We had submissions from three Soylentils with different takes on the NRA (National Rifle Association) and the public response in the wake of an attack at a Parkland, Florida high school.
Common Dreams reports:
In the latest sign that the aftermath of the Parkland, Florida tragedy may be playing out differently than the fallout from other mass shootings, several national companies have cut ties with the National Rifle Association (NRA).
[Car rental companies] Alamo, Enterprise, and National--all owned by Enterprise Holdings--announced late on [February 22] that they would end discounts for the NRA's five million members. Symantec, the security software giant that owns Lifelock and Norton, ended its discount program on Friday as well.
The First National Bank of Omaha also said it would stop issuing its NRA-branded Visa credit cards, emblazoned with the group's logo and called "the Official Credit Card of the NRA". The institution is the largest privately-held bank in the U.S., with locations in Nebraska, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, and South Dakota.
Additional coverage on TheHill, MarketWatch, Independent and Politico.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai joined the pack at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Friday alongside fellow Republican commissioners Michael O'Rielly and Brendan Carr—the architects of the recent order repealing net neutrality protections passed in the Obama era.
Upon taking the stage, it was announced that Pai was receiving an award from the National Rifle Association: a handmade Kentucky long gun and plaque known as the "Charlton Heston Courage Under Fire Award."
https://gizmodo.com/the-nra-just-awarded-fcc-chair-ajit-pai-with-a-gun-for-1823273450
Fallout continues from the mass murder in Florida. The National Rifle Association is taking it up the wazoo. A national boycott is emerging. If you are old enough, you will remember that this is what brought down Apartheid in South Africa.
From the Huffington Post:
In what may be a pivotal moment for American gun law reform, the National Rifle Association has become the object of intense pushback from anti-gun activists and survivors of last week's mass shooting at a Florida high school that left 17 dead.
All the attention prompted the gun-rights group to break from its usual strategy of keeping quiet after mass gun deaths. NRA officials have gone on the attack to rail against the "politicization" of a tragedy, and going so far as to suggest that members of the media "love mass shootings" because of the ratings they supposedly bring.
The uproar has once again presented companies affiliated with the NRA, and its powerful pro-gun lobby, with a question: to cut ties, or to continue a relationship with a large but controversial group?
The NRA partners with dozens of businesses to spread its pro-gun message and provide discounts to its members, who number 5 million, according to the group. But this week, some companies have begun to jump ship.
Facing pressure from consumers, the First National Bank of Omaha said Thursday it would stop issuing NRA-branded Visa credit cards after its contract with the group expires. Enterprise Holdings, which operates the rental car brands Enterprise, National and Alamo, says it will end its discount program for NRA members next month, along with Avis and Budget. Hertz is out, too.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 25 2018, @04:21PM (10 children)
Actually, it's tied to race. If you want to start the shit flinging on a massive level, go ahead and post statistics for those murders, and then we'll post ones for the US.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 25 2018, @05:39PM (9 children)
*heavy sarcasm* Yeah, we should kill all blacks to reduce the number of homicides!
(Score: 0, Troll) by Sulla on Sunday February 25 2018, @06:38PM (8 children)
Thats what original poster was getting at, it is insane/wrong to make such a proposal but in the US a disproportunate number of gun deaths are black-on-black. Removing (taking) guns from the inner cities would significantly improve our scores vs the rest of the world because the black-on-black crime would go down. Inner cities are hellholes, harder to start out, harder to break out of the rut, bad or expensive housing, lack of jobs, being stuck either being the best of the best or resorting to crime to feed yourself. If I am sure someone could post the stats comparing Montana to Illinois. The solution is not to kill them all the solution is to take away the need for violence.
