Senate Blocked Gun Control Measures

Discussion in 'Latest Hip News Stories' started by Aerianne, Apr 17, 2013.

  1. shameless_heifer

    shameless_heifer Super Moderator Super Moderator

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    It's not about Gun Control, it's about people control
     
  2. scratcho

    scratcho Lifetime Supporter Lifetime Supporter

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    Don't have to worry about the majority ruling here--the minority is FIRMLY in charge,
     
  3. Driftwood Gypsy

    Driftwood Gypsy Lifetime Supporter Lifetime Supporter

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    I didn't hear the whole thing start to finish, but in the end he just mentions the victims and hopefully not letting this happen again?
     
  4. MrKewl

    MrKewl Member

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    I like how you hippies won't shut the fuck up about how prohibition doesn't work when you want legal weed, but then you turn around and complain about how badly we need prohibition when it comes to a commodity you can't smoke.
     
  5. Driftwood Gypsy

    Driftwood Gypsy Lifetime Supporter Lifetime Supporter

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    Here's the transcript; I'm too lazy to watch the whole thing (imo everyone talks too slow) so I read it....

    THE PRESIDENT: A few months ago, in response to too many tragedies — including the shootings of a United States Congresswoman, Gabby Giffords, who’s here today, and the murder of 20 innocent schoolchildren and their teachers –- this country took up the cause of protecting more of our people from gun violence.

    Families that know unspeakable grief summoned the courage to petition their elected leaders –- not just to honor the memory of their children, but to protect the lives of all our children. And a few minutes ago, a minority in the United States Senate decided it wasn’t worth it. They blocked common-sense gun reforms even while these families looked on from the Senate gallery.

    By now, it’s well known that 90 percent of the American people support universal background checks that make it harder for a dangerous person to buy a gun. We’re talking about convicted felons, people convicted of domestic violence, people with a severe mental illness. Ninety percent of Americans support that idea. Most Americans think that’s already the law.

    And a few minutes ago, 90 percent of Democrats in the Senate just voted for that idea. But it’s not going to happen because 90 percent of Republicans in the Senate just voted against that idea.

    A majority of senators voted “yes” to protecting more of our citizens with smarter background checks. But by this continuing distortion of Senate rules, a minority was able to block it from moving forward.

    I’m going to speak plainly and honestly about what’s happened here because the American people are trying to figure out how can something have 90 percent support and yet not happen. We had a Democrat and a Republican -– both gun owners, both fierce defenders of our Second Amendment, with “A” grades from the NRA — come together and worked together to write a common-sense compromise on background checks. And I want to thank Joe Manchin and Pat Toomey for their courage in doing that. That was not easy given their traditional strong support for Second Amendment rights.

    As they said, nobody could honestly claim that the package they put together infringed on our Second Amendment rights. All it did was extend the same background check rules that already apply to guns purchased from a dealer to guns purchased at gun shows or over the Internet. So 60 percent of guns are already purchased through a background check system; this would have covered a lot of the guns that are currently outside that system.

    Their legislation showed respect for gun owners, and it showed respect for the victims of gun violence. And Gabby Giffords, by the way, is both — she’s a gun owner and a victim of gun violence. She is a Westerner and a moderate. And she supports these background checks.

    In fact, even the NRA used to support expanded background checks. The current leader of the NRA used to support these background checks. So while this compromise didn’t contain everything I wanted or everything that these families wanted, it did represent progress. It represented moderation and common sense. That’s why 90 percent of the American people supported it.

    But instead of supporting this compromise, the gun lobby and its allies willfully lied about the bill. They claimed that it would create some sort of “big brother” gun registry, even though the bill did the opposite. This legislation, in fact, outlawed any registry. Plain and simple, right there in the text. But that didn’t matter.

    And unfortunately, this pattern of spreading untruths about this legislation served a purpose, because those lies upset an intense minority of gun owners, and that in turn intimidated a lot of senators. And I talked to several of these senators over the past few weeks, and they’re all good people. I know all of them were shocked by tragedies like Newtown. And I also understand that they come from states that are strongly pro-gun. And I have consistently said that there are regional differences when it comes to guns, and that both sides have to listen to each other.

    But the fact is most of these senators could not offer any good reason why we wouldn’t want to make it harder for criminals and those with severe mental illnesses to buy a gun. There were no coherent arguments as to why we wouldn’t do this. It came down to politics — the worry that that vocal minority of gun owners would come after them in future elections. They worried that the gun lobby would spend a lot of money and paint them as anti-Second Amendment.

