Episode 043: F*ck The Laws!

When the laws don’t make sense, and when the people charged with enforcing them are consistent abusers of the law, there comes a time when you must say, “F*CK THE LAW!” Since the recent Aurora, Colorado shootings, the debate over U.S. gun control has reignited. Some people think the mass shooting should prompt more stringent gun laws, but is this really the answer? Heit & Cheri kick off the show with a discussion about the shooting and the individual’s right to bear arms.

Other topics include Chicago gun violence, Anaheim shootings, the Second Amendment, Trayvon Martin / George Zimmerman case, taking responsibility for one’s own safety, discussion of song of the week, Jasiri X “Do We Need To Start A Riot?”, police shootings, bowing to authority, accusations of racism, whether people should give up their arms, and more!

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Segment 1

• Discussion about the Aurora, CO shootings, aka the Batman shootings, or the Theater Massacre. James Holmes is accused of opening fire on a crowded theater, and killing 12 people, while wounding 58 others. He surrendered to police, and had his first court appearance on Monday, 7/23/2012.
• The Columbine school shootings took place about 13 miles from the Aurora shootings.
• It seems like periodically these sorts of tragic events happen. We don’t accept this as normal, and are not dismissing the event, but one observation is that the media handles all of these events similarly–inevitably something comes out of it that’s political. In this case, it’s gun control.
• Now that this event has occurred, people and the government seem to be pushing gun control.
• Discussion about how people are sometimes dismissive of different types of situations that are just as tragic. Now, some people seem to want more laws aimed at gun control.
• We asked a question on our Facebook page about what would have happened if some of those people in the theater had guns on them.
• Discussion about how three men gave their lives to serve as human shields for their girlfriends. What if they had guns? Could they have lived perhaps?
• It wouldn’t have mattered if they had metal detectors, because James Holmes entered in the side door, which was propped open.
• Every situation isn’t going to be preventable unless we are willing to live in a police state.
• Discussion about the man who left his girlfriend, three-month-old son, and three-year-old daughter when the shooting broke out. Another man saved his family, and after it was all over, he proposed. The woman accepted too!
• Discussion about how people in the Concordia accident trampled others to save their own lives as evidence of how people will preserve themselves at almost any cost.
• If James Holmes knew it was likely that there would be armed people in the theater, he might have thought twice about committing the act.
• Background checks for gun licenses in Colorado are up 41 percent since the shootings. It doesn’t seem like the people there want more gun control. The want to defend themselves!
• Some people refer to the Ft. Hood shooting as if people on the base are armed–not true. The arms on the base are housed in the armory.
• Prohibition doesn’t stop people from doing things they want to do.
• Discussion of James Holmes in his first court appearance. He was obviously drugged up. It should be unlawful to allow a person in court to make decisions about their life when they are clearly incoherent.
• If James Holmes is crazy, should he be killed for the act? To punish him if he is crazy would be punishing him for having a mental illness.
• If a person is mentally ill, they may not have comprehension of the consequences of their acts. Cheri gives the example of the Jennifer Hudson murders.
• Discussion of Staff Sgt. Bales and the Afghan massacre, where he supposedly killed 16 people. Nobody says that guns should be taken away from people in the military, despite knowing that they commit massacres. This is because innocent people in other countries are not viewed with the same value as those in the U.S.
• Discussion about Obama’s decision to fly the flag at half staff. Did he do this for Chicago victims and other situations? Discussion about how Obama refuses to make comments on the violence in Chicago. It comes down to Barack Obama trying to show that he will not give preferential treatment to dark people.
• It is not bashing to be critical of the president. It is unacceptable for him to fail to address or even mention the violence in a major metro area of the country–a city he called home before he went to the White House.
• The Chicago victims of violence are viewed as being guilty just for living in communities where violence is rampant. Alternatively, the people in the theater shooting are viewed as being completely innocent.
• Discussion of the blame the victim mentality as related to the E2 Nightclub disaster that happened in Chicago some years ago.
• Discussion about Obama and Romney’s skirting the gun control question.
• Everything politicians do and don’t do is for political reasons.
• Discussion of how the politicans were out in full effect at the Aurora prayer vigil for the victims. They didn’t even let the victims or families speak–the families were in an area far away from the podium and stairs atop which the politicans sat and spoke.
• Discussion of Mayor Bloomberg’s comments about gun control. He said, that he doesn’t “understand why police officers across this country don’t stand up collectively and say we’re going to go on strike, we’re not going to protect you unless you, the public, through your legislature, do what’s required to keep us safe.”
• Discussion about how people believe that police are the only ones who should have guns. They forget that the police are there to RESPOND to situations, not to prevent them.

