Day: March 16, 2011

In January, we saw the destruction power of a deranged gunman who opened fire in Tucson, Arizona, killing six people in a botched attempt to assassinate Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. So naturally, the talk about gun-control has became prominent once again, as both Democrats and Republicans try to show they’re ontop  the issue.

This is a political issue dating back decades, with Democrats usually in favor of some form of gun regulation, and Republicans against most. Caught in the middle of all the politics is the National Rifle Association, a group that gives heavily to both political parties, essentially suppressing all gun control legislation from the very start.

President Obama, the ultimate pragmatist that he is, thought the best way to deal with this problem was to have both sides come to the table to talk about what can be done, if anything. A starting point that no group or organization should be against. A conversation…! Who could be against sitting down and talking? The NRA of course!

The New York Times reports;

On Tuesday, officials at the Justice Department will meet with gun control advocates in the first of what will be a series of meetings over the next two weeks with people on different sides of the issue, including law enforcement, retailers and manufacturers, to seek agreement on possible legislative or administrative actions.

The effort follows Mr. Obama’s call, in a column on Sunday in a Tucson newspaper, to put aside “stale policy debates” and begin “a new discussion” on ways to better enforce and strengthen existing laws to keep mentally unstable, violent and criminal people from getting guns.

But the National Rifle Association, for decades the most formidable force against proposals to limit gun sales or ownership, is refusing to join the discussion — possibly dooming it from the start, given the lobby’s clout with both parties in Congress. Administration officials had indicated they expected that the group would be represented at a meeting, perhaps on Friday.

Six people died in Tucson in January, among the deceased was a 9 year old girl and a federal judge. A congresswoman is still trying to regain some sense of normalcy, or as much normalcy as possible, considering she was shot at point-blank range in the head.

A new report by Newsweek finds that since the shooting in Tucson two months ago, 2,405 more people have been shot and killed in America. But the lives of these innocent people in Tuscon and those killed nationwide over the last two months means nothing to the NRA. Their argument is the second amendment of the Constitution, that states;

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

Although it is their constitutional right to “keep and bear arms,” how many more lives have to be lost to senseless violence before groups like the NRA decide that coming to the table to talk, just talk, about a way to stem such senseless violence, cannot be a harmful thing. You know what’s harmful? 2,405 gunshot deaths in two months – that’s harmful!

Read the full Times report here.