The USA’s obsession with guns has always felt like a lost cause. An evil jinn that has been allowed to flourish with no hope of corking it back in a bottle. Another school shooting evokes local grief and general sighs of disbelief, outrage and despair but no solution.
Barack Obama said it was his biggest regret after the Sandy Hook 2012 shooting was not being able to push through change. He called on Congress to pass extensive reforms to the country’s gun laws, including banning assault weapons and guns with high-capacity magazines, and ramping up background checks on those buying guns. But ran into a resounding NO.
The National Rifle Association (NRA) 17 November 1871, which has kept the John Wayne spirit alive, is an inordinately stubborn Scorpio Sun opposition Pluto; with a harsh Mars Saturn conjunction (in traditional astrology associated with assassinations/the military). There are the faintest signs of a – maybe – forced shift in attitude with tr Uranus moving to conjunct the Pluto at 18 Taurus late this April into early May, before moving in 2024 to oppose the Sun. So there will be pressure exerted though it’ll need a monumental push to make much headway against all that Fixed energy. The Solar Arc Pluto is also opposing the Neptune now for a tremor of deep uncertainty. Plus tr Pluto is opposing the NRA Uranus in 2024/25 for another elbow in the ribs to prod it onto a different trajectory.
The relationship chart between the USA and the NRA is on a fast downhill slide at the moment, worsening in 2024/25. Though there’s less indication with the Republican Party of any great diplomatic fallout.
I wouldn’t hold my breath about the USA moving into a more rational mindset but there are hints of the NRA losing its grip to a degree.
The Nashville shooter had three guns, two of them AR-style weapons. She had bought seven weapons at five different stores, legally and locally, despite being under medical supervision for an emotional disorder. Her parents did not think she should own a weapon.
Guns in America – knives in Britain. Surely it is the choice of the weapon most easily obtained? There is a new wave of thinking about what Democracy stands for emerging. America’s gun crime and Britain’s knife crime is indicative of an underlying problem with anger. It is very telling that both America and France who had their “people’s “ revolutions very close together are still not satisfied and are not living peacefully. As anger in France is often seen on the streets. When you have the availability of dangerous weapons, there will always be death. Perhaps our Democratic Laws on people’s rights has cheapened lives as each person right, is another persons danger.
At this point, Helen, the genie is outta the bottle and refuses to return. The American gun culture is one which will spend endless amounts of moolah to obtain unresitricted amts of ammo and weapons. In France, I was asked about the Wild West nickname for America. “Is the west still being fought about with gun duels?” Well, I suppose, depending on which state the gunfights happen 😉
Back in the early 1980’s, it was legal in Pennsylvania to own WW2-vintage (and earlier) machine guns. I suspect it was out of the novelty of owning a Thompson submachine gun…some folk reminisced about the Roaring 20’s and how crime was fought with such items.
Here’s yet another block against gun control: North Carolina legislature makes it legal to buy a pistol without a permit.
“https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/30/politics/north-carolina-pistol-permit/index.html”
“It is now legal to purchase a pistol without a permit in North Carolina after the state’s Republican-led legislature overrode a veto by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper.
The state House voted to override Cooper’s veto of Senate Bill 41 by 71-46 on Wednesday, a day after the state Senate voted 30-19 to do the same. Republicans hold a supermarjority in the state Senate but not in the House, but the absence of three Democrats allowed them to push through the override.”
Tell me it’s all about gender.
l worked Downtown DC for 8 years, same time frame as the Navy Yard Shooting. I work for a large corporation. Part of our yearly safety training now is a video called “Run, Hide and Fight”. It is about how to survive a shooting.
Trigger warning – shootings are portrayed in the video. It is a good video however, and I Have had to watch it for work training multiple times now.
The astrology? I have Mars in Leo conjunct my ascendant. I would rather face what I would have to do if put into a bad situation. I grew up on Military Bases, and there were a lot of guns there, but it was controlled force with respect for the gun. Most former military I know would say that Civilians have no business being anywhere near an AR15.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rDdY4EaKVY
All countries have their oddities.
The French reach for a pitchfork and organize a road block at the first hint of anything that might change their revered way of life.
The Brits moan and groan and then give up, except curiously over identity cards which would be useful and moving to a European health set up with insurance plus state, which equally would solve a few problems.
The USA does have an issue with unconditional freedom – of speech and gun ownership. And perhaps stemming from the same ‘father issues’ a dislike of authority figures, governmental oversight etc which has led to militia fanatics setting up shop. And there is that curious, contradictory quirk about pro-gun running alongside anti-abortion.
Paedophiles you get everywhere – Epstein, Dahmer, Gacy etc – but anti-government militia not as evident in other democracies to the extent it is in the USA.
I’ve always associated it somehow with the USA Uranus and Mars in Gemini for some reason.
‘I’ve always associated it somehow with the USA Uranus and Mars in Gemini for some reason.’
Interesting…. hmm, is that because they both in Gemini, or because those planets are conjunct? What if they were a trine, or square?
I served in the U.S. Navy, 1983-1991. I only served in the U.S., on bases located in Calif. and Hawaii.
