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Cold, dead hands.
It’s 2 a.m. I’m wide awake for the second straight night and I can’t get those words out of my head.
Cold, dead hands.
Three words crashing around in my head more violently and more rapidly with each passing second. The sound in my head is like a tennis ball repeatedly crashing into a metal garage door. It’s more like driving, joyous dance music thundering off the walls of a packed nightclub.
But it’s most like the sound of dozens of bullets flying out of the barrel of an assault rifle rudely cutting through the sound of the music; indiscriminately ripping through flesh; killing dreams; ending lives.
Cold, dead hands.
Maybe the man who walked into Pulse, an LGBT dance club in Orlando, had those words in his head. You know, like the flippant pro-gun mantra: “You can have my gun when you pry it from my cold, dead hands.” It’s like the NRA way of saying: “Mission Accomplished!”
Whether he thought it or not, that’s how police took Omar Mateen’s gun from him after he slaughtered 49 people and injured more than 50 others with it. Mission accomplished, I guess?
“Know guns, no peace. No guns, no peace.” “Guns don’t kill people, I do!” “Kill ’em all, let God sort ’em out.” “Gun control means holding on with two hands.” “Criminals love gun control — it makes their jobs safer.” The NRA and gun advocates have a million T-shirt ready slogans. They’ve become prolific at writing them. Almost as prolific as they are at making excuses and pointing blame in other directions when someone picks up a gun and butchers people who’ve committed no crime. People who are just trying to dance and have a good time; or go to school; or go to the mall. People just trying to live their lives. People who have a right to live their lives with some degree of certainty that they’re not going to die in a club or in a school or in a church.
They weren’t armed. They shouldn’t have had to be. They had their lives, their existence pried from their cold, dead hands.
But don’t blame the gun or the easy access to it for this crime. It’s no more culpable in Orlando than it was in Sandy Hook, or Virginia Tech, or Columbine, or San Bernardino or Fort Hood. That’s what the NRA is telling us today. This shooting was the FBI’s fault because “political correctness” kept them from arresting Mateen, who had been investigated for alleged ties to terrorists. But despite those investigations, Mateen was still able to legally purchase a firearm, walk into club and take lives at will.
The shooter also claimed ties to Muslim extremist groups. Gun advocates are seizing on that. He’s not a normal good guy with a gun, he’s a terrorist. The NRA can’t control terrorists, after all. However, Mateen reportedly claimed loyalty to ISIS and Hezbollah, two groups who are typically at odds. So it’s unlikely he belonged to both, or to either. Also he was an American citizen, born in New York City. He was one of us. He was one of you, a Second Amendment-loving all-American boy who bought a gun because he was legally allowed. It was his right. The gun lobby has made sure of that.
Am I too harsh to blame every gun owner, advocate, group and lobbyist for Omar Mateen’s action? Normally I would think so. But I’ve learned something from these people: the art of placing blame. Gun advocates have already blamed the FBI, and ISIS is being blamed for this despite any facts proving that Mateen was anything more than an admirer of the organization.
So when I say that the NRA, the gun lobby and every goddamned gun apologist in this country is responsible for what happened in Orlando, I’m using their logic to reach that conclusion. These people have spent millions of dollars on lobbyists, and on campaign donations to friendly legislators, to make sure that gun laws are weak, toothless and never changed. You have gone to great lengths to protect your guns, so now you have to own up to your part in this. But you won’t; you never do.
Do I favor a full ban on firearms? I do; admittedly, I’m at the opposite extreme. But at this point in our history, we can’t even have a conversation in this country on limiting access to certain types of weapons without someone yelling about their rights being violated. But what about the rest of us? The last I checked, we had certain inalienable rights, the most important of which is the right to live. That right doesn’t put anyone in danger. That right should allow us to go to clubs and to school and to the movies without fear of catching a bullet in the chest. However, our rights get trumped because we’re not paying millions for lobbyists and members of Congress to take care of us.
We pay with our cold, dead hands.
This article appears in Jun 15-21, 2016.
zero comments. Just what trash article deserves.
Exactly! You nailed it Charlie.
Stupid, ill-informed article by another bleeding-heart liberal.
