From one outrage to another: gun. Our discussion of guns this week will be a short one mostly about more cases of pushback against the gun nuts.However, first, let's take a moment to remind ourselves just how wacko these people are.
There is, of course, Wayne LaPepeLePew, CEO of the Nutzoid Rabbit-brains of America, who recently claimed that limiting access to semi-automatic weapons limits people's "ability to survive." Because if someone is invading your house, well, you just can't be expected to be limited to six shots. You've got to have 15. Or 50. Or 100.
This was right around the time he also insisted that he didn't care what anybody said, the real purpose of background checks is for some kind of government plot against gun owners and besides, the checks don't work because of the opposition of the incredibly powerful “mental health lobby.”
Then there was the blogger who said "Mass shootings always get lots of press coverage. But what about mass shootings that are thwarted when a bystander pulls his/her gun and ends it?" and then went on to cite a case where an off-duty cop shot a would-be mass shooter before he was able to shoot more than one person. Sure, this twit said, it was an off-duty cop, but it just as easily could have been just anybody with a gun.
And sure, the cop used a gun, but it just as easily could have been a slingshot. Or a pie.
Writing at "National Review," Charlotte Allen complained that the Newtown massacre happened because it was a "feminized setting" without enough testosterone-fueled aggression around and wondered what might have happened if "some of the huskier 12-year-old boys had converged on" the shooter.
Columnist Megan McArdle didn't wonder: She wrote at "The Daily Beast" that children should have it "drilled into them" that "the correct thing to do is for everyone to instantly run at the guy with the gun."
We've got Rep. Steve Stockman of Texas, who wondered aloud if the victims of gun violence invited by Obama to the State of the Union were "useful idiots" and suggested Obama supporters are using fake Twitter accounts to send pro gun-control tweets to members of Congress.
But my personal favorite came from Sen. Lamar Alexander, who said on MSNBC on January 30 that "I think video games is a bigger problem than, than guns because video games affects people."
Unlike, apparently, getting shot.
That is the way these people think - but there is pushback and there is a shift in attitudes.
California already has among the country's toughest gun laws - but according to a new statewide poll, by overwhelming margins residents of the state favor making them tougher. Support for new proposed measures ranges from 61% to 83%.
In Maryland, 85% support a proposal by the governor to require gun buyers to submit to fingerprinting, safety training, and more background checks while 63% support tougher gun control laws overall.
Nationwide, 54% support tougher laws, 44% do so "strongly."
In a legal victory, one all too rare these days, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver has ruled that permits allowing people to carry concealed weapons are not protected by the Second Amendment. “In light of our nation’s extensive practice of restricting citizen’s freedom to carry firearms in a concealed manner, we hold that this activity does not fall within the scope of the Second Amendment’s protections,” the judges ruled.
There are legal technicalities in the case related to reciprocal recognition of permits between states, but none of that takes away from the importance of that sentence.
Finally on this, last week I mentioned the primaries in Chicago to replace former Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. The winner of the Democratic primary and therefore almost assuredly of the general election, is former state Rep. Robin Kelly, the woman who touted her "F" rating from the NRA. She got 52% of the vote in what was essentially a three-way race.
One last quick thing: A brand-new study by the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence has told ou what you already knew: States with the most restrictive gun laws have lower rates of gun-related deaths, while states with few limits on firearms have the highest rates. Which is the same thing that other studies have found.
By the way, when the study was released last month, the San Francisco Chronicle forwarded it to four pro-gun groups for comment. Not one responded.
Sources:
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/lapierre-access-to-semi-automatics-is-about-survival
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/02/wayne-lapierre-fox-news-sunday.php
http://sayanythingblog.com/entry/man-attempts-shooting-spree-at-the-hobbit-movie-premier-stopped-by-gun-carrying-audience-member/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/18/sandy-hook-solutions-megan-mcardle_n_2324045.html
http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2012/12/Oh-Husky-12-Year-Old-Boy-The-National-Review-Weighs-in-on-the-Newtown-Shooting
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/335996/newtown-answers-nro-symposium#
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/26/steve-stockman-useful-idiots_n_2764856.html?ref=topbar
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/02/25/rep-stockman-obama-machine-used-fake-twitter-accounts-to-send-gun-control/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/25/colorado-lawmakers-get-th_n_2760325.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuiDBr0WnZU
http://www.mercurynews.com/crime-courts/ci_22666985/field-poll-california-voters-feel-new-gun-controls
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/washington-post-poll-finds-support-for-stricter-gun-control-laws-in-maryland/2013/02/26/71fdabc0-7f98-11e2-8074-b26a871b165a_story.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/page/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2012/12/17/National-Politics/Polling/question_9271.xml
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/24/us/court-finds-no-right-to-conceal-a-firearm.html?ref=todayspaper&_r=0
http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Appeals-court-upholds-concealed-weapons-ruling-4300811.php
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/clout/chi-2nd-congressional-district-jackson-20130226,0,4718425.story
http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/Tough-gun-laws-linked-to-fewer-deaths-4145605.php
tinyurl.com/cj5x6vq
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