(Article changed on December 23, 2012 at 14:25)
(Article changed on December 23, 2012 at 13:14)
The NRA's post Newtown sabre rattling is not the first time
the gun lobby has reaffirmed its Faster! Bigger! Stronger! More! Better!
firearm policies after bloody massacres.
During the spring of 2009 when 50 victims were shot in rapid succession--14 in Binghamton, NY, 8 at a Cathage, NC nursing home, 6 in Santa Clara, CA, 5 in Miami, 10 in Alabama (by a gun "collector"), 2 policemen in Oakland, and 5 policeman in Pittsburgh (by a man armed with a semi-automatic AK-47-style rifle, a shotgun and three handguns--a .357 Magnum revolver, a .380-caliber handgun and a .45-caliber handgun, wearing a bulletproof vest)--the NRA said, lawmakers shouldn't legislate "on the fresh graves of tragedy." And they didn't!
Three years ago, like now, the NRA said we need more guns not less to protect ourselves against the bad guy criminals the gun lobby arms. How does it arm the bad guys? Through patty cake background checks that many, perhaps most mass shooters pass. Through obstructing background check laws governing private sales and gun shows which account for 40 percent of weapons sold. And through obstructing "one firearm a month" sale limits which give green lights to straw buyers to arm the "bad guys" and keep illegal guns on the street.
It is almost like the NRA is working for the bad guys! Who
realizes the gun lobby has put "Tiahrt restrictions" on the books that
literally obstruct prosecution of criminals with illegal guns by restricting law
enforcement officials from fully accessing and using Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) gun trace data, which can show where
illegal guns come from, who buys them and how they get trafficked across state
lines and into our communities. Thank you NRA!
And more than 1,400 probable felons in Florida were granted valid
concealed weapon licenses reported the Sun-Sentinel a few years ago, including
a man who shot his girlfriend in the head as she cooked breakfast, a pizza
deliveryman wanted for fatally shooting a 15-year-old over a stolen order of
chicken wings, and six registered sex offenders. The NRA even got a program
passed for people whose gun purchasing rights are revoked to petition for
them to be restored as part of a provision
for states to share more illegal firearm information with the federal
government. What?
Wild eyed and his voice croaking, NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre said at a press conference last week, "The truth is that our society is populated by an unknown number of genuine monsters -- people so deranged, so evil, so possessed by voices and driven by demons that no sane person can possibly ever comprehend them." Was someone holding up a mirror? END