Tag violence

“Guns Don’t Kill People”

A story from the Associated Press tells of a clash between white nationalists and counterprotesters in Sacramento (emphasis added):

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A white nationalist group’s rally outside the California state Capitol building turned violent as fighting broke out with a larger group of counter protesters, leaving 10 people injured with stab wounds, cuts and bruises.

Fights erupted when about 30 members of the Traditionalist Worker Party gathering to rally around noon Sunday were met by about 400 counter-protesters, California Highway Patrol Officer George Granada said. [&hellip]

Sacramento Fire Department spokesman Chris Harvey said nine men and one woman, ranging from 19 to 58 years old, were treated for stab wounds, cuts, scrapes and bruises. Of the injured, two were taken to the hospital with critical stab wounds, but they were expected to survive.

The thing that leapt out at me is that in a country where we keep having mass shooting after mass shooting, week after week after blood-soaked week, to the point where most of them don’t even make the news, this clash, which sounds like a 400-person brawl, didn’t kill anyone.

The other thing that’s missing from the reporting: guns.

So yeah, people are stupid and violent, and if they don’t have guns, will find other ways of killing each other — after all, we did it for thousands of years before the invention of gunpowder — but guns make it so much easier.

Let’s not make it any easier to kill our fellow humans than it has to be, okay?

Family Research Center Shooting

In case you missed it, someone shot up the <a href="http://wwwfrc.org/"Family Research Council headquarters in Washington, DC.

Greta Christina puts it thusly:

This is not acceptable. We do not shoot people just because we disagree with them.

(read the rest of it for context which makes it better.)

Hemant Mehta passes on official statements from the Secular Coalition of America

“While we disagree with the Family Research Council on nearly every issue, the debate surrounding the role of religion in the public sphere should be fought with reason and logic, not guns,” said Edwina Rogers, Executive Director. “We absolutely condemn this sort of senseless violence.”

and American Atheists:

American Atheists is saddened to learn about the shooting at the Family Research Council today. Our thoughts are with the security officer who was injured and the other employees who were traumatized.

American Atheists never advocate violence as an answer to disagreements, even with those who believe differently than our members.

I can’t think of anything to add. I don’t like the FRC or what they advocate, but you don’t go around shooting people you disagree with, or otherwise doing or threatening violence. This is not acceptable.