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. — Gabrielle Giffords
The Manchin-Toomey Plan
Wednesday, supporters of tougher gun laws suffered a major blow when the US Senate defeated a compromise plan to expand background checks on firearms sales as well as a proposal to ban some semi-automatic weapons modeled after military assault weapons. Amazingly, with almost 90% in the US supporting some type of legislation for increased background checks, the bill did not garner enough votes to overcome a filibuster procedure by the Republican Minority in the Senate losing 54-46 (6 votes shy).
US Gun Lobby and 2nd Amendment
This makes one wonder, how could this bill not clear yesterday's hurdle with such an overwhelming support from the US population. For your answer, you only have look at the power that the Gun Lobby has in the US Government. Personally, I am a registered gun-owner and plan to purchase one in the near future for carrying with a concealed permit. I have no qualms whatsoever, with whatever background checks are needed to be run on myself, to determine if I am eligible for a future firearm purchase.
The National Rifle Association is arguably the most powerful lobbying group that we have in Washington. Personally, I was a former proud card-carrying member until I became tired of the propaganda materials that I received from them. Therefore, I let my membership lapse. Today, the NRA hold the power that they do because of the fear that they strike on regular Americans.
Before this bill went up for a vote yesterday, they were running ads claiming that this bill was going to create a national registry database for gun-owners in the United States, when yesterday's bill explicitly outlawed this provision. But just like with politics you can be disingenuous when pushing forward your propaganda to move your agenda forward.
The Big Bad NRA
There are 25 million reasons why yesterday's bill suffered a defeat. For those wondering, $25 million is what the NRA contributes to political campaigns on an annual basis. Before the Manchin-Toomey Plan went up for vote, the NRA promised political retribution against supporters of tougher gun laws, and frankly many of the Republicans that voted against the bill including the four Democrats broke with their party and voted against the amendment, assuring that the measure would come up short of the 60 votes needed for passage.
For those wondering on who were the Democratic lawmakers who voted against the bill they are: Senators Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Max Baucus of Montana, and Mark Begich of Alaska, who are facing competitive re-election races in deep-red states next year. The fourth, is Sen. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, was elected to her first Senate term in 2012.
NRA versus Gabrielle Giffords
Like former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who suffered a gunshot wound to her head, by the same model of gun that she still owns (Glock G17) and her husband, Astronaut Mark Kelly; I wholeheartedly support the 2nd Amendment. What is disheartening with, is the current system that we have in place, which allows someone who has mental issues or is a violent offender, such as a history of domestic violence to simply walk into a gun show and purchase a firearm without a background check.
Something is going to have to happen to change the current broken system that we currently have in place. However, if the NRA gets their way, it will be status quo (things as they are) going forward. The only proposal they have suggested, is similar to a Wild Wild West movie, where they are suggesting putting armed private citizens in our children's schools in order to prevent future atrocities from happening. Just make sure your kids are not at your local mall when the crazy gunman decides to go wreak havoc there instead.
Their proposal is clearly for profit, as it will require local governments purchasing more guns from the gun manufactures that feed the NRA's coffers and training for the private citizens that are going to require it and will be offered by the NRA. All of this just to be able to go mano a mano with gunmen storming schools in the future.
By: DW Fuego
Original Article