Gun Control: Are We (Really) Getting There?

Couldn't wait till 11 this morning to see what the Senate finally came up with on gun control.  Though not all my wishes came true, enough did to make me believe Sandy Hook finally stands for something.

Thanks to all those brave senators out there who braved the wrath of the gun lobby, and those GOP members who threatened to filibuster the bill to not let anything Obama wants go through.  Ha ha, you bullies!

So now what?  We still have a long way to go.  The availability of assault weapons is still very much alive and well, even in Connecticut, where owners will be allowed to keep them.  And the ban is probably not going to be able to added to whatever the House does to the bill.

Not everything is perfect. "Gun sellers would be given immunity from lawsuits if a firearm that they sell is used in a crime," The New York Times' Jennifer Steinhauer reported. "It would also permit dealers to travel to another state and transfer guns at a gun show in the other state as long as they abide by the laws of the other state. And it would permit active-duty military members to buy guns in their home states and in states where they are based."

But still, we're here.  We made it this far.  And the NRA is fuming because two of "their" senators spearheaded the deal.  Maybe, just maybe, we're beginning to see a sea change.  Maybe this nation is tired of children murdered in the streets, or at parties or shopping malls, or even in classrooms because they were "in the wrong place at the wrong time."

I know we're still going to have mass killings but maybe we'll have fewer.  And maybe more -- like those who survived the knife attack at a Texas college earlier this week -- will live.  We can only hope.

Someone listened.  And a lot of someones fought.  Thank God for every one of them.



http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/11/us/politics/compromise-on-background-checks.html?hp&_r=0
 http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/10/us/student-arrested-in-stabbing-at-texas-college.html

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