Part one (available now) shares the story of how self-deportation started as a joke in the 1990s and is now a major part of the GOP platform.

Really looking forward to part two.

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DecodeDC takes on immigration

So much to appreciate here…

• Pointing out both sides use fear to promote their agenda — one of my BIGGEST complaints with our political system.
• Showing the irony in calling the government the evil tyrant that we must protect ourselves from and then applauding the government for being the good guys.
• Pointing out that there’s no way to always know who the good guys are and who the bad guys are — and if they’ll always stay that way.
• And pointing out that if a good guy becomes a bad guy (as sometimes happens) in the NRA’s mindset, you’ve already given them a gun.

A co-worker pointed out last week that if the real reason we need guns is to protect us from the evil tyrant of a government – he wants an F-16. Because an AR-15 isn’t going to protect him from the largest military in the world.

I agree.

Seems we’re going to either really have to up our own personal weapons arsenal – or drastically downgrade the U.S. military.

–
Also – for some additional fun, The Daily Show came to Dallas this past week to celebrate Cinco de Mayo.

The clincher line – “They do the jobs we don’t want to do, staying sober and staying politically engaged.”

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Jon Stewart on the NRA Convention

And although this is a fascinating provocation, it is not (yet) a game-changer, especially in America where traditional guns (capable of firing thousands of rounds without melting down) are cheap and easy to get. You can even "3D print" a gun by asking different CNC shops to cut and overnight you all the parts to make up a working gun, breaking the job down into small pieces that are unlikely to arouse suspicion.

via Defense Distributed claims working 3D printed handgun – Boing Boing.

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Defense Distributed claims working 3D printed handgun

Turning from rockstar to “factivist” Bono points out that in the last 25 years we now have 7526 less children dying per day. Things ARE getting better – but there’s still a lot to be done.

Like he did at Georgetown last year, Bono quoted Wael Ghonim, who launched a Facebook group that spurred the uprising in Egypt last year:

“We’re going to win because we don’t understand politics. We’re going to win because we don’t play their dirty games. We’re going to win because we don’t have an agenda. We’re going to win because the tears that comes from our eyes actually come from our hearts. We’re going to win because we have dreams. We’re going to win because we are willing to stand up for our dreams. We’re going to win because the power of the people is so much stronger than the people in power.”

What stat stands out to you the most during the video?

A big HT to Charles Lee for pointing this video out.

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Bono on poverty

Love this!

Painter and Welder from The Work Of The People on Vimeo.

And this…

Kinda reminds me of a recent story about a gardener and a local artist…

HT Rachel Held Evans

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Painters and Welders – Swords and Plowshares

It’s been a little over a month since the Sandy Hook shooting. 27 dead in one day – the majority of them were six-year old children.

And since Sandy Hook, we’ve seen more than 1200 other shooting deaths around the country.

The details of Sandy Hook still seem somewhat sketchy, which is leading a lot of people to claim it’s a conspiracy and others to drive a solid line in the sand on one side or the other in the gun control debate.

Since the shooting, President Obama has issued his plan, based on Vice President Biden’s advice but they never asked me for my advice. I’m sure you’re all super surprised.

Oh well – I’ll share it with you and anyone who will listen.

First off as a disclaimer: I want to see all guns banned. I long to see a day when we beat our swords (and guns and bombs) into plowshares and turn them into creative art rather than weapons of destruction and death. But… I realize this is America and we have that pesky 2nd Amendment so I offer these suggestions with that in mind.

