Climbing Up The Hill: Gun Control Status
So from everything I've been reading and seeing, the background check has been somewhat gutted. Gun rights advocates won in the ban against so-called "friends and neighbors" gun sales, where people can still sell to relatives without requiring the buyer to go through a background check. And I'm not clear on this, but I believe the idea of registering gun owners -- to me, an absolute necessity -- is also dying.
David Weigl at slate.com notes that the NRA feels it's "winning" because, even though they're losing, in their minds, some of their "rights," they're gaining members opposed to any expansion of gun control. But Weigl also reports that they can't really consider themselves winning because it's become open season on members, something this country has not seen since the 1990s.
Anyway. . .so at least gun control advocates have topped the first hill, "defeating (in the Senate) an effort by conservatives to derail a package of firearms restrictions before debate could even start," according to Alan Fram.
Senators opposed to the gun law changes backed down from their threat to filibuster the vote. Is the momentum finally going our way?
How sad, that gun rights activists have only gained the ability to open debate on the Senate floor. Who would ever have thought just bringing it to the floor would entail such tooth-and-nail battles?
But even if the Senate miraculously passes this legislation, there still looms the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, where opposition is fierce.
I understand that Newtown families have been calling the senators most against the new legislation, with one having a long conversation with Ted Cruz (R), Tex., who, even in the face of such outright pain and suffering, still remained strong in his plan to vote against any bill to tighten gun restrictions.
You have to wonder where they are coming from. How can the right to own an assault rifle overwhelm the right to keep us all safe in public places? I just don't get it. Some have even suggested the second amendment be revisited, rewritten in language that speaks to today, eliminating the reference to bear arms against militias that all these NRA lunatics obsessively (and erroneously) point to as affirming Americans' rights to have weapons fully loaded in their possession at all times (did we mention the 4-year-old who killed the 6-year-old this week in New Jersey, using a gun an adult had the right to leave out?).
And on it goes, sometimes reminding me of the arguments I have with my husband to wear his seatbelt on his daily commutes to NYC (with $500 in tickets not even serving to convince him). But isn't it all the same thing? What seems like such common sense to some seems like such a blatant attempt to rip away sacred rights to others. Admit it. Isn't it, at times, like grown men in a sandbox, protecting their turf with a shovel?
I guess it all comes down to what matters more. The right to own weapons. Or the right to live. Sadly, those children in Newtown -- or the 6-year-old -- did not have a choice.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2013/01/18/the_nra_is_winning_the_gun_control_battle_if_it_loses_or_something.html
http://www.azcentral.com/news/politics/free/20130411gun-control-senate-background-checks-debate-vote.html
http://www.azcentral.com/news/free/20130224cruzs-tactics-boil-washington-impress-texas.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/10/nyregion/boy-6-dies-after-being-shot-by-boy-4-in-toms-river-nj.html?_r=0
David Weigl at slate.com notes that the NRA feels it's "winning" because, even though they're losing, in their minds, some of their "rights," they're gaining members opposed to any expansion of gun control. But Weigl also reports that they can't really consider themselves winning because it's become open season on members, something this country has not seen since the 1990s.
Anyway. . .so at least gun control advocates have topped the first hill, "defeating (in the Senate) an effort by conservatives to derail a package of firearms restrictions before debate could even start," according to Alan Fram.
Senators opposed to the gun law changes backed down from their threat to filibuster the vote. Is the momentum finally going our way?
How sad, that gun rights activists have only gained the ability to open debate on the Senate floor. Who would ever have thought just bringing it to the floor would entail such tooth-and-nail battles?
But even if the Senate miraculously passes this legislation, there still looms the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, where opposition is fierce.
I understand that Newtown families have been calling the senators most against the new legislation, with one having a long conversation with Ted Cruz (R), Tex., who, even in the face of such outright pain and suffering, still remained strong in his plan to vote against any bill to tighten gun restrictions.
You have to wonder where they are coming from. How can the right to own an assault rifle overwhelm the right to keep us all safe in public places? I just don't get it. Some have even suggested the second amendment be revisited, rewritten in language that speaks to today, eliminating the reference to bear arms against militias that all these NRA lunatics obsessively (and erroneously) point to as affirming Americans' rights to have weapons fully loaded in their possession at all times (did we mention the 4-year-old who killed the 6-year-old this week in New Jersey, using a gun an adult had the right to leave out?).
And on it goes, sometimes reminding me of the arguments I have with my husband to wear his seatbelt on his daily commutes to NYC (with $500 in tickets not even serving to convince him). But isn't it all the same thing? What seems like such common sense to some seems like such a blatant attempt to rip away sacred rights to others. Admit it. Isn't it, at times, like grown men in a sandbox, protecting their turf with a shovel?
I guess it all comes down to what matters more. The right to own weapons. Or the right to live. Sadly, those children in Newtown -- or the 6-year-old -- did not have a choice.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2013/01/18/the_nra_is_winning_the_gun_control_battle_if_it_loses_or_something.html
http://www.azcentral.com/news/politics/free/20130411gun-control-senate-background-checks-debate-vote.html
http://www.azcentral.com/news/free/20130224cruzs-tactics-boil-washington-impress-texas.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/10/nyregion/boy-6-dies-after-being-shot-by-boy-4-in-toms-river-nj.html?_r=0
Comments
Post a Comment