Already the nay sayers…but gun control will prevail

It’s been less than a month since the Newtown, CT, Sandy Hook Elementary School mass killing.  On December 14, 2012, Adam Lanza shot and killed 20 little children ages 6 and 7, six educators, and his mother.  He then killed himself and once again took with him the possibility of an understanding of why these maniacs do what they do.  Hopefully they will study his brain and possibly come up with something.  If he was mentally ill, at least that’s a start.

We’re not likely to get much from the Aurora shooter, James Holmes, nor is it likely that Jared Loughner who did the Tucson killings will tell us anything.  Holmes at least acts mentally unbalanced and Loughner was known to have mental issues.  Lanza used his mother’s guns to create his massacre but Holmes and Loughner got their weapons despite obvious mental problems.  The gun rights bunch is at least right about revamping the U.S. mental health system.

But they are wrong about trying to stop new gun laws that will help at least slow down these mass shooting carnages, as well as a number of firearm murders that occur on a daily basis across the country.  No. Dakota Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, a Democrat, said that gun control plans reportedly being considered by the White House are "way in extreme."  Of course even talking about gun control is in the extreme according to Wayne LaPierre and the Nat’l Rifle Assn. (NRA).

Let’s see, Obama wants to ban assault weapons and high capacity magazines, universal background checks for gun buyers, a national database of weapons, strengthen mental health checks and stiffen penalties for carrying guns near schools or giving them to minors.  Sounds like a great plan to me and probably any other individual of sound mind and body.  It’s only a bad plan to the gun nuts out there that love their weapons more than the life of others.

If this Heidi head wasn’t enough, Obama-smasher, KY Sen. Mitch McConnell, says any gun control legislation will take a backseat to working on federal spending and the country’s debt.  Whoa.  How many times has this issue been put on the backburner by conservatives never to be resurrected?  Hard to count the times.  But it won’t happen this time because the American public is tired of their relatives, friends and other innocent people being murdered by guns.

And here are the good guys, and ladies, who are going to give us this new life-saving gun control legislation.  Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-New York, wants background checks for all gun sales -- including at gun shows and a ban on online sales of ammunition.  Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colorado, a bill to ban high-capacity magazines.  CA Sen. Dianne Feinstein is going after assault rifles, again, as well as other congressional leaders with similar bills.

But of course there are always the gun nuts in Congress that never give up.  CNN reports, “…two Republican freshmen, Rep. Steve Stockman of Texas and Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, have introduced bills that would allow more guns around schools.  I thought we had gotten rid of all the fruitcakes at Christmas.  At this point no Republicans have proposed any gun control legislation, and even some Democrats are still standing firm on gun rights.

I continue to say the momentum is there and we mustn’t lose this chance to place laws on the books that will curb gun violence.  If we lose this one, we will never be able to beat the NRA.  And that would be a disaster.