From theslot.jezebel.com

Missouri State Rep Files Bill to Put Gun Sales Under Exact Same Restrictions as Abortions  

Anna Merlan

Filed to: MISSOURI12/03/15 5:10pm

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Missouri State Representative Stacey Newman is deeply concerned about the state’s gun violence, and figures perhaps it might help matters to make guns a little harder to buy. Luckily, she’s got a perfect model right in front of her: Missouri’s abortion restrictions, some of the most onerous in the country.

As St. Louis magazine reports, Newman has pre-filed a bill for the upcoming legislative session that would subject gun buyers to the exact same restrictions currently faced by people seeking abortions.

You can read the full text of House Bill 1397 here; it sweetly proposes that gun buyers have a 72-hour waiting period imposed upon them, and have to “confer and discuss with a licensed physician” about the risk factors that might arise “from the proposed firearm purchase:”

Prior to any firearm purchase in this state, a prospective firearm purchaser shall, at least seventy-two hours prior to the initial request to purchase a firearm from a licensed firearm dealer located at least one hundred twenty miles from such purchaser’s legal residence, confer and discuss with a licensed physician the indicators and contraindicators and risk factors, including any physical, psychological, or situational factors, that may arise with the proposed firearm purchase. Such physician shall then evaluate the prospective firearm purchaser for such indicators and contraindicators and risk factors and determine if such firearm purchase would increase such purchaser’s risk of experiencing an adverse physical, emotional, or other health reaction.

Gun buyers would also have to watch a 30-minute video “on fatal firearm injuries” and verify in writing that he or she viewed the entire video “in the presence of a licensed firearm dealer.” There’s more:

Verify in writing by a licensed physician that the purchaser has toured an emergency trauma center in the nearest qualified urban hospital on a weekend between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. when gun violence victims are present.

Within seventy-two hours of a firearm purchase, the prospective firearm purchaser shall meet with at least two families who have been victims of violence involving a firearm and two local faith leaders who have officiated, within the past year, a funeral of a victim of violence involving a firearm who was under the age of eighteen

Missouri passed a 72-hour waiting period on abortions in 2014, among the longest in the country. The Missouri House attempted to pass a bill last year that would have required women to watch an “explanatory video” on abortions, which died in committee.

Newman knows, of course, that the bill is doomed to failure. As St. Louis points out, she proposed a similar measure last year that would have restricted vasectomies, making them only legal to protect a man from serious injury or death. And while useless gestures should generally be avoided in politics, this one, at least, makes a point, as Newman told the magazine in a statement: “Since restrictive policies regarding a constitutionally protected medical procedure are the GOP’s legislative priority each year, it makes sense that their same restrictions apply to those who may commit gun violence. Our city mayors and law enforcement drastically need help in saving lives.”

From Raw Story: another success for Wayne LaPierre and the NRA...Dot Calm would've wept...this could've been one of her granddaughters.

7-year-old-girl killed at MI soccer practice after "paranoid" man with concealed carry license opens fire
 

BETHANIA PALMA MARKUS
04 DEC 2015 AT 16:00 ET                   

Emma Watson Nowling (Twitter)

 

 

A 7-year-old girl died at soccer practice Thursday night and a family friend who had been experiencing paranoia is accused of shooting her in the head before taking his own life.

Emma Nowling and her mother, Sharon Watson, were shot after the little girl’s soccer practice session at the Taylor Sportsplex in Michigan. Watson is listed in serious but stable condition, while Nowling died Thursday night after suffering head injuries, MLive.com reports. Authorities describe the suspect, Timothy Nelson Obeshaw, as a family friend who had a concealed carry permit and a legally-purchased gun.

Police say a 9 mm pistol recovered from the shooting scene was registered to Obeshaw.

The man had recently been experiencing paranoia, thought someone was out to get him and believed someone was trying to control him through mind control, Taylor police Chief Mary Sclabassi told MLive.

“He thought someone was out to get him,” the chief told reporters at a Friday press conference. “Unfortunately, it appears as a result of his (instability) we now have a little girl who simply just wanted to go yesterday to play soccer and never went home.”