    And obviously, a lot of Republicans had that fear, but Democrats had that fear, too. And so they caved to the pressure, and they started looking for an excuse — any excuse — to vote “no.”

    One common argument I heard was that this legislation wouldn’t prevent all future massacres. And that’s true. As I said from the start, no single piece of legislation can stop every act of violence and evil. We learned that tragically just two days ago. But if action by Congress could have saved one person, one child, a few hundred, a few thousand — if it could have prevented those people from losing their lives to gun violence in the future while preserving our Second Amendment rights, we had an obligation to try.

    And this legislation met that test. And too many senators failed theirs.

    I’ve heard some say that blocking this step would be a victory. And my question is, a victory for who? A victory for what? All that happened today was the preservation of the loophole that lets dangerous criminals buy guns without a background check. That didn’t make our kids safer. Victory for not doing something that 90 percent of Americans, 80 percent of Republicans, the vast majority of your constituents wanted to get done? It begs the question, who are we here to represent?

    I’ve heard folks say that having the families of victims lobby for this legislation was somehow misplaced. “A prop,” somebody called them. “Emotional blackmail,” some outlet said. Are they serious? Do we really think that thousands of families whose lives have been shattered by gun violence don’t have a right to weigh in on this issue? Do we think their emotions, their loss is not relevant to this debate?

    So all in all, this was a pretty shameful day for Washington.

    But this effort is not over. I want to make it clear to the American people we can still bring about meaningful changes that reduce gun violence, so long as the American people don’t give up on it. Even without Congress, my administration will keep doing everything it can to protect more of our communities. We’re going to address the barriers that prevent states from participating in the existing background check system. We’re going to give law enforcement more information about lost and stolen guns so it can do its job. We’re going to help to put in place emergency plans to protect our children in their schools.

    But we can do more if Congress gets its act together. And if this Congress refuses to listen to the American people and pass common-sense gun legislation, then the real impact is going to have to come from the voters.

    To all the people who supported this legislation — law enforcement and responsible gun owners, Democrats and Republicans, urban moms, rural hunters, whoever you are — you need to let your representatives in Congress know that you are disappointed, and that if they don’t act this time, you will remember come election time.

    To the wide majority of NRA households who supported this legislation, you need to let your leadership and lobbyists in Washington know they didn’t represent your views on this one.

    The point is those who care deeply about preventing more and more gun violence will have to be as passionate, and as organized, and as vocal as those who blocked these common-sense steps to help keep our kids safe. Ultimately, you outnumber those who argued the other way. But they’re better organized. They’re better financed. They’ve been at it longer. And they make sure to stay focused on this one issue during election time. And that’s the reason why you can have something that 90 percent of Americans support and you can’t get it through the Senate or the House of Representatives.

    So to change Washington, you, the American people, are going to have to sustain some passion about this. And when necessary, you’ve got to send the right people to Washington. And that requires strength, and it requires persistence.

    And that’s the one thing that these families should have inspired in all of us. I still don’t know how they have been able to muster up the strength to do what they’ve doing over the last several weeks, last several months.

    And I see this as just round one. When Newtown happened, I met with these families and I spoke to the community, and I said, something must be different right now. We’re going to have to change. That’s what the whole country said. Everybody talked about how we were going to change something to make sure this didn’t happen again, just like everybody talked about how we needed to do something after Aurora. Everybody talked about we needed change something after Tucson.

    And I’m assuming that the emotions that we’ve all felt since Newtown, the emotions that we’ve all felt since Tucson and Aurora and Chicago — the pain we share with these families and families all across the country who’ve lost a loved one to gun violence — I’m assuming that’s not a temporary thing. I’m assuming our expressions of grief and our commitment to do something different to prevent these things from happening are not empty words.

    I believe we’re going to be able to get this done. Sooner or later, we are going to get this right. The memories of these children demand it. And so do the American people.






    I see no threats.... just common sense.
     
  6. Driftwood Gypsy

    Driftwood Gypsy Lifetime Supporter Lifetime Supporter

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    guns and weed are completely different.
     
  7. MrKewl

    MrKewl Member

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    And...........
     
  8. Driftwood Gypsy

    Driftwood Gypsy Lifetime Supporter Lifetime Supporter

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    You're making a false comparison, they are nothing alike, so your argument is invalid (and poorly spelled, and has poor grammar).
     
  9. sunfighter

    sunfighter Hip Forums Supporter HipForums Supporter

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    Wow, what a crazy, misleading statement. Prohibition means it's prohibited. No one is talking about taking away anyone's guns and yet that's all I hear from the crazy gun people. You would think Obama is trying to take away legally owned guns. He wouldn't dare and you know it -- you're just trying to scare people.
     
