Left Side of the Aisle #105 - Part 5

Guns

On Wednesday, April 17, as I'm sure you know, The Senate failed to break a right-wing filibuster of the proposal for expanded background checks for gun purchases. The vote was 54-46* - a majority supported it, but it takes 60 votes to break a filibuster.

This expansion was something that various polls repeatedly showed was endorsed by literally overwhelming numbers of Americans - 85%, 90%, even 91% in one poll.

Vast majorities of Democrats support it. Vast majorities of independents support it. Vast majorities of Republicans support it. Even vast majorities of gun-owning households supported it. But none of that mattered as long as the NRA, the Nutzoid Rabbit-brains of America, the mouthpiece of the gun industry, said no.

I am beyond anger about this, beyond outrage. I am in the realm of cold fury.

On a per-capita basis, we are the most heavily-armed country in the world, with 90 guns for every 100 citizens. Yemen comes in a very distant second, with 61 guns per 100 citizens. The US is not only the world's largest manufacturer of guns it is also the world's largest importer of guns. In 2011, there were over 6.5 million guns made in the US and more than 3 million more imported.

But that's not enough for the merchants of murder and mayhem. They want more and they chuckle over the blood and the carnage and the gore because they figure it will just frighten a few more people into buying their own little death machine in the utterly false belief it will provide for their security.

And what did we hear in the wake of the vote, what did we hear from the liberal media? Excuses for the Democrats who voted no! Oh, we were told, they're in red states! They're facing tough re-election campaigns! What else could they do?

You know what? I don't give a damn! I don't even want to hear it. I don't want anyone even hinting to me that trying to limit the slaughter in our streets is less important than whether or not Max Baucus gets to keep his job. I don't anyone even hinting to me that Mary Landrieu can't vote to try to save the lives of those to be caught in the next Columbine, the next Aurora, the next Newtown, because she's scared the NRA might say nasty things about her. Especially don't even try to tell me that when all the liberal excuses just blew up in their faces because Max Baucus just announced he's not running for re-election!

The people who voted this down, the people who opposed stronger controls, are a disgrace and should be regarded by all civilized people as accessories to murder. You people have blood on your hands.

As of April 22, there had been 3,628 death by gun in the US since Newtown, 25 of them in Massachusetts.

Footnote: Apologies to Mary Landrieu, who voted Yes. I just grabbed for the first "red state Democrat facing tough re-election" whose name came to mind at that moment. My bad.

*It actually was 55-45; Harry Reid changed his vote to No at the last minute for the procedural reason that being on the losing end of the vote will allow him to bring the issue up again in this session of Congress.

Sources:
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/04/17/public-opinion-gets-trumped-in-gun-control-defeat/comment-page-20/
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57580127/background-checks-voted-down-senate-gun-bill-in-peril/
http://www.reuters.com/article/2007/08/28/us-world-firearms-idUSL2834893820070828
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/03/26/nr-draft-how-important-are-guns-to-the-u-s-economy-for-starters-the-firearms-industry-employs-twice-as-many-americans-as-bailed-out-gm/
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/04/03/1811311/study-states-with-loose-gun-laws-have-higher-rates-of-gun-violence/
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/04/gun-background-checks-senate.php
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324235304578440651803014518.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/18/gun-bill-mental-health_n_3110512.html?ref=topbar
http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/first-federal-gun-laws-pass-newtown-shooti
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/04/02/187543/quietly-and-behind-the-scenes.html#emlnl=Daily_News_Update
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/crime/2012/12/gun_death_tally_every_american_gun_death_since_newtown_sandy_hook_shooting.html