Guns Over the People (G.O.P.)

   According to an article in the Huffington Post today, the daughter of the Sandy Hook Elementary School principal who died in last December's mass shooting confronted Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) over her vote against allowing debate on expanding background checks for firearm purchases.

   Reading the article, it occured to me that this was an odd and uniquely American debate between those who demand the continued ease of access to guns to protect themselves from a perceived threat of violence and those who seek to restrict that accessibility to guns because they or someone they care for have suffered from real gun violence.

   Sadly, it's often those on the side of further loosening restrictions who win the debate. They're the ones with the guns, after all.

   And if you thought the NRA was over the top, a rival gun rights organization called the Gun Owners of America (GOA) has criticized the NRA for (heaven forbid) compromising on gun rights issues and selling out the gun rights movement.

   I pledge allegience to the Guns of the United States of America and to the Freedom for which they stand, one Nation under Guns, Guns, and more Guns, unrestrictable, unrelinquishable, uninfringible, with assault weapons and ammo for all.

   In his response to the Sandy Hook mass shooting, LaPierre LaPyoo had this, among other malarkey, to say:

   "And here’s another dirty little truth that the media try their best to conceal. There exists in this country, sadly, a callous, corrupt and corrupting shadow industry that sells and stows violence against its own people. Through vicious, violent video games with names like Bullet Storm, Grand Theft Auto, Mortal Combat, and Splatterhouse.

   "And here’s one, it’s called Kindergarten Killers. It’s been online for 10 years. How come my research staff can find it, and all of yours couldn’t? Or didn’t want anyone to know you had found it? Add another hurricane, add another natural disaster. I mean we have blood-soaked films out there, like American Psycho, Natural Born Killers. They’re aired like propaganda loops on Splatterdays and every single day."

   So, LaPierre's answer to gun violence is to not restrict access to guns which would be a violation of the Second Amendment, but he's all for restricting freedom of speech because (what?) James Madison was only kidding when he wrote the First Amendment?

   Click this, for a reminder of what the Founding Fathers had in mind when they wrote the Second Amendment.

   There's a lot of freedom-luvin' patriots out there who are arming themselves to the teeth out of a fear that the gu'mint is going get 'em and they hell as ain't goin' without a fight. But, even if these crackers had Bradley tanks and RPGs in their arsenals, the government would still kick their arses. 

Profiles That Discourage

   On Wednesday, while the nation was focused on news about a possible arrest of a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing, several amendments to the gun control bill, including the so-called Manchin-Toomey amendment which would require universal background checks--the lowest hanging fruit of a bill that was already modest in scope--were defeated. The amendment, which has public support of 92%, received only 54 votes in favor, 46 against, meaning it failed to clear the 60-vote hurdle needed to move ahead. Four Democrats (Baucus of Montana, Begich of Alaska, Heitkamp of N.Dakota, and Harry Reid of Nevada) voted no. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, it should be noted, voted against the amendment for procedural reasons, in order to preserve the right to bring the measure back up for another vote.

   According to The Washington Post, "A number of other amendments also failed to earn the 60 votes necessary to pass: A GOP proposal including a number of changes, 52 to 48; a bipartisan amendment to stiffen penalties for 'straw purchasers,' 58 to 42; a GOP-backed amendment that would have permitted 'national reciprocity' of state-issued concealed carry permits, 57 to 43; a GOP plan to extend gun rights for veterans, including those deemed unable to manage their financial affairs, 56-44; and a Democratic amendment to limit the size of ammunition magazines, 54-46."

   All in all, it was a dark day for advocates of comprehensive gun control, but hardly surprising. In spite of its waning influence over the electorate, the NRA still has such a firm hold on politicians in Washington that policies even a majority of its four and a half million members support can't get passed, let alone voted upon. You might as well give the NRA naming rights to the U.S. Capitol Building.

   Monday's bomb attack which killed three people and injured more than 180 reminded Americans that public safety cannot be taken for granted. I strongly feel, however, that the greatest threat to Americans today is not a terrorist with a home-made bomb, but rather the feckless politicans in D.C. who are unable to stand up to the gun industry's lobby and do the right thing. Shame on them.

   28,840 people have been shot so far this year in the goold ol' United States. In a normal country, a fraction of that dismal statistic would be more than enough to prompt action on gun violence. Not in America, though, where not even the massacre of twenty innocent school children was enough to move Senators to vote for modest changes in our gun laws. It makes me sick.

   In 1955, then Senator John F. Kennedy published Profiles in Courage, a Pulitzer Prize-winning biography describing the accounts of eight senators who had crossed party lines or defied the opinion of their constituents to do what they believed was right. A new edition of the work is scheduled to be published later this year. Working title: Profiles That Discourage.

Insanity

   ‎9/11, on which 2,623 Americans died, lead to America's invasion of two countries, and militarty operations in a handful of others. Combat soldiers are fighting in Afghanistan today.

   In the past decade since 9/11, however, over 300,000 Americans have been killed and over 650,000 injured by firearms and yet Americans still refuse to do anything about it. Instead of much needed restrictions on concealed weapons, extended clips, assault weapons, and gun shows, we get "right to carry" and "stand your ground" laws that have only served to make neighborhoods more dangerous. This uniquely American brand of insanity needs to be cured.