• Require all US gun owners to obtain a federal (and/or state) license. We already require a licence for things like fishing, hunting, driving a car, working with food, etc. etc. Let’s require all gun owners to obtain a license to own a gun. No guns or ammunition may be purchased without the license. I’d prefer to see this license renewed yearly, but would accept a 3-year renewal process if needed. I understand the UK has a 5-year renewal requirement and they also have one of the lowest rates for gun deaths in the world. Licensing fees will be dedicated to education I’ll mention in a bit. If you want the right to own a gun, prove you’re responsible enough to do so.
• In addition to background checks as part of the licensing process, card applicants must take a 10 hour course from a certified instructor before their license is approved. The course will cover things similar to a CHL license in Texas: use of force, non violent dispute resolution, gun use, marksmanship and safe and proper storage of guns and ammunition. Additional classroom hours will be required before licenses may be renewed. This might be a good chance for the NRA to re-focus on their original mission of gun education instead of a political action committee.
• All existing guns must be registered to a licensed gun owner. Any gun found not registered, regardless of the circumstance will be confiscated immediately.
• Increase funding for the study of antidepressants and other SSRIs and psychiatric drugs and their effect on violent behavior. Numerous reports have linked these drugs to countless murders and suicides around the country – not just mass shootings. While serotonin can be a bad thing if our bodies aren’t producing enough, the effects can be just as harmful if we’re getting too much.
• Place an immediate ban on media reporting the names and photos of suspects in mass shootings. Yes, this tramples on 1st Amendment rights and yes, I would hate to have my voice censored when I was a reporter but we restrict the media in other ways and I think we should restrict the media in this way as well. Twenty years from now we should be remembering the names of Caroline Previdi, James Mattioli, Daniel Barden and their classmates as well as their teachers, Rachel D’Avino, Anne Marie Murphy and Victoria Soto — not the names of a cowardly gunman.
• Use the funds from the licensing fees to increase non-violent conflict resolution training in our schools – from Kindergarten to college. I would like to see the funds raised from each state stay within their state. If more people own guns in a state, there should be more conflict resolution training in the schools. Simple as that.
• Rather than arm teachers or pay for armed guards at every school in America, I would rather see school campuses (especially Kindergarten through High School) invest in better unmanned security around their campus. There is no reason schools can’t lock-down their buildings with minimal entrances that require ID cards or office verification before anyone can even enter the school. There’s also no reason campuses can’t have better security cameras to alert faculty and staff in the chance someone does get by the initial security clearance. If an intruder is spotted, use fire-safety technology to automatically close and lock all doors across the campus.

That’s my plan… It’s far from perfect, but it’s what I have to offer to the conversation today.

What do you think?

Could you live with these “restrictions.”

Could these changes pass Congress with or without the NRA’s involvement?

What would you add?

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If Obama asked me about gun control

…if we can’t find a way to draw sensible lines with guns that balance individual rights and the public interest, we may as well call the American experiment in democracy a failure.

There is just no reason civilians need to own assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. Gun enthusiasts can still have their venison chili, shoot for sport and competition, and make a home invader flee for his life without pretending they are a part of the SEAL team that took out Osama bin Laden.

It speaks horribly of the public discourse in this country that talking about gun reform in the wake of a mass shooting is regarded as inappropriate or as politicizing the tragedy. But such a conversation is political only to those who are ideologically predisposed to see regulation of any kind as the creep of tyranny. And it is inappropriate only to those delusional enough to believe it would disrespect the victims of gun violence to do anything other than sit around and mourn their passing. Mourning is important, but so is decisive action.

Congress must reinstate and toughen the ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.

It’s a great read.

And I also encourage you to read Eugene Cho’s post that pointed me to Judge Burn’s article…

Recently, someone asked me what I would have conveyed to the parents and loved ones of those who had lost their children in these tragic shootings.

Well, there are things you just should not say. Rather not trying to over explain, over analyse, over theologize, over whatever, I think there’s a certain power in just being present in their pain. To mourn with those who mourn isn’t to help them quickly escape their mourning with convenient theology but rather to join them in their mourning.

But at some point, I’d also like to convey:

“I can’t bring back your child but I want to pray, work, and do whatever I can – by God’s grace – to ensure that something like this will never happen again.”

If not now, then when? If not for our children, then for who?

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A conservative judge makes the case for an assault weapons ban

Peace on Earth | Illustration by Jonathan Blundell

The first firearm was reportedly used in 1364.

Handguns weren’t widely used until 1380.

