The National Gun Victims Action council is one of dozens of small gun control groups founded by a grieving parent. In this case it’s Eliot Fineman [above] whose son Michael was gunned down in 2006. According to the org’s website, “This utterly senseless act was committed by a mentally ill man who had no legal right to a gun yet was able to buy it legally because of holes in the background check database.” At sentencing, the killer’s lawyer said his client’s mental illness went untreated. And even if the NICS check had stopped Ralph Garbarini from buying a gun, the madman might have acquired a firearm from another source. That said, I’m not a grieving parent who’s spent an eternity playing woulda coulda shoulda. Thank God. But it’s important to note that that trauma can lead to this . . .
Wayne LaPierre Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer of the NRA has been in the news a lot of late. He gave the NRA’s response to the massacre at Sandy Hook—never mentioning anything about the victims in his speech. He did speak of his proposed National School Shield Program but did not talk about a Shield program for theaters in Aurora, CO or shopping malls in Portland Oregon, or parking lots in Tucson, AZ. He has testified before Congress, has been interviewed extensively on T.V., radio, is often quoted in print, and was a speaker at the recent CPAC in Washington D.C.
He is taken as a serious commentator on issues related to guns. He assures us that the only reason we have any of our freedoms is due to the Second Amendment. That if we lived in a country without a Second Amendment we would be pitiless slaves—without any freedoms—under the rule of tyrants. Was he talking about living in countries like England, France, Italy, and Sweden? (A country to live in with no gun regulations—LaPierre’s dream—is Somalia.) Does he have a point? Are his rants sensible or are they, in fact, the rants of a psychopath?
Fineman’s blog goes on to share professional criteria for what constitutes a psychopath, clearly indicating that he believes the NRA Prez qualifies.
I know Wayne comes over a bit stiff. OK, a lot stiff. But Fineman’s ad hominem attack on the NRA jefe tells us more about Mr. Fineman than it does about Mr. LaPierre. It tells us that he’s looking for someone to blame for his son’s incredibly random, indeed senseless death. That man is in jail.
Mr. Fineman doesn’t see it that way. He believes the NRA, the gun industry and gun nuts are to blame for firearms-related death and injury. And so he wants to disarm civilians, people who fear the fate that befell Mr. Fineman’s son. And Mr. Fineman. That’s deeply misguided and not a little ironic. But it’s also sad. And dangerous.
According to his website, the Episcopal Peace Fellowship, the United Church of Christ, the National Council of Churches (NCC), and the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) support the National Gun Victims Action Council. They would do well to see the hatred buried in Mr. Fineman’s heart and move away. No good can come of it.
Fineman makes the error that a lot of people in pain make. They lash out at everyone, hoping to share what they feel. It’s understandable, but not the basis of valid public policy.
I believe it was Benjamin Franklin who said that an empty stomach does not a wise councellor make (or words to that effect). A broken heart likewise does not offer sound advice.
And the sad thing is, there are those who will exploit his pain for their own benefit and drop him when they are done. Remember how quickly mainstream Democrats dropped Cindy Sheehan once Obama was in office. She was still out there protesting the wars in the middle east, but for some reason, all of her support dried up when it was a Dem running the wars.
I felt kind of bad for her. That is a pretty big bus to get thrown under.
Why does he have a creepy, evil sh*t eating grin when he’s trying to share his pain about his son Michael being shot by a lunatic?
Probably photo studio portrait photo taken before his son was killed
There *is* a shield program for places like movie theaters in Aurora and parking lots in Tucson. It’s called the Second Amendment.
The Cinemark Theater in Aurora was not the closest to the shooter, nor the largest. It did however have prominent signs declaring it to be a gun-free zone. Shields were obviously down for anyone making plans of attack.
Of course such details are conveniently overlooked by bloody-flag wavers who wish to trample the 2A.
“This utterly senseless act was committed by a mentally ill man who had no legal right to a gun yet was able to buy it legally because of holes in the background check database.” At sentencing, the killer’s lawyer said his client’s mental illness went untreated. And even if the NICS check had stopped Ralph Garbarini from buying a gun, the madman might have acquired a firearm from another source.
