I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.
This op-ed from former Rep Gabby Giffords after the Senate voted against gun legislation should make every one of the Senators who voted "NO" on these bills to stop and think since she personally knows what it is like to be shot in a mass shooting in Arizona. The very idea that people like Rand Paul is accusing the President of using Newtown parents and others involved in mass shootings as props is disgusting.
Op-Ed Contributor
A Senate in the Gun Lobby’s Grip
By GABRIELLE GIFFORDS
Published: April 17, 2013
WASHINGTON
SENATORS say they fear the N.R.A. and the gun lobby. But I think that fear must be nothing compared to the fear the first graders in Sandy Hook Elementary School felt as their lives ended in a hail of bullets. The fear that those children who survived the massacre must feel every time they remember their teachers stacking them into closets and bathrooms, whispering that they loved them, so that love would be the last thing the students heard if the gunman found them.
On Wednesday, a minority of senators gave into fear and blocked common-sense legislation that would have made it harder for criminals and people with dangerous mental illnesses to get hold of deadly firearms — a bill that could prevent future tragedies like those in Newtown, Conn., Aurora, Colo., Blacksburg, Va., and too many communities to count.
Some of the senators who voted against the background-check amendments have met with grieving parents whose children were murdered at Sandy Hook, in Newtown. Some of the senators who voted no have also looked into my eyes as I talked about my experience being shot in the head at point-blank range in suburban Tucson two years ago, and expressed sympathy for the 18 other people shot besides me, 6 of whom died. These senators have heard from their constituents — who polls show overwhelmingly favored expanding background checks. And still these senators decided to do nothing. Shame on them.
I watch TV and read the papers like everyone else. We know what we’re going to hear: vague platitudes like “tough vote” and “complicated issue.” I was elected six times to represent southern Arizona, in the State Legislature and then in Congress. I know what a complicated issue is; I know what it feels like to take a tough vote. This was neither. These senators made their decision based on political fear and on cold calculations about the money of special interests like the National Rifle Association, which in the last election cycle spent around $25 million on contributions, lobbying and outside spending.
Speaking is physically difficult for me. But my feelings are clear: I’m furious. I will not rest until we have righted the wrong these senators have done, and until we have changed our laws so we can look parents in the face and say: We are trying to keep your children safe. We cannot allow the status quo — desperately protected by the gun lobby so that they can make more money by spreading fear and misinformation — to go on.
I am asking every reasonable American to help me tell the truth about the cowardice these senators demonstrated. I am asking for mothers to stop these lawmakers at the grocery store and tell them: You’ve lost my vote. I am asking activists to unsubscribe from these senators’ e-mail lists and to stop giving them money. I’m asking citizens to go to their offices and say: You’ve disappointed me, and there will be consequences.
Read More at New York Times
Joe Scarborough @JoeNBC Here's a simple political rule of thumb: voting against the will of 90% of Americans and for what al Qaeda terrorists celebrate is kinda bad
Morning Joe @Morning_Joe 'This party is moving toward extinction. A new Republican Party is going to replace it.' --@JoeNBC#morningjoe
11:53 AM on 04/18/2013
West Virginia’s Sen. Joe Manchin remained resolute that he can get a background check bill passed in the Senate.
“We’re gonna win this,” a fired up Manchin said on Thursday’s Morning Joe, the day after the Senate shot down the background check gun control amendment that he and Pennsylvania’s Sen. Pat Toomey crossed party lines to co-author. “I’ve got more work to do…We’re going to pass this. Don’t you give up.”
Manchin, a Democrat, and Toomey, a Republican, expanded background checks to include sales at gun shows and online, while adding strong protections for gun rights, such as criminalizing any attempt at establishing a gun-owner registry. The amendment was seen as a key component that could help the bill to pass. Nonetheless, the measure fell short of the 60 votes it needed to move forward.
“This was a balanced bill that had everybody’s input,” Manchin said.
The NRA alleged that the bill would have instituted background checks between family members and close friends–something the bill does not do.
“For the NRA to say this,” he said. “What they’re saying is trying to stretch that if I sold a gun on the Internet to my cousin, then I make a family member [get a background check]. If you’ve got to sell a gun on the Internet, you better check your family relationship.”
Manchin vowed to work with the four Democrats who voted against the bill, saying that he would continue to tweak his bill and work to get the necessary 60 votes.
“If the NRA didn’t score this, we’d have 15 more votes,” he said. “We had a good piece of legislation that would have saved lives–it will save lives.Because Majority Leader Reid voted with the Republicans, the legislation can be brought back up which is what they plan to do with a few tweaks. American people are livid at their members of the Senate for not doing their job and being in the hip pocket of the NRA. Somehow they believe we are all just going to go back to ignoring what they are doing, but that's not happening. Mayor Bloomberg will be joining the fight with his Super PAC along with Gabby Giffords PAC who raised much more than the NRA PAC to start primarying these people who voted against common sense gun control. They are going to be shocked when they discover that Democrats, Independents, and Republicans are all lined up against them.
Republicans and those four Democrats should be ashamed to put the NRA and their elections over 91% of the American people. I wrote my two Senators Inhofe and Coburn which I know was a waste of my time, but I did it because they needed to know how at least a few of their constituents felt.
I am sitting here listening to a woman whose daughter was killed in the VA Tech shooting talk about the members of the Senate who voted NO are out of touch and frankly don't care when the people talk to them who had children or siblings killed in mass shootings. Republicans walked out of the Senate hearing before the Newtown parents testified which I thought was deploreable at the time and still do. Today's hard core Republicans seem to have little or no empathy for others.
GOP is supporting an opt-in poll touting that police chiefs don't believe in background checks which was made into an ad. Turns out it is an opt-in poll with no scientific polling but the GOP touts the poll knowing it is worthless which describes the GOP today for the most part - worthless.
What does it take to get Republicans to acknowledge that some gun control is needed desperately in this Country? Obviously there have not been enough killings. When a member of the Congress is gunned down and they still don't budget on gun control, then they are a lost cause and need replaced starting in 2014 and every two years after until they are out of office. They have lived off the American people long enough since they refuse to listen to 91% of us!
Where you made you basic mistake is pretending that there aren't two Constitutions - one for the far right and the other for we the little people. Once you rectify that mistake, and understand that they are the ones who are right and we the little people don't matter, then you can correct your errors of judgement.
ReplyDeleteWhen does this stop with these people? They just plain old don't care about anyone but their big buck constituents. That's all there is to it.
SJR
The Pink Flamingo