Over the Top

The NRA's latest ad represents an organization that has lost its way and explains the reason that only 36% of Americans have a favorable view of them. They will tell you that their membership has increased by 250,000 and gun sales are out the roof since the Newtown shooting, and that's probably true but the Washington Post/ABC poll tells a different story.


In anticipation of President Obama's' new gun control proposals where some may be achieved through executive orders, Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) said, "   I think having a monarch is what we fought the American Revolution over and someone who wants to bypass the Constitution, bypass Congress — that’s someone who wants to act like a king or a monarch.” I wonder what Senator Paul thought of Ronald Reagan's 381 executive orders or the executive order President George H. W. Bush used to ban the importation of assault weapons. I wonder if the senator knows that the order the latter used halted the importation of some semi-automatic firearms after a mass school shooting Stockton, California." He based his executive order on the 1968 Gun Control Act and used it to ban the shipment of what could be considered “assault weapons” unless they were used for sporting purposes."

Yesterday, the state of New york passed the strictest gun laws in America even though the Senate in that state is controlled by the GOP and Maryland and Connecticut are strengthening their gun laws. After the  bill was signed the governor said, "Common sense can win."  "You can overpower the extremists with intelligence and with reason and with common sense." The common sense part didn't convince one Republican who voted against the bill. He said that he would have to break the law rather than leave his wife at home with their small children because she needed the high-capacity  ammo clip to protect their home in his absence... He cited a woman who shot an intruder four times to defend herself and her children in Georgia. He forgot to say that she had a six shot revolver. Second point, what kind of kind of neighbor does the legislator live in? If he's that concerned, he should resign and get a job closer to home. I know he was using his family as a prop to state his political point.

 Gun control, mental illness illness and violence in our video games and movies will always be a sensitive subject because we are dealing with the second amendment, first amendment, and privacy issues. We don't have as much push back when we try to regulate the movie or video game industry as we do, when we even mention gun restrictions because even though they may be only 30% of our overall population, they are a well- funded loud 30%. This time it may be different because Mayor Bloomberg is putting his money behind common sense gun laws and the images of the 20 young children's bodies riddled with bullet holes is still fresh in our minds.. 

Right now, it doesn't seem like much will get through the GOP controlled house but the one that has the greatest chance of passing is the universal background checks.  

We need this debate, but we need to leave the president's family out of this. What would you do if you were the president and four mass murders happened while you were the chief executive?. You are going to be hit from both sides no matter what you decide to do.