Gun control…a nada in the second Presidential debate



Bloomberg announces Super PAC



Neither President Obama nor Mitt Romney provided satisfactory answers to what they would do about gun control, especially according to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is an avid proponent of taking illegal guns off the streets.  Bloomberg was so upset that he pledged millions through a new super PAC backing candidates and ballot initiatives in favor of gun control.  This could very well be the turning point to challenge NRA political contributions.

The National Rifle Assn. (NRA) has bought and maintains the U.S. Congress.  These wimps in Washington are scared to death of what wacky Wayne LaPierre and his gang of lackeys will do if they don’t toe the line and support their style of gun rights.  Innocent Americans’ lives be-damned.  As an example, over 9,000 people died from gun-related homicides in the U.S. in 2011.  VOXXI reports:

“This is an astounding total when one considers that the death of 2,000 people in an organized military conflict is considered to be a major war.”

Video of debate gun control questions:

VOXXI also tells us that if the gun show loophole had been closed, the Aurora, Colo. movie shooting wouldn’t have happened.  The shooter, James Holmes, “got his semi-automatic rifle from a friend who bought it for him from an unlicensed dealer at a gun show.”  These unlicensed dealers aren’t required to make background checks, and didn’t even after the woman buying the weapon told the dealer it was for someone too young to buy a gun.

It has been established that over 70% of the guns used in crimes in Mexico come from the U.S.  This, after the U.S. recently withdrew its support for the global Arms Trade Treaty.  And you guessed it, the NRA opposes this treaty making the organization not only responsible for innocent deaths in the United States, but all over the world.  Another case of illegal guns going out of the U.S., 3 men were recently arrested in Nashville for buying firearms and shipping them to Australia.

 In the second debate, Obama said he favored renewing the assault weapons ban, a statement he has made before with no follow through.  He also wants to keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill, and wants more “conversation” on the issue.  That’s when the ammunition hit the fan and Bloomberg said we’ve already talked enough.  The Mayor says it’s now time for action and put his money where his mouth.  Romney is against any new gun regulation.



Adam Winkler's latest book

Adam Winkler, a specialist in American Constitutional Law at UCLA, says in the Daily Beast that an assault weapons ban is not the answer since the gunman can come armed with multiple weapons, in case one jams.  Contrary to that belief, if semi-automatic weapons were banned, another thought is that, at least, the assailant would kill less people.  Winkler continues, mass shootings aren’t the real problem, it’s gun violence like Chicago’s where assault weapons aren’t used. 
Rebekah Metzler on NPR corrected the Romney comment that it is illegal in this country to have an automatic weapon.  Metzler said:

“It's not entirely correct. For those who had automatic weapons prior to the ban, which happened in 1986, they're still allowed to have those as long as they're registered with the federal government. Those same weapons prior to 1986 that were registered with the federal government are also allowed to be bought and sold if you jump through some hoops.”

VOXXI contends that undercutting the power of the NRA “will require a major public outcry that will make politicians realize that there is a political price to be paid for opposing gun control.”  That is what we gun control advocates have been trying to accomplish for years.  Maybe NY Mayor Bloomberg’s distress over the lack of attention to the issue in the debates and his subsequent super PAC to address gun control will finally provide the answer.