Robert Hubbell states the case correctly: trying to tiptoe around the issue of guns hasn't worked. Democrats have to candidly state their minimal demands: a flat ban on assault weapons; strict licensing rules for ALL guns with no loopholes; and a federal law overriding all "open carry" state laws. We can't succeed right away, but we can finally offer clarity on a Democratic position on "gun control" that could build the needed majorities to end this insanity.
The Dems are in a pickle. Taking assault weapons off the streets through the prohibition of their manufacture and sale to civilians coupled with a massive buy-back program a la Australia's in the 1990s is so obviously a workable solution. It's the hardware, not the software - not the "mental health" issues. But since the NRA benefits when gun sales go up, and has to cut back on its Louis XIV lifestyle when gun sales decline, its motivations are at least clear and not hidden. The NRA has given up any moral high-ground it may once have claimed. Those who follow its speaking points: Hawley, Don Jr., Jordan, Tubberville, Abbott, Braun, Manchin, Sinema, et al have the blood of children on their hands. That's a stain I hope the press never lets them wash off.
The essence of tonight's column is to be found in the second to last sentence: What we need in order to reduce the insane killing that goes on in our country is "majorities in the House and Senate that support gun control." Solid Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress will result in meaningful gun control legislation like the laws passed in Australia and described in tonight's column. Such majorities will overcome the incremental type of progress favored by people like Senator Manchin and result in real progress in reducing the carnage.
Biden was pretty straight forward in his characterization of the Super MAGA crowd. The trick is getting the so-called main-stream media to pay attention to something other than their infatuation with The Trump Show.
Don’t forget the role of the Supreme Court which in Heller abandoned true “originalism “ and went with Scalia’s preferences. If the dissent had prevailed we could have prevented 50,000 American deaths a year since.
Let’s be frank: Republicans represent evil. They want to tear down the Constitution and democracy. They want to control the lives (not just the bodies) of women, and of men who are not among the elect. They want to enable mass killers. They want to make the lives of ordinary Americans harder by raising their taxes and eliminating vital public services for education and healthcare among other things. And Democrats need to bring that message, loud and clear. Time to stop being nice guys and start being plain and honest.
The Republicans in the House and Senate are chained together to vote against any gun reform. What it will take is to vote them out of office in November, and my advice to the Democrats would be to address that and push in their ads to “throw them out of office” and forget pleading with them to pass gun reform.
Here is what and how I try to advocate for measures to reduce gun violence when I speak with those who are gun advocates.
Yes, the vast majority of gun owners are reasonable, responsible citizens and good neighbors. Most have responsible views on ways to reduce gun violence and that gives me hope also.
Whenever, I advocate for solutions to gun violence I try to emphasize that the problem is not the gun itself but the gun in the hands of a dangerous irresponsible person not prone to storing the weapon safely or using it responsibly. Is it difficult to distinguish which people are responsible and safe and which are irresponsible and dangerous, yes. But we have a tremendous amount of data that provides strong clues and can help to make both background checks and extreme risk protection orders far more effective as a means to substantially reduce the risk of gun violence.
Having been a domestic violence shelter volunteer for many years I am intimately familiar with both how much more common domestic violence is than most realize and also how common it is as a part of incidents of gun violence. The statistics are readily available and overwhelming. I have posted already about the Charlottesville loophole in background checks. This is directly related to domestic violence abusers squeaking through background checks and later being a problem.
As horrible as all mass shootings are, gun suicides are an even bigger part of the gun violence problem. A few Google searches will explain why extreme risk protection orders (red flag laws) can and are helping with this problem. Accidental shootings, particularly of and by children, are mostly related to irresponsible gun owners ignoring basic gun safety rules and safe storage of weapons.
And yes, glorification of violence, the challenges of under funding of resources to help with mental and emotional health challenges in schools and generally also contribute to the problem. Is social media a contributing factor? Probably, but I am not equipped to know to what extent or how to cope with that. But it is certainly worth people with the necessary expertise to at least begin to think about if that is the case and what we might do about it.
There are sane and responsible solutions that can reduce gun violence substantially without banning guns or taking them away from responsible gun owners.
What is most needed is for our legislators from all political affiliations to sit down together and look openly and responsibly at the problem of gun violence and seek responsible ways to reduce it. No problem can be resolved without carefully examining it and being willing to try to seek ways to help resolve it. We might not eliminate gun violence but we could substantially reduce the risk of it's tragedies growing ever more common. How bad does it have to get before we try?
