Quote of the Day

"The N.R.A. and gun-rights advocates are quick to use the Constitution to defend unfettered access to even the most lethal firearms. But before the Constitution there was the Declaration of Independence, which asserts that we are endowed with certain unalienable rights, including those of 'Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.' It continues, 'That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted...' It is time now for government to protect our right to life from the threat of gun violence. It is time for politicians to put this right on the same pedestal they afford the right to bear arms." --  Jonathan Perloe, Greenwich Democratic Town Committee, in an editorial piece on Greenwichtime.com (h/t to Daily Kos).

Emblazoned on the exterior of the National Rifle Rampage Association's headquarters are the words, "the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."  Of course, that's not the whole text of the Second Amendment.  The NRA consistently ignores the opening phrase, "A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state..."  Why?  Because the gun lobby isn't about the "security of a free state";  they're about gun sales, and the free flow of firearms to whatever felon, or mentally disturbed person with money to buy them, regardless of their lip service about "bad guys."