Hmmm. Let’s go through the bold sections:
Mentally ill people can be dangerous. Check.
Untreated mentally ill people can be dangerous. Check.
Mentally ill person able to buy a gun legally. Please cite proof of purchase and sources. Also include all the politicians who are currently “anti-gun” that didn’t opt to ensure NCIS checks were effective for years.
Mentally ill people can acquire a firearm somehow. No kidding. While you’re sitting there cooking up scenarios in your head, why limit the tool to a firearm? Mentally ill people can (and often do) choose a wide variety of other tools to inflict injury on themselves and others all the time.
Your son was in the wrong place at the wrong time. And I’m guessing they didn’t have a means to defend himself. The same means you want to strip away from other sons, fathers, and mothers.
Interesting. So your solution to stopping the murder of children is to ensure anyone around them is disarmed and at a distinct disadvantage when faced with a criminal or mentally ill person that means that child harm.
Frankly, your status as a grieving parent doesn’t give your political stance any legitimacy, Mr. Fineman. Tens of thousands of people lose their kids to violent crime all the time. Do you think you’re the only parent that has lost a child that way?
Your entire site and organization is poised to try to put other fathers, mothers, and their children in the same dangerous situation your son was in with the same status: defenseless victim.
Congrats.
I am very satisfied with Wayne’s no compromise stance. I was fearful that the NRA might compromise with Obama… but the NRA is holding the line.
“Thus far and NO Further ! “
Confession time: (i) I have an (expiring) subscription to Business Week; and, (ii) I have made some very unflattering comments about the NRA. The second has been well documented here at TTAG.
Business Week’s cover story hatchet job on the NRA has caused me to rethink my position and admit that I have been overly critical. As of tonight I am an NRA member. Any enemy of my enemy and all that.
I applaud your honesty, and your decision.
I recently converted my annual membership to life status; good for the NRA and the $300 upgrade deal was a savings for me.
Was he talking about living in countries like England, France, Italy, and Sweden? (A country to live in with no gun regulations—LaPierre’s dream—is Somalia.)
Well, living in France, Italy or Sweden was no picnic in the early 1940s, particularly if you were Jewish, Communist or some other enemy of the Nazi state. Having a gun might have come in handy when the Brownshirts showed up to cart you off to the death camp. And as for England, the Scotts and the Irish have a different view of the right to bear arms under English rule.
Somalia, interestingly enough, had pretty strict gun control back before the wheels came off in the late ’80s. There was universal registration of hunting weapons, and only long guns were permitted for people engaged in legitimate hunting operations. Very few permits for long guns were granted. There were probably only a few dozen rifles legally held in private hands in the whole country. Of course, there were also huge parts of the country with no effective central government, so the niceties of the law did not mean much there.
It was only after our friends the Saudis started dumping massive numbers of modern, functional AK-47s into the country that things really started to get out of hand. All of a sudden, the stupid street kid you were used to seeing running around with a rusted away non-functional WWII rifle had a brand new, shiny AK-17 and ammunition to spare. Seemingly overnight Somalia became a very dangerous place to be.
Feinmen is a fascist pig who is a swine of a dad using his dead son for political gain. No gun owners want a nation like Switzerland who has low crime and gun ownership not a quasi Nazi state England is becoming.
This is what we call projection.
FYI the United Church of Christ does not speak for all it’s members.
For your information the United Church of Christ does not speak for all it’s members. I hate it when the head office backs shit without even sending their churches.
A country to live in with no gun regulations—LaPierre’s dream—is Somalia.
No, his dream country with no gun regulations is the US. Which, up until 79 years ago, that was the case. Yes, just a few years before this SOB was born, the US respected the Second Amendment.
Some people just need a sympathetic pat on the head…
… with a hammer
Has anyone tried to leave a comment on his blog?
Mines still in “moderation”.
2 days in “moderation” and counting.
Guess he didn’t actually want comments….