You lost all credibility:
“However, Mateen reportedly claimed loyalty to ISIS and Hezbollah, two groups who are typically at odds. So it’s unlikely he belonged to both, or to either.”
Ha! Can almost taste the tears that were flowing as the inept author scratched away at the keyboard. The author is a moron extremist, something he himself points out towards the end, if anyone made it that far. With friends like this… I’m not donating anymore of my time to critiquing this author or his work, he does not deserve it. If he wants to cut me a check, there are some things that I think he needs pointed out to him.
The blood of all the kids and people at Sandy Hook, Columbine, and Orlando is on the hands of the Republicans, the NRA, Republican voters, and George W Bush, who stupidly did not renew the assault weapons ban.
We’re sick of the lame slogans and the red herrings of the NRA and the gun apologists, who are responsible for the current culture of murder and mayhem.
Great article and absolutely true. You can judge the truth level of the article by the number of fear based gun clingers posting hate filled responses.
The assault weapons, open carry permits, and concealed carry permits have to go.
So since Omar Mateen, according to your article and flawed commentary, represents EVERY GUN OWNER, including responsible, America loving, veterans like myself, then he should equally represent every Muslim and, as your assertion states, we should act accordingly……….What? That’s not what you intended to say or imply? You can’t have it both ways and it is extreme views like yours toward gun owners and an almost tolerant view of extremist and their actions, that will ensure that no changes, no matter how “logical” will ever occur when it comes to gun laws and ownership. Rhetoric like yours only makes us, legal, responsible, gun owners,further dig in and double our contributions to the NRA, whether we agree with all of their statements/positions or not. You think about about that as you think about your “cold, dead hands” and the futility of your positon.
@ american from a different land
FYI Daesh/ISIL is like most Sunni terrorist (al Qaeda, Talibans, boko haram, etc) groups considering Shiite Muslims as ‘apostates’ (sic) and are slaugthering these latter, among others religious minorities, from Iraq to Syria. Hezbollah is shiite (like most of their Iranians allies) and they are both fighting Daesh/ISIL again from Iraq to Syria.
So the author of this article is perfectly right while you, on the contrary, don’t have a clue. You should be glad to have learned the facts, for once: speaking of credibility your comment is demonstrating that you have none on that topic…
And backpack makers are culpable for the Boston Marathon bombing
Let us blame and then ban the oil companies when someone does the same thing with a gallon of gas and a match.
Was this written by a National Socialist or just a regular fascistic, regressive liberal?
“paying Congress to take care of us” ? My family, when raising me, taught me to take care of myself. By taking care of myself (including my family, friends and neighbors) that means relying on my own abilities and not cowering in fear when attacked. If I don’t have a concealed carry weapon then a bar stool, rocks, or whatever is near at hand will be used to defend myself. To demand I give up the best means of self defense (a gun) then you also must mean my fists, rocks or any other item that can be used against an attacker. You sir may want to sit in a puddle of your own urine cowering in fear waiting for the police to show up (with their guns). I sir will not wait and will use any item at my disposal especially a legal concealed firearm that I have been trained to use in the defense of my fellow citizens.
Oh the drama. If you were serious about saving lives you’d desist with the emotional thinking and start using reason.
Emotional Bob GT says: “The blood of all the kids and people at Sandy Hook, Columbine, and Orlando is on the hands of the Republicans, the NRA, Republican voters, and George W Bush, who stupidly did not renew the assault weapons ban.
We’re sick of the lame slogans and the red herrings of the NRA and the gun apologists, who are responsible for the current culture of murder and mayhem.”
Oh my heck….
“And how dare they blame all Muslims,” right…?
Now, I don’t blame groups for anything. Just individual perpetrators. But do left authoritarians really expect to be taken seriously when they routinely make excuses for the violent criminals within their Ingroup and demand we be sensitive to the feels of their protected murderer class — and when they instead blame their political opponents for these crimes…?
And do left authoritarians expect to be taken seriously when they persist in publicly displaying their total ignorance about the objects they wish to ban…?
I mean, take for example, the left authoritarian campaign to label and then ban GMOs. They don’t know a freakin’ thing about GMOs but they’re sure they must be bad — ‘cuz their feels. But that’s not the half of their ignorance. They also want every food containing DNA to be labeled. No kidding. They’re that dumb. And they want to make laws about these things….
