Nonexistent Advances in Weapon Control One Year after Newtown

[unhappycamper]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by Sissyk (a host of the General Discussion forum).

http://watchingamerica.com/News/228241/non-existent-advances-in-weapon-control-one-year-after-newtown/

Today it is easier to obtain and carry a firearm than before.

Nonexistent Advances in Weapon Control One Year after Newtown
El País, Spain
By Eva Saiz
Translated By Cydney Seigerman
14 December 2013
Edited by Gillian Palmer

One year ago, the slaughter at Sandy Hook Elementary School, in which 27 people died, 20 of them children, shook the United States as no similar massacre had done before. The scale of the tragedy was considered a turning point to change, once and for all, the nation’s culture of violence and to achieve more restrictive control over the use of weapons. President Barack Obama himself made this job a personal crusade. Today, however, it is easier to obtain and carry a firearm than before.

"Are we really prepared to say that we’re powerless in the face of such carnage, that the politics are too hard?" Obama asked during his speech in Newtown, Conn. two days after the shooting. With the polls on his side, the president started an ambitious campaign to pass legislation that restricted access to weapons and required that criminal and mental records be considered during all sales of weapons and ammunition. However, a bipartisan proposal reflecting these ideals died in the Senate. This was thanks to the support of various Democratic senators from states with traditionally lenient firearms policies who were afraid of losing their seats in the 2014 election.

The White House was not the only one to begin a strong offense in favor of greater weapon control. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, former Congresswoman and shooting victim Gabrielle Giffords, and other organizations plan to earmark more than $25 million next year to support candidates that defend a restrictive vision toward the use of weapons. They will need to see if this amount is sufficient to stand up to the omnipotent weapons lobby in the U.S., which won the battle this year. In order to attract the support of politicians in the Capitol, the National Rifle Association and other related groups spent $12.2 million in 2013, compared to the $1.6 million from associations that oppose the principles defended by the NRA.

On the eve of the Sandy Hook anniversary, support for more restrictive legislation over the control of weapons has also fallen. Although support for increased background checks continues to be high, it has decreased from about 90 percent to close to 80 percent since the spring. Likewise, today, 49 percent of Americans are in favor of more stringent laws, compared to the 58 percent that shared this opinion in October, according to Gallup.

[pipoman]

1. Just more of the same.

Refusal to acknowledge the real reason private sale bg checks failed to get through the Senate perpetuates the issue.

Further Bloomberg said back in March he would spend $12 million of his own money to push gun control following Sandy Hook, which makes the stated $1.6 mentioned in the article a little unbelievable

[HereSince1628]

2. But it wasn't a complete loss...

The year resulted in 83% of our population being convinced that they weren't nearly frightened enough of mentally ill.

So at least now the people have something to blame.

And that's resulted in multiple federal efforts by the executive to break down barriers to improve reporting of mentally ill people to the nation's matrix of intelligence databases.

The effectiveness of that surveillance system to American safety can even be demonstrated by its value of excluding Canadians with histories of hospitalization for mental illness from traveling into/through the US.

The sweet smell of safety is in the air...err at least it's in the US Border securities secondary screening facility in Toronto.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/canadian-woman-refused-u-s-entry-because-of-depression-1.2444960

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/canadians-with-mental-illnesses-denied-u-s-entry-1.1034903

[Sissyk]

3. Locked

No guns in GD SOP. Please consider reposting in one of the two gun groups.