Segment 2

• Discussion of the Second Amendment, and people’s understanding and misunderstanding of it.
• The Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America says, “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
• One issue is whether the amendment is meant for the militia or for the individual. It means both. Discussion about the context of the times in which the amendment was written. The militia doesn’t come first–it’s people who have guns who get together to form the militia. Mention of the movie The Patriot as an example of a militia.
• Discussion of the definitions of the word militia. Based on these definitions, a militia could be an individual household.
• Discussion of what it means to bear arms. The amendment doesn’t specify guns, but at a minimum the individual ought to be able to take responsibility for their own safety and well-being.
• In the past, it wasn’t exceptional that people knew how to use firearms and had them in their homes.
• Discussion about how people don’t know how to live off of the land anymore. Instead, we have dedicated ourselves to other things, yet we gauge our advancement as a civilization off of these things–we base our advancement off of being able to pass off how to live off of the land to others.
• Discussion about how people justify war by sending someone else to go do killing in other lands. They create a distance between the person and the act.
• Discussion about how someone told Cheri that they were concerned about how people who were affected by the CO shooting would take the questions Axiom Amnesia asked about why the president ignored Chicago and other situations.
• Discussion about the police shootings in Anaheim, CA. In the aftermath of a police shooting, police began shooting into the crowd and released dogs on people. In one case a dog attacked a man holding an infant.
• If the police have guns because of the “bad guys,” so should individuals have the right to have guns to protect themselves from bad guys–including the cops.
• The people are being forced and manipulated into being docile.
• Some folks believe that the Colorado shooting was a staged event. Regardless, the end result of the situation is real and the same either way. More discussion on this.

Segment 3

• Discussion of the song of the week, Jasiri X “Do We Need To Start A Riot?“
• Jasiri X touched on just about everything in that song.
• If Trayvon Martin successfully defended himself against George Zimmerman, what do you think would have happened? He would have been arrested on the spot! What if Trayvon could have legally carried a weapon? Zimmerman would have kept moving and bypassed the situation.
• There is rarely a consequence for the Black and brown lives mowed down by people who disregard life.
• Discussion of Heit’s favorite line, “Would you care about ya job or ya benefits? If they said they murderer was innocent, No trial no jury no sentencing, And you saw how foul this system is.”
• Discussion of Cheri’s favorite lines from the song, “Scared rappers be quiet, Scared preachers be quiet , Scared leaders be quiet, You’re in the presence of warriors.”
• Discussion of the lines, “but they keep telling us to be patient, They keep tell us to keep waiting, They keep telling us that we hating, And when we’re killed cause we black that we racist.”
• Discussion about how Heit & Cheri have been called racist for speaking out on the Trayvon Martin / George Zimmerman case.
• Discussion about how people defer to the official stance of the FBI and other law enforcement organizations. It doesn’t matter what they determined when Heit & Cheri know what they saw and heard in the evidence for themselves.
• Just because “they” said it doesn’t make it true. Just because “they” printed it doesn’t make it true.
• We challenge everyone to research what we are saying. Make up your minds for yourselves what you shall believe.
• Most guns used in the commission of crimes are illegal. Stopping regular people from getting guns will not stop crime. More laws is not the solution.
• People need to understand that they have the ability to make good decisions on their own. We don’t need the law or those posing as authorities telling us what to do in our personal lives.
• It’s always the ones in power who are able to twist things to get people to give up all of their rights. Don’t fall for it!

Audio Credits:

“Do We Need To Start A Riot?” – Jasiri X

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