Police said the girl’s mother is being treated and was informed her daughter has died.

Obeshaw had attended Nowling’s practice sessions in the past and on Thursday had a pleasant interaction with the child and her mother, but after the practice, had a confrontation at about 8 p.m. Witnesses saw him shoot into the vehicle then turn the gun on himself.

Obeshaw had no known criminal history. He had registered the gun under his own name in September.

“Of course, this is a tragic situation and the thought that maybe if the right person had the right information at the right time could have prevented this, of course it’s very frustrating,” Sclabassi said. “Clearly, this was an individual who needed help. Clearly, this is an individual who should not have been able to purchase a handgun just this past September.”

Watch video via ClickOnDetroit.

From Patheos: is the Bible less violent than the Qur'an?

These Pranksters Read Bible Passages to People, Telling Them It Was the Qur’an; They Were Shocked

December 4, 2015, by Hemant Mehta

A lot of conservative Christians like to argue, as do atheists, that the Qur’an is full of barbarism and misogyny. Unlike the atheists, though, they forget that their own Bible is also full of horrific verses.
So the Dutch pranksters at Dit Is Normaal ran an experiment. They bought a Bible, but changed the cover to say it’s the Qur’an. Then they asked people to read passages and give their thoughts.

It went exactly as you’d expect:


It’s almost as if these people hadn’t read their Bibles… but that’s impossible, right?
(Thanks to Brian for the link)

CADOF Sampler du Jour

Who invented Jesus?

Not long ago, I posted a documentary that put forth the notion that the Flavians, a group of Roman nobles, invented Jesus, meek and mild, to take the mickey out of the Jewish insurgents.

I had never heard of the notion before and had done no research on the documentary. I posted it because I found it interesting...and jarring.

It was interesting to me because, like Dot Calm, I grew up Catholic. It had never occurred to me that Jesus might not have been an actual historical figure. So, what if He weren't? Can one still believe in a purely mystical, celestial Jesus whose earthly exploits are intangible illustrations? Does it make sense to believe a myth if it's the myth that one has grown up with, or does that relegate the believer to the ranks of believers in Zeus, Mithras, Pele, or thousands of other now-discredited gods?

The documentary was jarring to me because it very clearly showed, even if not a completely accurate account, that it is indeed possible to make up an entire religion--to fabricate it from whole cloth. Many non-Mormons believe that this is exactly what Joseph Smith did; many Christians believe that this is exactly what Mohammed did.

But what if the inventors of Christianity just made it all up, too?

What if people have been killing each other for thousands of years over a religion that is pure fiction? What if the people who have been organizing their entire lives around a made-up religion have sacrificed their lives--what if they have been duped into eschewing the only life we know we all have--by refusing to live their lives fully in the hopes of a future life after death that exists only in writings thousands of years old?

Dr. Robert Price thinks that the Flavian invention of Jesus is too far a stretch of the imagination--too "DaVinci code" to be plausible. But he does bring up some points that make the Biblical Jesus something of an oddity, like humbly paying your taxes to Rome or, if pressed into service by a Roman soldier, carrying his pack two miles instead of one. And he does, like Dr. Richard Carrier, believe that Jesus is a myth. Dr. Carrier admits that, by disbelieving in a historical Jesus, he is an outlier among students of Bible-era history. But he does present some interesting, perhaps compelling, arguments.

Here's an audio of Dr. Price discussing why he doesn't buy the Flavian invention of Jesus while still remaining convinced that Jesus is a myth. Did Jesus live when the Biblical gospels say or a hundred years earlier per now-discarded gospels? Under which emperor was Jesus executed? Who exactly put him to death? Quoting two or three Roman emperors and some half dozen claimed executioners in the various gospels, Dr. Price throws up his hands: "It's odd, if this was recent history, that people would have such radically different views on these fundamental things."

Here's an audio with Dr. Carrier. He has several videos on the historicity of Jesus on YouTube, in case you're interested.

Again, I ask: what if it is all made up?
How would you feel if you found out that it were?
What would you do?