I never thought much about guns then, I never encountered any that I noticed. Gun culture was the
furthest thought from my mind.
I moved to Texas in 2007. Suddenly I was aware of gun culture. Guns were all around me, frequently
talked about as a favorite subject of conversation here. I soon learned that Texans carried firearms in
their cars. I did not think that was a good idea. In 2008, I walked my Golden Retriever one day too
close to a neighbor’s backyard fence. That neighbor had a dog back there that they never walked, it
wanted to socialize with my dog. Neighbor came outside, extremely angry, to confront me. I apologized,
but the neighbor threatened to shoot my dog “Next time”. Then he said, “And I’ll shoot you too”. I went
to my local police station to file a report against him. The officer who took my report looked at me with
disdain, made me feel like I was wasting his time.
Last year, I drove a taxi cab. I was sent out one day to pick up a man who lived in a very obscure place
that appeared to have a towel in place of where the door should be. Man gets into my cab, starts an
argument with me and rants that he will pack a gun on him next time he takes the taxi, “Because the
Governor gives him the right”. I dropped him off at his destination and made a report with my office
supervisor, stated that I would not dare pick that man up again ever. My boss called me into his office,
told me that he was an NRA supporter but agreed that the man was not legally allowed to carry a gun
in our cabs.
A week later, a dentist I personally knew, and his fellow dentist partner were gunned down and murdered
in their waiting room, in front of horrified onlookers. The shooter was a known disgruntled patient. The
shooter calmly walked outside after, got into his truck and drove home. Police arrested him after he went
home. The dentist office remains closed, much legal limbo so the building remains empty. You would
never really know if you passed it driving by. That is how gun culture infiltrates and takes over a vast
state like Texas. The gun here truly has more rights than a person. The only person who has faced any
legal action for the above mentioned examples is the man who murdered 2 dentists in their office, with a
crowd present, in broad daylight.
@Sherry, what a horrific story. Have you considered leaving Texas?
Before moving to California I lived in Northern Virginia. Many right-wing Virginians love their guns. I spoke up at a local town hall with the local state legislator who was pro-NRA in favor of gun control and abortion rights. Some time later I received a call from a moderate Republican friend who told me, “They know where you live and they’re watching you. Be careful.”
I feel much safer living in coastal California, which has strong gun laws and lacks the fierce gun culture.
Oregon has the same “family” culture of killing and gun ownership. I lived there for 11 yrs – hated every day of it until I was able to return to the Seattle area. Gasoline attendants would routinely threa ten customers with open carry guns. The police are just as complicit – arresting anyone who openly – even covertly – fought the system.
Nobody has mentioned anything about Hollywood yet and the constant brainwashing of the Nation with violent films. Or the computer games loved by children … oh no … I forgot, that has nothing to do with the killings, does it?
Around 1994-2004, there was a ban on large scale magazines and other types of weapons. Mass shootings went down, or at least shooters weren’t able to kill as many people at a time, although Columbine happened during this time. Sometimes compromise is possible. The NRA and opportunistic Republican operatives used Bill Clinton’s legislation to grow the base of Republican voters (my view) by convincing a whole lot of people that the right to bear arms is threatened and hunters will be banned. At least I saw some formerly liberal men changed by this argument. The Va Tech shooter purchased a previously banned magazine on Amazon, and some of the biggest mass shooting occurred after that.
Larry, there is evidence that females going on testosterone does make them violent, which really does need to be explored. It is not a right-wing excuse to ask for the toxicology reports on all mass shooters to be made public. Perhaps that’s something both parties can agree upon.
You’ve missed the mark and the reason for the MTG comment post.
I want gun control and would vote to ban assault weapons. I’m very proud to be an American.
Yes, we have the right to bear arms, but I definitely do not want anyone to be killed by another person unless they are in imminent danger.
Please pray for us.
“It’s so easy to reduce an entire country to a stereotype, isn’t it? But you’ve got it wrong. The vast majority of Americans–even a majority of those who vote Republican, believe it or not–want an end to this madness, including much more stringent gun-control laws.”
Who is the “you” in your post? Is it me?
What statistics can be cited to back up the claim “vast majority of Americans”? I suspect the vast majority of Americans are numb or indifferent.
The fault lies not in the stars but in ourselves. This situation isn’t gonna change within my lifetime.
“Some 90% of Americans support universal background checks for gun purchases.” That’s from a PolitiFact poll. You can look that up on Snopes. Also, the majority of gun owners support specific gun safety policies (background checks, red flag laws, etc). You can look that up also.
It’s so easy to reduce an entire country to a stereotype, isn’t it? But you’ve got it wrong. The vast majority of Americans–even a majority of those who vote Republican, believe it or not–want an end to this madness, including much more stringent gun-control laws. Unlike most people in the UK, we’ve been touched personally by gun violence, and know what’s at stake. Millions support and vote for gun-control candidates, and millions more lobby for tougher reforms at a national level. Many have devoted their lives to “de-arming” the United States.
