[I]f the Texas laws aimed at health reform unduly burden the right to choose, it is important to consider how state gun control laws could likewise infringe upon the right to bear arms….Like the “right to choose,” the right to a firearm is not limitless….what are the outer bounds of limitation?
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Pro-Choice? You Might Also Be Pro-Gun
Posted June 30th, 2016 at 11:21 am (UTC-5)
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A Gun Law that Could Have Prevented the Orlando Massacre
Posted June 22nd, 2016 at 4:30 pm (UTC-5)
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Under a GVRO policy, family members and/or law enforcement officials can petition a judge to have firearms temporarily removed from an individual in crisis for a period of one year. This would allow those who are a threat to themselves and/or others the time they need to get help and heal.
The L.G.B.T Case for Guns
Posted June 22nd, 2016 at 10:52 am (UTC-5)
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Since the attack in Orlando, Fla., many L.G.B.T. groups have been calling loudly for laws restricting gun ownership. But if anyone should be concerned about protecting the individual right to bear arms, it’s L.G.B.T. people. We need to stop preaching nonviolence and voting for politicians who don’t protect us.
Bullet Points
Posted June 20th, 2016 at 2:41 pm (UTC-5)
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Media stories in the wake of mass shootings typically feature a laundry list of mistakes that reflect their writers’ inexperience with guns and gun culture….treat guns like any other beat,,,,Media outlets tend not to send sports writers to cover the Supreme Court or style writers to cover a murder. Ignorance undermines authority.
Orlando: The Gun Debate
Posted June 16th, 2016 at 12:39 pm (UTC-5)
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There is movement, a pulse, in Congress after all.
After the slaughter of 49 people at an Orlando gay nightclub, there were the usual expressions of sorrow, moments of silence and verbal posturing. But instead of the usual inaction by Congress on gun laws, Senate Democrats took action by grinding the deliberative body to a noticeable stop.
The 15-hour filibuster by Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy forced Senate Republicans to agree to votes on Democratic-backed gun control measures: expanding background checks and preventing suspected terrorists from buying guns. It will put senators on the record about gun laws before the November election.
Democrats efforts got a boost from the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. Donald Trump tweeted he would meet with the politically powerful National Rifle Association about banning gun sales to those on the terrorist watch list or “no fly” list.
No matter which way the votes go, the debate over guns in America has both sides locked and loaded.
Omar Mateen, American Monster
Posted June 16th, 2016 at 9:25 am (UTC-5)
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The massacre in Orlando, where 49 people were gunned down at an L.G.B.T. nightclub and dozens of others were wounded, came at the hands of a coward and a monster, but make no mistake: This was our monster.
Orlando Shooting Reaction has the Feel of Eternal Recurrence
Posted June 15th, 2016 at 4:29 pm (UTC-5)
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Whether the culprit is American imperialism, guns, Guantanamo Bay or, this week, homophobia, we instantly race to comfortable excuses and comfortable arguments. The true nature and scope of the challenge is too unpleasant to contemplate, and so we return to our scripts and read our lines until the next slaughter…
Conservative for Gun Control
Posted June 14th, 2016 at 12:19 pm (UTC-5)
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Let’s not hear any more about expanding background checks, which already are comprehensive so far as licensed firearms dealers are concerned, until we start punishing the people who subvert those laws.
Presidential Tears, Executive Actions and a Townhall
Posted January 8th, 2016 at 4:02 pm (UTC-5)
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President Obama’s mission to address gun violence in America began on Friday, December 31st, New Year’s Eve. Obama released his regular recorded Saturday address earlier than usual. In it was a clear message that he would forge ahead and do something – anything – to make it harder for potential killers to buy firearms. He had tried – and failed – to tighten gun laws after the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook elementary school.This week, frustrated by inaction and just a few weeks after the mass shooting in San Bernardino, California, Obama made his move. He invoked executive power, bypassing Congress, to address loopholes in background checks for gun sales. That was followed by a press conference to officially unveil his executive actions in which the president, uncharacteristically emotional, shed tears. Two days later, he was live on television at a town hall on gun control hosted by CNN. He capped the week by writing an opinion column, “Barack Obama: Guns Are Our Shared Responsibility,” published in the New York Times.
An Emotion Obama Announces New Measures to Tighten Gun Laws
Posted January 6th, 2016 at 6:13 am (UTC-5)
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Wiping tears, the president spoke of the young school children during the mass shooting in Newtown, Conn. “Every time I think about those kids, it gets me mad,”
Here is How Obama’s Most Controversial New Action on Guns Really Works. It’s Fairly Modest.
Posted January 5th, 2016 at 1:08 pm (UTC-5)
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It clarifies which gun-sellers are supposed to obtain a federal firearms license. Since guns sold by licensed dealers are subject to federal background checks, and guns sold by private sellers are not, this change, by extension, would also clarify which additional gun sales are subject to background checks.
New Year Starts With Fight Over Gun Control
Posted January 4th, 2016 at 3:27 pm (UTC-5)
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President Barack Obama got right back to work after his holiday break with gun control on his mind. At a meeting Monday with Attorney General Loretta Lynch, FBI Director James Comey and other top law enforcement officials, the president was briefed on proposals designed to crack down on unregulated gun sales. Later in the week, CNN will host Obama for a live town hall meeting on the issue, which was brought home vividly just last month when 14 people were massacred by a heavily armed young Muslim-American couple during mass shooting in California. Republican presidential hopefuls immediately hammered Obama’s move to invoke executive power – that is, to enact the laws without Congressional approval. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie called the president a “petulant child,” while frontrunner Donald Trump vowed to use HIS future executive power to overturn Obama’s.
Obama Appears Ready for Another Attempt to Tighten Gun Laws
Posted January 1st, 2016 at 10:45 am (UTC-5)
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“I get too many letters from parents, and teachers, and kids, to sit around and do nothing.”
In the U.S., Who Has the Monopoly on Force?
Though not the bloodiest episode, the Dallas massacre epitomizes our predicament. Police came under fire from an African American who believed himself to be resisting governmental abuse and tyranny — which, according to many a gun-rights advocate, is one of the reasons to have an armed populace.