When another crazed gunman murdered 20 beautiful 6- and 7-year-old children in their Newtown, Conn., elementary school in 2012, Republicans all over this country proved once and for all just how pro-life they truly were.
Which was not at all.
Before that horrific act, both political parties could be blamed for failing to act to try to reduce the enormous body count from guns in this country that has made the U.S. the world’s most blood-soaked killing ground.
But that heartbreaking tragedy finally resulted in a U.S. president putting the full weight of his administration and most of his party behind common sense reforms to prevent the violent, the dangerous and the deranged from easily acquiring and using weapons of mass destruction.
Even though an overwhelming majority of Americans, including gun owners, supported sensible reforms to keep guns capable of firing hundreds of bullets in minutes out of the hands of dangerous people, absolutely nothing was done.
Well, that’s not quite true. Republicans controlling state legislatures all over the country, including here in Wisconsin, actually passed laws to make it easier for anyone to buy deadly weapons designed specifically to kill people in large numbers.
That’s because the Republican Party made a political decision that something was far more important than trying to prevent the massacre of innocent people.
It was for Republicans to retain financial and electoral support from the National Rifle Association (NRA), the gun lobby that vehemently opposes any—repeat that louder, any—legal restrictions that could reduce gun deaths in this country.
Walker Won’t Address Milwaukee Gun Violence
If a pile of 20 dead children at Christmastime wasn’t enough to convince Republicans to abandon their deadly support of the NRA, it’s hopeless to expect Gov. Scott Walker and Republican legislators to lift a finger to save lives in Milwaukee during the current shock wave of gun violence across the city.
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It was no surprise that even as the stories about gun deaths in the city were rising to barbaric new levels, the state Senate voted to abolish a 48-hour waiting period to get a handgun after purchase so no one who wanted to participate would have to wait two whole days to join the deadly fray.
Walker brags about imposing the NRA’s “a gun in every pocket” philosophy upon his state as he campaigns for the Republican presidential nomination at the NRA national convention and before right-wing audiences around the country.
The funny thing is NRA members themselves aren’t nearly as reckless as irresponsible politicians like Walker in supporting the worst of the extremely lethal, pro-gun positions of the NRA’s national leadership.
National polls show that 74% of NRA members and 85% of NRA-member households favor universal background checks for gun buyers so checks wouldn’t just be required to buy guns from licensed dealers but also for those buying from private individuals and at gun shows to intentionally avoid background checks.
Walker and Republicans refuse to extend background checks to those gun sales in Wisconsin because government doesn’t have any right to know whether people who buy guns in private sales or at gun shows have a history of mental illness, convictions for armed felonies or maybe just enjoy shooting other people.
No, just kidding. Politicians who oppose restrictions on guns pretend to believe it’s unconstitutional to prevent any violent yahoo who wants a gun from having one.
Many of them surely know better. The Second Amendment worshipped by the NRA guarantees “a well-regulated militia,” not a completely unregulated mob of bloodthirsty killers.
The First Amendment, which comes before the Second, guarantees freedom of speech and religion. But it has never prevented legal restrictions on deadly stuff like yelling “Fire!” in a crowded theater or human sacrifice.
The proof that Republicans are lying when they claim it’s unconstitutional to protect human lives from unregulated guns flooding our cities is that we’ve already done it successfully.
President Bill Clinton signed an assault weapons ban into law in 1994. For a decade, it was illegal in this country to sell 19 different types of semi-automatic, military-style guns and any ammunition clip that would fire more than 10 rounds. Limiting bullet clips could have saved 10 children’s lives at Newtown.
The Constitution didn’t stop that law. Republicans did. When the law came up for renewal in 2004, Republican President George W. Bush quietly let it expire. Republicans claim they’re being pro-life by interfering with medical care and women’s health decisions because some religions believe that theoretically abortion is murder.
Well, there’s nothing theoretical about this one: Killing people with guns really is murder. We all agree on that. So should every legitimate political party.
The lame Republican excuse for their failure to act is that no gun regulation can stop every killing. They’re right about that, but so what? Let’s just start with stopping a lot of them.
