Alternate title: Scenes from the Gun-Grabbing Wars: Dianne Feinstein is dumber than soup.
And why is she dumber than soup? It is not entirely because of this errant nonsense:
At a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting on Thursday, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-California) opposed an amendment to her Assault Weapons Ban legislation that would allow military veterans to continue to buy the firearms that would be banned. Feinstein says a veteran may be mentally ill and should be prevented from purchasing firearms.
It’s because of this errant nonsense:
“The problem [said Feinstein] with expanding this is that, you know, with the advent of PTSD, which I think is a new phenomenon as a product of the Iraq War…”
“…as a product of the Iraq War.”
(pause)
Wasn’t Dianne Feinstein supposed to be the bright one from California?
Moe Lane (crosspost)
PS: OK, for the benefit of any liberal Democrat (or other kind of historical illiterate) reading this… the properties of post-traumatic stress disorder were first codified in the Vietnam era, and became an actual recognized condition in 1980. Something like it had been suspected for some time previously, of course: the conditions of World War I were sufficiently horrific that doctors started realizing that something was going on (the term was ‘shell shock,’ which phrase has by the way long since been incorporated into Standard English). Translation: contra Feinstein’s mistaken belief (click the link), PTSD was a condition prior to, during, and after the last “assault weapons ban.”
MORE TO THE POINT, Senator Feinstein, the link between PTSD and actual premeditated aggression is weak at best. Sufferers (who are not all military, by the way) are much more likely to suffer from depression, self-harm, and increased problems with anger and impulsive aggression… but sufferers are NOT picking up guns and starting shooting sprees left and right. They’re just portrayed that way by lazy and ignorant scriptwriters – who are usually from, hey, California!
Again: I expect this kind of abject stupidity and pop-culture psychoanalysis from Barbara Boxer. But when it comes to national security issues, Dianne Feinstein is supposed to be the smart one of the two.
I’ve heard that they also noticed it, with yet a different name, following the American Civil War.
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I do recall hearing speculation that some of the stuff veterans of the Persian Gulf War came down with may have been PTSD with a different media catchphrase.
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There is a wide range in severity of PTSD.
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Just about anyone who can experience something very bad can get PTSD. These things can happen in ordinary daily life, because life has good things and bad things, and is unpredictable. War tends to have very many bad things.
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I am a bit too angry to form any more words. Thank you for the soothing music, Moe. I have nothing further to say.
A) Methought it was “arrant”.
B) “Dumber than a bag of Hagel-Hammer Soup” has a pastiche-y appeal.
William Safire agrees with you, while conceding that I am covered under the rules.
DiFi actually said that if large magazines are legal then they could LEGALLY be used to hunt humans.
http://dailycaller.com/2013/03/08/dianne-feinstein-its-legal-to-hunt-humans-with-high-capacity-magazines-video/#ixzz2N2uOoJv1
“The time has come, America, to step up and ban these weapons,” Feinstein said. “The other very important part of this bill is to ban large capacity ammunition feeding devices — those that hold more than 10 rounds. We have federal regulations and state laws that prohibit hunting ducks with more than three rounds. And yet it’s legal to hunt humans with 15-round, 30-round, even 150-round magazines.
Heh. If hunting humans were legal … nevermind. Forget I said anything.
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Mew
She is only the smart one based on the low low standards of California.
I do recall being told not to wake certain elder family “too close”, meaning no walking over and putting a paw on the shoulder. Instead, a loud clatter coming through the door was recommended. Apparently, an uncle had learned this the hard way…
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Yes, PTSD sufferers can exhibit violent tendencies, I’m reminded of a former marine I heard of who, while a genius mechanic, would periodically become enraged and throw motors. The owner kept him on because (a) genius mechanic and (b) also a former marine. The point is, they don’t go “hunting humans” or “snap and start shooting people”… their bad days just look a bit worse than ours.
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Mew