The problem, as with so much else in this country, is that we are stuck with a constitutional system that preferences power for minority views–and a pernicious, seemingly death-worshipping minority, in the form of the modern Republican Party, has used every kind of chicanery imaginable to grab and hold onto power, including engineering a conservative majority on the Supreme Court that is as pro-gun as it is anti-reproductive rights. The rest is down to the eternal dynamic here: money and power vs. the will of the people. Plus, because the United States is huge and diverse, it takes an incredible amount of effort and a great deal of time to create nationwide change. It’s like trying to turn a battleship.
Furthermore, thanks to Republican legal machinations, gun control is now legislated almost exclusively at the state level (previous national bans have been struck down by Republican judges). This makes the effectiveness of gun-control laws spotty, to say the least. For instance, the state where I live has gun-control regulations on a par with the UK’s, but in the next state over, it’s like the Wild West. It’s easy for someone from a pro-gun Red state to transport guns to a Blue state, and then wreak havoc. The system’s been deliberately engineered by the gun lobby and its political allies to make gun-control inconsistent and difficult to enforce.
That said, most (although sadly not all) of the horrific mass shootings have been in Red states, where guns have more rights than do women of childbearing age.
Also, there’s no question that Marjorie Taylor Green seems to be everywhere; but for pity’s sake, don’t imagine that she’s typical of most Americans. Her big mouth and outsize social media platform notwithstanding, she represents a congressional district with fewer than 800,000 residents–in a country of more than 330 million. The existence of MTG and her ilk no more makes us a nation of yahoo gun-nuts than Jimmy Savile, grooming gangs, and Prince Andrew make the UK a nation of pedophiles. To tar us all with the same brush is “bloody” unfair, to say the least.
The best hope to stop America’s gun insanity is the end of the current Republican Party and the neutralization of its MTG wing. I sincerely hope that’s in the stars.
As a Californian (now; former Virginian) who’s worked on and lobbied on gun control issues since the ’60s when I was a kid, I agree with your excellent assessment. While I ‘ve worked on these issues the proliferation of guns has only grown worse and the mass-killings heartbreakingly but, under our current political system, seemingly unstoppable. The Republican Party has to be voted into oblivion.
All those paragraphs and not a word of astrology.
Hello GD. A few yrs ago, Marjorie posted about how the war between the states was still raging. Very little astro info was discussed, and the number of posts came to nearly 200. A very emotional topic.
As with Shakespeare’s “Caesar”, the fault lies not in the stars but in ourselves.
Hi Larry – appreciate your reply, as always.
As you say “A very emotional topic”. We could tie that back to the American birth chart which has Sun-Jupiter in Cancer!
Thanks for this, AI22. I concur. Maybe someone else can provide astrological analysis pointing to the some return of sanity. I believe the assault weapons ban of 1994-2004 was enacted the last time Saturn was in Pisces, which has now returned. I’m not sure how that applies to the US or NRA, but it is a return of that period.
“Unlike most people in the UK, we’ve been touched personally by gun violence”
Both the UK and Australia banned guns after massacres in the 1990s (Dunblane massacre in the UK, Tasmania massacre in Australia).
Both were banned by conservative Prime Ministers (John Major in the UK, John Howard in Australia).
John Howard in Australia showed particular courage. Rural Australians felt they needed their guns to protect themselves from the dangerous Australian wildlife, and started to organise angry rallies. Howard put on a bullet proof vest and went to the rallies to explain the reasoning for the gun ban in person. They calmed down and his ban went through.
So much that’s going wrong is because politicians arn’t engaging with their citizens eyeball to eyeball, and are hiding behind spokesmen. Not just Biden in the USA but see also Macron in France.
The job of a politician is to persuade. If they can’t do that, they need to resign and make way for someone who can.
It’s only going to get worse as these incidents increase year on year. The number of mass shootings in the USA in 2023 so far is 130. Gender of shooter, as larry says is irrelevant and a distraction from the real problem.
It is very relevant though. As it was anger at another person’s opinion that “triggered” the gun. The intention was to obliterate someone who was not in agreement. Which is the antithesis of Democracy. The is a very important underlying problem with our Democratic western world. Groups of only one opinion are forming, which I think is very telling of Pluto in Aquarius. The trans element in the latest crime is very important. As people still wish to harm or control those who do not agree with them. Lest not forget that behind every gun crime, knife crime or crime is a motivation to harm.
I don’t think we fully know the motivation as yet, there has been much speculation and so far no confirmation that the shooter was taking hormones. They were being treated, according to the BBC for ‘emotional problems’. The fact remains that legally, and despite their mental health issues, they were still able to purchase 7 guns including an automatic. That needs to change.
The Covenant School shoote in Nashville was armed with two assault-type guns, according to the police.
The outrage you feel is what 50 percent of the US population feels. Please don’t categorize all Americans as gun loving and supportive of owning guns. I’m just as appalled at what the GOP members have been saying.
MTG posted her thoughts about the shooter…”https://twitter.com/Number10cat/status/1640462041767870466/photo/1″
“How much hormones like testosterone and medications for mental illness was the transgender Nashville school shooter taking?
Everyone can stop blaming guns now…”
This is a pathetic reflection of America and how Americans will say and do anything to keep their bloody guns.