Another day, another mass shooting

This time in a movie theater in Lafayette, La. Three dead (including gunman) and seven wounded. Damage wasn't worse because shooter was just using a handgun.

This mass shooting, along with the previous two in Charleston, S.C., and Chattanooga, Tenn., has at least exploded one NRA myth: That mass shootings only happen in states/areas with the strictest gun control. South Carolina, Tennessee and Louisiana are among the states where the NRA determines gun policy in the state.

Sad reality, of course, is that there could be a mass shooting in the U.S. *EVERY SINGLE DAY* and not one single thing of substance would be done about it. The NRA controls gun debate in this country.

I'm not convinced that the American people, as a group, care much about gun issues. As a result, the people who care about the issue most deeply, and thereby dominate the conversation and political funding, tend to be gun owners, and probably mainly the most radically pro-gun of those.

Until politicians can be made to feel there is a price to pay for *inaction* on gun laws in this country, they're not going to do a damned thing. And as of now, the NRA owns most of the Republican Party and quite a few Democrats, too.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/23/us/louisiana-theate … index.html
By BearinFW | 07/24/2015 01:06 AM | 8 comments
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  • Also I'm not a member of the NRA nor am I a gun owner. The most dangerous weapons I have are ornamental swords
    doankyl 08/06/2015 12:34 PM
  • Actually it really depends on perspective. There are several rights all Americans have lost because of government regulations. And to your racist belief that only minorities deal with losing there right to vote I call utter bull shit. ANY American without ID loses their right to vote that isn't about race at all. It's about voter fraud. I also hope you realize that a majority of minority groups don't vote, many believe it doesn't matter if they vote or not anyway. As far as other countries go I live in the US and do not know much about the way these other countries run. But if you would take a second and look at there government overall ull find that they are just as screwed up as we are maybe just in another way.

    Also by naming it a mass shooting we are classifying it. That means we are giving it a specific definition. Do these other countries classify crimes the same way? If not then your statistics which are generated by the individual countries could be skewed. If they aren't and it works then maybe we should adopt them. But government power needs to be kept in check that's all I've said from my first post on this column
    doankyl 08/06/2015 12:29 PM
  • doankyl: Actually, stricter regulations work in every other industrialized, democratic country in the world. In response to a mass shooting in 1993, Australia toughened gun regulations, and there have been no or nearly no mass shootings there since. Gun crimes are rare in the UK and Canada too, and neither are exactly anti-freedom countries. There is no other industrialized, democratic country in the world with a record of mass shootings, or of mass incarceration, like the US has. This just means that we are unwilling to use common sense, not that most people even know what common sense is any more, in our country. I am not generally in favor of constitutional amendments, but there are two which we do need, one for guns, and one for getting money out of politics, both subjects heavily influenced by the NRA. Don't forget, the founding fathers were fresh from breaking away from an autocratic dictator (George III of England) and a war fought with muskets (flintlocks) and pitchforks, when muskets were the most up to date guns available. Things have changed, there are no more autocratic dictators running our country (no matter what Republicans and Tea Partiers say, Obama is still going to leave after two popularly elected terms, the first President since Eisenhower to win over 50% of the vote in two elections), and weaponry has become a good deal more advanced than muskets. In reality, can you name one single freedom or power that the government has actually taken away from you during your lifetime? If you were black, you might be able to say yes, since in some states black people, and other minorities, have lost their right to vote because they are unable to obtain ID to satisfy the white power structure who has perpetrated the fraud that fraudulent in-person voting is taking place, when it actually is not, but other than that (which probably does not affect you), I doubt you can name one single freedom or power you have lost.
    dadlqqkn4son 08/03/2015 09:38 AM
  • Bearinfw no I understand that completely. Like I said any power given to the gov. Is hard to take back. The fear is that they will take all of our freedom and no one will be able to do anything.

    Stricter regulations won't help criminals will still get guns. Loosen regulations and they will just have more like I said no easy fix
    doankyl 07/30/2015 12:36 PM
  • Doankyl, the government constitutionally can regulate guns. What's not clear yet is where the line is drawn. The Supreme Court has moved it several times, and gun rights advocates have reached the point that they vehemently oppose *any* regulation, even of the common-sense variety. For example, just last week the Obama administration proposed a new rule that would bar Social Security recipients who are unable to tend to the own affairs from buying a gun. Basically we are talking about those people who are physically or mentally infirm. Sounds logical, right. Well, the right wing promptly starts howling that Obama is wanting to take senior citizens gun rights away! Good grief. Get a grip people. Is this country going NUTS?
    BearinFW 07/28/2015 12:53 AM
  • Bearinfw I think I get what your saying. It's easy to vote yes or no but Americans don't think it's a big enough problem yet to actually start making changes.

    I think that most Americans still struggle with the idea of letting our government regulate and control our right to bear arms. Which was put in the Constitution to prevent our government from oppressing us.

    Unfortunately there is no easy fix to the problem. The government takes more power for itself nearly daily so I don't want them regulating it. But something needs to be done.
    doankyl 07/27/2015 09:13 AM
  • Yes, rjzip, when pollsters ask the general public, they come up with numbers like these. But do Americans *really* care about guns as an issue? I don't think so. The public doesn't put their money or their votes behind gun control efforts. The pro-gun forces do support their side, in force, and so even though are outnumbered, they carry the day.
    BearinFW 07/24/2015 12:20 PM
  • Yes, the problem is that the NRA controls the debate while the majority of Americans think differently. The NRA has changed into a lobby for the gun manufacturers with no regard for safety of the public.
    rjzip 07/24/2015 11:57 AM