As news filtered in Friday from the school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said “today is not the day,” to engage in a policy debate over gun control. The shooting at an elementary school killed 27, the Associated Press reported Friday afternoon.
Bullshit. Today is exactly the day to discuss gun control. Because last week it wasn’t timely and next week we’ll be mourning… and the week after that it won’t be urgent. When can we have the debate?
Carney ducked the question when asked when would be a good time to engage in a substantive debate on gun control, repeating that today isn’t the time. Obama has drawn criticism for never making gun control an administration priority.
It’s always jam tomorrow, jam yesterday… while these things keep happening regularly enough to set your watch.
Maybe this elusive debate would find that more gun control simply won’t work, as the NRA is constantly bleating. But maybe—just maybe—sensible Americans believe that freedom isn’t defined by the right for any of us to be shot to death at any moment, on purpose or on accident, just because everyone is entitled to casually carry around souped-up murder weapons.
UPDATE: Why have this debate now? Because the radical right is already having this debate today. Here’s the a tweet from earlier (that now seems to have gone missing from his feed) from the American Family Association’s Bryan Fischer:
Yes, part of this debate is that we should let seven year olds and teachers trot around school with concealed semi-automatic weapons, because that would solve everything. And it’s not just Bryan Fischer’s implication of arming teachers—folks like this Reuters commenter say it outright:
These nutters don’t represent the entire discussion, of course. The entire discussion includes lots of rational people—including President Obama. If the left’s leader is too scared to engage, the other side owns the debate and pushes it further into lethal crazy town.
If today is not the day, then the White House is home to spineless cowards.
Kansas City, Clackamas, Sandy Hook…it’s been a banner week for the gun nuts.
“The radical right is already having this debate today”? People on all sides are already having the debate today, regardless of what the White House says, and from everything I’ve read, they’re just repeating the same opinions they do every time something like this happens. How about turning to hard facts, and stats on how often law-abiding gun ownership actually puts a stop to mass shootings like this vs. how often the gun is used in a way the owner did not intend. Like, for example, the person here who owned an AR-15 and didn’t have it securely locked up, so that a 22-year-old who otherwise may not have had access to a semi-automatic rifle can steal it and go on a spree at the mall, shooting off 60 rounds.
It seems like people say ‘today isn’t the day’ and then everyone goes back to their lives until it happens again, and then that day is not the day. When is “the day” exactly? When will it be appropriate for me to have questions and concerns? The facts remain:
http://ivn.us/2012/07/25/gun-control-an-in…
“The United States far surpasses other countries in terms of gun related violence and death. The numbers above tend to indicate that fewer gun-related homicides is a direct result of stricter gun control laws.”
Well put Geyser. @lady, I agree entirely with your point, but apparently this study left out several African countries and parts of Asia. I doubt the US surpasses Liberia in this regard…then again there are NO gun control laws there.
The last thing I want to see is teachers strapping….come on, seriously. Better registration and gun safety would be just a start to help the situation. No minors should posses guns either