Love it. Rand Paul, patron saint of people who have deep principles but no particular intellectual desire or capability to find out what those principles are,
pulls a jackass trifecta.
On Wednesday — two years to the day after George Zimmerman shot and killed Trayvon Martin — Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) placed a hold on President Barack Obama’s nominee for Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy, over Murthy’s view that gun violence represents a significant public health threat.
So then, a (1) pointless hold on a nomination, thus continuing to ensure that the Senate never get anything done under any circumstances because (2) he takes issue with the conventional notion that too many of our schoolchildren are being murdered, when maybe just the right amount are being murdered or maybe not enough of them are being murdered, done (3) on the anniversary of one of the most infamous examples of such, possibly because his "I am a gigantic asshole" t-shirt was on backorder. But I'm gonna go with "doesn't think the current level of children being murdered by random crazy people is high enough", because that's really the only thing you can take away from Rand's pique over whether gun violence is really a public health issue we should be concerned about.
“In his efforts to curtail Second Amendment rights, Dr. Murthy has continually referred to guns as a public health issue on par with heart disease and has diminished the role of mental health in gun violence,” wrote Paul in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
“As a physician, I am deeply concerned that he has advocated that doctors use their position of trust to ask patients, including minors, details about gun ownership in the home… Dr. Murthy has disqualified himself from being Surgeon General because of his intent to use that position to launch an attack on Americans’ right to own a firearm under the guise of a public health and safety campaign.”
Find me a law that will predict which of America's top wannabe superheroes are going to shoot fellow Americans for playing their music too loud or walking around property that the superhero has decided should be their own property by law of "I can see it out my window" and we'll talk. Maybe we can give people full mental workups before allowing them access to guns—no, I guess that's right out. Maybe we can ask people who have mentally unstable person in their household if there is a gun in the hou—no, can't do that either. Maybe we can have a nice public health campaign pointing out the dangers of having an unsecured gun in the house, or asking people nicely not to shoot people they are having an argument with, but I guess even suggesting such a thing goes against America's Happy Metal Shooty Freedomtime so much that the person suggesting it needs to be punished by the full force of Captain F--kwit, here.
So you think the answer to gun violence is to screen and offer treatment to mentally sketchy Americans so that they stop shooting people? Propose the law, Rand. Propose the law that will keep crazy people from commandeering their parent's gun collection and assassinating a room full of elementary school children because they woke up one morning and felt like it. Propose the law that will prevent all the playtime super agents out there from shooting people because they don't like their choices in music. Come up with a budget that pays for the treatment you say will prevent it. Put up, shut up, or both.