Shame on us indeed. Redundant to say the least . . .What the hell is going on with Congress? Is Harry Reid crazy? The Dems have allowed him to jettison the Assault Weapons portion of the bill.
We watched a movie, "End of Watch", last night. It was not a movie I would have picked but my husband more or less does all the Netflix research and he usually picks winners. This film is about the police and gang violence in Compton, CA aka "South Central". (I actually got lost there a few years ago. My car was on fumes & I had to go to the bathroom. I thought I was heading to Long Beach...but that's another story).
Anyway, the movie is well done and the performances compelling. One is particularly struck by the weapons the gangs prefer, automatic assault, and the preventive measure the cops take to keep from getting killed. It again brings home the ridiculous availability of these weapons to the public. Yes, I know. If a criminal wants one for the wrong reasons, they'll get them anyway. But why make it easy? Why does anyone need one at all? We aren't supplying weapons of mass destruction to criminals (well, we are overseas thank you DOD) or making a case for the availability of same. Why honor the NRA's insistence on keeping the availability of these types of weapons and not requiring registration, background checks, waiting periods, etc?
Look at those faces above. How many more innocent babes will be gunned down by a lunatic with a gun?
Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper signed a "gun control" packaged bill yesterday after the executive director of the Colorado Corrections Dept was gunned down at his home yesterday morning.
Congress should be made to stare at these faces day in and out until they grow some balls and ban assault weapons. It would be a start.
8 comments:
I'm so sick of the whole bunch, Democrats and Republicans. How is it that Harry Reid is still in that job? Is it a life appointment? As awful as it may sound, I hope the next time we hear of a gunman with an assault weapon slaughtering people it's in the halls of Congress. At least the gunman won't be slaughtering "innocents." I'm truly beyond disgusted.
On another note, I love the photo at the top of your blog with that great-looking bunch of women and totally want to hang out with all of you. I'll have a Corona, please. :)
You didn't really think reasoned, rational thought would prevail, did you?
Back when the Repug's patron saint, Ronnie Raygun was shot ... that didn't do much to change the gun lobby-run congress ... why should now be any different.
Make life easier for yourself - accept the fact that congress (and most local and state governments) are play yards for bullies and the dumb, dumber and self-absorbed.
jayne, you're saying what many think from time to time. the attack on Gabby Giffords, her campaign to ban guns have had no effect whatsoever on these people. it's like a bad movie.
may I introduce you to Bill Stankus? Bill? Jayne.
Bill, if I accept the fact that government in general is full of dummies, bullies & whatnot, I'll never vote again. I can't do that. I have to believe the pendulum will eventually swing the other way spendiing a long time in the middle of its arc.
I read a poem today by Mary Oliver. It's called "The Morning Paper." I agree with everything you have said here, and Mary nailed it. Just nailed it. (p. 63, A Thousand Mornings, M. Oliver)
I'm probably not as anti-gun as you and others. I think we might be close. There is a line drawn (for example, we are not allowed to have grenade launchers and many would buy them if available) and I do think the line should move to restricting the amount in a clip such as Colorado did. After listening to some rational discussion about the last assault weapons ban I learned that it was a dumb ineffective ban. It was cosmetic. It went after the looks of the gun not function. I recall hearing that the NRA is behind federal background checks. Their difficult part of the background system is the record keeping. I'm not any type of expert on this. I do think the Dems took a path that allowed something to pass. Maybe the state governments are the place for taking action since the federal government has been stuck for too long. Coming up with a way of limiting the influence of money on elections would improve this mess too.
Right now I'm bitter about how things do/don't work at a local gov level. I've been evolved almost full time with a citizen's group attempting to stop a crass overdevelopment plan being forced on our community.
That's almost a year of talking with elected officials and non-elected bureaucrats, writing letters, doing tv interviews, speaking at public meetings and understanding the fact, we really have little influence on issues. Money rules and special interests know how to manipulate for their own gains.
It's actually a sad thing, in order for citizens to influence gov, we have give up normal living, become experts in things like ground water, roads and traffic and then beg and fund raise tens of thousands of dollars for attorneys and experts ... just for the hope we might cause something not to happen.
And if that's the way it is at a local issue, imagine what goes on at the state and Fed level.
I understand your frustration. We moved to a small resort community 15 yrs ago & started attending school board meetings, the occasional Selectman mtg (ea town has an elected governing body) etc. We were surprised to learn influence such as you describe occurs at the local level in a very transparent way. Ive seen any number of people such as yourself challenge the powers that be, some suing in court, only to lose and succumb to compliance in the end.
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