Defunding the Afforddable Care Act (ACA), otherwise known as Obamacare, is a not a proper subject for negotiations at a time when Congress must pass a Continuing Resolution to keep the Government functioning. Similarly, addressing possible remedies for the curbing of gun violence is also not an appropriate hurdle to be thrown up at this time. Still, the President has a point, as requiring universal background checks is far more popular with the American people than the reasoning behind the present standoff orchestrated by a few Republican and Teabully outliers in Congress.
President Obama has repeatedly asked a hypothetical question during the Government shutdown, now rolling through week number two, as the country hurtles towards the debt ceiling. What if the President refused to sign a clean Continuing Resolution to keep the Government open without inclusion of a provision such as the requirement for
universal background checks on all gun sales?
On April 17, 2013, the Senate failed to overcome a Republican filibuster getting only 54 of the 60 votes needed to bring the watered down Manchin/Toomey Amendment for expanded background checks for gun sales to the Senate floor for a final vote. Nevertheless, according to Gallup polling conducted in late April, 65% of Americans favored the Amendment. This included 45% of Republicans who indicated that they were in favor of expanded background checks. The very same poll had support up to 91% earlier in the year. The decline in numbers was attributed, in part to a change in the language of the question. But, as time passes since the most recent gun slaughter, the time of the Newtown, Connecticut School shootings, and the issue gets off the news, public support always seems to decline. Out of sight, out of mind.
Sadly, this is yet another example of the grand Teabully obstruction playbook. Yes they have now succeeded in shutting down the peoples,’ Government preventing it from going about it’s daily business. But the plan also includes preventing our Government from going about the business of passing any new legislation that the majority of Americans favor, some of which, like universal background checks, we desperately need.
This planned obstruction is blocking legislation that is wildly popular. According to a poll reported last week on the ?Last Word With Lawrence O?Donnell?, the number of Americans now supporting universal background checks for all gun purchases is back to 90%.
The number of Americans killed by gun violence is expected to rise to about 33,000 by 2015, at which point it would be taking more lives than automobile accidents. Yet no one questions the need, and in fact, the duty of Government to regulate who can drive a car and to mandate the purchase of insurance in order to do so. Driving, unlike using a gun to take another human life, hardly ever involves one person choosing to use a motor vehicle to take the life of other human beings. And driving, unlike gun ownership, is part of our daily lives and necessary for the majority of Americans to engage in numerous times on a daily basis to go about their business of being moms, dads, employees, volunteers, and first responders, etc.
The same Teabully obstructionists who have orchestrated the present Government shutdown are at work fomenting the fear of victimization from gun violence, encouraging people to become that ?good guy with a gun?. At the same time, they promote a fantasy that the Government is coming to confiscate guns and ammunition from law abiding citizens.
Consider NRA Chief Executive Officer, Wayne LaPierre, who was in favor of universal background checks in May, 1999, but reversed himself on the issue in February, 2013, after President Obama came out for them following the Sandy Hook massacre.
Mr. Lapierre obviously does not work for the rank and file NRA members, as back in April, 2013, polls showed that 74% of NRA members favored universal background checks. Still, the NRA has termed the proposal for background checks ?the fight of the century? and it is being used as tool for urgent fundraising.
Sadly, these highly publicized gun massacres, such as the Sandy Hook tragedy, spike requests for gun permits. Maryland gun shop owners experienced a run for their merchandise following the recent D.C. Navy Yard massacre. And while the number of guns multiplies along with their lethality, these weapons are being concentrated in fewer and fewer hands as the number of armed American households is at a four decade low.
Explaining how Mr. Lapierre can turn his back on his own position and on the wishes of his own membership is not difficult to understand. Mr. LaPierre clearly does not represent the 4.5 million people he claims as members. Clearly not, as it seems certain that the NRA is a wholly owned subsidiary run by and for the CEOs of some of the largest gun manufacturers both foreign and domestic.
If and when our Government reopens for business, we, the people, will continue to have our Government held hostage by these few Republican and Teabully outliers who have been preventing us from getting what we need and what we want. But we can and must put the fix into motion come 2014 when we will have the next chance to take our Government back.
Edited/Published by: SB
