On the one year anniversary of Parkland, Florida's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School gun massacre, so many will never see Valentine's Day in the same way. Fourteen students died at the hands of a former student who had access to a semi-automatic assault rifle. While the massacre sparked a national movement -- March For Our Lives -- that has mobilized millions in the fight for gun safety laws, the public has less of a sense of urgency to put such laws into place. Moreover, almost 1,200 children have lost their lives to gun violence in the year since Parlkand, but in comes in small bursts, ones, twos and threes, so it's not noticed as much.
House Democrats have passed two bills out of the Judiciary Committee that would expand background checks (something an overwhelming majority of Americans want) to gun shows, the internet and other private transactions. The bills go to the floor of the House for a vote where they are expected to pass along party lines, but face strong opposition from the Senate Rethuglican majority, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the National
(photo: Gary Rothstein/UPI)
The daily news is overwhelmed with Trump crap. We see it literally every day, because Trump is terrible in every way. But we have to focus on stories of real consequence, like the legislation of gun control. We have to make clear the need for steps toward management of gun sales, magazine limits, background checks, gun safety, and more. And we celebrate when laws are passed, and we make noise if the Senators drop the ball and refuse to pass them. We make it newsworthy when the Senate kowtows to the NRA and we back the survivors of gun violence however possible and as publicly as we can.
ReplyDeleteThe House can do so much more now that the Democrats have control. We have to hold the Senate's feet to the fire and let the public see them for what they are: gun lobby puppets. It's time to get gun laws passed.
donnah -- Dems need to push this legislation despite the Republican hacks opposing it. Then, if it fails, push it again and remind voters who's blocking the door and endangering their kids every day.
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