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Sunday February 25 2018, @06:47PM (1 child)
I don't think you can do that. Young men need some kind of "rite of passage", and those rites usually involve some sort of violence. I believe that you can redirect violence. High school sports work for a lot of youngsters, with football probably being the number one satisfier for violence. Country boys used to get into hunting, fishing, camping, and generally challenging mother nature. School and extracurricular sports are probably the best way to redirect boy's need for violence. Peewee leagues and similar keep kids pretty busy, if you can just get them involved. Boy Scouts was also good for keeping kids busy - but I don't see that so much anymore.
But, so long as humans are humans, I think that boys and young men will always need some form of violence in their lives. Kids have just GOT TO "prove" their manhood to each other. Inner city kids with few opportunities do that by shooting each other.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Joe Desertrat on Sunday February 25 2018, @10:38PM
Maybe not necessarily violence, but your point makes sense. I visited fairly recently some of the places I used to frequent as a youth, mostly in pursuit of hunting and fishing but sometimes just wandering around. Most of them now have access cut off. A little patch of woods we wandered around in was bulldozed and youth league football and baseball stadiums were built, complete with locked chain link fences keeping out those who do not join sanctioned leagues. Several areas had flood control dikes, we used to fish there but apparently they are off limits since 9/11, when anyone fishing or exploring became a possible terrorist. A great grouse woods was buried under a reservoir in which, since they had to do major engineering work to prevent the water from draining into the sand, has access limited to one fishing pier. And so on. Public access to almost every place I used to frequent has been cut off. I can't imagine how I would have spent my time if I was growing up there now. And they wonder why kids turn to drugs or worse?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 25 2018, @08:18PM (4 children)
in the US a [disproportionate][1] number of gun deaths are black-on-black
I noticed that you didn't support your claim with a link.
Could it be that you just made that up?
[1] ...and get a spellchecker, dude. They're free.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 25 2018, @08:41PM
Yes, it could be. In fact, that sounds like just exactly what a racist would make up.
(Score: 1) by Sulla on Monday February 26 2018, @04:03AM (1 child)
Na, im known for my inability to spell
https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2013/crime-in-the-u.s.-2013/offenses-known-to-law-enforcement/expanded-homicide/expanded_homicide_data_table_6_murder_race_and_sex_of_vicitm_by_race_and_sex_of_offender_2013.xls [fbi.gov]
From 2013 but when looking at overall murder stats it is 2800 killed by whites to 2700 by blacks. To me this means there is a problem with the inner cities, not necessarily that there is a problem with those who happen to be black. White on white being 2500 and black on black being 2300.
Go read crime stats on the fbi site. Trigger warning, you wont like what you read.
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 26 2018, @08:19AM
>To me this means there is a problem with the inner cities, not necessarily that there is a problem with those who happen to be black.
It's poverty. Get rid of the poors and violent crime goes way down (first link is a PDF).
https://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1391&context=parkplace [iwu.edu]
http://mitsloan.mit.edu/newsroom/articles/new-study-gentrification-triggered-16-percent-drop-in-city-crime/ [mit.edu]
Except when it goes way up.
http://www.latimes.com/local/crime/la-me-lapd-central-20150902-story.html [latimes.com]
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Monday February 26 2018, @04:54AM
https://www.amren.com/the-color-of-crime/ [amren.com]
And you may disapprove of the messenger, but that doesn't change the numbers.
Same with "mass shootings":
https://herestherealnews.wordpress.com/2015/09/03/debunking-the-myth-that-most-mass-murderers-are-white/ [wordpress.com]
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Monday February 26 2018, @01:38AM
Chicago, they had so much "carnage" going on. It's a gun-free zone. But every day they had so many people getting shot. And getting shot to death. They did the gun control, it didn't work. So I told the Mayor, stop that "carnage"! Or I'll send in the Feds. And finally, he did something. Obama, supposedly he's from Chicago. He's not from Chicago, he's from Kenya, really from Kenya. But Chicago, right? He was the President, he did nothing. Massive "carnage." But you elected me and I made a promise: eventually we’re going to get something done. And I told that to the Mayor, he took care of it. Because of me.