Rick Santorum: Don't ask adults for "phony gun laws," take CPR classes instead - Polidicks

https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/25/politics/rick-santorum-guns-cnntv/index.html Remember kids, in the event that the person sitting next to you gets shot, the absolute best thing you can do is to immediately start pounding on the gaping chest wound your classmate has.

I like how his solution to "people are getting shot in schools" is "better prepare yourself for people getting shot in schools" as though it's just an inevitability that we're just going to have to accept. Even the most stanch gun rights supporter should be able to see that the goal should be to prevent these murders in the first place with mental health programs not these stupid half-measures. But that would require some actual fucking effort and change, can't have that.

While I don't agree with everything the students are protesting for, I think this is a pretty dumb thing to say by a politician in reaction to it.

well what do you expect from a dude whos last name means anal seepage

I said this in another thread but it's weird that CNN is reporting on something that a CNN commentator said. It's some sort of media auto-cannibalism.

Fuck Republicans and fuck Democrats. Neither of these disconnected fuckers give a damn.

Jeez, so someone has been shot and you should use CPR? Instead of gun laws, learn CPR? What are you going to do with an aneurysm or being stabbed? Actual words, this is just messed up, people are asking for saner gun laws, not remove all guns.

IIRC most people who die from gun shot wounds die of blood loss after being hit in an extremity like the arms and legs. CPR would be ineffective at best, detrimental at worst. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong though.

It's crazy that so many people are more okay with just letting shootings happen than doing a single damn thing to prevent them

And my state keeps on giving. I have no met anyone in Pennsylvania who likes this man. However he keeps getting elected.

Can confirm, am a staunch supporter of gun ownership, also think we should have better checks for keeping the mentally unstable and career criminals from getting their hands on them. A flat ban is just as bad an idea as nothing at all, but of course that's all we're gonna hear from Capitol Hill, one side wants a total ban the other side wants to just accept it as an inevitability.

He's not an elected official right now FYI

...This guy is in the news so often it blows my mind I keep forgetting he was elected out.

Who needs phony gun laws when you can just pull yourself up by your bootstraps after taking a bullet to the chest?

God-fucking-damn, there is SO much wrong with that single sentence.

Alright kids, grab those tourniquettes, today we're going to learn how to care to a sucking chest wound.

I don't want to sound like I'm making a generalization, but there's an unfortunate number of gun nuts here in the south who I suspect are pumping their fists to this statement right now and I can't help but feel that's exactly the crowd Rick was trying to reach and incite with this statement. I can't stress enough that I'm not talking about your average gun owner being concerned about their rights being infringed upon. These people I'm talking about are those who think that guns should just be invincible from legislation, spouting things like "The government has no legal right to know or decide if I own or carry a gun, even that much is unconstitutional." These are absolutely the kinds of people who mock the efforts of scared children wanting their government to do something or anything about gun violence at their schools, and would rather foist the responsibility onto the victims themselves sooner than admit anything is wrong and could change. I've been trying hard to engage people on this topic and it's just been depressing. There's people so deeply entrenched that they accept less than zero when it comes to any sort of debate. Most recently, about a week ago, I had a conversation with someone where I brought up the possibility of additional mental health funding and screening for prospective gun owners. I got told that's just as bad as an all-out gun ban because the government would just declare literally every gun owner mentally unwell and confiscate their guns. Another time I brought up how we could fund the DOJ more so they could crack down on illegal straw purchases and got the quote I used above, with additional ramblings about how even the gun registry and serial numbers are some sort of infringement. I hate this so much. I just want shit to be reasonable. I want kids to be able to go to school and not be scared they're going to get fucking murdered and there's ways we can do it without fucking over responsible, law-abiding gun owners but I haven't gotten through to anyone so far and it's no wonder with assholes like Santorum stirring the pot.

A person who has lost touch with reality.

Wasn't using CPR to cure a gunshot wound a Red vs Blue gag?

Yes rick, because a bullet to the heart and lungs can be magically fixed with CPR

Yup. And so was rubbing some aloe on it which I guess is the next logical step when CPR doesn't work.

Vifeogames caught me that you can just shove a wheel of cheese or a loaf of bread into an open wound and the victim will instantly be A-OK.

if you get shot in the throat just yank your thumb back in place and it'll be fine

No you dummy, you use CPR to restart your heart after pouring the blood back in.

Americans don't learn CPR in school? I got to learn it like three times in school, even got to learn how to use the defibrillator you find in those emergency first aid kits.

I remember learning CPR and having maybe a few exercises with it in PE around my sophomore year, but I don't know if that was just something my school did or if it's something all schools do. Either way I don't feel like I left class having learned much. I do think it'd be a great idea for PE programs to push students to get actual certifications for it.

Uh, why? A flat ban at least makes an effort to keep firearms away from those who are likely to do harm with them, which doing nothing at all, well, doesn't do.

From what I understand, historical precedent in the US has shown similar bans on the state level to be ineffective and very difficult to enforce. A flat ban also doesn't provide any avenue for cracking down on illegal gun sales like straw purchases. Nor does it address any of the root causes of gun violence. Generally it would just screw a bunch of law-abiding gun owners over while not doing much, if anything, to hinder the actual criminals.

Considering all you have to do to circumvent a state level ban is bring weapons over from another state, well, of course? That isn't at all representative of how a federal level ban would function, especially considering how tightly the US control their borders. It does, albeit not directly, since straw purchases are made to people who legally own the weapon to begin with. Less weapon owners overall means less supply for straw buyers, and thus less armed criminals. Same goes for illegal weapons acquired through theft of legally owned weapons. It's already been shown that gun ownership increases the likelihood of suicide among males. That's a root cause of gun violence that I think needs to be addressed considering there are twice as many suicides by firearm as there are homicides by firearm. Considering the vast majority of illegally owned weapons were legally purchased at first, I have no idea how you can come to that conclusion. In fact, criminals are probably going to be more affected considering they regularly dispose of their weapons. Now, measures that specifically target straw purchases or regulate safekeeping of firearms could hinder illegal ownership as well (though to what extent compared to an outright ban is debatable). But saying a ban would do the same thing as doing nothing? That's just bullshit.

By all means, I'm all for teaching kids such skills, but don't treat it like an end-all solution. In fact, something like more prolific first-aid training may actually even help save someone bleeding out from these attacks, but that alone isn't enough.