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And where are we really?  Background checks didn't pass, the Democratic senators who voted against the proposed legislaton are still in Congress, and still against it, and the NRA is still whooping it up in victory. There have been a few signs of hope -- with NYC Mayor Bloomberg taking out ads against those running for office who are pro-gun, and his most controversial stand yet, urging big donors to deny funds to those four senators who joined the Republicans in killing the background check legislation, even if their seats may now fall to Republicans. You have to admire his drive -- though sitting on billions of dollars helps. And Democrats, according to The New York Times today, are also renewing their push for gun measures.  Jonathan Weisman writes that Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, though, is cautioning that he won't accept any bill that is weaker than the one voted on in April. But has anything really changed?  Hero teacher Victoria Soto's sisters were on mo...

I'm sure it doesn't come as a surprise to anyone but I was truly shocked when I read yesterday in The New York Times' that gun manufacturers feel no responsibility, just complete indifference  and resistance to the idea that any tracing of guns used by criminals -- or remorse -- might have prevented the recent killings at Newtown and other mass shootings. In fact, many of them were downright self-righteous, with the old "guns don't kill people, people kill people" mantra.  I'm not sure I'd be so holier-than-thou if I had the deaths of 20 elementary school students on my  watch. As Mike McIntyre and Michael Luo reported, the attitude of most sellers of guns is who, me?  "The president of Sturm, Ruger was not interested in knowing how often the police traced guns back to the company’s distributors, saying it 'wouldn’t show us anything," the writers related. And certainly a large swath of the public agrees.   Profit at the company s...

I used to think that background checks -- while important -- were a weak deterrent to gun sales and a sad culmination of all the anguished lobbying in Washington after Newtown. But reading in The New York Times today, I was shocked to see how much gun violence they could possibly prevent.  I realize "possibly" is the operative word here. But The Times gave as an example a felon (who would not legally be able to purchase a gun through legitimate means) who advertised for one on armslist.com, and each day, his request grew more and more desperate.  Looking like a crime in need of a weapon. This felon was convicted of  burglary and domestic violence. And now, to hear that Republicans, once again, are caving in to the gun lobby, or at least, saying they will probably not vote for this most miniscule (in the end) legislation, I feel despair and rage. While you can't really connect the Boston Marathon bombings and disasters like Newtown, you can see the connection betwe...

I don't know if I can feel any sicker about what happened at Sandy Hook. But an AP story in yesterday's Advocate (Stamford, CT) notes that Sturm Ruger is "having trouble keeping up with demand for guns." Some stories also point out that guns are good for your stock portfolio. Net sales for Ruger increased 34% to $141.8 million, from $93.2 million, according to Rob Varnon.  Want to feel even more nauseous?  Varnon reports that earnings rose 77% over 2011. Now, before you gun owners start shouting at me, you certainly have a right to buy a gun.  I get that.  But do you really need an assault rifle to shoot a deer?  I have a friend who yesterday said it's not guns that kill people, it's lunatics. But once again I say, just where do these lunatics get the guns? I'm heartbroken to read that the best Congress can do, after everything that has happened, is put in place background checks.  I read yesterday that the GOP, at first agreeing with this, now wan...

A scary headline in my local newspaper last week read, "Blumenthal, NRA boss find common ground."  Scary because Democratic Sentator Richard Blumenthal, Connecticut's former attorney general known for challenging illegal drug company marketing practices, cracking down on health insurance companies for fraudulent policies, and others, now can agree with Wayne LaPierre, whose response to Sandy Hook was arm the schools? Phew!  That's a run-on sentence. But what is most frightening to me is that Blumenthal, who has campaigned so agressively for the common man, now believes we're probably not going any further than background checks -- important as they may be -- because the NRA will go along with that.  Forget banning assault weapons.  Registering buyers at gun shows, and everywhere.  Illegal gun prosecutions -- which LaPierre bet Blumenthal will not rise even after the Newtown massacre. Is the best we can hope for, background checks?  I'm not den...