Pittsburgh Post Gazette blasts the " Gospel of Hate" and right wing radio

[sufrommich]

A city grieves: The societal plague of gun violence hits home hard
Monday, April 06, 2009
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

"The person accused of the crimes, Richard Andrew Poplawski, appears to be another archetype loser who was all about rights but not responsibilities and whose mind had been poisoned by drinking deep of irrational anti-government conspiracies and gospels of hate."

"But there will be time enough to consider how lunatic it is that an AK-47 assault rifle can find its way into the hands of a seething fool, to weigh the culpability of politicians who resist sensible limits on guns and to take to task the radio talk show hosts who foment evil by banging drums of hatred."

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09096/960806-192.stm

[saltpoint]

1. Good for the POST-GAZETTE.

And we know which talk hosts they're talking about.

[sufrommich]

4. Yes we do, it would be nice to see other media take a stand too.

[saltpoint]

5. Agree. The media have a lot to answer for lately, and it would be great

to see them follow the lead of the Pittsburgh folks.

[SFLady]

21. Here's hoping

that Keith Olbermann takes this on tonight.

[TwilightGardener]

2. Great editorial, thanks.

[geckosfeet]

3. Thanks for the post - easy guns, weak minds and hate talk. Not a good combination.

[BlooInBloo]

14. A good summary.

[C......N......C]

6. "politicians who resist sensible limits on guns " Sensible limits will do nothing.

Total confiscation of all guns with random searches for guns will do something.

[sufrommich]

7. You will never achieve that in the U.S.

Better to be practical and impose limits on gun ownership.

[sharp_stick]

12. That is pretty much impossible

I think just having a decent registration system with the ability to restrict sales when needed to nutcases would be a better option.

[Leftist Agitator]

17. That's worked so well with drugs.

Let's start another war on otherwise law-abiding American people. It has such a track record of success, blanket prohibitions and eroding the 4th Amendment in the name of a moralistic crusade.

:eyes:

[spin]

19. And if you tried to confiscate all guns..

you would encounter thousands of individuals who would be willing to defend their rights to own firearms.

And currently you would run afoul of the Constitution and the Supreme Court decision in:

District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. ___ (2008) is a landmark legal case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution protects an individual's right to possess a firearm for private use. It was the first Supreme Court case in United States history to directly address whether the right to keep and bear arms is a right of individuals or a collective right that applies only to state-regulated militias.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/District_of_Columbia_v._Heller

It's always easy to say that we should confiscate all firearms, especially if you can stand on the sidelines while the police or the army attempt to accomplish your mission.

We get upset when 4000 of our soldiers die in a needless war. Why would you feel that the citizens of this country would support the loss of life of both the gun owners and the enforcement officers that would result from gun confiscation. Many of the people who would resist are people who pose absolutely no threat and are in fact good citizens.

If you really want to accomplish some good on the gun issue, concentrate on taking firearms away from the criminal element and the drug gangs. This can be accomplished by using current law.

[4_TN_TITANS]

20. Total confiscation of all guns?

I'm sorry, but this country will never be invaded due to law abiding gun owners like me and my family, who could arm several small platoons.

As long as guns end up in the wrong hands (as they always will - no matter what laws are passed)I think I'll hang onto mine, thank-you. I like knowing that the wife is a better shot than I am, if she ever needs to defend herself or the kids.

[xiamiam]

8. i would like to see a compilation of all of those supposed journalists,

pundits, and media hosts in which they are advocating torture as justifiable...and then hold them accountable...

[jn2375]

9. need to push this into the MSM

hate talk needs to be held accountable

[ShareTheWoods]

10. Meanwhile, domestic violence, the cause of the shooting gets a pass

As a victim myself of domestic assault and attempted murder, it would be nice to see the root cause addressed in this case.

Making political hay out of these killings just allows the root cause to fester and ready to strike again.

[sufrommich]

11. The police were there on a domestic violence call and not

for the first time. They were killed because the shooter bought into the right wing paranoia that the government was there to take his guns.

[ShareTheWoods]

18. They were killed because the shooter bought into...

We do not know that for a fact. Maybe the shooter will confess to that being the reason, but all we
know right now is that he was paranoid, had domestic violence charges and he shot people.

Unless you have a confession from the shooter, the reason remains unknown.

[C......N......C]

13. I think attempted murder should have the same penalty as murder.

A survivor of attempted murder is alive not because of a change of mind of the perpetrator.

[LeftinOH]

15. The RW hate machine IS responsible in this case- but that's still just a fragment of

the total mass-shooting "reasons". Still, if one of the "reasons" is easily identified (like this one), then its worth exposing.

[sharp_stick]

16. How about the NRA?

I see Wayne LaPierre (sp?) and his deliberate attempt to sell guns by pretending the Democrats are going to stop the sale of weapons to Americans. That asshole is neck deep in the firearms market and the insane pace of firearm and ammunition sales are lining his fucking pockets.

People crowding gun stores to buy all they can before the gubmint takes them away should be among the first to be psychologically barred from firearms purchases. Conspiracy nuts are just that.

[rvablue]

22. Kicking. Thanks Post Gazette for speaking out! n/t