Bullets and Burgers… and Brains Blown to Bits

And after you witness an instructor get his brains blown out by a 9-year old shooting an Uzi sub machine gun, you can eat a giant, juicy burger. Mmmmm.

This is what we’ve apparently come to. Welcome to America.

The website for Bullets & Burgers was down this morning. I expected either to see an apology and notice that children would no longer be able to shoot these lethal weapons – or a memorial to the now-dead instructor, Charles Vacca. Sadly, the website is now back up – with pictures of all the weapons that you can go there to shoot, but not a mention of the tragic and preventable shooting death that took place there less than 48 hours ago. Interestingly, there is no phone number on their site either.

This is only the latest sickening gun story to emerge in a country that offers multiple similar stories each day. If you’re looking for that kind of blood lust, just follow David Waldman’s #gunfail blog over at Daily Kos.

I had already invited my friend Cliff Schecter to join me on the show today to talk about Bill & Melinda Gates getting into the gun fight

[They] have given $1 million to Initiative 594 in Washington state. The ballot initiative, if passed by voters on November 4 (and it currently enjoys overwhelming support), will require universal background checks for all firearm purchases in the state.

I also wanted to speak with Cliff about the NRA’s continued hypocrisy, this time in the wake of Ferguson and their failure to defend the African American community there.

But, of course, we talked at length about this tragedy that killed a 39-year old man, and will forever haunt a 9-year old little girl.

Susie Madrak of Crooks & Liars joined me in the first hour of today’s show. She pointed out that ~~accidents~~ preventable shooting deaths like this have happened before.

We also spoke about the racial divide, not only in Ferguson, MO but all over this nation, that’s been amplified since the shooting death of Michael Brown.

Susie has a piece up at C&L , “In Ferguson, Black Drivers Are Profitable Cash Cows For Town’s Coffers,” about the racial makeup of traffic stops in that town, something that’s echoed in small towns across the USA. We also discussed the plight of TV & film producer Charles Belk, in LA for the Emmys, who was detained by Beverly Hill police for being a tall, bald, black man. He posted his first hand account of what was done to him on Facebook. It’s a travesty.

Then there’s the shooting death of John Crawford III in Ohio, killed by police in Walmart for carrying a toy gun he got off a shelf in the toy department.

These stories are all too plentiful, and they must stop.

I’ve been asking what the spark that’ll light the fuse to get Americans off our asses to make sure things change. I think Mike Brown’s death was the spark, but it’s a very, very long fuse.

Anonymous is trying to take the lead. Operation Ferguson is calling for a General Strike this Friday in the state of Missouri. They’ve set up a website at OperationFerguson.cf with all the info. But here’s a taste: