Image 01 Image 03

Gun Control Tag

Former Democratic Arizona Rep. Gabby Giffords' gun control group has purchased ads to target eight GOP House members before the chamber votes on a bill that allows concealed carry across state lines. From Politico:
Digital ads will also go out against Reps. Steve Knight (R-Calif.), Ed Royce (R-Calif.), Mimi Walters (R-Calif.), Mike Coffman (R-Colo.), Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) and Barbara Comstock (R-Va.). All of these are at the top of Democrats’ 2018 pick-up hopes. There will be a radio ad focused on the three Southern California members.

Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock used a bump stock attachment when he murdered 58 people. Following the massacre, lawmakers of all political stripes, gun control groups, and even gun rights groups like the NRA agreed the bump stock, which enables rapid fire shooting on some semi-automatic rifles, was not fit for public use. “Fully automatic weapons have been outlawed for many, many years. This seems to be a way of going around that, so obviously we need to look how we can tighten up the compliance with this law so that fully automatic weapons are banned," said Speaker Ryan at the time.

After large-scale tragedies the quest to prevent the next mass shooting begins. In the case of the Sutherland Springs shooting, the federal government's failure to properly report Devin Kelley's violent past may have allowed him to possess weapons to which he should not have had legal access.

So far it's been difficult to get information on the question of whether the parishioners in the Texas church where yesterday's mass murder took place were prohibited from carrying guns. Here are the pertinent rules in Texas:

Although Seattle's gun tax was supposed to bring in $300,000 to $500,000, it's brought in less than $200,000.  The money was supposed to be used to "study" gun violence and to somehow lower the cost to taxpayers for gun violence. It didn't turn out that way, and Seattle ended up forking out taxpayer money from the general fund for the "study."  Meanwhile, small business owners have shuttered their Seattle gun shops, causing employees to lose their jobs.  Furthermore, Seattle police report that gun violence has sharply increased.

Gunman James Hodgkison, a Bernie Sanders supporter, opened fire on GOP lawmakers as they practiced for the annual Congressional baseball game Wednesday morning. He shot Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA), two Congressional aides, and two members of the Capitol Police force were also shot. Scalise remains in critical condition. Rather than reflect on how we landed at this juncture, these individuals rolled out the gun control mantra.

I will never fully understand the irrational fear of inanimate objects that leads people to do things like this. A handful of instructors, mostly grad students, from the University of Texas are holding office hours in a bar after the state implemented campus carry laws. They're hoping gun-free zones will keep them safe. Under the Lone Star State's campus carry laws, only licensed concealed carry permit holders are legally allowed to pack heat on participating college campuses, and even then, only on certain parts of campus.

As soon as Yahoo's Bianna Golodryga said she didn't want to "turn political," you knew that was precisely what she was about to do. But when Golodryga proceeded to criticize the Texas open-carry law this morning, you might be surprised that it was Meredith Vieira who—excuse the expression—shot her down. Vieira was a guest on Morning Joe to discuss a documentary, for which she served as executive producer, about the University of Texas Tower shootings in 1966, in which Charles Whitman shot 49 people, killing 16. The gun-control shoe was bound to drop, and after her "not to turn political," Golodryga launched into a criticism of the new Texas open-carry law, fretting that it could prevent UT from attracting "students and the top talent in teaching for fear of this law." Retorted Vieira: "It's interesting. On that day, the students were allowed to carry on campus and the police relied on them. One of the police -- they didn't have SWAT teams back then and they didn't have the equipment either to get to somebody who was up in the tower. So they were asking students: does anybody have a shotgun? The police themselves didn't have shotguns. And the students helped them."