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Gun Control – Is It The Solution? (Part II)

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Gun Control Headerby Benjamin T. Moore, Jr.

Part II

In the first part I endeavoured to give the reader an understanding of how firearms actually function and expose the lack of logic in the notion that the appearance of a firearm some how makes it more or less lethal. It is not whether or not a gun looks aggressive, the gun isn’t what you have to worry about. It’s those pesky bullets! Ironically, they all look pretty similar.

I also tried to give a broad overview of the laws governing firearms that already exist. It is intellectually disingenuous to pretend that the solution to gun violence is the enacting of more and more laws. If the ones we currently have are either not being effectively enforced or are being broken, I suspect that further laws will prove equally ineffective. It is not my position that there is no solution to this problem. Actually? I believe there is a solution, but we’ll never find it so long as we continue to focus our search in the wrong direction. Let’s take a journey together into an area few dare to venture.

Basic criminology 101, crimes are solved when you find the person or persons with:

  • Motive
  • Opportunity
  • Capability

If any one of these three components are lacking, you need to keep looking. Remember them because we’ll be returning to them a bit later.

A Series Of Unfortunate Coincidences

Evil Incarnate

The Virginia Tech, Aurora CO. and Portland Mall Shooters. There is something similar in their eyes.

Are you aware that almost every perpetrator of a mass shooting was under some level of psychiatric care? Most were being treated with some form of psychoactive drug therapy. Coincidence? Perhaps. Almost every mass shooter – those over the past decade – have given indication of their level of mental agitation either on their web page, a chat forum they frequented or on one of the several social networking services. A person or persons monitoring this level of agitation could probably predict when they were going to snap.

If you filter out the gang related shootings and the shootings where someone was having problems say on a job or some other readily identifiable cause that may have pushed them over the edge, and focus only on those shootings that apparently are random and without cause, the ones where there is no identifiable relationship between the shooter and the victims, an interesting phenomenon begins to emerge. What you notice is that you’ll have a shooting somewhere out west, followed by one somewhere in the east and then one in either the north or south.

Zodiac Band

The first calendar and time clock. The stars told them when to plant and harvest

It is almost like “clock work.” North, East, West and South. NEWS. Now the question must be asked, is this entirely due to coincidence? One of the critical factors to our successful survival has been our ability to detect patterns and use them to predict future events. Our understanding of the 4 seasons for instance. We began studying the sky to mark their passage. It is important to know when to plant and when to harvest. We needed to know when to prepare for winter. Our understanding of time and seasons began with pattern recognition.

Is it buying into a conspiracy to begin to look for and notice patterns in these shootings? I don’t think so. When one seeks the truth, one must be prepared to look everywhere and consider everything. What we’re talking about is looking for causality behind these acts of violence. Remember, a conspiracy is merely two or more people working together to bring about some event. Everything of substance that has ever happened on this planet has been the result of a conspiracy.

How might something like these shootings be caused? How would you trigger someone to perform these senseless acts?

Hypnotism

One of the most misunderstood phenomenon is that of hypnotism. Let me give you a brief tutorial on how hypnotism works. We’ve all seen and laughed at the shows put on by “stage hypnotist.” In our minds we’ve wonder if the supposedly hypnotised subjects at times were not faking it. Here is how hypnotism works. You have a mind that is constantly processing information on a variety of levels, even when you’re asleep. In layman’s terms we refer to our conscious and subconscious minds. Of the two, the subconscious is the more powerful.

If you think of the human mind as being like a computer, your conscious mind acts as a firewall. Your subconscious mind is where the real processing power resides. The hypnotist, hacks your firewall and directly accesses your subconscious mind. How is this done? In a word, focus. When your conscious mind is totally focused on something, all it’s resources are directed at whatever it is focused on. This means that you can circumvent it to access the subconscious mind of your subject without meeting resistance.

A Hypnotist's bauble

A Hypnotist’s bauble

This is why you see them using a swinging pocket watch or some other bauble. The hypnotist tells you to watch – focus – on the swinging pocket watch. While your conscious mind is doing that, they’re talking in your ear telling you you’re getting sleepy. Telling you to relax. Now if I told you, that you were getting sleepy, – unless you actually were – your conscious mind would activate it’s defensive protocols and probably say, “no I’m not.” However, if I can tie up your conscious mind focusing on a bauble or some problem or the beat and rhythm in a song, I can speak directly into your subconscious mind without what I’m saying being filtered by the firewall of your conscious mind.

How long does this process take? Actually? It can happen in an instant! What if I told you it is possible to walk into a jewellery store and purchase a $4,000 diamond ring using blank white sheets of paper as money? Watch the following clip from Derren Brown’s “Mind Control” series. If you pay careful attention, you will see how it’s done.

Did you notice the method? He did it three times. The second time it was ineffective, but the 1st time in the fishmonger’s shop and the 3rd time in the jewellery store, it worked like a charm. Why did it work? Did you pay attention to the “patter?” He engaged his subject in seemingly meaningless conversation. It was a story. One story was about taking the subway. He was expressing his anxiety about never having taken a subway in New York, and relating what a friend had told him about the subway. Just as he handed the man the blank sheets of white paper, he relates that his friend told him to “take it, it’s fine.”  

