This is idiotic on the merits, and promising for the Democratic campaign for the White House in a country that supports background checks for gun purchases by over 80 percent and opposes letting suspected terrorists buy guns by, what, 100%? More?
It is also further evidence that Charlie Baker waves the banner of an extremist political party that is more out of step with sensible Massachusetts values every quarter — backing and filling notwithstanding. No doubt potential challengers have noticed.
A day after 14 people were killed in the mass shooting in San Bernardino, California, all four Republican presidential candidates in the US senate – Ted Cruz, Lindsey Graham, Rand Paul and Marco Rubio – opposed a measure that would introduce tighter gun laws.
They were among Republicans who overwhelmingly voted down a measure that would introduce tighter gun laws by extending FBI background checks on every firearms purchase. …
A second gun control effort by Democratric Senator Dianne Feinstein suffered a similar fate, voted down by a solid Republican bloc giving 54 votes to 45. It would have removed one of the most glaring anomalies of current US gun laws whereby individuals who are listed on the state’s terror watchlist – and forbidden from flying as a result – are nonetheless able to buy lethal firearms.
I’m past done with attempting to be polite or courteous with this mob.
The GOP is a vile and toxic cult that is also very wealthy and therefore very powerful. I feel pity and sympathy for those who it sucks into its clutches.
This cult is a danger to America and Americans.
Borderline group of extremists, it’s time to straight up tell it like it is. The adults need to take over the conversation.
Point one, Bob’s post. Republicans have repeatedly blocked FBI background check to purchase guns. Terrorists who are on the FBI watchlist can freely purchase guns because of Republicans. List all the MFers who voted against and put it up on a billboard.
No one more eloquently than our tired and utterly defeated President. It’s not passing on his watch, it won’t pass on Bernie or Hillary’s watch. I am so certain on this I am willing to take up a bet, except that no winning would console me from such a depressing outcome. It’s awful, but our system is structurally broken and will be for a long time. We are working hard to fix that system and replace it with reforms, but until that work happens, we are stuck with a Congress that over represents rural gun owners who are adamantly against this proposal.
This stalemate hasn’t done anything to dent our gun violence epidemic. Neither will any of the bills earnest advocates will put before this Do Nothing Congress, which will realistically remain a Republican one until 2022. I’ve talked to Republicans on here, in person, and a few that are involved Massachusetts politics that are willing to endorse my proposal. We will see what Governor Baker and Mayor Walsh say in their replies.
But we know the problem, we know what to do, and our system will prevent the real solutions from taking place for quite some time at the federal level. Let’s work on empowering the communities bearing the brunt of this burden, and make Massachusetts a model for a gun fatality free state.
As long as the rural states have 2 senators these bastards will have representation to protect their (as jconway says) “pesky second amendment” So just give it up already.
http://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/so-you-think-you-know-the-second-amendment
they didn’t define militia, nor did they note that the right of state militia bearing arms would not be infringed. They said “the people”.
I have seen it pointed out that at least in the original that “the right of the people to keep and bear arms” is set off by commas on both sides and it is to be treated as an appositve to “well-regulated militia”. As such people are collective rather than individual in this case.
you’re even farther down the rabbit hole than people who argue over whether the Jerusalem Bible or King James Version is correct.
…that we still read the Constitution in its original language.
I have always taken it to mean that for the people of the time being “armed” was a given. All houses had guns. From that pool of armed citizens a well regulated militia could be drawn for the necessary military actions.
explain.
Assume that everyone agrees that under the constitution, purchasing and owning a firearm is a right.
Would this law be considered unconstitutional because you are depriving someone of their right to purchase and own a firearm without due process?
In a word, no.
We are defining what the due process should be to purchase and own a firearm.
it needs to be simple, straightforward message. it also needs to be in their face.
Why do you want terrorists to purchase guns?
Then repeat it over and over.
And we have allowed our inner city homicide rates to spike back up due to the lack of political leadership and will to keep Operation Ceasfire going. Black women across America are empowering themselves through an organization called Operarion Lipstick to fight gun trafficking in their communities including in Boston. My former classmate Shante is one of its leaders and outside of the black leadership in Boston she hasn’t heard from anyone.
Illinois and Chicago have some of the strictest gun laws in America, the Rev. Susan Johnson who is a personal friend and heads Chicago Citizens for Change has been struggling to get funding for her organization which brings South Side community action programs and social workers together to provide counseling to those that lost family, restorative justice programs to defuse gang tensions and reduce gang violence (seen in the powerful documentary The Interruptors), and financial resources to pay for funerals and death benefits to those who have never been covered by life insurance. These are real Americans suffering real problems in states that are ahead of the curve in gun control governed by Democratic supermajorities with veto override power against their Republican governors. Where’s the support and political will to reduce gun violence locally in states that have already passed controls, have anemic Republican opposition and nearly non-existent state based gun lobbies?