Until the 1400s, guns were fired by holding a burning wick to a “touch hole” in the barrel igniting the powder inside. One hand held the gun, the other hand lit the wick. Often the gun was steadied on a prop of some sort.

In the 1400s, the matchlock gun appeared, which allowed the user to keep both hands on the gun at the moment of firing. I small fire was still needed, but it could be lit and held in place until the mechanical piece was moved via the trigger and thus lighting the gunpowder.

In 1509 the wheellock was invented, which generated sparks mechanically. However because of their cost, matchlock guns remained the common gun of choice for most.

The first settlers arrived in the U.S. at Jamestown, Virginia in 1607.

The flintlock mechanism was invented in France in the late 1600s, which created a spark in the flash-pan where the gunpowder was stored. The spark was created from a piece of flint striking the metal frizzen. Flintlock pistols and rifles became the gun of choice until the mid-1800s.

Despite their popularity, flintlock pistols were not very effective at long ranges. They were used primarily for self-defense or as a military arm. But with their widespread use, flintlock pistols became the weapon of choice for duels by the mid-1700s (replacing rapiers).

Our term “flash-in-the-pan” comes from the flintlock mechanism.

July 26, 1764, four Lenape American Indians entered the schoolhouse near present-day Greencastle, Pennsylvania and shot and killed schoolmaster Enoch Brown, and killed nine or ten children (reports vary).

July 4, 1776, the American colonies revolted from the British Empire. The American Revolution was fought with flintlock muzzle-loaded muskets and flintlock pistols carried by both British and American soldiers.

December 15, 1791, the second amendment to the U.S. Constitution is adopted which reads:

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

On July 11, 1804, Vice President Aaron Burr fatally wounds former Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton in a duel in New Jersey.

The percussion-detonating mechanism is patented in 1807. The mechanism and the percussion-cap enabled guns to be fired in all weather situations and allowed the creation of smaller handguns like the single-shot Derringer, which was used to later assassinate Abraham Lincoln.

Samuel Colt invents the Colt revolver in 1835. The gun was the first mass-produced, multi-shot, revolving firearm.

In 1840, guns begin to use pinfire ammunition. Compared to the flint or percussion mechanisms, the pinfire ammunition (or cartridge) was far more convenient in that they could contain percussion cap, powder and shot in a neat pre-loaded package. It was several times faster to fire and reload than previous technologies.

Shotguns began to become commonplace in the 1850s and were used primarily for hunting birds.

In 1860, the Christopher Spencer repeating carbine was patented. The lever-action rifle could fire 7 rounds in 15 seconds. Though the Civil War began at this time, the U.S. Army did not adopt the weapon immediately fearing that soldiers would fire more often, constantly need fresh ammunition, and overtax the supply system. It wasn’t until Abraham Lincoln test-fired the weapon in 1863 that mass production of the weapon began.

The Secret Service was created by President Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865 in order to suppress counterfeit money in circulation. It was commissioned on July 5, 1865.

April 14, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. The legislation creating the Secret Service was lying on Lincoln’s desk the night he was assassinated.

In 1869, the centerfire cartridge is introduced. Similar to the pinfire mechanism, the centerfire ammunition contained everything in a neat pre-loaded package, but moved the pin from the side of the cartridge to the center rear of the cartridge.

In 1871, the first cartridge revolver was introduced. Two years later, in 1873 the Winchester rifle was introduced. The Winchester became known as the “the gun that won the West.”

In 1877, the first effective double-action revolver was introduced. The double-action revolver meant a cocking action separate from the trigger pull was unnecessary. Every trigger pull resulted in a complete cycle (the hammer is pulled back to the cocked position, the cylinder is cued to the next round and the hammer is released to strike the firing pin).

In 1879, James Paris Lee patented a box magazine, which held rounds stacked vertically.

July 2, 1881, President William Garfield was assassinated.

April 9, 1891, the first known mass shooting in the U.S., where students were shot by an American citizen occurred in Newburgh, New York. A man fired a shotgun at a group of students in the playground of St. Mary’s Parochial School, causing minor injuries to several of the students.