The entire point of the story was to distract and focus the mind of his subject on his story. When he handed them the blank sheets of paper and says, “take it, it’s fine,” two things are taking place. The conscious mind is focused on the story and receiving the money thus closing the sell. The subconscious mind is wide open. It accepts “take it, it’s fine” and sets the conscious mind at ease. All is well. This is fine. You were expecting to be handed paper in exchange for your product and we were just told that everything is fine.

Now, why didn’t this work on the street vendor? Here is my theory. The street vendor has to spread his consciousness to take into account a great many things at once. He has to watch out for traffic. He has to constantly monitor and identify all the sounds around him. He is exposed, so he has to be vigilant and aware of those around him. The end result? He dedicated a much smaller portion of his conscious awareness to the inane patter of Derren Brown. He couldn’t care less about someone telling him to “take it, it’s fine.” Thus, when handed the blank sheets of paper, he saw them for what they were.

If Derren Brown can perform this effect – and many more – impromptu on the street, what might someone(s) with near unlimited resources perform with all the time in the world? What could they achieve with people who were already under the influence of psychotropic drugs?

Gun Control Versus Mind Control

Truck Up A Tree

Then the tree jumped out and hit me!

If we’re truly looking for why these shootings continue to happen, and not merely being herded into someone else’s agenda, we cannot just point at an inanimate tool – that is all a firearm is – and blame it for all the ills of gun violence in our society. That is not unlike coming upon the scene of a fatal car accident where a car has crashed headlong into a tree and remarking, “damn! if only that tree hadn’t been there or someone should have cut down that tree.” Might the accident have had anything to do with the fact that the driver was drunk and doing 80 mph on a winding road at night?

Sensory Overload

Times Square New York – We are bombarded by stimulus 24 hours a day.

We are surrounded by stimulus 24 hours a day. Have you ever had the power go off in your home? Perhaps due to an electrical storm or an ice storm? What’s the first thing you notice? The silence right? We live our lives virtually surrounded by a 60Hz background hum. We don’t even notice it’s presence… until it’s gone. We watch television and listen to our radios all day long. You probably couldn’t tell me right now what the last commercial you saw or heard was. Yet, billions of dollars are spent bringing you these commercials. Why? Because they work!

These are the commercials you see and notice. However, what about something a bit more sinister? What about subliminal messages? Messages – just like hypnosis – that are designed to pass by the firewall of your conscious mind and enter directly into your subconscious mind?

More to come – Continued in Part 3

In part 3 we will go deeper into the dark reality that most of us are blissfully unaware of. If you believe that you are in control of your mind, you need to understand that a war is raging all around you for the control of your freewill. Remember, the perfect slave is the one who believes himself to be free.

Gun Control – Is It The Solution?

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Gun Control Headerby Benjamin T. Moore, Jr.

Once again we find ourselves stunned, in shock, confounded and searching for answers to make sense from the apparently senseless. As Americans we all share in the sorrow of parents who have experienced the most profound and devastating of losses.

As a parent who has lost a child to murder, I do not have to theorize about what the parents who lost their children at the Sandy Hook Elementary School are going through. I know first hand. They feel that their world is ending. There may have been presents already under Christmas trees that will never be opened. Each Christmas hereafter will be dimmed by the memory of their loss.

Grieving Parents

They need our support

Our hearts go out to them and we share – to the best of our ability – in their grief. Yes, we stand with them. Our hearts, prayers and thoughts are with them, yet in times like these, they are alone. No words of comfort, no tokens of solidarity no matter how well intentioned can truly reach into the dark rivers of their hearts. Only the passage of time will begin to heal their wounds. All we can do is be there for them and stand by them. Right now, they’re in shock. The darkest part of their night is yet to come. They will need our love and support in the days, weeks and months to come.

All Guns Are Not The Same

One of the things that creates so much problem whenever the subject of gun control comes up is the ignorance of those who have little to no familiarity with firearms. Those who are familiar with guns rapidly lose patience and what ensues usually degenerates to the hurling of aphorisms and clichés. Bottom line, communication ceases and people begin talking past one another as opposed to talking to one another.

To this end, for those who are not familiar with guns there are some terms and definitions that we need to make clear. All firearms possess similar components. Roughly they are:

  • Barrel
  • Sighting System
  • Trigger Mechanism
  • Magazine
  • Ammunition

These are the bare bones basics of all modern firearms. There are some exceptions. For instance, “single shot” firearms do not possess a magazine. The barrel is what contains the gasses and guides the projectile towards it’s target. The sighting system – could be iron sights or an optical sight – is used to acquire the target. The trigger releases the sear causing the internal mechanism to release the firing pin allowing it to hit the primer of the cartridge causing the firearm to fire. The magazine contains the ammunition and feeds the bullets into the chamber so that the next bullet can be fired. The ammunition or the bullets come in whatever form is appropriate to the firearm in question.