Emailed today to Senator Whitehouse & Congressman Cicilline.
To The United States Senate:
There is an unspoken fear that if we actually do ban the manufacturing, sale &
possession of Assault-Weapons-of-Mass-Homicide, to non-military and untrained
service personnel, it will be the inevitable catalyst for civil war in these Divided States
of America.
The gun manufacturers, gun lobbyists and their lobbied/bribed politicians are ecstatic
that their propaganda to dupe their gun purchasers/owners into the belief that people, different from them, and/or their federal government are coming for them. These self-appointed militiamen are more than ready to defend their fallacious tenets. Increasingly, however, they are just plain ready to start their "propagandized war"!
A bribe is money given over directly to someone to "guarantee" a very specific action.
Lobbyists "hope for influence" over political figures but are not guaranteed results. I,
for one, am justifiably insulted that our elected officials think we, The People, are this
stupid-gullible or just suicidally complacent!
Call it what you want, gun reform laws or gun safety laws or gun violence prevention
laws. These are just empty gestures disguised as "compromise". The time has come
to stop deluding yourselves and your constituents and do the only paramount thing
that matters. Ban the manufacturing, sale and possession of Assault-Weapons-of-
Mass-Homicide to non-military and untrained service personnel.
If our elected officials cannot pass this ban into law they do not deserve our votes!
God knows the loved ones of gun violence victims deserve this final and only solution!
Excellent review of the Australian "natural experiment." I hadn't realized that only 20% were bought back. Nevertheless, the impact of that 20% is more than significant, it's astounding. It tells me that confiscation, impractical as is, is not necessary. Thank you.
I was with RH’s arguments in today’s newsletter—right up until he defined mental health issues as excluding “things like hostility, aggression, anger, alienation, misogyny”. According to the Mayo Clinic (mayoclinic.org), “Mental illness, also called mental health disorders, refers to a wide range of mental health conditions — disorders that affect your mood, thinking and behavior. Examples of mental illness include depression, anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, eating disorders and addictive behaviors.” Its website article goes on to specifically include in its list of symptoms, “Excessive anger, hostility or violence.” America does have more mental health issues than most first world countries, the result of decades of underfunding of a whole range of social services, including education and healthcare, coupled with easy access to OxyContin and other addictive drugs, and a toxic media culture. By all means, develop sane gun laws—but please don’t pretend that mental health is not a serious issue in America.
". If they will not (or cannot) capture that rage and channel it into generational change, they should step aside and deputize others to lead on this issue." The President can, and should, deputize someone to focus directly on the issue of controlling high-capacity magazines, rapid-firing firearms and the ammunition that is designed to maim and kill which no sportsperson or hunter would use. Mr. Schumer cannot and, since he has failed dismally as Majority Leader, he should step aside, focus on representing his NY constituents, and allow the Senate Democrats to choose a more effective leader.
My congressperson, Anne Wagner (MO-2), posted this in response to the Uvalde murders - "I am horrified and deeply saddened by the tragedy in Texas and am praying for all the victims of this terrible attack, including the families who lost loved ones and have had their lives irreparably changed on that dark day.
As a mother and a grandmother, I know it is paramount that we protect our children and their teachers. I am ready to work with my colleagues to find a way that can best stop future attacks like these."
My response to her is "If you are sincere, an excellent start would be your public and complete support for universal background checks, limits on magazine size and ammunition type to only those appropriate for hunting and other sporting uses and requiring a training course in gun use and safety prior to receiving a license to purchase a firearm. There are other things that could be done and some that should not be, but these are basics. I look forward to seeing and hearing your response."
I expect nothing more than a form letter response from her but we have to start somewhere. Unfortunately, she now has no effective opposition in November, the lead Democratic candidate having dropped out in frustration over the recently redesigned district boundaries. There are those who feel strongly, and with some justification, otherwise but I still think that confronting our legislators with the admittedly gruesome results of their inaction by sending them pictures of the classroom scene in TX and the shopping center in NY might shock some of them sensible. Nothing else seems to have worked so far.
In order to have meaningful gun laws passed in the US we need to be able to vote the obstructionists out however in order to do that we need to immediately put them on the defensive by requiring they vote against such reform. We have to force their hand before the midterms so voters know which party is working to keep children alive.
Robert Hubbell states the case correctly: trying to tiptoe around the issue of guns hasn't worked. Democrats have to candidly state their minimal demands: a flat ban on assault weapons; strict licensing rules for ALL guns with no loopholes; and a federal law overriding all "open carry" state laws. We can't succeed right away, but we can finally offer clarity on a Democratic position on "gun control" that could build the needed majorities to end this insanity.
