Each time a tragedy such as this happens we wonder if Congress will finally have the guts to do something about guns in this country. I'm not talking about outlawing private ownership of guns and confiscating them from individuals... the Second Amendment of the Constitution would prohibit that. However, the Supreme Court has ruled that the right to bear arms is not without limits. So why not prohibit the sale of assault weapons whose purpose is clearly to kill as many people as possible? Why not tighten the loopholes by which people buy guns without a background check?
No, the Republican Congressmen, lackeys of the NRA, offer their hollow prayers and condolences to the victims, but say that this is not the time to politicize the tragedy. What of load of BS! You know damn well that if it had been a Muslim who had done the shooting, they would have been "politicizing" all over the place!
I'll probably write to my Congressman, although that will probably fall on deaf ears. He's a Republican in a gerrymandered district. And don't get me started on gerrymandering!
No, the Republican Congressmen, lackeys of the NRA, offer their hollow prayers and condolences to the victims, but say that this is not the time to politicize the tragedy. What of load of BS! You know damn well that if it had been a Muslim who had done the shooting, they would have been "politicizing" all over the place!
I'll probably write to my Congressman, although that will probably fall on deaf ears. He's a Republican in a gerrymandered district. And don't get me started on gerrymandering!
I agree totally with everything you wrote.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Barbara.
DeleteI read something online earlier this week that said Paul Ryan received $177,000 every year from the NRA.
ReplyDeleteEVERY SINGLE SENATOR AND CONGRESSPERSON needs to be voted out of office. Only then will things change. Except every time, during election season they tell their constituents, "Other senators are the problem, not me," and the voters buy it hook, line, and sinker.
It's disgusting, isn't it. For one thing, gerrymandering has carved up so many Congressional districts in such a way that a competitive election is impossible. Then there is campaign financing reform which died. And the Citizen United case, possibly the most horrendous decision of the Supreme Court since Dred Scott, which says the corporations are people.
DeleteAs dramatic and appalling as the mass shooting in Las Vegas was, the fact of the matter is that mass shootings comprise less than 1% of gun deaths in the USA. Day in, day out, handguns kill a bit more than 1,000 people a month. Banning assault rifles, while it might make you feel good, won't do anything to solve this problem.
ReplyDeleteThat said, the proposals to ban bump stocks, that convert ordinary semi-automatic rifles into something that functions like a fully automatic, makes sense. We have had a ban on automatic rifles since 1986, and banning bump stocks simply expands that sensible ban into devices that mimic the banned weapons.
Frankly, we should all be focusing our anti-gun efforts on small handguns if we really want to make a difference. Relatively few people are killed with rifles.
Saludos,
Kim G
Redding, Ca
Where many a gun rack is seen on trucks.
P.S. As an aside, the nature of crime in Mexico vs the USA is fascinating in and of itself. For example, in Mexico there are no serial killers, those psychopaths who kill a series of people for no discernible reason. Nor have I heard of any mass shootings that don't involve gun trafficking, e.g., a motive where the killing is a means to some other end. Also Mexico's suicide rate is less than half of the USA's, which is lower than much of the world.
DeleteAnd I'd say that despite the gang statistics, ordinary folks in Mexico seem less inclined to violence than the average American.
And if given a less corrupt government, I'd wager that Mexico's gun problem would be easier to solve than the USA's.
Fascinating and little-noted cultural differences.
Which is why I just bite my tongue when someone says to me, "Isn't it dangerous down in Mexico?" (Although it seems I am getting less of that these days.)
DeleteSaludos,
Bill