Tag Archives: Gun safety

April 9, 2013 · 3:10 PM

Top Republican: Conservatives Are Too Scared To Debate Popular Gun Safety Bill

No surprise there…

Think Progress

Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-GA) joined the growing chorus of lawmakers calling for conservative to allow a vote on gun safety legislation, telling CBS’ This Morning on Tuesday, “we have not seen the final draft of the legislation that was produced…I think it deserves an vote up or down.”

But 14 Republicans — including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (KY) — have pledged to filibuster any comprehensive gun safety legislation, though all refused to appear on CBS to discuss their opposition, Norah O’Donnell reported. Gun advocates are running online campaigns calling on lawmakers to prevent the package from ever being considered, though a vote on the motion to proceed to the legislation could occur on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Rep. Peter King (R-NY) — one of the only Republicans in the House to support the gun package — added that the filibuster effort is “wrong” and “makes it seem like they’re afraid of something.” “I don’t know what they’re afraid of, but if they’re so sure of their position, let it come to a debate,” King said on CNN.

Sens. John McCain (R-AZ), Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) have also condemned the obstruction, arguing that the measure should come to a vote since Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) will allow senators to offer amendments to the legislation. The bill will expand restrictions against gun trafficking, invest in school safety and provide for universal background checks of all gun purchases, though the final version of that provision is still being negotiated. Polls indicate that more than 90 percent of Americans support background checks on all gun purchases.

“They’re not just saying they’ll vote no on ideas that almost all Americans support,” Obama said Monday of the filibuster threat during a speech in Connecticut. “They’re saying they’ll do everything they can to even prevent any votes on these provisions. They’re saying your opinion doesn’t matter, and that’s not right.” Some pundits are making a similar case, arguing that the party is undermining its rebranding effort and siding with “rapists” and criminals in the gun debate.

Related articles

3 Comments

Filed under GOP's Fear Of NRA

Tagged as , , , , , , ,

January 15, 2013 · 12:19 AM

The NRA’s New Shooting App Is for Kids of the Same Age of Sandy Hook Victims (and Up)

Unbelievable.  Where’s the logic in this sort of thing, given what happened a month ago?

Gizmodo

Here is some free PR advice for the National Rifle Association: Now is not the time to release a target practice iOS app—especially one intended for kids. According to the NRA, the app is intended for children as young as age four.

In Target Practice you can choose to test your skills in an indoor or outdoor range or opt to shoot skeet. You get to pick your weapon, and you can pony up $1 to unlock better (more powerful) guns. For example, in the outdoor range your default is an M16, but you can upgrade to an AK47 or an MK11 if you pay. It’s really just a point-and-shoot game, but the fact that it’s meant for kids is straight up stupid.

It would be a different story if the app were teaching kids about gun safety. As advertised, Target Practice does give safety tips, but they aren’t the kinds of things that are going to keep a child from accidentally setting off a gun in the home. They’re tidbits like, “keep your finger off the trigger until you’re ready to shoot” or “know your target and what is beyond it.” And the official Safety Tips section just takes you out of the app to the NRA’s website.

Not that it should surprise you at this point, but the organization really missed an opportunity here. This would be an excellent time to teach kids about gun safety; too many children are killed each year by accidentally setting off firearms in their homes. Kids see guns in games and they think guns in real life are games. That’s just how innocent minds work. And that’s what makes this app—like most moves this out of touch lobbyist group has made in recent memory—both poorly timed and poorly executed. How about something productive for once? I guess that’s too much to ask of an organization whose only interest is to get guns into peoples’ hands. [The Appside via TheNextWeb via App Store]

Related articles

 

2 Comments

Filed under NRA

Tagged as , , , , , , ,

January 4, 2013 · 4:03 PM

Former NRA President: Banning Assault Weapons Is Like Banning People of Color

Am I the only one who has the feeling that right-wing zealots from all facets of the political spectrum are imploding?

They are using the craziest excuses to justify their twisted logic.  It’s both incredibly humorous and downright scary…

Think Progress

The National Rifle Association has repeatedly thumbed its nose at calls for stronger gun safety measures after the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT. Current NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre shocked many by attacking these efforts and calling instead for armed guards in every school. Still, on Wednesday, past NRA President Marion Hammer took the lobbying organization’s pro-gun radicalism to new heights.

On NRA’s news show, Hammer warned that gun owners are “in for a massive fight like we’ve probably never seen before,” in which the government will take guns away “in order to control the masses.”

When asked about proposals to ban certain kinds of assault weapons, Hammer also charged that guns are suffering discrimination similar to racism against people of color:

HOST: And they even admit it’s about banning the ugliest guns. They admit it.

HAMMER: Banning people and things because of the way they look because of the way they look, but here they are again. The color of a gun, the way it looks. It’s just bad politics.

Watch it:

Despite a string of mass shootings and casualties in recent years, the NRA’s clout has effectively stifled conversation about America’s gun violence problem. But with the public’s renewed horror at the deaths of 28 people in Newtown, most of them children, the gun lobby’s grip may be slipping. Democrats introduced a slew of gun safety bills on the first day of the new Congress that would ban high capacity clips and drums, certain kinds of assault weapons, and close the gun show loophole that allows people to buy guns without a background check.

Related articles

 

3 Comments

Filed under Gun Lobby, Gun Violence, NRA

Tagged as , , , , , , ,

July 12, 2011 · 2:36 AM

Lori Klein, Arizona State Senator, Pointed Loaded Gun At Reporter Richard Ruelas’s Chest

You know, it’s easy to say that some Republicans are bat-crap insane. 

The real proof in claiming that statement comes from the many instances of crazy, incomprehensible words and actions by many members of the GOP which are documented for posterity.

However, Arizona State Senator Lori Klein actions, a direct result of that state’s new gun “control” laws, was one of the most  despicable of the gamut of Republican craziness…

Huffington Post

Arizona state Sen. Lori Klein (R), a gun-rights champion, keeps a loaded raspberry-pink handgun in her purse, and during an interview with Arizona Republic reporter Richard Ruelas, she took it out and pointed it at him.

“Oh, it’s so cute,” Klein said, before aiming the gun at Ruelas’s chest to show off the red beam of the laser sight. Klein’s gun, a .380 Ruger, has no safety, but the senator assured Ruelas that he wasn’t in danger.

“I just didn’t have my hand on the trigger,” she said.

Klein told the Arizona Republic that she owns a number of guns and has had “informal” training sessions on each of them, and that she was taught gun safety by her father.

Local gun activists have criticized Klein for pointing her gun at Ruelas, however.

Rob Mermelstein, the range master of the Phoenix Rod and Gun Club, told the Arizona Guardian, that Klein’s actions were “unconscionable.”

“Whoever would do something like that needs to have a better grounding in gun safety before ever laying a hand on a firearm,” he said.

Continue reading here…

Related articles

1 Comment

Filed under GOP Radicalism

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,