The Dems are in a pickle. Taking assault weapons off the streets through the prohibition of their manufacture and sale to civilians coupled with a massive buy-back program a la Australia's in the 1990s is so obviously a workable solution. It's the hardware, not the software - not the "mental health" issues. But since the NRA benefits when gun sales go up, and has to cut back on its Louis XIV lifestyle when gun sales decline, its motivations are at least clear and not hidden. The NRA has given up any moral high-ground it may once have claimed. Those who follow its speaking points: Hawley, Don Jr., Jordan, Tubberville, Abbott, Braun, Manchin, Sinema, et al have the blood of children on their hands. That's a stain I hope the press never lets them wash off.
The essence of tonight's column is to be found in the second to last sentence: What we need in order to reduce the insane killing that goes on in our country is "majorities in the House and Senate that support gun control." Solid Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress will result in meaningful gun control legislation like the laws passed in Australia and described in tonight's column. Such majorities will overcome the incremental type of progress favored by people like Senator Manchin and result in real progress in reducing the carnage.
I dream of privately owned military assault weapons packed up and sent to Ukraine where they are appropriate and helpful.
Biden was pretty straight forward in his characterization of the Super MAGA crowd. The trick is getting the so-called main-stream media to pay attention to something other than their infatuation with The Trump Show.
Don’t forget the role of the Supreme Court which in Heller abandoned true “originalism “ and went with Scalia’s preferences. If the dissent had prevailed we could have prevented 50,000 American deaths a year since.
Let’s be frank: Republicans represent evil. They want to tear down the Constitution and democracy. They want to control the lives (not just the bodies) of women, and of men who are not among the elect. They want to enable mass killers. They want to make the lives of ordinary Americans harder by raising their taxes and eliminating vital public services for education and healthcare among other things. And Democrats need to bring that message, loud and clear. Time to stop being nice guys and start being plain and honest.
The Republicans in the House and Senate are chained together to vote against any gun reform. What it will take is to vote them out of office in November, and my advice to the Democrats would be to address that and push in their ads to “throw them out of office” and forget pleading with them to pass gun reform.
R. Zavod, M.D.
Here is what and how I try to advocate for measures to reduce gun violence when I speak with those who are gun advocates.
Yes, the vast majority of gun owners are reasonable, responsible citizens and good neighbors. Most have responsible views on ways to reduce gun violence and that gives me hope also.
Whenever, I advocate for solutions to gun violence I try to emphasize that the problem is not the gun itself but the gun in the hands of a dangerous irresponsible person not prone to storing the weapon safely or using it responsibly. Is it difficult to distinguish which people are responsible and safe and which are irresponsible and dangerous, yes. But we have a tremendous amount of data that provides strong clues and can help to make both background checks and extreme risk protection orders far more effective as a means to substantially reduce the risk of gun violence.
Having been a domestic violence shelter volunteer for many years I am intimately familiar with both how much more common domestic violence is than most realize and also how common it is as a part of incidents of gun violence. The statistics are readily available and overwhelming. I have posted already about the Charlottesville loophole in background checks. This is directly related to domestic violence abusers squeaking through background checks and later being a problem.
As horrible as all mass shootings are, gun suicides are an even bigger part of the gun violence problem. A few Google searches will explain why extreme risk protection orders (red flag laws) can and are helping with this problem. Accidental shootings, particularly of and by children, are mostly related to irresponsible gun owners ignoring basic gun safety rules and safe storage of weapons.
And yes, glorification of violence, the challenges of under funding of resources to help with mental and emotional health challenges in schools and generally also contribute to the problem. Is social media a contributing factor? Probably, but I am not equipped to know to what extent or how to cope with that. But it is certainly worth people with the necessary expertise to at least begin to think about if that is the case and what we might do about it.
There are sane and responsible solutions that can reduce gun violence substantially without banning guns or taking them away from responsible gun owners.
What is most needed is for our legislators from all political affiliations to sit down together and look openly and responsibly at the problem of gun violence and seek responsible ways to reduce it. No problem can be resolved without carefully examining it and being willing to try to seek ways to help resolve it. We might not eliminate gun violence but we could substantially reduce the risk of it's tragedies growing ever more common. How bad does it have to get before we try?
