This article is part of TPM Cafe, TPM’s home for opinion and news analysis. It was originally published at The Conversation.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1417077
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1417077
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Man those who skipped the convention are congratulating themselves of dodging this bullet… who in his fucking mind thought this was a good idea.
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Going one-step farther, from Heather Cox Richardson’s Letter from an American this morning:
A Politico /Morning Consult poll out Wednesday showed “huge support” for gun regulations. It showed that 88% of voters strongly or somewhat support background checks on all gun sales, while only 8% strongly or somewhat oppose such checks. That’s a net approval of +80.
Preventing gun sales to people who have been reported to police as dangerous by a mental health provider is supported by 84% of voters while only 9% oppose it, a net approval of +75.
Seventy-seven percent of voters support requiring guns to be stored in a safe storage unit, while only 15% oppose such a requirement, a net approval of +62.
A national database for gun sales gets 75% approval and 18% disapproval, a net approval rate of +57.
Banning assault style weapons like the AR-15 has an approval rate of 67% of voters while only 25% disapprove. That’s a net approval of +42.
And fifty-four percent of voters approve of arming teachers with concealed weapons, while only 34% oppose it, a net approval of +20.
And yet, their opposition to regulation and their embrace of cowboy individualism means Republicans have made it clear they will not entertain any measures to regulate gun ownership, except perhaps the last one, which teachers, parents, students, and the two largest teachers’ unions all overwhelmingly oppose.
Somehow there are darned few politicians that are on the right side of this issue with respect to the people they represent. And yes, we all know why.
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I know it would never work this way but how I would love for New York State to tell the Supreme Court to fuck off and continue its gun ban. What the fuck is the court going to do? Not a goddamned thing. Not one goddamned thing.
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Corporations are people, too (see Citizens United SCOTUS decision.) Contributions to political campaigns buy you favoritism. NRA, with Russian help, has purchased much favoritism.
When you get whatever you ask for, the tendency is to push as far as you can.
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Anyone attending the NRA convention this week despite the Uvalde massacre.
When I first read about this and the bell was mentioned, I had an impression. Then I actually watched a video and the bell was far more grotesque than I imagined.
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$$$$$$$$$$$$$$…the Evil
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State-level nullification? That’s an interesting idea, although NY might get hit with lawsuits and penalties from the DOJ for violating a Federal limit on gun restrictions. Maybe not under this administration, but for damn sure under a Republican Presidency. I’m no Constitutional lawyer though, so I don’t know exactly how this would play out.
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Good thing that none of the names were Yosemite or Wythe.
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Let me get this straight: Trump is at the NRA affair, reading the names of the victims accompanied by a bell.
Ghastly HORROR.
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Just reading the names might have worked to let Trump fake sympathy, but the church bell made it truly weird. Almost as if someone wanted to expose the hypocrisy. I wonder if that was an inside job by a supporter of gun control running the sound system. Nah, probably just typical GOP cluelessness.
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Fun facts to know and tell:
In 1871, the Texas legislature passed an “Act to Regulate the Keeping and Bearing of Deadly Weapons,” which prohibited the carrying of pistols, and other dangerous weapons in public. And there was a punishment for violation—forfeiture of the weapon in question weapon to the county plus incarceration in the local hoosegow.
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Republicans are so skilled at coming up with innovative ways to oppress abortion which is legal, to start a war, to gerrymander elections, to dodge taxes…
Mass murder by weapons of war? No ideas.
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I want to thank all the victims for sacrificing their lives for me and for our beautiful Amendment Two.
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Folks, you are all acting as if 19 heavily armed SWAT officers who love to pose for photos with their Mega Kill 3000s are just supposed to rush in and confront an armed shooter while there is a loud and clearly Hispanic parent on the parking lot to subdue.
— Slava Malamud 🇺🇦 (@SlavaMalamud) May 27, 2022
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I can imagine the quick bull session by conference call behind the scenes. What do they do? How should they “manage” this?
Have to do something to try to take some ownership to “control” the message! Yeah, read solemnly, the name of each victim. Ring this little bell after each one. Yeah yeah, that’s the ticket. Trump will make it sound so sacred and reverent (not). Let’s walk this through, sounds good. Bit weak? Maybe, we need to sell this! Yeah, convince everyone we really get this. You said weak? Yeah, that delicate bell is sort of mincey. I know, MORE COWBELL! We will use a church bell actually. Yep, that is going to sound and look good. Great optics. Hahahahah! Deal! Let’s do it! This is going to be sooooo good!
(More exclamation points for the hell of it) !!!
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Interesting idea, but I don’t think a gun control supporter did it.
I suspect they did it for the religious overtone, not just to cuddle with evangelicals and convince them that God created man so He can wantonly kill innocent children, but especially to associate the pussy-grabber crime boss with the divine so they’ll believe his lies too.
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One of the better cowbell songs. “Don’t Fear the Reaper,” sung by The Cult. It would be kind of poetic and prophetic, if not so gruesome, no?
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