Elliot Fineman (with two “l”s re para 1) saw his son off to Iraq for the first Gulf War. The son was a gun owner. As a civil engineer dad took up the craft of helping accounting firms market consulting services. No doubt he grew restless and since Chicago (his home town) had this anti-gun thing going, and since going after nut cases is easier than going after thug bro’s in the south side ‘hood, he took the easy way out. Easier fund raising. Easier target. I’d like to see him focus on his local problem. As for the European comparisons, France and Italy are full of guns. With a hunting license in Italy you can add as many AR-15’s as you can afford. The “Europe is so gun-free” bit is starting to wear on me. It’s a lie. Sweden? Almost very landowning man has three, eventual ten rifles, shotguns, etc. I know them. The lower classes? Not so many guns. Get the picture? Why, I might add, are guns in the hands of the mentally deranged (killing few) so shocking, but guns in the hands of violent repeat offenders (which do most of the killing) not Fineman’s focus? The neighborhood of the ‘dessert place’ where Fineman’s son met his end is experiencing more and more crime. Madmen aren’t really the main shooting there, though people in south San Diego like to focus on the homeless-guy dangers. They avoid staring straight at the drugs-n-guns bit.
I blame the gun control lobby for the gun violence. Instead of passing legislation that would actually prevent these sort of crimes, the anti-gun keep piling worthless regulations on top of another. In addition, the anti-gunners spread misinformation and outright lies about firearms, which further results in ignorant laws(and people). The pro-2A lobby then has to expend resources to deal with these unconstitutional, anti-freedom laws in addition to a misinformed populace swayed by the anti-gun demagogy. Knowledge and wisdom empowers, and if the anti-gun have to support their ideology through lies and appealing to the emotions, then they are in the wrong.
Is it not a sign of admitting defeat when the opponent in a debate resorts to ad-hominems?
After studying psychopathy for nearly 30 years, having been married to one (not my diagnosis, the criminal justice system’s), I’m very familiar with the Hare Checklist, which Fineman reproduces. Yet he fails to give a single example for even one checklist characteristic.
On the other hand, try running the known behavior of a very prominent “liberal” politician and gun-grabber through the list. Anyone can come up with multiple examples for nearly all characteristics.
Kwame Kilpatrick, former mayor of Detroit – I never interviewed him but from news reports alone we have:
-Superficial charm
-Grandiose self-image
-Parasitic lifestyle
-Inability to accept responsibility
-Lack of remorse
-Manipulative
-Pathological lying
-Promiscuity
-Revocation of provisional release
To be honest, though, you can find a lot of the same traits in conservative politicians. Newt (“I only cheated on my wife because I love America so much”) Gingrich comes to mind.
OK, let’s talk about what happens when mentally unstable people don’t have access to a gun.
What happens? They still kill.
Example: Just days before Newtown, CT, a young man with Asperger’s Syndrome (stop me if you’ve heard of this ‘syndrome’ yet) killed his father and his father’s girlfriend here in Wyoming, then killed himself. Did his father with a compound bow, a broadhead and finished him with a knife, knifed the girlfriend and then killed himself with the knife.
http://trib.com/news/local/casper/family-member-casper-college-killer-near-genius-was-at-odds/article_731ac349-11eb-5c30-8058-f2eeaac983f1.html
Oh, you didn’t hear about that case? Well, here’s the funny thing. For the first 24 hours after this happened, the state and national press were spinning up their mass-media hysteria for a gun death (because the father was shot in front of his classroom full of students)… but the Natrona County Sheriff’s Department didn’t release the weapon used in the death. They wanted to be thorough and complete as rapidly as possible, and the Natrona County officials kept scrupulously quiet. The national media heard the word “shot” and instantly assumed “Gun!” and after the shooting in the theatre in Colorado earlier last year, they were ready to take the story and run with it.
When the facts were released about what weapons this nutjob actually used and that it was a compound bow, hunting arrow and knife, we heard the story disappear off the wire within three hours after the press conference held by the Natrona Co. Sheriff’s Dep’t on the details of the case – including the salient fact that there was no gun used.
OK, want other examples? Guy gets jilted by woman at a nightclub. Goes across street, finds an old hydraulic jack oil jug, then goes and buys $1 worth of gasoline, goes back to the nightclub, spreads the gas inside the entrance, lights a match and kills… 87 people. Google that right up: Happyland Social Club Fire.
