Sanuk wrote:
I don’t think anyone is realistically talking about a complete confiscation of guns. I don’t have any problem with people owning guns for hunting, self-defence or because they just like guns. I don’t think you need the kind of weapon used in this attack so there should be controls on the weapons available, much tighter background checks, proof that you know how to handle a weapon etc. Obama was also right to restrict sales to people with problems and the fact that Trump reversed it shows they are not serious.
The reason nothing gets done is simple, the NRA has it’s money and influence in both sides of the aisle.
It's strange that we live nowadays in a culture which defends and celebrates gangstas and 'transgressive art' and antifa thugs and other 'counterculture' exemplars, but when the shooting starts we all rush to blame guns. Or maybe it's not so strange? Hmmmm...
Anyway, the National Rifle Association has power, no doubt about it. But
according to the Vox website, it's not because of money, because it's nowhere near the top contributor to any single politician's coffers (usually the ones on the right, meaning Republicans, though it has donated to some on the left, meaning some conservative Democrats who support gun ownership or "gun rights").
Other observations by Vox: "NRA reflects a tiny fraction of the Republican fundraising apparatus." There's also this to consider: "Research shows money doesn't factor in the highest-priority congressional votes."
And Vox goes on to cite this observation by someone experienced in the way politicians (in this case, Republicans) vote as well as the politics behind their votes:
"The way you rise up in Republican politics is by supporting gun rights issues, and you do that because there a lot of Republican voters in the coalition who care very deeply about gun rights,"...
Face it: Americans like their guns and they like politicians who like the fact that Americans like private ownership of guns, and the NRA -- which is a lobbying and advocacy group like any other -- knows this and can mobilize and excite large numbers of voters.
So if there's a problem here, it's not with the NRA, per se. It's with the American people who, on the one hand, have created a culture which glorifies the thug life -- including gangstas and antifa -- and who on the other hand want guns to protect them from the very thugs they've otherwise helped create. It's a real dichotomy. Or duality. Or both.
"Politics is just show business for ugly people."