Tag: Gun Control

More Republicans Support Gun Control Now Than After Pulse Shooting

Buck Banks

52%

Republican support for stronger gun control laws is up seven points from a year ago. More than half of Republicans (52 percent) said they oppose stricter gun control, down seven points from the June 2016 poll, according to a recent Morning Consult poll. The poll, conducted in the days following the shooting that wounded House Majority Whip Steve Scalise — along with a lobbyist, congressional staffer and a member of the Capitol Police — found 44 percent of Republicans said they support strengthening gun laws.

Lawmaker Offers AR-15 as Fundraiser Door Prize

Buck Banks

1

Day after the worst mass shooting in American history, Rep. Andy Holt (R-TN), is firmly standing behind his decision to give away am AR-15 semi-automatic rifle as a door prize at his next fundraiser, the Memphis Commercial Appeal reports. Said Holt: “It has nothing to do with the style of weapon. It has everything to do with who’s behind the weapon.”

Mo. Lawmaker Proposes Gun Laws Similar to Abortion Laws

Buck Banks

Since Missouri holds the rank as one of the strictest abortion regulation states in the country, it is logical we borrow similar restrictions to lower our horrific gun violence rates.

— Missouri state Rep. Stacey Newman (D), introducing a bill to apply “the restrictions placed on women seeking abortion services to all prospective firearm purchasers, such as a requirement that anyone buying a gun first watch a 30-minute video on fatal firearm injuries,” St. Louis Magazine reports.

Obama Reacts to the Latest Mass Shooting

Buck Banks

This is not normal. We can’t let it become normal. If we truly care about this — if we’re going to offer up our thoughts and prayers again, for God knows how many times, with a truly clean conscience — then we have to do something about the easy accessibility of weapons of war on our streets to people who have no business wielding them. Period. Enough is enough.

— President Obama, quoted by Politico, after yet another mass shooting.

When Massacres Become Normal

Buck Banks

The regularity of mass killings breeds familiarity. The rhythms of grief and outrage that accompany them become — for those not directly affected by tragedy — ritualised and then blend into the background noise. That normalisation makes it ever less likely that America’s political system will groan into action to take steps to reduce their frequency or deadliness. Those who live in America, or visit it, might do best to regard them the way one regards air pollution in China: an endemic local health hazard which, for deep-rooted cultural, social, economic and political reasons, the country is incapable of addressing. This may, however, be a bit unfair. China seems to be making progress on pollution.

— The Economist, in June