The American Human: The Twisted Logic Behind the Failed Background Checks Bill

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

The Twisted Logic Behind the Failed Background Checks Bill

Wayne Lapierre: I don't give a shit about this guy. Republicans feel differently.

Pennsylvania's Senator Pat Toomey -- who co-sponsored the watered-down bill for background checks on gun purchasers with Democratic Senator Joe Manchin -- has his theory about why the bill failed: Republicans don't want to hand Barack Obama a victory even on broadly supported non-partisan issues.

Okay, Sen. Toomey, that's part of it. Another part is batshit-crazy base-driven: white Christian males and their ilk who believe we should be allowed to buy Bradley armored vehicles and 50-calliber machine guns and who think a Black Man in the White House will usher in Armageddon. One other part is the love of money that the NRA will shower those who voted against it. One final part is the fear of the NRA itself, who vows to destroy anyone who goes against them.

Of course, there's this kind of thinking, Fox-News-style:

The Senate has been disgraceful on the issue of guns, while majorities across the country support universal background checks (90%), smaller bullet magazines (56%), and a ban on assault weapons (56%). But all Republican senators voted against the bill except John McCain, Susan Collins, Mark Kirk, and Pat Toomey. Democrats Heidi Heitkamp, Mark Begich, Mark Pryor, and Max Baucus also voted against it.

The magazine and assault weapons issues never received a vote. Actually, none of the bills received a vote, as the background check bull was filibustered, receiving enough to pass but not enough to stop debate, which then killed it.

Those who voted against the bill by filibustering it are cowards all, absolute cowards. They'd rather see more citizens die unnecessarily than to risk money or career. No lower breed of human exists than that.

A mix of anti-gun-control senators try, uncomfortably, to explain their votes.

Gun safety is now a permanent part of the Culture War raging in America, and the Left has slowly but surely been winning. I hope gun-control advocates revisit gun issues early and often, and I hope that those who'd rather sacrifice American lives than do the right thing inevitably pay the ultimate political price for their abominable behavior.

Kelly Ayotte, you can't squirm enough to get out of the way of the truth. Let's hope some November day you find that out.

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My General Principles

1. Civilized societies require the rule of law.
2. Science is my preferred method for examining and understanding reality.
3. Religion is superstition.
4. An educated society is a healthy society.
5. Democratic governments are by their very nature socialist.
6. Market economies are by their very nature capitalist.
7. Markets are not (entirely) efficient or rational and thus require regulation.
8. Don’t confuse politics with public policy.
9. Civil discourse requires rational argument, even if yelling or stomping your feet or name-calling is more fun.
10. If you consider making stuff up a viable tactic, you are disallowed from civil discourse.
11. Puritanism is America’s original sin.
12. Income redistribution is good for society, hoarding is not.
13. Everybody, from time to time, needs help.

About the American Human

The American Human is written by Calvin Ross, a retired teacher who at various points in life has been a musician, woodworker, restaurateur, narrator, English teacher in Japan, novelist, technology journalist, and private tutor to Japanese children here in the U.S.

Happily residing in the wine country of Sonoma County north of San Francisco, Calvin has lived in the Philippines, the Netherlands, and the aforementioned Japan, as well as in Chicago, Colorado, Georgia, and many different towns in California, including, of all places, the Mojave Desert.

Calvin, you may note quickly, is a liberal progressive who doesn't think being called a socialist is all that bad, especially since he sort of would like living in Denmark if it weren't so cold. He blogs because he can.