Martin O’Malley says Charleston church massacre should be ‘call to action’ on guns

[bigtree]

from WaPo:


“We need to reignite the conversation on a national basis because we suffer from a horrible epidemic of gun violence,” the former Maryland governor said during an appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” calling for “common-sense legislation” and “better mental health coordination.”



“You know we talk all the time about the better things we need do on mental health treatment or making it harder for people to obtain guns without proper background checks,” O’Malley said. “We need to step up as a people and take some greater actions.”

He acknowledged the difficulty in passing federal gun legislation but said: “I think when it incidents like this happen, we shouldn’t say, 'Well, it’s just America, that’s just the way it is.' … It might be the way it is. It’s not the way it has to be."

O’Malley, a former Baltimore mayor, acknowledged he isn’t entirely sure how to address the country’s racial problems.

“I don’t know exactly how we address this,” he said. “Look, we as Americans we all share a very painful racial legacy, and we need to acknowledge it, and we need to take actions to heal it, but I don’t think anybody’s figured out the magic solution to that.”


read: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2015/06/19/omalley-says-charleston-church-massacre-should-be-call-to-action-on-guns/

watch discussion: http://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/omalley--people-want-new-leadership-468138563683

[Iliyah]

1. K & R

He needs more media exposure, morning joke sucks.

[FSogol]

2. "It might be the way it is. It’s not the way it has to be." - Martin O'Malley

O'Malley quotes from the article:

“We need to reignite the conversation on a national basis because we suffer from a horrible epidemic of gun violence,” the former Maryland governor said during an appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” calling for “common-sense legislation” and “better mental health coordination.”

O’Malley did not offer detailed proposals but cited legislation passed during his tenure as governor that banned 45 types of assault-style rifles and included new permitting requirements for those seeking to buy a handgun, as well as several measures intended to keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill.

“You know we talk all the time about the better things we need do on mental health treatment or making it harder for people to obtain guns without proper background checks,” O’Malley said. “We need to step up as a people and take some greater actions.”

He acknowledged the difficulty in passing federal gun legislation but said: “I think when it incidents like this happen, we shouldn’t say, 'Well, it’s just America, that’s just the way it is.' … It might be the way it is. It’s not the way it has to be."

[bigtree]

3. »

[marions ghost]

4. If we let the carnage continue

--we are complicit.

America's gun laws (or lack of) are total insanity.

[aikoaiko]

5. “I don’t know exactly how we address this,” -- Martin O'Malley

[dembotoz]

6. Like him

[MH1]

7. "better mental health coordination" would have been irrelevant in this situation.

Even though it is easy with hindsight to see this shooter was a psychotic creep of a loser, I don't think that any system that would have caught this guy before the act and done anything to restrain him, would be reasonable to the freedom and privacy of the rest of us.

Absolutely he shouldn't have been given a gun. He had felony counts so should not have easily been able to obtain one, and it should have been well known that anyone providing a gun to him would have been committing a serious crime. (which apparently by SC law, his father was, but will the father be legally punished for it?)

Sure, no matter what restrictions you put on gun ownership, savvy criminals will always find a way, just like hackers with enough money and skills can get into almost any computer system. But raising the barriers reduces the number with the skill to overcome those barriers, meaning you reduce the number of criminals with guns.

In other words I generally agree with O'Malley's statement but think the mental health coordination thing is mostly a fairy tale and a red herring for avoiding clarity about the real issue.