And they’re just as dumb on guns. So dumb they don’t know how dumb they are. So they willingly put their names on inane articles and have them published for the world to see how dumb they are. Hell, they can’t even correctly identify the name on the weapon used in this shooting. A million veterans are laughing at them. And yet they persist.
They know nothing about guns and yet they want to make laws about them…. And their desperate to divert attention away from the violence of their own political ideology and the violence of their Ingroup and blame innocent, law-abiding people from the Outgroup.
This maybe the most offensive article written on the issue to date. At a time when americans, our tolerance, freedoms and values are under attack by intolerant bigots from the middle east, home grown terrorists like Omar Mateen and Charlie Deitch attack us at home. Its true, Omar was a violent psychopath who unleashed his rage at the LGBT community. Charlie Deitch is a similarly intolerant bigot who unleashes his rage on the law abiding American citizens. Do not give an inch of freedom to pacify intolerant bigots. No matter their faith or origin.
If only ONE person had a gun in the night club the out come may have been different. We have become a Nation of victims!!!
Well, then the gun manufacturers are also saviors because despite the horrible Orlando tragedy AR15s saved LOTS of lives in Israel and has put down MANY violent muslims!
What a commie rag.
City Paper valuable for two things: concert listings…and lining my bird cage.It IS well worth the price charged for it though,nothing.
How many registered gun owners DID NOT kill anyone last Sunday? Hmmmm….?
You favor a full ban on guns and you believe that will keep the guns out of the terrorist or criminals hands?
How has that worked with the ban on drugs?
Open carry of assault rifles should be allowed at every Republican and NRA event, and banned everywhere else.
Enough of the majority having to put up with the bad influence of an out of control minority!
people had no chance when the registered democrat muslim entered that gun-free zone, with a gun. The leftists have been happily murdering people with gun free zones since impeached disgraced rapist bill clinton’s party came up with that idiotic idea, to disarm the law abiding. Democrats hate them. Ban those and gun free zones and the murder rate will fall to zero but of course that will not happen, because it would actually work.
actually neither the pro or anti gun lobby is culpable here…the FBI totally dropped the ball on this one….they are supposed professionals and this wack-o gave them the slip, finger pointing should be squarely aimed at federal law enforcement…they really need to tighten up their act….do away with homeland security the agency is useless the FBI needs to become a bit more professional at what they are supposed to do….
Let’s ban a rifle that is used in 2% of murders. That will fix everything. Liberal logic.
Let’s make sure that everyone carries, what’s more, carries massive killing power so that if anyone has a bad thought or even a brain fart, they can slaughter dozens of people, real fast. Since when does an alleged democracy let the minority rule?
The author, either from sheer ignorance, or perhaps more likely, an intentional, dishonest artifice of misrepresentation, chooses to blatantly avoid mention of 1,400 years of documented world history concerning the true nature of islam. The perpetrator, a spineless coward, specifically sought out a gun-free zone, filled with some of the most vulnerable and innocent members of society. It is no accident this is a commonality with the worthless losers (who seem to be increasingly muslim) who commit these heinous acts. Ignoring the facts, spreading lies and disinformation and failing to prepare for the inevitable is a perfect way to aid the enemy in the well documented, proven agenda of violence. Ironically, it is the very people he chooses to demonize, who with the necessary tools and training, who would be most likely to come to his aid when or if he had the misfortune of being selected for slaughter. Provided, of course, they hadn’t been violated in their God given rights to do so.
Even gun *owners* who favor more strict gun control laws are responsible? I think you’ve gone just too far, there.
Does that include police departments? Fish & Game commissions trying to control wolf populations? Museums that own Civil War muskets? The Secret Service? Sorry for the reductio ad absurdum but I think you need to be extremely careful when entering this argument.
RE: >> But I’ve learned something from these people: the art of placing blame.
… And how does the blame game, by either side, really help solve problems???
We should ban whatever mode of transportation the radical Islamic terrorist used to travel to that club too, sounds silly to ban a tool because someone used it for an evil purpose. Guns are not the problem. Guns are just tools.
The largest mass shooting in American history took place at Wounded Knee as the US government was attempting to confiscate all firearms from the Lokota, and yet the author believes we would be safer if they were the only ones armed.