I have emailed Gov. Baker the article and a quick summary on his thoughts, I have done the same for Mayor Walsh and members of our congressional delegation. We should continue to try and pass gun control laws, but we should be honest about their chances and honest about addressing the full scope of this problem.
462 lives lost to mass shootings matter. They don’t matter more than the 6,000 young black men lost every year in single gun homicides which could be cut in half by proven programs that aren’t as politically wrought as gun control. Or the 15,000 lost a year to suicides. We have done next to nothing on those fronts while devoting the bulk of our attention, time and political capital to an effort that has yet to produce results and is unlikely to produce any for the foreseeable future. Absolutely vote for gun control and continue these efforts, but let’s spend at least half the time we spend stopping mass shootings on single gun homicides and suicides which are the bulk of our annual gun tally. Let’s empower organizations like Shante’s and Rev. Johnson who are on the ground solving this problem now instead of praying Mike Bloomberg beats the NRA.
To keep us safe from terrorists our laws should be as close to Australia’s or Scotland’s as we can make them.
The very centerpiece of my argument is that the watered down Toomey-Manchin gun control is functionally meaningless at addressing these kinds of events. And our system is so structurally dysfunctional, and that reality won’t change anytime soon, that we should focus instead on the proven policies that have reduced the bulk of the gun homicides in America when implemented right here in Boston and could work wonders if implemented nationwide.
Pass them. Any gun control bill put through this Congress is the procedural equivalent of an Obamacare repeal vote. If we rightly mock the Republicans for wasting taxpayer time on their policy fantasy, we should stop doing it on our side. The victims of gun violence deserve better than false hope, when real hope is waiting to get federal funding.
I can’t defend all the goofballs on my side, but it makes me ill, as in your other post, where people who should/could be doing something are not, but still get lots of credit for their heart being in the right place, as well as for being on the “right” team.
THIRTY FIVE years of plundering and lies disguised as economic policy, and you complain of DEMOCRATS selling false hope?
I can’t think of anybody on “my side” who comes close to the shameful lies and outright hate-speech of Donald Trump, Carly Fiorina and the others, or the bizarre claims of Ben Carson (the pyramids as grain storage structures, because the Bible says so?).
I’m so sorry that you’re ill. Perhaps if you did more to extract yourself from the toxic environment of your chosen party you might be better able to actually HEAR what jconway is saying.
and you claim not to be on any side, so not sure “my side” fits you. Your views are Utopian and don’t exist anywhere, so they cannot be disproved. Also very convenient. Perhaps if you got out more you would not be so angry all the time.
Why don’t you engage in the whole “a rich person can afford a condo in Somerville” calculation again. It seemed to calm you down.
truer words were never spoken, at least on this blog.
You self-identify as a Republican, not me. You used the phrase “my side”, not me. It is you who assert your tribal membership in the clan of angry white men, starting thirty years ago when you felt uncomfortable in a group that included “blacks, government employees, union members, [and] feminists.”
My anger and contempt (hate is something more prevalent in your tribe) is directed towards those who repeatedly and casually toss around hate-speech, lies and vile and vicious canards. When you’re going to put out that stuff, or claim solidarity with those who do, then I suggest you get used to the reaction that civilized people have to such rubbish.
I suggest that a significant part of our current societal dysfunction is that too many of us view expecting people to tell the truth, to face facts, and to adjust government policy based logic, facts, science and measurable outcomes rather than discredited or superstitious dogma as “utopian”.
Funny how I didn’t see you walk back your erroneous claim about home ownership, in Somerville or the state. Civilized people are able and willing to say “I was wrong” when presented with facts that demolish their claims.
I think I called you out years ago as the original ‘I’m never wrong” on this blog. I like your use of the word “demolish” by the way. Demolished by an in-depth analysis of Somerville condo prices vs wages.
If you read back on your numerous posts, you’l find that you are probably the biggest thrower of hate speech on the blog. I only have to look at little further up to see The GOP is a vile and toxic cult
That’s what you think of your fellow citizens? Fine. It’s confirms what I think about the far left. You have a mirror opposite on the right, and I put you in the same bucket.
http://rabidrepublicanblog.com/2015/12/06/obama-a-failed-president-defends-inaction/
…the GOP would not shy away from calling Dems in cahoots with terrorists.
that this measure will be passed into law anytime soon. But it is at least a little hearing that the pro-gun sanity forces are making a smart tactical move for a change in putting this into the conversation.
It starts and ends with gun control, but in the middle explores more generally the differences between the mindsets of liberals and conservatives.
Vox
I think it last came up when proving the physiological inferiority of the black race.
How ironic a black president should speak of the bitter clinging to guns and religion cited as a result of this valuable research