Revolver

Revolver showing open cylinder

When we talk about modern firearms we are talking about primarily three types of “actions.” Single shot firearms require that each bullet or cartridge be manually inserted into the chamber subsequent to firing. Revolvers hold 5 or 6 shots in a cylinder that rotates to advance the next bullet into firing position. Squeezing the trigger or in a single action, cocking the hammer rotates the cylinder. The automatic is fed by a magazine. When you squeeze the trigger, the bullet fires. The recoil causes the slide to cycle back. On it’s forward stroke, it strips a bullet from the top of the magazine and loads it into the chamber. When the slide seats, the trigger may be pulled again to fire another round.

Function Diagram of a Semi-Auto Pistol

“Cut-away” diagram showing the functioning of a Semi-Auto pistol

Under the category of “automatic” firearms there are two categories. These are what confuse most people unfamiliar with firearms. The “semi-automatic” fires only one bullet with each pull of the trigger. Just like the revolver. Just like the single shot rifle or shotgun. One trigger pull, one bullet down the barrel. The fully automatic or “full-auto” will continue to fire so long as the trigger is depressed. This will continue until the magazine is empty or in the case of some military rifles, until 3 rounds are fired. This is known as “the 3 round burst.” The United States military discovered that too many soldiers were “spraying and praying” instead of practicing aimed fire when under stress. The results were a lot of needless casualties because they’d run out of ammunition without hitting the target.

Assault Rifles

AR-15 and M-16

They may look similar, but they’re very different. One is fully automatic.

Almost every shooting in which an AR-15 – the civilian version of the military M-16 – or some variant thereof is referred to by the television pundits as “an assault rifle.” They do this either out of ignorance or because, like carnival barkers, they’re attempting to increase the drama of what they’re reporting. If you want to know what an assault rifle is, go to the people who make assaults and see what they use. They do not use “semi-automatic” firearms. They use fully automatic – “full-auto” – firearms. It is not about looks, it is about function.

A semi-automatic hunting rifle with a hand rubbed walnut stock, functions the exact same way as an AR-15 with a black stock that looks like an M-16. There is no difference in function. No difference in lethality. It’s all cosmetics. To use a popular analogy, you can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig.

Gun Control

Hopefully I’ve cleared up some misapprehensions regarding the various types of firearms and how they function. Now let’s get down to the real issue. Is gun control the solution? First we need to understand what the laws actually are. Let’s dispel some myths. You cannot go into a gun store, plop down your cash and walk out with a handgun. The “Brady Laws” prevent this. You have to fill out a federal form and there is a 7 day waiting period also known as a cooling off period before you can acquire your handgun.

The only exception to this is, if you have already acquired a firearms permit from the State in which you reside. To obtain such a permit, the State does a background check and you’re already pre-approved, so you could purchase a handgun and take it home on the same day. However, you already waited possibly up to 2 months to get your permit. Thus, purchasing firearms from licensed gun dealers is not the problem.

What about this gun show loophole you often hear bandied about? This is greatly misunderstood by so many people who pontificate as though fixing this one loophole would solve all our gun related crimes. Here is what the loophole is all about. If you go to a gun show there are tables set up where licensed dealers display and sell their wares. You can get some good deals at these shows. If you purchase a handgun at one of these shows from one of the licensed dealers, it is no different than making that purchase in a gun store. You have to fill out the paper work and there is still the 7 day waiting period. If the gun dealer is from out of town, what he will do is transfer your firearm to a local dealer who will hold it for the 7 days until you come in to pick it up.

ATF Form 4473

ATF form 4473 must be filled out and filed for all firearms purchase through a licensed dealer

So, what’s the so called loophole? What happens at these shows is, people often sell and purchase from one another in the parking lot without ever going into the actual gun show. There is no paper work and there is no waiting period. The sell could have been made at a McDonald’s. It could have occurred anywhere between two people who got together possibly in an Internet chat forum. The question is, how would you write a law to prevent this and be able to enforce it? The simple answer is, you cannot. If you could, nobody could sell illegal drugs. There would be no prostitution. You cannot prevent people from getting together to buy, sell and trade. Can’t be done. So when you hear people braying about the “Gun Show Loophole” they’re wasting time and using up breath they may need at a later date.

Gun Control – Is It The Solution?

We cannot enforce the laws we already have on the books effectively. It is already illegal to sell someone a firearm who has a mental illness. It is already illegal to sell a firearm to a felon. It is already illegal to own a fully automatic firearm without a “class 3” license. A class 3 license comes directly from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. There is an extensive background check involved. You cannot purchase a handgun until you reach the age of 21. You cannot carry a firearm without a permit.

The bottom line is, there are plenty of laws already on the books. For instance, shooting people is already illegal. People who decide to commit murder are not concerned with laws or breaking them. Thus, it stands to reason, passing more laws is not the solution.

More to come – continued in part 2

In part 2 we will explore some disturbing coincidences and ask the question “why do almost all these shootings follow the same murder suicide pattern?” Could there be something else at work? Something more sinister than what we would like to believe?