Chicago reaches "lucky" number 500; media still hypocritical

I found another CNN piece talking about how the current gun debates are empty and meaningless because it's the same old garbage regurgitated each time the debate is stirred up again. Within that article, the author (Roland Martin) talks about how Chicago just had its 500th homicide this year and no one seems to care.

Mr. Martin brings up some great points in his article which align with things I've been thinking/saying for some time now. Maybe I'll talk about some of those points in a later post, but for now I want to focus on this big city violence vs. mass shootings topic.

It has always amazed me at the outcry for tighter gun control when a bunch of innocent, middle class, typically white, people are senselessly killed in mass shootings. Yet every single day people are dying in the streets of America's large cities. News outlets and politicians see these senseless acts of violence as nuisances and black eyes on their cities, but mass shootings are viewed as revenue generators and political platforms.

Case in point, people are shot senselessly every single day in Milwaukee and you never hear a peep from the mayor, but when tragedies like the shooting at the Azana Spa in Brookfield happen, mayor Tom Barrett made appearances to console victims families and to talk about the need for tighter gun laws. You'll never see him do those kinds of things for those "north side" shootings that happen to claim the lives of lesser-privileged people in his own city. Even the media doesn't care.

Check out this article from the Journal-Sentinel. There seems to be a story like this in their news feed every day. They never do a follow-up story to tell you who the person was, or to give you information about him (like if he left behind a wife or children, or if he was a victim of a robbery or if he was a criminal, or anything else).

Until our society stops being so hypocritical when it comes to our violent culture, there's little chance of minimizing the chances of another Newtown, Littleton, Oak Creek, or Brookfield from happening again.

"Gun Free" zones

I came across this CNN opinion piece making a case for arming school officials and removing "gun free" zones to prevent mass shootings like the one that took place last week in Connecticut. My personal feeling is that principals, teachers, counselors and secretaries shouldn't be required or expected to learn how to defend themselves and their students if they don't want to. However, I do think that if all schools had armed security staff or police liaisons on hand, it would go a long way to deter these tragic events.

I don't intend to debate my stance or the moral/societal issues at hand. What I did want to call out was this statistic from the article related to mass shootings and "gun free" zones:

"...with just one exception, the attack on U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson, Arizona, in 2011, every public shooting since 1950 in the U.S. in which more than three people have been killed has taken place where citizens are not allowed to carry guns. The massacres at Sandy Hook Elementary, Columbine, Virginia Tech and the Century 16 movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, all took place in gun-free zones."

Here's another article that references that statistic and also contains other compelling statistics. Just thought I'd share because I'm a big fan of facts. Of course, everyone interprets things differently so I'm sure someone has issues with these.

Nebraska Hunting Trip December 2012

I recently returned from a waterfowl trip to Nebraska. It was three and a half days of some great bird hunting, as well as wonderful time spent with family. My uncle Bob graciously hosts us at his property in western Nebraska each year, and we were joined by my brother Rob, my father Jerry, and my father-in-law Rick. The birds were working well, and the shooting was pretty good. Here are some pics from the trip.

Our First Morning Haul

Rick, Jett, & Me After Our First Morning's Hunt

Another First Morning Shot With Bob, Jett, & Me

Rob & Me After Day Two

Dad & Jake (not sure which day this is)

After Day Three's Hunt

Why hello blog! Nice to see you again!

It's been a while, but I'm back to blogging. I plan to continue my pattern of random topics related to the shooting sports. There will probably be a few more snippets from life in it as well. Stay tuned.