legislation

Will Enough Finally Be Enough This Time?

February 25, 2018 By John DeProspo 2 Comments

It’s so easy to be cynical, especially when it comes to gun safety legislation.

If the deaths of innocent six and seven-year-olds couldn’t move the needle on enacting common sense gun regulations, nothing will. At least that was the mantra up until the Parkland Florida mass shooting.

Call me a crazy optimist, but I sense something different this time around. There is a sense of outrage and disgust that, I believe, will last long after the latest gun tragedy is no longer headline news.

In a new CNN/SSRS poll taken in the week after the horrific massacre at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, nearly three quarters of respondents said they favored stricter gun laws. CNN reports that the mind-boggling results suggest that support for more gun control in America is at its highest level since 1993.

CNN goes on to say:

Overall, 70% now say they back stricter gun laws, up from 52% who said so in an October poll not long after a mass shooting in Las Vegas killed 58 people. Just 27% oppose stricter laws. Bumps in support for tighter laws following mass shootings have rarely lasted, but they have also rarely been as large as the shift seen in this poll.

What is different about the latest mass shooting and prior massacres is they didn’t have the survivors of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School!

These fearless, and articulate, kids are not going to let their ordeal be swept under the rug by the National Rifle Association and its apologists. The gun group that usually plays offense after similar tragedies is suddenly finding itself on defense.

Americans of all political persuasions are pushing companies to cut ties with the powerful gun lobby. Gun-reform activists are targeting not weapons makers, but banks, rental car agencies, airlines, insurers and other companies with ties to the NRA.

And the new tactic is working!

“Americans have had it,” said Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, a group that calls for gun law reform. “This feels like a different energy level,” she added.

The battle to defeat the NRA will be difficult and long, but it feels to me … and to many others … we may have finally turned the corner towards enacting some common sense gun regulations.

There actually may come a day when an “A” from the NRA will no longer be seen as a badge of honor by politicians, but one of shame.

Photo | abcactionnews.com

House Approves Measure Calling For Gun Labeling … “Shoot Responsibly”

February 23, 2018 By John DeProspo 2 Comments

Reprint from satirical blog Moronmajority.com

After the latest mass shooting in Parkland, Florida, Congress has finally gotten serious about gun safety legislation. In a vote of 218-217, the House of Representatives, by the slimmest margin, yesterday passed a bill that would mandate all guns sold in the United States carry the warning: “Shoot Responsibly.”

Rep. Earl Scruggs (R-TN) hailed the vote as a much needed first step in making gun owners aware that with their unalienable right to bear arms comes the obligation to use their weapon appropriately. The admonition must be affixed to all packaging containing a weapon, from the smallest handgun to the largest assault rifle.

“What this tells the gun-consuming public,” said Scruggs, “is that it’s OK to use your gun for hunting, for target practice and self defense, but not to shoot up a movie theater, a nightclub or a school.”

Scruggs, who can up with the idea after watching a Heineken commercial encouraging consumers to “drink responsibly,” knew he was on to something that could pass the House.

”It took a lot of arm-twisting but we were finally able to get bipartisan agreement on my bill,” said Scruggs. “I know some people say this will not solve the problem of gun violence in our country, but it’s a start.”

For those old enough to remember, Earl Scruggs was a member of Nancy Reagan’s task force in the 1980’s war against drugs. Scruggs was credited with coming up with the highly successful campaign “Just say NO!”

The NRA, taken by surprise by the bill’s passage, has not yet weighed in on whether it will support the legislation. A spokesperson has indicated the gun group may agree to the labeling “depending on the size of the print.

Asked for comment, Donald Trump said he would be happy to sign the bill if it ever gets to his desk.

“I am all for people using their guns responsibly,” said Trump. “You know, something like this, along with training and arming teachers, will go a long way in making our schools, and country, safer.”

The fate of a similar bill being introduced in the Senate remains uncertain.

Photo | Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson

Satire?

Will Enough Finally Be Enough This Time?

House Approves Measure Calling For Gun Labeling … “Shoot Responsibly”

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