The Former Confederacy & Modern American Politics, Part Twenty-Two

Gun control was a hot topic in 1993 and Congress passed the "Brady Bill," which required background checks on gun purchases, with a five day waiting period for gun purchases. The bill was named for Ronald Reagan's press secretary, James Brady, who had been seriously wounded during the assassination attempt on Reagan in 1981. The former president wrote an editorial supporting passage of the bill, although the National Rifle Association (also known as, the "NRA") strongly opposed it. So Ronald Reagan supported some gun control. The bill passed both houses of Congress in slightly different forms, which meant the measure had to go to a conference committee of members from both the Senate and the House, which then agreed to changes to make the bill uniform. That measure was then passed by both houses, and then signed into law by President Clinton in late November 1993.

The vote by senators (two from each state) from former Confederate states went this way: Alabama, 2 Democrats against; Arkansas, 2 Democrats for; Florida, 1 Democrat for, 1 Republican against; Georgia, 1 Democrat for, 1 Republican against; Louisiana, 2 Democrats against; Mississippi, 2 Republicans against; North Carolina, 2 Republicans against; South Carolina, 1 Republican for, 1 Democrat against; Tennessee, 2 Democrats for; Texas, 1 Republican for, 1 Republican against; Virginia, 1 Republican for, 1 Democrat for. The votes by representatives in former Confederate states in the House of Representatives: Alabama, 3 Republicans against, 4 Democrats against; Arkansas, 2 Democrats against, 2 Republicans against; Florida, 8 Democrats for, 8 Republican for, 2 Democrats against, 5 Republicans against; Georgia, 4 Democrats for, 3 Democrats against, 4 Republicans against; Louisiana, 2 Democrats for, 1 Democrat against, 2 Republicans against, (1 Republican and 1 Democrat did not vote); Mississippi, 1 Democrat for, 3 Democrats against, (1 Democrat did not vote); North Carolina, 8 Democrats for, 1 Republican for, 3 Republicans against; South Carolina, 3 Democrats for, 3 Republicans against; Tennessee, 4 Democrats for, 1 Democrat against, 3 Republicans against, (1 Democrat did not vote); Texas, 8 Democrats for, 13 Democrats against, 9 Republicans against; Virginia, 3 Democrats for, 2 Republicans for, 4 Democrats against, 2 Republicans against.  

WORD HISTORY:
Gun-This word is a shortening of "Lady Gunilda" (also "Gunhilda"), a term applied in England for some weapons that flung rocks or fired arrows, beginning in the 1300s. It was also applied to the developing weaponry that used gun powder to propel projectiles. The use of female names for weapons is not uncommon, including "Big Bertha" and "Brown Bess." The "gun" part was from Old Norse "gunnr," which meant, "war, battle, strife." This went back to Indo European "gwhen," which meant "to hit, to beat, to wound, to kill (presumably by beating/hitting)." This then gave Old Germanic "gund," meaning, "battle, strife, war," but which "apparently" only survived in the North Germanic branch of Germanic, although it later spread elsewhere in name forms by way of contact with other languages, both Germanic and non-Germanic. ^ Whatever the case, the shortened form was often rendered as "gunne/gonne," before settling upon "gun."

^ German has the name "Gunther/Günther," which has the same first part, but did they get it from Old Norse (North Germanic)? English; that is, Anglo-Saxon, the ancestral homeland of which lies in northern Germany and the northwestern Netherlands, does not seem to have had the word, or a form of the name way back, although it was acquired later.

The New Arms Race: Guns

This was first published in June 2015


Every era has its fears and the present is no exception: fear of terrorism, fear of warming climates, fear of government spying, fear of business spying, fear of guns, fear of modernity, fear of gay people, fear of black people, fear of Latino people, fear of minorities in general, ahhhhh, you get my point. 

