Memory is a strange animal.  And among its most mysterious behaviors is the way past recollections are triggered by current experiences and events.  This morning I woke up and my first thoughts turned to May 7, 2003, a day which had been tucked away in my organic data banks for years.

In the spring of 2003, I team-taught a class in “Business and Politics” as part of the executive MBA program at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.  The curriculum included a one-week visit to Washington, DC, during which the students met with their congressional representatives, executive agency officials, Supreme Court staff and lobbyists.  On Wednesday evening we attended a reception at the National Press Club followed by a panel discussion on “the Political Landscape.”  The two panelists that night were Donna Brazille and Ed Gillespie.   Brazille was head of her own political consulting firm after serving as campaign director for Gore 2000.  Gillespie was chair of the Republican National Committee.  Never did I imagine how 14 years later the two of them would be at the center of political firestorms in their respective political parties within a 48 hour period.

It was a different time.  Both talked about being good friends and confessed they often communicated with each other.  (It helps explain how James Carville and Mary Matalin are still married.)  Even after the contentious 2000 presidential election, there was an air of mutual respect.  I came away feeling good about having had a chance to meet Gillespie and listening to his assessment of his party’s future.  I still disagreed with the Republican formula for making America better, but never viewed it as a threat to basic American values.  Ed Gillespie was a decent human being who just had a different perspective on what was best for the United States.

No one is more pleased than I, a native Virginian, in Ralph Northam’s election as the next governor of my home state or his stunning margin of victory.  And I still have hope the good citizens of Alabama follow the example of Old Dominion voters and send a message that bigotry, homophobia and xenophobia do not win elections.  But, a lingering disappointment remains, a disappointment in the realization that another otherwise decent individual had been corrupted by Donald Trump’s anti-Midas touch, the ability to taint anything and anyone within his proximity.

So let’s take a page from the brave women and children who have confronted sexual predators through the #MeToo movement.  Let’s start a #YouToo campaign by applying this hash tag to every individual who sheds his or her values in defense of Trump.  Not to abase them for making a wrong decision last November.  But to remind them what Trump is doing to America pales in comparison to what he is doing to citizens who continue to blindly follow him.  That this is not about their vote, but their very soul.  To remind them they used to be better than that and can be again.

For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP

Some of you may remember Jack Webb as Joe Friday on the television series Dragnet.  Friday was a no-nonsense LAPD detective who had no interest in spin.  Whenever questioning a witness or suspect, his trademark line was, “Just the facts.”

As previously posted, Donald J. Trump declared that the massacre at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas “was not a guns situation.”  If only we had a living, breathing president who believed in facts and research and supposedly pro-life members of Congress who cared more about the safety and well-being of citizens than they do about campaign contributions from the NRA and gun manufacturers.

Joe Friday would not have tolerated the spin coming from the White House and Congress over the last 48 hours.  He would want to know the facts and there is empirical evidence that a ban on assault weapons would make a difference.  Because in 1994, Congress passed and Bill Clinton signed the Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act which included a federal weapons ban prohibiting the manufacture for civilian use of certain semi-automatic weapons.  Unfortunately the Act also contained a sunset provision which voided the provision in September 2004, subject to review.

So, Detective Friday, here are your facts, comparing the data during and after the ban on semi-automatic assault rifles.

FACT: During the decade-long ban on assault rifles (1994-2004), there were only 15 mass shootings with four or more fatalities.  Since the ban lapsed in 2004, there have been 60 mass shootings.

FACT:  From 1994 to 2004, there were a total of 96 deaths and 101 injured.  Since the ban lapsed in 2004, there have been 533 deaths and 1429 injured.

FACT:  During the ban, there was only one incident with a double digit death toll (13 at Columbine High School in 1999).  This anomaly was likely due to the presence of two gunmen.  In contrast, since 2004 there have been 11 incidents with double digit death tolls including 58 in Las Vegas, 49 in Orlando, 27 in Newtown and 26 this past weekend in Sutherland Springs.  All of these most lethal attacks involved one shooter using semi-automatic assault rifles.

FACT: Of the 15 mass shootings between 1994 to 2004, in 13 cases the weapon of chose was a semi-automatic handgun with a standard cartridge with 15 rounds.  The standard magazine capacity for a semi-automatic weapon such as an AK-47 is 30 rounds. There are also 10, 20, and 40-round box magazines, as well as 75-round drum magazines.

FACT: During the 10-year ban on assault weapons, there were no efforts by the Bill Clinton or George W. Bush administration to confiscate otherwise legal handguns and rifles.  Nor was there any legislation introduced to require registration of privately owned guns despite the fact 70 percent of Americans FAVOR registration with the police of privately-owned guns according to an October 11, 2017 Gallup poll.

FACT:  In the same Gallup survey, 96 percent of respondents favored background checks for ALL gun purchases including gun shows, on-line sales and private transactions.  This number includes gun owners and NRA members.

As previously posted, there are always going to be evil and mentally deranged individuals.  There will be circumstances when otherwise sane people will lose it and become violent.  But the above evidence suggests allowing the weapons ban to lapse has placed weapons of mass destruction in the hands of those intent on harming others and has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of Americans who might otherwise be enjoying the holidays this year with their family and friends.

Two final thoughts.  First, many politicians who opposed renewing the ban point to studies by the U.S. Justice Department, the National Institute of Justice and even the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence which showed the impact of the ban was either insignificant or inconclusive.”  Just one problem, all of these studies were completed by 2004.  They do not take into  account the increased death and injured rates since then.

