April 17 2013: a date that will live in infamy!
The late US President Roosevelt's Pearl Harbour line perfectly describes last Wednesday's incomprehensible decision by the US Senate, to reject expanding background checks for gun buyers.
The plan to extend checks to on-line and gun-show sales was shot down like a clay bird. And other measures, including a ban on assault weapons and a limit on ammunition magazines, are also expected to fail.
This was despite emotional pleas from families of shooting victims, and broad public support - polls show more than 80% of Americans support expanded background checks. And recently, nine out of ten voters in a Washington Post/ABC News poll backed universal background checks. There was no party-political divide, nor was it gun haters going after gun owners. These checks were supported by more than 90% of gun-owning households.
So if there is such overwhelming backing, why did this not become law in the blink of an eye? Surely the National Rifle Assn and Gun Owners Of America don't hold a gun to the head of every
politician in America?
US citizens, if you truly want this change, it is YOU who 'holds the gun to the head of politicians' - it's called your vote. You must deal to those who do not truly represent your desires, who do not support such obvious and common-sense legislative changes.
Otherwise you too are responsible for the next schoolyard shooting, movie theatre massacre and drive-by death. Your grief will seem like crocodile tears, if your country's sick obsession with weapon ownership and outdated irresponsible gun laws doesn't end.
Can YOU look your children in the eye, and tell them that tomorrow - when they go to school - they'll be perfectly safe? That no gunman will mow them down too?
Or must you hang your head in shame?
The late US President Roosevelt's Pearl Harbour line perfectly describes last Wednesday's incomprehensible decision by the US Senate, to reject expanding background checks for gun buyers.The plan to extend checks to on-line and gun-show sales was shot down like a clay bird. And other measures, including a ban on assault weapons and a limit on ammunition magazines, are also expected to fail.
This was despite emotional pleas from families of shooting victims, and broad public support - polls show more than 80% of Americans support expanded background checks. And recently, nine out of ten voters in a Washington Post/ABC News poll backed universal background checks. There was no party-political divide, nor was it gun haters going after gun owners. These checks were supported by more than 90% of gun-owning households.
So if there is such overwhelming backing, why did this not become law in the blink of an eye? Surely the National Rifle Assn and Gun Owners Of America don't hold a gun to the head of every
politician in America?US citizens, if you truly want this change, it is YOU who 'holds the gun to the head of politicians' - it's called your vote. You must deal to those who do not truly represent your desires, who do not support such obvious and common-sense legislative changes.
Otherwise you too are responsible for the next schoolyard shooting, movie theatre massacre and drive-by death. Your grief will seem like crocodile tears, if your country's sick obsession with weapon ownership and outdated irresponsible gun laws doesn't end.
Can YOU look your children in the eye, and tell them that tomorrow - when they go to school - they'll be perfectly safe? That no gunman will mow them down too?
Or must you hang your head in shame?
It seems rather like putting your kid's head in the oven, turning on the gas...and then wondering WHY the child died!
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