Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

Vegas Clarifies the Debate

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If every single person in that Vegas audience had a gun, there is still nothing they could have done. Are they all going to aim the guns at a giant hotel? That would not have gone well for the neighboring guest rooms.

If this particular event doesn’t force those being used (and politicians being bribed) by the NRA to see, it’s hard to imagine anything will. We just need this to be spelled out to them. And now. They do not GET to decide when or how this nation grieves. Not again. Not this time.

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  1. In my view, the latest massacre points a loaded at gun at AMERICANS, not the IRA. More specifically, about REPUBLICANS.

    Specifically, the attitudes of far too many Americans about guns. For example, from a piece published yesterday on CNN (emphasis mine):

    2. 4 in 10 people live in homes with guns
    Forty-two percent of people say they either own a gun themselves (30%) or live in a home with someone who owns a gun (11%), according to Pew numbers. Nearly six in 10 say they don’t have a gun in their home. Two thirds of gun owners say they own multiple guns and almost three quarters say they find it difficult to imagine not owning a gun.
    Gun ownership tends to break down along partisan lines. More than 40% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents say they own a gun while just 20% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents say the same.

    3. Three quarters of gun owners believe owning a gun is a fundamental freedom

    If you own a gun, you are very likely to believe that your right to do so is rooted in the founding principles of the county. A full 74% of gun owners described their right to own guns as “essential to their own sense of freedom,” according to Pew. Just one in three (35%) of non-gun owners believe the same.

    To the extent that this poll reflects reality, then nearly a third of Americans (31.5%) believe that owning a gun is a “fundamental freedom”, The political line is sharp: 40% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents on guns, compared to 20% of Democrats.

    We are not just polarized between Republicans and Democrats, but twice as many of our Republicans are armed.

    So we are looking at people who put Donald Trump in office, put GOP crazies in the Congress, seethe with racism, homophobia, and misogyny, and are armed — often heavily, often with multiple weapons.

    It is FAR too late to be pointing fingers at the NRA, their damage has been done a LONG time ago.

    It is time to confront REPUBLICAN VOTERS with the lies and evils they support and perpetuate. Others are welcome to strive to win them over — perhaps they’ll respond to tea and cookies.

    I say call them out. NAME their evil what it is.

    REPUBLICAN dogma causes and celebrates shooters murdering dozens and wounding hundreds.

    WHITE AMERICAN MEN are a bigger domestic terrorist threat than Muslim foreigners. The REPUBLICANS among us fall over each other to make “illegals” and “Muslims” the enemy, while WHITE AMERICAN MEN kill us.

    It’s time to face the truth about the REPUBLICANS among us.

    • I’ve also seen polls indicating vast majorities even of gun owners would favor tighter controls. Plus, can I assume you meant NRA rather than IRA in your first line?

      • Indeed, I meant the “NRA”, not IRA.

        The piece I linked to finds support for tighter controls at 55-44 (support vs the sam or less strict). The specifics were:

        In general, do you feel that the laws covering the sale of firearms should be made more strict, less strict, or kept as they are now?
        More strict: 55%
        Kept as now: 34%
        Less strict: 10%

        From the same piece, Republicans don’t believe access to guns increased the likelihood of mass shootings:

        % saying if it were harder for people to legally obtain guns in the U.S., there ould be ___ mass shootings (Fewer|No difference|more):
        All adults: 47 | 39 | 13
        Rep/Lean Rep: 27 | 54 | 18
        Dem/Lean Dem: 64 | 27 | 8

        Of the gun measures that have broad-scale support, the three most popular would have had NO IMPACT on this tragedy:
        – Background checks for gun shows and private sales
        – Laws to prevent mentally ill from buying guns
        – Federal database to track gun sales

        The only measure that might have helped has the least broad-scale support:
        – Ban on assault-stile weapons

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