Second, to get the necessary votes to pass the original bill, proponents of the assault weapons ban agreed to the 10-year sunset with an option to renew. Every effort to extend the ban has been opposed including one led by California Senator Diane Feinstein immediately following Newtown which had the support of 90 percent of Americans.   Am I the only one who sees the irony that Republican Senators are proposing the tax rate decrease on corporations be made PERMANENT, regardless of the impact on the economy?  Yet a measure that would have saved lives required periodic review.

There is a name for people like this.  Clueless, hypocritical cowards.

For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP

Following the latest mass murder involving a semi-automatic assault weapon, the denier-in-chief took a few minutes to address the situation as reported by NBC News.

Asked at a joint press briefing with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe if he would consider pressing for gun control measures in the wake of America’s second mass shooting in a month, Trump said “mental health is your problem here,” calling the shooter a “very deranged individual” with “a lot of problems over a long period of time.”

Unfortunately, the shooter Devin Kelley is not the only person who fits this description.  The use of high-powered weapons IS a mental health issue.  To understand the basis for this assessment, one need only look at the list of “mental health symptoms” available from the Mayo Clinic.  These include:

Trouble Understanding and Relating to Situations and to People

Trump’s unfiltered response to current events demonstrate his  instincts are to use these situations to feed his own ego rather than to display empathy for the victims.  The Pulse was an opportunity to promote his bigoted ban on Muslim immigration although the perpetrator was a natural born U.S. citizen.  Using Hurricane Maria to pick a fight with the mayor of San Juan.  Questioning the integrity of Gold Star families.

Detachment from Reality, Paranoia or Hallucinations

In an August 22 article by the Washington Post fact-check team, they identified 1,057 instances in which Trump had out-right lied or misled the public since his inauguration.  That’s what I call detachment from reality!  And what is more paranoid than thinking you’ve been wire-tapped by a former president without a shred of evidence? Hallucinating?  How about seeing crowds that don’t exist?  Or fabricating meetings and phone calls that never took place? Or installing a plaque declaring his Virginia golf course as the site of a bloody Civil War battle although there is no record of such?

Withdrawal from Friends and Activities

Multiple media outlets have reported on how Trump prefers to spend time in the residence watching TV.  It seems the only companions he has left are the ones on Fox and Friends.

Confused Thinking or Reduced Ability to Concentrate

Whether he’s talking about “the amazing job” Frederick Douglass has done, reference to Andrew Jackson’s knowledge of the Civil War although Jackson died 16 years before the conflict began or climate change being a Chinese hoax, Trump’s inability to connect the dots and his lack of interest in ascertaining any real knowledge suggested we can expect more confused thinking in the future.

Excessive Anger and Hostility

The tweets speak for themselves.

So what does this have to do with Sutherland Springs, Las Vegas and Orlando?  In every one of these cases, the shooter clearly had mental issues.  In Texas, though unconfirmed, Kelley’s assault took place at the church at which his ex-in-laws worshiped. In Nevada, Stephan Paddock snapped following excessive gambling losses.  In Florida, Omar Mateen was compelled to punish gay individuals because he abhorred their behavior or because they enjoyed a lifestyle he could not have (yet to be determined).

Otherwise mentally healthy individuals snap everyday.  Most harm themselves or target their anger at an individual.  The difference between those people and Kelley, Paddock and Mateen was ACCESS TO ASSAULT WEAPONS.  For the supposed president of the United States to suggest the most recent shooting “isn’t a guns situation” demonstrates an inability to understand and relate to situations, confused thinking and detachment from reality.

One last point.  Trump made the point (probably fed to him by the NRA) a resident of Sutherland Springs grabbed his rifle and pursued Kelley.  This citizen deserves credit for putting his own life in danger to protect others.  But there is an important piece of information I’m waiting for.  Did the good Samaritan use an assault weapon?  My guess is he did not.  In other words, there are occasions when a “good guy with a gun” can make a difference.  But I challenge Trump or the NRA to share one instance in which the “good guy” used an AK-47 or similar weapon to neutralize a mass murderer.  A well-trained owner of a hunting rifle or handgun does not need a weapon of war to protect him/herself.

Consider the recent shooting at an suburban Denver Wal-Mart.  Several other shoppers pulled out their own guns.  But, according to the Los Angeles Times:

…police in Thornton, Colo., said that in this case the well-intentioned gun carriers set the stage for chaos, stalling efforts to capture the suspect in the Wednesday night shooting that killed three people.  None of the armed civilians fired their weapons, and the suspect managed to flee the store.

Bottom line.  Background checks are fine, but not when a person with a history of perfect mental health suddenly breaks down due to personal or professional issues.  No one should be entitled to own a weapon of mass killing.  Even Justice Antonio Scalia agreed in his majority opinion in District of Columbia v. Heller (2008), which struck down a ban on gun ownership, the decision did not prevent reasonable restrictions on the sale and use of such firearms.

Although we do not undertake an exhaustive historical analysis today of the full scope of the Second Amendment, nothing in our opinion should be taken to cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings, or laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms.

There should be reasonable checks on the ability of anyone to access powerful instruments of death.  You never know when a person might snap and do something totally irrational.  That includes an individual who thinks Sutherland Springs “is not a guns situation.”

For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP