Guns and the gap between voters and G.O.P. leadership

Posted by:

We’re seeing a widening gap between citizens and Republican leadership when it comes to gun violence. People are coming to grips with the fact that the status quo is unacceptable.

Republican leadership, however, doesn’t get it or doesn’t want to get it. There are few exceptions, such as Gov. John Kasich, R-Ohio, who is promoting a six-point plan to decrease gun violence.

Based on a Quinnipiac poll, released on Feb. 20, 2018, here’s how Americans feel about gun violence:

  • American voters ...
Continue Reading →
4
MAR
4

Social Issues

, , , ,

Hillary wrong to take on NRA

Posted by:

Hillary Clinton made clear in the first Democratic Party presidential debate that she’s ready to take on the NRA. “This has gone on too long, and it’s time the entire country stood up against the NRA,” she declared. If you believe the level of gun violence in America is unacceptable, this was music to your ears. Clinton is leading the charge against the NRA, and that’s a good thing, right?

Maybe not. Clinton erred by attacking the NRA when she should have ...

Continue Reading →
25
OCT
6

Gun Policy

, , , ,

Second amendment litigation continues, and 26 attorneys general take a peculiar position

Posted by:

Can a municipality ban assault rifles and high capacity magazines without running afoul of the Second Amendment?  The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia says yes. What about registration requirements for hand guns and rifles and a mandatory safety course?  Are they constitutional?  The U.S. District Court (a trial court) for the District of Columbia says they are, but the issue is on appeal. How about trigger locks and bans on hollow point ammunition? The Court of Appeals ...

Continue Reading →
26
JAN
4

Gun Policy

, , , ,

The NRA suppresses studies on gun violence

Posted by:

Ever wonder why we study highway collisions, smoking and HIV/AIDS for the purpose of reducing risk but don’t do the same for gun-related fatalities? It’s because the National Rifle Association purposefully works to suppress such research. The NRA will likely lobby against the $10 million proposed by President Barack Obama in his 2014 budget to study gun violence prevention.

The NRA’s battle against research began when the New England Journal of Medicine published a study in 1993 about guns in the ...

Continue Reading →
18
OCT
0

Gun Policy

, , , , , , , ,

NRA has lost its way

Posted by:

What do the Great Oz and the National Rifle Association have in common? Both make a lot of noise and try to intimidate anybody who questions them, but unlike the Great Oz, the NRA has real power.

State Rep. Terry Johnson, R-McDermott, articulated the NRA’s position in June 2012: “Our Second Amendment rights have been infringed countless times in the past. If we let someone come and take one right away from us … we diminish what it means ...

Continue Reading →
18
OCT
0

Gun Policy

, , ,

Do people have the right to own any semiautomatic rifle, magazine size? Maybe not

Posted by:

Are gun advocates right when they say they have a constitutional right to carry assault weapons such as the AR-15 and large capacity clips? Recent court decisions suggest not.

Until the U.S. Supreme Court reviewed in 2008 a handgun ban in District of Columbia v. Heller, it was unclear whether the Second Amendment was a collective or personal right.

The court’s holding that the amendment conveys a personal right to own handguns was significant, but so too was how Justice Antonin Scalia ...

Continue Reading →
18
OCT
0

Gun Policy

, , , ,