In 1892, the first semi-automatic handguns are introduced. The first semi-automatic pistol was created by Joseph Laumann in 1892. But the Borchardt pistol of 1893 was the first semi-automatic with a separate magazine in the grip, and this remains the defining feature of the breed.

September 6, 1901, President William McKinley was assassinated.

Congress requested the Secret Service to provide presidential protection in 1901 and in 1902, the Secret Service assumed full-time responsibility for presidential protection.

The Societ AK47 is introduced in 1947.

In 1962, the U.S. Air Force adopts the AR-15 automatic rifle. The rifle is later adopted by all U.S. Armed Forces and receives the designation as the M16. The AR-15 is currently the designation used by Colt for the commercial semi-automatic version of the weapon. The M16A4 adaptation remains in active service.

November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.

On August 1, 1966, a shooter climbed atop the observation deck at the University of Texas in Austin and killed 16 people and wounded 31 during a 96-minute shooting rampage.

In 1985, the U.S. Armed forces adopt the Beretta 92, a semi-automatic handgun.

On April 20, 1999, two armed students walked into Columbine High School and killed 12 students and one teacher. Twenty-one other students were injured in the shooting spree.

April 16, 2007, a student at Virginia Tech kills 32 students and injures 17 others at the school. It remains the deadliest shooting incident by a single gunman in U.S. history.

December 14, 2012, a young man walks into Sandy Hook Elementary School and gunned down 26 individuals, including 20 1st graders, aged six and seven.

Sources: PBS and Wikipedia

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A brief history of guns and the U.S.

Peace on Earth | Illustration by Jonathan Blundell

Let’s face it – we all believe in gun control in some form or fashion.

Whether it’s keeping my two-year old boys (or your young children) from playing with an AK-47 unattended, or restricting those with criminal records from buying a gun, or maybe its the restriction of selling US arms to foreign groups — we all believe in gun control to some extent.

According to the CDC and the University of Chicago Crime Lab, the US currently averages 87 gun deaths each day as a function of gun violence, with an average of 183 injured.

So, perhaps rather than asking whether or not we believe in gun control — the real question is where’s the line for you?

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We all believe in gun control

Bono sings Ultraviolet in Houston, TX during the 360 Tour (Oct. 2009). Photo by Jonathan Blundell.

Bono rocked another sermon recently at Georgetown University – calling the students (and the rest of us) to action to alleviate the suffering in the world around us.

“I don’t know if this is a lectern or a pulpit,” Bono told the crowd, folding his arms on the wooden podium in front of him, “but I feel oddly comfortable. It’s a bit of a worry, isn’t it? So … welcome to Pop Culture Studies 101. Please take out your notebooks. Today we are going to discuss why rock stars should never, ever be given access to microphones at institutes of higher learning.

“You will receive no credit for taking this class,” Bono joked, “not even street cred — it’s too late for that. I will, of course, be dropping the occasional pop culture reference to give the impression that I know where your generation is at. I do not. I am not sure where I am at.”

I was really impacted when I heard Bono speak in Dallas several years ago — and this was no different.

And this latest sermon follows a great line of other sermons he’s given in recent years – spreading the Good News to those that have ears.

Early on, Bono took a few jabs at the recent presidential election and all the attack ads — but said he’d be happy to see attack ads on things that truly matter.

“I’d like to hear attack ads on things worth attacking. If there was an attack ad on malaria, I’d get that, because 3,000 people die every day — mostly kids — of malaria. Let’s have an attack ad on malaria. Let’s have an attack ad on mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS. I’d get that.”

“Choose your enemies carefully because they define you,” he said — taking a line from U2′s song “Cedars of Lebanon”. “Make sure they’re interesting enough because trust me, you’re going to spend a lot of time in their company. So let’s pick a worthwhile enemy, shall we?”

I can dig that. What we choose to fight engulfs us. It fills our thoughts, our minds, our speech and our hearts. Imagine if we did truly find enemies worth giving that much attention to — instead of the friend on Facebook with different political views.