This opinion article from the Washington Post is excellent: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/05/30/maga-threat-biden-must-sharpen-attacks/
Emailed today to Senator Whitehouse & Congressman Cicilline.
To The United States Senate:
There is an unspoken fear that if we actually do ban the manufacturing, sale &
possession of Assault-Weapons-of-Mass-Homicide, to non-military and untrained
service personnel, it will be the inevitable catalyst for civil war in these Divided States
of America.
The gun manufacturers, gun lobbyists and their lobbied/bribed politicians are ecstatic
that their propaganda to dupe their gun purchasers/owners into the belief that people, different from them, and/or their federal government are coming for them. These self-appointed militiamen are more than ready to defend their fallacious tenets. Increasingly, however, they are just plain ready to start their "propagandized war"!
A bribe is money given over directly to someone to "guarantee" a very specific action.
Lobbyists "hope for influence" over political figures but are not guaranteed results. I,
for one, am justifiably insulted that our elected officials think we, The People, are this
stupid-gullible or just suicidally complacent!
Call it what you want, gun reform laws or gun safety laws or gun violence prevention
laws. These are just empty gestures disguised as "compromise". The time has come
to stop deluding yourselves and your constituents and do the only paramount thing
that matters. Ban the manufacturing, sale and possession of Assault-Weapons-of-
Mass-Homicide to non-military and untrained service personnel.
If our elected officials cannot pass this ban into law they do not deserve our votes!
God knows the loved ones of gun violence victims deserve this final and only solution!
Very Sincerely sick of the excuses, Susan
Excellent review of the Australian "natural experiment." I hadn't realized that only 20% were bought back. Nevertheless, the impact of that 20% is more than significant, it's astounding. It tells me that confiscation, impractical as is, is not necessary. Thank you.
Also recommend subscribing to the free newsletter at www.thetrace.org for award-winning investigative journalism on gun issues.
I was with RH’s arguments in today’s newsletter—right up until he defined mental health issues as excluding “things like hostility, aggression, anger, alienation, misogyny”. According to the Mayo Clinic (mayoclinic.org), “Mental illness, also called mental health disorders, refers to a wide range of mental health conditions — disorders that affect your mood, thinking and behavior. Examples of mental illness include depression, anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, eating disorders and addictive behaviors.” Its website article goes on to specifically include in its list of symptoms, “Excessive anger, hostility or violence.” America does have more mental health issues than most first world countries, the result of decades of underfunding of a whole range of social services, including education and healthcare, coupled with easy access to OxyContin and other addictive drugs, and a toxic media culture. By all means, develop sane gun laws—but please don’t pretend that mental health is not a serious issue in America.
". If they will not (or cannot) capture that rage and channel it into generational change, they should step aside and deputize others to lead on this issue." The President can, and should, deputize someone to focus directly on the issue of controlling high-capacity magazines, rapid-firing firearms and the ammunition that is designed to maim and kill which no sportsperson or hunter would use. Mr. Schumer cannot and, since he has failed dismally as Majority Leader, he should step aside, focus on representing his NY constituents, and allow the Senate Democrats to choose a more effective leader.
My congressperson, Anne Wagner (MO-2), posted this in response to the Uvalde murders - "I am horrified and deeply saddened by the tragedy in Texas and am praying for all the victims of this terrible attack, including the families who lost loved ones and have had their lives irreparably changed on that dark day.
As a mother and a grandmother, I know it is paramount that we protect our children and their teachers. I am ready to work with my colleagues to find a way that can best stop future attacks like these."
My response to her is "If you are sincere, an excellent start would be your public and complete support for universal background checks, limits on magazine size and ammunition type to only those appropriate for hunting and other sporting uses and requiring a training course in gun use and safety prior to receiving a license to purchase a firearm. There are other things that could be done and some that should not be, but these are basics. I look forward to seeing and hearing your response."
I expect nothing more than a form letter response from her but we have to start somewhere. Unfortunately, she now has no effective opposition in November, the lead Democratic candidate having dropped out in frustration over the recently redesigned district boundaries. There are those who feel strongly, and with some justification, otherwise but I still think that confronting our legislators with the admittedly gruesome results of their inaction by sending them pictures of the classroom scene in TX and the shopping center in NY might shock some of them sensible. Nothing else seems to have worked so far.
In order to have meaningful gun laws passed in the US we need to be able to vote the obstructionists out however in order to do that we need to immediately put them on the defensive by requiring they vote against such reform. We have to force their hand before the midterms so voters know which party is working to keep children alive.