Dear Friends,
Even as Rachel Maddow has been arguing that it is possible to pass gun control legislation and pointing out that gun control legislation has been passed under both Republican and Democratic presidents, The New York Times today had a front page article entitled "A Clamor for Gun Limits, but Few Expect Real Changes" (here).
The failure to adequately regulate guns in this country is truly a bipartisan problem with both major parties afraid of the NRA and unwilling to even take baby steps that historically both parties have been able to support. We did have a ban on the oversized magazines like the one used in Arizona last weekend that enabled the shooter to fire 31 rounds before having to reload. It was, of course, when he reloaded that he was stopped by the brave people in the crowd.
Why can't we at least have a bill that gets rid of these oversized magazines? Well we can. Representative Carolyn McCarthy (D. NY) who was elected in 1996 on a primarily gun control platform has introduced just that kind of legislation. Representative McCarthy lost her husband to a mass shooting on the Long Island Railroad as well as having her son injured. She speaks with honesty and passion about not taking people's guns away but making it harder to have these mass murders occur. It appears as though Senator Frank Lautenberg (D. NY) will offer a companion bill in the Senate.
Ask your Representatives and Senators if they have or are going to signed on as co-sponsors of this legislation. If they are not planning on doing so, ask them why. Ask your President as well. I have yet to hear any rational basis for objecting to this legislation. It is a baby step, but one we need to take.
Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal
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Did you read about one of the guys who ran over to help stop the shooter and almost shot another bystander who had wrested the gun away from the shooter? He admits he was really lucky, and had his gun out and the safety off. Really scary thought. It's way too easy to get a gun and to take it with you wherever you go. If even more people arm themselves in reaction to this shooting, we could have as much to fear from the people trying to shoot the next shooter than frommm the shopoter himself.
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