama, one does not sense the live presence of the man. The whole scenario on this one seems psychologically targeted to all law enforcement people, whereas the school target influence was on the everyday person. Also the letter he allegedly wrote reads like it was ghost written. Thank you for your faithfulness to your convictions. Esse
I would also like to hear Prof. Tracy’s thoughts on the Dorner case. Supposedly, Dorner felt the need to resort to killing corrupt police officers (and family members) because he believed they will never be brought to justice, otherwise. I do not condone Dorner’s actions, but feel troubled by the complexity of the situation. Now, it appears Dorner has been stopped (killed by police), so the alleged corrupt officers he did not “execute” are safe. Another troubling aspect of this case is the fact that LAPD publicly declared Dorner a “domestic terrorist” (http://youtu.be/ETE9W6Bf-Xw), paving the way for future mass murders to be branded as such.
fellow Patriot, you say “Now, it appears Dorner has been stopped (killed by police), so the alleged corrupt officers he did not *execute* are safe.” Please read Dorner’s entire manifesto (not the expurgated version released by MSM — Dorner made insane accusations — he admitted physically attacking a fellow officer for a word others “did not hear,” then blamed the attack on everyone else — he was too unstable (&, imo, delusional) to be a cop. Ever since grade-school (he attended an exclusive private school in an all-white community), his normal response to whatever he considered a dis was to crack heads & break ribs. This is according to his own manifesto (uncensored version). Anger-mgt problem, minimal brain damage, personality disorder — whatever U want to call it, there was something wrong. Someone (a prog) insulted me yesterday & I insulted him back, then moved on … I didn’t go on a murderous rampage. I am wondering what experiments were done on Dorner while he worked in mil-intell. Anyone know?
and here we go again – “Dorner’s wallet, with his id cards, found at the San Ysidro Point of Entry near the U.S.-Mexico border, the Los Angeles Times reported” *AND* “An official tells The Associated Press that a wallet with a California driver’s license with the name Christopher Dorner has been found in the cabin.”
oops – my previous msg pointed out that two wallets had been found – I neglected to mention the First one (current total = 3)
“That contradicts with what authorities said on Thursday, when it was reported that a shuttle bus driver turned over Dorner’s wallet, LAPD police badge and photo ID to San Diego police after a passer-by found them near Lindbergh Field. San Diego Police Chief Bill Lansdowne said Tuesday that the items were found in the middle of Pacific Highway and Laurel Street.”
hello Home — I obtained the what was purported to be the uncensored version of Dorner’s manifesto & read it carefully — I taught college English for 25 years & am expert in determining how much help a student had with a paper — I decided that the uncensored version which I read (which included anecdotes about him beating up kids in grade school & beating up a fellow cop) was probably not ghosted. The manifesto was written by a person of above-average intelligence (probably circa 130 IQ) who has a well-organized mind. Moreover, the writer was insane. There is no discrepancy between the those observations. I wonder what might have happened to Dorner while he served in military intelligence …
So glad to see you on PressTV, hoping you can change their tune of the so-called Sandy Hook Masacre to an Incident/drill. Its about time someone educated that news media since they seem to be riding on the same horse as our MSM.
Thank you for all your time and efforts on educating the rest of us. Wish there were more of your kind of mentoring.
As they say in german: Wer nicht fragt, bleibt dumm.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7hxlzCrQJc0
Regina – I had to chuckle at the wallet story, as well. After reports that the wallet was found around the San Diego area…then near the border – OH but then the po-po was sure to report that the man’s driver’s license was on his burned up body. Curious… Nice job, reporters.
– and what was the deal about finding his badge?? Is it common practice to fire someone from LAPD but allow them to keep their badge? sheesh –
There is also a CT state police crime lab investigator who says this ban won’t work.
http://jpfo.org/articles-assd03/assault-weapons-ban-wont-work.htm
CIA Admits Using MSM To Manipulate The USA
“The CIA owns everyone of any significance in the major media.”
– William Colby, former CIA director
“We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false.”
– William Casey, CIA Director (from first staff meeting, 1981)
“Deception is a state of mind and the mind of the State.”
– James Angleton, head of CIA counter intelligence from 1954-1974
“I never would have agreed to the formulation of the Central Intelligence Agency back in forty-seven, if I had known it would become the American Gestapo.”
– Harry S. Truman
“The individual is handicapped by coming face-to-face with a conspiracy so monstrous he cannot believe it exists.”
– J. Edgar Hoover, ex-FBI director on the New World Order conspiracy
“If the American people knew what we have done, they would string us up from the lamp posts.”
– George H. W. Bush
” I will splinter the CIA into a thousand pieces and scatter it into the winds.”
– John F. Kennedy
“Fifty men have run America, and that’s a high figure.”
– Joseph Kennedy, father of JFK, in the July 26th, l936 issue of The New York Times
“There is no such thing, at this date of the world’s history, in America, as an independent press. You know it and I know it. There is not one of you who dares to write your honest opinions, and if you did, you know beforehand that it would never appear in print. I am paid weekly for keeping my honest opinion out of the paper I am connected with. Others of you are paid similar weekly salaries for similar things, and any of you who would be so foolish as to write honest opinions would be out on the streets looking for another job. If I allowed my honest opinions to appear in one issue of my paper, before twenty-four hours my occupation would be gone. The business of the journalists is to destroy the truth; to lie outright; to pervert; to vilify; to fawn at the feet of mammon, and to sell his country and his race for his daily bread. You know it and I know it, and what folly is this toasting an independent press? We are the tools and vassals of rich men behind the scenes. We are the jumping jacks, they pull the strings and we dance. Our talents, our possibilities, and our lives are all the property of other men. We are intellectual prostitutes.”
– John Swinton, former New York Times Chief of Staff
http://www.infiniteunknown.net/2012/02/29/cia-admits-using-msm-to-manipulate-the-usa-video/ (See Link for Video) 1975
Interesting Canadian prespective http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/02/11/canadian-news-anchor-issues-ominous-warning-to-america-registration-will-lead-to-confiscation/