Response to Fareed Zakaria on Gun Laws

Since about 46% of suicides are by gun (not by semi-automatic assault weapons) I figure that a lot of people want a gun with which to kill themselves. The assault weapon controversy is a red herring. The vast majority of firearm deaths and injuries are by the hand gun. Let's keep the two issues separate. We all get wrapped around the axle when a mass shooting occurs while letting the thousands of handgun incidents fade into the background. It's like getting angry about airline crashes that kill hundreds at a time while ignoring the 30,000 or so annual automobile deaths and the 2 million annual critical injuries. We are all having our attention diverted by conflating the two issues. Then Fareed, in his article, adds the psychological status of the shooters and future shooters. We continue to ignore psychiatric treatment for people who need help before they act. So often we know who the potential shooters are but opt to do nothing. Fund the mental health care and work to solve the issues that give rise to the desires in people to shoot others.

I don't support millions of people having guns at the ready in order to be "effective" in their road rage, settling a disagreement with a neighbor, scaring a spouse, or walking the neighborhood watch beat. The laws we do have don't work and none of the proposed laws have much promise since there are already 90 million or so guns in circulation already. It doesn't take 90mn handguns to stop the 1 or 2 mass shooters per year that we have.

It is like the War on drugs. As long as people want to take drugs all the laws and punishment will not stop it. We need to focus on the causes of violent behavior and let the fearful have their guns. Soon they will put them away.

Poisonous Grass

A recent web article caught my attention. At first glance the purveyor of the story tagged it with the assertion that GMO Bermuda grass killed cows. Never being one to repeat gossip without checking its veracity, I followed the links to the report. The nomenclature of "GMO" did not apply and the claim seemed to be debunked. That story appears at GMO food: Hybrid poison grass that kills Texas cattle not genetically modified by Linda Gentile at Examiner.com.

At second glance, I was concerned about the use and spread of the Tifton 85 hybrid Bermuda grass primarily because it was "just a cross-breed" amongst two or more well known strains of Bermuda grass. The creators of this hybrid saw the benefits of an easily digestible grass that would grow cows bigger and faster. For that they should be commended. But for every good intention there is a road to hell paved with it.

The unanticipated consequences of this grass was not manifest for the 15 years that it has been deployed in pasture land in Texas. The recent drought conditions that are widespread across the state revealed a dark secret of the hybrid. The secret was not completely unknown, though. Quoting from Ms. Gentile's article that paraphrased the following "According to the Animal Health Library, Bermuda grass is high in hydrocyanic acid, which may be concentrated during times of drought." the possibilities of cyanide exposure was well known. I am not accusing the farmers or the developers of Tifton 85 hybrid for any negligence, since ordinary Bermuda grass might do the same thing. The problem is there are Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) being unleashed into the food chain with just as much non-existent research and care.

If a hybrid seed can do what Tifton 85 has done, then a GMO variety may have even more deleterious effects on the environment and our food chain. We indeed may need to have GMO and further hybrid organisms in order to avoid starvation of the 8, 9 and 10 billion person populations that are certainly going to become a reality some day. However, we must also be very diligent in our endeavors and not poison our world in the name of making food. The fields of grass in Texas might become off-limits to grazing if the present drought conditions persist. The Cyanide may indeed off-gas as well and create sickening winds that waft across the plains. A wildfire will create cyanide laced smoke that everyone will breathe, not just the cows. Then what will we do with all that poisonous grass?