Look at what has happened with guns. The post World War Two era produced an arms race, with western democracies, led by the United States, trying to keep an edge in weaponry over the Soviet Union (later also to some degree over China), fearful that otherwise we would all be under the boot of totalitarian communism. I don't recall the numbers, but the amount of weapons produced, and especially of nuclear weapons, reached a point where both sides had enough weapons to destroy the world 10 or 20 times over (after one time over, who's counting?). In more recent times, gun advocates, led by the National Rifle Association (NRA), have essentially used similar tactics with the basic argument being, "Government can't protect you from every crime, but you can protect yourself by having a fire arm, or firearms, in your possession, wherever you go." The general argument has continued that no longer are guns necessary just to protect you in your home, but anywhere: a bar, a restaurant, your car, a store, a school, any place. Then mass killings with guns took place in increasing numbers, often perpetrated by people with various mental problems, and when many Americans (polls seemingly indicate a large majority) wanted some regulations about mental qualifications for gun buyers, the argument by gun advocates essentially became, "We now need more guns to counter all of those guns already out there." It's the new "arms race," but now it's no longer about nations, but about each of us individually.

WORD HISTORY:
Gloss-English has two words "gloss," but this is the one meaning, "sheen, glistening." It is closely related to both "glow" and to "glass," thus taking it back to Indo European "ghel," which had the notion, "to shine, be bright." An Old Germanic form is lacking, but it may simply have been derived from a form of "glow" or "gloss," as German once had "glos" (glowing, bright), from "glosen" (glow) and Icelandic had "glossi" (flame, spark). English borrowed the word in the first half of the 1500s, likely from German. The word is commonly used to describe various grades of paint, and there is also the expression, "gloss over," used to describe something that has been treated with little emphasis or detail, likely with the idea of covering up flaws and thus making it look better than it is (give it a "glow").

Do We Need Traffic Laws? Ask The NRA

According to the NRA we don't need background checks or other gun laws because criminals will always get guns. How many of you drive 30 ... 35 ... or more, in a 25 mph zone? So we have speed laws, but we don't obey them anyway. How many of you want to do away with speed limits? I mean do AWAY with speed limits! Kids playing in the street? The hell with the little brats, run over them! 88 year old Mrs. Jones crossing the street? Kiss her goodbye! You'll find her up the street real quick. You see, if you listen to the political right, which includes the leadership of the NRA (that's the National Rifle Association, for those unaware), the problem with the country isn't under regulation, it's over regulation; we've just got too damned many laws. We heard the same thing about banking. We needed "deregulation," and we got it, pushed heavily by that stalwart American (then) Senator Phil Gramm, known for calling Americans "a bunch of whiners" during the 2008 presidential election campaign, because people complained about the economy.* Some conservatives even believed the banking industry could regulate itself! Yeah right, and I'm going to grab that pot of gold from the next rainbow I see.

Folks, this is all part of the same bunch of malarkey that has come from that bunch of reactionaries for decades. They pushed deregulation for banking, but when the industry proceeded to get itself into trouble, I don't recall the right wingers taking ANY responsibility for the meltdown, but you have to understand their philosophy, business is NEVER wrong. The free markets are always right. Now it's about gun laws. Have we learned any lessons?

* Gramm was then working for John McCain's campaign. He was an.. ahh, "economic adviser."

WORD HISTORY:
Speed-First the noun form of this word, which traces back to Indo European "spe," which had the notion of "success." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "spodiz," with the same meaning. This then gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "sped," presumably with a long "e" sound, with the meanings "success, prosperity, good fortune, good luck," but also "quickness." Just a total guess, but perhaps like the saying "the early bird catches the worm," the idea of "success" being often associated with "quickness," and even "quickness of mind," may have given the word the secondary meaning which eventually became primary in English and other Germanic languages. Anyway, the word then became "spede," with the secondary meaning of "quickness" gaining momentum, and by the time the word became "speed," the "quickness" meaning had prevailed, undoubtedly helped along by English borrowing foreign words like "prosperity" and "success," which filled those respective meanings. Old Germanic had a verb form, "spodijanan," which meant "to succeed." This then spawned Old English "spedan," which meant "to succeed, to prosper, to have success, to move with haste." Like the noun form, this eventually became "speed," with the "move with haste" meaning becoming the main meaning. The other West Germanic languages^ had/have forms of the word too, although from what I can tell, only Dutch ("spoed"=haste) and Low German Saxon ("spood"=success) have surviving nouns, although Dutch has the compound noun "voorspoed," which means "success." Verb forms have endured in German, which has "sputen" ("to hurry, to hasten"), in Dutch, which has "spoed maken" (literally "make haste"), Low German Saxon "spoden" ("to hurry, hasten"). I could not find a form in Frisian.

^ North Germanic apparently did not use forms, or if there were forms, they died out without any record being left behind.