Discussion: WH: We'd Have Stricter Gun Laws If Congress Weren't 'Terrified' Of The NRA

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Discussion for article #243406

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Best WH press secretary ever! I really like this guy…

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Beat me to it by thismuch.

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Way to go Josh — LIKE a million ! —

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As is often noted when tragedies like this happen, the reflexive solution is stricter gun laws. That’s a good start, but the fact is, there are so many millions of guns floating around and so many more being manufactured every day that it seems hopeless to think we’ll ever solve the gun disease in the US. The NRA demonizes and threatens anyone who dares propose gun laws and that indeed has the spineless pols in DC crapping their pants. The depressing truth is, there’s probably not a lot we can do to stop or minimize these mass shootings; guns are more sacred to Joe American than mom or apple pie. Hug your kids and hope you and they don’t end up in the crossfire some sad day. Oh, and Happy Holidays.

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“WH: We’d Have Stricter Gun Laws If Congress Weren’t ‘Terrified’ Of NRA”

So true! Well said.

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It’s not hopeless, if the conservative government in Australia can do, so can’t we.

*"On April 28, 1996, a gunman opened fire on tourists in a seaside resort in Port Arthur, Tasmania. By the time he was finished, he had killed 35 people and wounded 23 more. It was the worst mass murder in Australia’s history.

Twelve days later, Australia’s government did something remarkable. Led by newly elected conservative Prime Minister John Howard, it announced a bipartisan deal with state and local governments to enact sweeping gun-control measures. A decade and a half hence, the results of these policy changes are clear: They worked really, really well.
At the heart of the push was a massive buyback of more than 600,000 semi-automatic shotguns and rifles, or about one-fifth of all firearms in circulation in Australia. The country’s new gun laws prohibited private sales, required that all weapons be individually registered to their owners, and required that gun buyers present a “genuine reason” for needing each weapon at the time of the purchase. (Self-defense did not count.) In the wake of the tragedy, polls showed public support for these measures at upwards of 90 percent."*

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“WH: We’d Have Stricter Gun Laws If Congress Weren’t ‘Terrified’ Of NRA.”

“Terrified”?

Isn’t that the goal of any terrorist organization?

Hmmm…

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Terrifed? No. They are not afraid, they are immoral. In life you decide if you are going to side with the murderers or be a decent human being. Those that carry water for the NRA are immoral and indecent. In light of all the slaughter, these Congress people are sociopaths and are culpable.

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Congress is terrified of the NRA and their members.
The NRA exploits this terror.

That, by definition, qualifies the NRA as terrorists.

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White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Thursday that some members of Congress are too “terrified” of the National Rifle Association to pass stricter gun legislation.

Put even more pressure on them – name them. Seriously, call them out. It’d be a long press conference and snag a lot of Democrats, but it should be done.

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It was a remarkable and hopeful event. The trouble is, we have something like 300 million guns (100 times that of Australia) and a segment of the population that believes in the whole cold dead hands thing. The people we wish to disarm are the people that are least likely to give up their weapons and will used deadly force to keep them.

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Isn’t that a sad commentary about what America has become?

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It is indeed. Damn, but I would like to feel even a little tiny bit of hope, but everything I see points to no improvement in sight.

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An Australian conservative (Murdoch excluded) is quite different from an American conservative (Murdoch included on this side).

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Yes, and the NRA are the fundamental extremists of the Republican party who are very well represented in their current competition (primary) to out exaggerate each other on the clown bus.

Over 35,000 Americans killed by guns in the US each and every year. The NRA and the Republicans are the reason so for so much instability and death on our streets!