Bono explained to the audience, often with the cadence of a black preacher and a rock star, that the biggest issue today is extreme poverty — and thus it should become our biggest enemy.

He explained that the Arab Spring, Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party were all signs of the pyramids of power wanting to be overturned — also making the connection between these recent movements and the Clash and punk rock.

Bono then made the case that the expected budget cuts in the US will hurt people all over — especially those already hurting the most.

“That slashing sound you hear is a big pair of scissors bearing down on the federal budget,” he said. “Cuts — they hurt. Somebody bleeds. The aid cut along would mean that nearly 275,000 people wouldn’t get the AIDS treatment they need, resulting in over 60,000 deaths. A quarter of a million more children will become AIDS orphans. Real people. Real bleeding. Cuts shouldn’t cost lives. Cuts shouldn’t cost the lives of the poorest of the poor. It shouldn’t be a hard case to make — but it is right now — in the halls of Congress, in the Senate, maybe even here in Gaston Hall,” he said choking back emotion.

“We must not let this economic recession become a moral recession. That would be double cruelty,” he added to the applause of the audience.

As he made the point earlier about our enemies, Bono let those in attendance, many college students who have likely become accustomed to easy online activism, that “one-dollar a day” or “one-minute of your time” wasn’t going to change the world. Changing the world would take far more.

“In truth, if you want to change the world right side up, it’s not going to take a minute, or an hour, or a day,” he said. “It’s going to take your whole life.”

Bono also touched on the importance of capitalism — alongside aid (something he said he’s recently come to realize in his work), noting that aid alone won’t solve the world’s issues.

“It is the nerds, the innovators, the programmers who are changing the world,” he explained. “Not only here in America but even more in places like Africa. Which is more mobile than we are. Africa is the second largest market after Asia. This is the era of the Afro-nerd. And these Afro-nerds are up to upending the pyramid.”

Bono explained how technology and social media have turbo-charged activism by breaking down the walls of corruption and throwing transparency into the mix — even on rock stars vacationing with their family.

“This is a right wrong issue,” he explained. “And America has constantly been on the side of right. Because when it comes down to it, this is about keeping faith in the idea of America… the idea that you and me are created equal… Those people I’ve been talking about today — the poor — they’re not ‘those people,’ they’re not ‘them.’ They’re us. They’re you. They dream as you dream. They value what you value. There is no them, only us. The American anthem is not exceptionalism, it’s universalism. There is no them. Only us. Ubuntu. ‘I am because we are.’ There is no them. Only us.”

(If you’ve read this blog for an extended period of time, you know I’m a fan of Ubuntu.)

Towards the end of his sermon, Bono spoke of St. Ignatius of Loyola.

“St. Ignatius, he was a soldier. He was lying on a bed recovering from his wounds when he had what they call a conversion of the heart. He saw God’s work and the call to do God’s work. Not just in the church, in everything, everywhere. The arts, universities, the Orient, the New World. And once he knew about that, he couldn’t unknow it. It changed him. It forced him out of bed and into the world. And that’s what I’m hoping happens here in Georgetown with you. Because when you truly accept that those children in some far off place in the global village have the same value as you — in God’s eyes or even just in your eyes — then your life is forever changed. You see something that you can’t unsee.”

Or as William Willberforce said, “You may choose to look the other way but you can never again say you did not know.”

In closing, Bono quoted Wael Ghonim, who launched a Facebook group that spurred the uprising in Egypt last year.:

“We’re going to win because we don’t understand politics. We’re going to win because we don’t play their dirty games. We’re going to win because we don’t have an agenda. We’re going to win because the tears that comes from our eyes actually come from our hearts. We’re going to win because we have dreams. We’re going to win because we are willing to stand up for our dreams. We’re going to win because the power of the people is so much stronger than the people in power.”

You can view the entire message below or read a great summary from Sojourners.

(Bono begins at 14:19)

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Bono takes the pulpit at Georgetown University