02-22-2018, 04:01 PM
I watched the CNN Town Hall with survivors of the Florida high school shooting last night and the speeches by NRA reps Dana Loesch and Wayne La Pierre at CPAC this morning.
I didn't hear anyone at the Town Hall say that they didn't support the Second Amendment; most of them volunteered that they did support it. But, some of them also said that they don't believe it applies to assault rifles being sold to people under 21, especially when there's a well-documented history of complaints, violence and mental instability.
I disagreed with the sheriff and some of the kids and parents who seemed to think it was inappropriate to discuss the failures or perceived failures of law enforcement in the Florida school mass shooting and others. I think it's critical to look at all of them and fix the fucking problems, not only in regards to lack of information being supplied to NICS for adequate background checking, but also with law enforcement training/commitment to prevention and response.
But, the NRA is still claiming to its members and the country that pushing for better control is a case of lefties with "European Socialist" agendas trying to take everyone's guns away. Bullshit.
The NRA objected to universal background checks. The NRA objects to limiting high capacity magazines. The NRA won't even consider a ban on certain guns, even when there would still be plenty of guns available for self-defense.
Florida Senator Marco Rubio has received over $3,000,000 in political support from the NRA. He showed up and participated in the Town Hall last night. Good on him. Governor Scott and President Trump declined the invitation.
Rubio wouldn't commit to considering a ban on AR-15s, but he did say he disagreed with the idea of arming teachers, he supported raising the age limit for purchasing rifles to 21, and he seemed to imply that he supported Red Flag legislation to make it easier for law enforcement to involuntarily commit someone who's shown to be violent and threatening (which would then be grounds to disqualify the person from gun ownership IF reported to NICS and to have his/her guns taken away). I support that too, but suspect the ACLU would not.
Where I agreed with La Pierre: the NICS system is only effective at keeping guns out of the wrong hands if the authorities across states report disqualifying information into it. Right now, as we've seen in almost every recent mass shooting, the NICS database is woefully incomplete. Serious pressure needs to be put on the local and state LE, courts, military and medical professionals to report the necessary information to be entered into NICS. That needs to start now.
I didn't hear anyone at the Town Hall say that they didn't support the Second Amendment; most of them volunteered that they did support it. But, some of them also said that they don't believe it applies to assault rifles being sold to people under 21, especially when there's a well-documented history of complaints, violence and mental instability.
I disagreed with the sheriff and some of the kids and parents who seemed to think it was inappropriate to discuss the failures or perceived failures of law enforcement in the Florida school mass shooting and others. I think it's critical to look at all of them and fix the fucking problems, not only in regards to lack of information being supplied to NICS for adequate background checking, but also with law enforcement training/commitment to prevention and response.
But, the NRA is still claiming to its members and the country that pushing for better control is a case of lefties with "European Socialist" agendas trying to take everyone's guns away. Bullshit.
The NRA objected to universal background checks. The NRA objects to limiting high capacity magazines. The NRA won't even consider a ban on certain guns, even when there would still be plenty of guns available for self-defense.
Florida Senator Marco Rubio has received over $3,000,000 in political support from the NRA. He showed up and participated in the Town Hall last night. Good on him. Governor Scott and President Trump declined the invitation.
Rubio wouldn't commit to considering a ban on AR-15s, but he did say he disagreed with the idea of arming teachers, he supported raising the age limit for purchasing rifles to 21, and he seemed to imply that he supported Red Flag legislation to make it easier for law enforcement to involuntarily commit someone who's shown to be violent and threatening (which would then be grounds to disqualify the person from gun ownership IF reported to NICS and to have his/her guns taken away). I support that too, but suspect the ACLU would not.
Where I agreed with La Pierre: the NICS system is only effective at keeping guns out of the wrong hands if the authorities across states report disqualifying information into it. Right now, as we've seen in almost every recent mass shooting, the NICS database is woefully incomplete. Serious pressure needs to be put on the local and state LE, courts, military and medical professionals to report the necessary information to be entered into NICS. That needs to start now.