  10. MrKewl

    MrKewl Member

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    I feel like you have absolutely no idea what you're talking about so you just continue finding different ways to say "no" without actually saying anything at all, and then you proceed to go after grammar issues on an informal Internet forum because your meaningless post feels even more empty otherwise.
     
  11. Driftwood Gypsy

    Driftwood Gypsy Lifetime Supporter Lifetime Supporter

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    Agreed. That comment came from far left field.... wtf.
    Nobody is taking your guns, for gawdsake!!! Stop whining... Gun regulations do not mean gun prohibition or guns being taken; it means background checks and research to make sure Johnny The Homicidal Maniac isn't buying an AK47....
     
  12. nanettetron

    nanettetron Member

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    We need guns to protect ourselves, We could reduce
    gun violence and make this world safe and a better place somehow. I do not know how,
    but Washington can do something to make this world safe and to improve my life. bless me and love me , I have never heard such lawlessness in my life. love me. I love everyone. I have to love my self first so I can give something back.
     
  13. nanettetron

    nanettetron Member

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    I do not know what to say about gun control . We need guns to protect ourselves,
    I have a stigma they say I am bipolar. I do not own a gun and I want to do something
    good with my life. please pray for me and bless me I am an ordained Minister.
    I do not think I am that unhealthy. God save me and God bless the U.S.A.
    Please ask for backgrounds checks so people that are bipolar can not get guns.
    I think some of them like me might need a gun to protect themselves.
    I want to live a long life and I want to work and do good. I am on SSI and told
    all kinds of stuff. Please say a little pray for me and I pray that I will be able to have
    peace and write and get published a book. I want to work and do something quality and make a few friends. I would like friends. Would you please make me a friend?
     
  14. redgingergirl

    redgingergirl Member

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    There are already laws in place prohibiting the missuse of firearms and just because criminals dont obey the law does not state that there need to be more laws. Some crazy nut goes on a shooting spree and its all the innocent gun owners that have to pay. Our second ammendment right to bear arms is for personal defense agianst these crazys and defense agianst a tyrranical government. Nazi germany took all the guns away before they started killing jews, theres also russia and all those other tyrranical governments that killed thier poeple after dissarming them with promises of saftey. Do not be fooled by their pretty words.... allowing them to remove guns will end badly.
     
  15. Mr.Writer

    Mr.Writer Senior Member

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    The arguments to legalize marijuana are much broader than "the war on drugs is a failure", such as its harmless nature and scientifically proven health benefits.

    Nobody is categorically prohibiting guns in the same was as marijuana is categorically prohibited, so your argument, while quite entertaining in its rhetoric, doesn't actually get that far off the ground. If you wanted to compared marijuana and guns, then not only would marijuana have to be legal, it would have to be a constitutionally enshrined freedom, it would need to be supported by billions of dollars from the military-industrial complex, and the issue at hand would be "should purchasing marijuana at a marijuana show or marijuana store require a criminal background check".

    See why your argument doesn't work? :)
     
  16. redgingergirl

    redgingergirl Member

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    I think marajuana should be legal simply for all of the medical purposes. The only reason they dont allow us to have it is because its too beneficial for our health and they are still working on the paperwork for how to charge as much for it as possible.
     
  17. Ichabod Crane

    Ichabod Crane Member

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    As Archie Bunker would say, Stuff it, Karen. Hows about some cites?
     
  18. ScrubPuppy

    ScrubPuppy Member

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    Well shoot, I owned a gun once...maybe used it twice at the gun range. I don't have a problem with expanded background checks; however, I believe a person should have a right to own whatever gun he/she wants. I know a couple of guys who are collectors--very responsible.

    When I read the 2nd, I don't see gun control written in the text, so, in my opinion, the effort to limit access is a contrivance.
     
  19. NoxiousGas

    NoxiousGas Old Fart

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    :confused:
    Dude it is so fucking obvious to anyone breathing that gun issues and marijuana issues are not even remotely comparable.
    I guess Sappho assumed she was talking to a person of at least average intelligence, guess not.

    Check your pulse, you may be dead, or at least brain-dead.


    and I'm a gun "nut" but clearly see the need for national enforcement of the laws.
     
  20. NoxiousGas

    NoxiousGas Old Fart

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    I used to go to gun shows all the time a decade or so ago, and having shopped out of the trunks of cars in the parking lot I would have to say, no, they aren't as regulated as you might think.
     

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