Lamentations
At Salon, Why gun control is dead in America:
As the immediate shock of the mass shooting in Arizona subsides and the conversation turns to gun control, it’s becoming increasingly clear that there is little chance that new anti-gun measures will pass the Republican-dominated Congress.
But a picture is also coming into focus of a gun control movement that has been on the retreat for at least a decade, facing setbacks not only in Congress, but also in the courts and in public opinion polls, and of a Democratic Party that, from President Obama on down, has all but ceded the issue to the National Rifle Association.
Their funding is fading. Their influence is non-existent. Truly, no movement has suffered more from the popularity of political discussion on the internet. Odd what happens when both sides of the story are told for a change. It’s not so much we’re winning as they’re losing.
The new trend will be the left moving on from guns to mental health issues?
January 13th, 2011 at 12:08 pm
Words are important for setting the terms of the debate. “Gun confiscation” is dead, or “criminalization of gun ownership” is dead. Common sense, reasonable gun control is just beginning to blossom in America. Too many folks conditioned by Brady and the democrats have ceded what “common sense” and “reasonable” actually mean. God willing, in 5 years everyone will accept that citizens have a right to keep and bear arms, on and around their person for self-defense.
January 13th, 2011 at 3:10 pm
The left will certainly move on to mental health issues, especially since people of all political persuasions are generally on board with the idea of keeping guns away from the mentally ill.
Oh, by the way, if you’re conservative……you’re mentally ill.
http://reason.com/archives/2004/10/20/pathologizing-conservatism
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/11/28/308/98527
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/8228192/Political-views-hard-wired-into-your-brain.html
January 14th, 2011 at 5:32 am
I’ve heard that the Joyce Foundation recently dumped over a million dollars into various anti-gun organizations. A cool half million going to the VPC.