There’s a real disconnect here in the US as to the real causes of violence. Violence isn’t caused by tools and techniques. It’s caused by people, acting against other people. Taking away one form of tools won’t necessarily reduce the violence or loss of life. The biggest mass murders in US history have all been done with something other than a gun: ANFO, fire, jet airliners hijacked with box cutters.
While Asperger’s is generally more self destructive (mostly by accident) they are frankly just tards in the final analysis…
High-functioning in specific areas, but otherwise and still, tards. Genetic “defects” as harsh as that may sound.
Just like that loveable-but-effed-up-dog you own, letting it out in public will likely go badly. You aren’t going to let it bite your kids, you’ll put it down, because there is no other rational option.
The “horror” that eugenics is considered to be was merely ‘evolution’ less than 200 years ago.
Liberalism is a mental disorder. Stupid libtards.
“…a mentally ill man who had no legal right to a gun yet was able to buy it legally because of holes in the background check database.” Seems that his beef is with the government not the NRA.
Europe…where the defenseless slaves have their Savings Accounts/Pension Funds stolen by the bankers.
Yes, they most certainly are slaves in Europe! If Mr. Fineman loves Europe so much he should just move there.
Seems like, in the wake of his son’s death, Fineman would have had a new photo made depicting him as soulful and empathetic, to reflect how the tragedy had affected him.
This pic looks like Helen Thomas with all those crocodile teeth.
He assures us that the only reason we have any of our freedoms is due to the Second Amendment.
CHECK
That if we lived in a country without a Second Amendment we would be pitiless slaves—without any freedoms—under the rule of tyrants.
CHECK
Was he talking about living in countries like England, France, Italy, and Sweden?
CHECK
As for the comparison to Somalia, he is a retard. Somalia is the closest thing we have to an anarchy on this planet that I can think of. What Wayne (and the rest of us) want is a libertarian state with as many freedoms and liberties possible. We have a framework of law. They don’t. Big difference.
Really!?!?!? are you f^cking kidding me?
do you guys want to know who the psychopaths are???
I dont recall wayne lapierre laughing about bombing iran (hilldog) or that the price of sanctions were worth the deaths of over 100K iraqi children (hilldog…((again!?))
…or bombing men, women, and children with hellfire missile-carrying Predators (the loser). Or lying to people with a straight face that America is on track to recovery (the loser). Then there is Ben Bernanke, with his condescending sneer that I would love to smack off of his face (well see how he sneers when he’s forced to eat his own worthless paper dollars).
yes, there are psychopaths.
Wayne Lapierre isn’t among them.
The Aurora theater shooter was being treated and he was still able to legally purchase firearms. I was thinking about this today. What if James Holmes therapist inadvertently caused him to flip? I mean what do they tell you at those visits other than “it’s not your fault” that your so fucked up. Tell someone that enough and eventually it’s gonna hit them that if “it’s not their fault” then it must be someone else’s. What do you expect to happen but for them to go and take it out on other people?
“the madman might have acquired a firearm from another source. That said, I’m not a grieving parent who’s spent an eternity playing woulda coulda shoulda. ”
That’s one of the funniest things you’ve ever written, and you’ve written some doozies before. The only way to improve on it would have been to say “the madman couda acquired a firearm from another source.”
Every 10 seconds a human dies on this planet so there’s no need to make a fuss over this one death as one day we all die.
Fineman is just another sick, little jew, who is as phony as that ridiculous smile. Pro gun people won’t even debate the pissant anymore because theres no point to it ! Why waste your time arguing with an idiot,or give him any undo publicity that he will just try to twist around with more lies and bullshit ? This little jew is totally and complete irrela
Typical of the fomenting, anti-gun crowd… Spout names and hysteria, but no substance or facts. On the other hand, you confront THEM with facts and substance, and they call you names, make us feel like degenerative diseases on society, and then walk away with their noses in the air. Goes to show that you can’t fix those who refuse to hear truth… See? No name calling here…