GUNS: Obama, The NRA, GPO = Stalemate?

Jay H. Ell has blogged endlessly that the Republican agenda is not controlled by their elected officials but rather by unelected megalomaniacs and their organizations. Guns and the second amendment is one of these areas that shackle the Republican legislators. In January in 2011, Jay H. Ell blogged, “The Tucson Massacre and American Culture _ Can There be A Solution?” There he looked at the statistics of gun violence and the havoc it wreaked.

Jay H. Ell, as so many before and after, far more influential, have asked,  “Sooner or later something will be done but how many more mass killings is it going to take? How many more attacks on the integrity of the democratic process are needed?” He also blogged: “ Each catastrophe, as was this, (Tucson), is handled as if it some type of anomaly and rarity that has been perpetrated by a "lone nut". The calamity is then met with crisis management rather than an analysis of the underlying causes and figuring out a comprehensive plan as at how to prevent the next one.

If you read Jay H. Ell’s blog, or anyone else, trotting out the bare statistics of the carnage that the laissez affaire attitude towards guns had caused you might have wondered the same.  Several other mass shootings, the ongoing homicide rate of 15,000 deaths a year still does not move the needle. There have been nearly twice as many mass killings in the USA then the rest of the world since Columbine.

Finally, the inexplicable senseless massacre of 20 innocent preschoolers and heroic teachers in Newtown Connecticut has woken the nation up – at least to debate the matter.

The big question however is whether it will awaken the Republican legislators from their slumber and their ongoing denial of reality. This even in the light that some of them have come out in support of the idea.

THE NRA AND NATIONAL GUN OWNERS OF AMERICA

The above organizations have exerted an extraordinary influence on the electoral process in the USA. While the Gun Lobbies’ control over Republican legislators is not as formal as it is with Grover Norquist’s signed pledge not to raise taxes, it is even more persuasive. Guns play a unique role in American rural culture. (This is not even unique to America, as there are hunters everywhere, but they are far more visible in the US public debate), However, the issue of guns in America extends far beyond hunting. With the Second Amendment to the American Constitution as a background, granting the right of American Citizenry to “bear arms” the sale of all manner of guns to anyone has become a hallowed right.

 In the wake of the recent Newtown Connecticut disaster, Larry Pratt, the Executive Director of Gun Owners of America fiercely defended the right to unrestricted gun ownership; even advocating it’s use against a tyrannical government. He cited a successful armed insurrection in 1946 in Tennessee as a recent precedent!

The slightest deviation from the line that anyone has not the democratic right to bear as many types of guns as they like would result in the NRA pouring resources to eliminate that candidate. Any attempt to restrict where these guns may be bought – such as a gun show, where no background checks can occur, would be categorized as heresy with the financial consequences brought to bear on the candidate. In fact he NRA rates every Congressman as to their position on Gun Control.

 It is with this as a background that President Obama, in both his two successful election bids and during his first term, never really tackled the issue head on. He merely stated that he supported the Second Amendment and that some of his best friends were hunters and he supported their right to own guns.

All this has now changed – well at least as far as Obama is concerned.

OBAMA AND GUN CONTROL.

Politics is all about the art of the possible. Timing plays a very big role on what is possible and what is not. There is no doubt that this heinous, senseless deed has sadly provided an opportunity to rationally look at the problem of gun control.

Obama in tune with the mood of the majority of this country, has taken a decisive step in trying someway to end this carnage. Speaking at the memorial service at Newtown he said:

“Can we honestly say that we are doing enough to keep our children safe from harm? …We are not doing enough. And we will have to change…..We can’t tolerate this anymore. These tragedies must end…. No set of laws can eliminate evil from this world. But that cannot be an excuse for inaction.

….. In the coming weeks, I will use whatever power this office holds to engage my fellow citizens, from law enforcement to mental health professionals to parents and educators, in an effort at preventing more tragedies like this. Because what choice do we have? We cannot accept events like this as routine. Are we really prepared to say that we are powerless in the face of such carnage, that the politics are too hard?”

This is heady stuff and true to his word a task force has been formed under Vice President Joe Biden. Biden, is rated an “F” by the NRA but the latter mercifully have not to much influence in his State of Delaware, The task force has met and included law makers and law enforcers, Biden said they need a “holistic” approach. The task force is due to report in late January to Obama.

Meanwhile Obama, through his Press Secretary is floating all sorts of lines such as a buy back of assault weapons. There is support of Senator Feinberg’s reintroduction of assault weapons and magazine clips holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition.

THE NRA WEIGHS IN ON NEWTOWN

One of the GOP’s unelected paymasters, the NRA promised a major contribution to the debate. For those still naive enough to hold their breath their CEO Wayne LaPierre scheduled a Press Conference to announce his “earth shattering” solution. Just in case everyone got it wrong La Pierre went on “Meet the Press” to confirm his contribution.

The NRA solution was more guns - the only way to stop a bad guy with guns is with a good guy with guns! Either police or armed guards should be in every school. As La Pierre would not agree to any legislation banning of any assault weapons or magazines with multiple bullets it was presumed that every school in the country would have a full time person armed to the teeth with automatic weapons. Implicit in this solution was to indelibly imprint in every child from preschool onwards the normalcy of guns. Why LaPierre’s solution did not include a security guard or policeman with assault weapons in every theatre, university classroom, cinema, political meeting, sports arena, shopping center, even military mess and so on is not clear. However, Jay H. Ell is sure if he had thought of it he would have suggested it.

This solution really is in tune with NRA’s simplistic philosophy. There are good guys and there are bad guys, (the criminals).  Now all the bad guys have guns. The answer is for the good guys to have guns to defend themselves against the bad guys and presumably shoot first. The message has been very successful as there are 89 guns in the community for every 100 people and those with guns buy more guns.

The problem with the NRA logic as it is very rare that a gun is used for bona fide defense. Harvard University did a study that showed in the overwhelming majority of instances guns are used inappropriately. They were involved in conflicts where they had no place. Also guns in homes provided far more "other" deaths such as suicides and accidents than saved lives in defense of life

Accidental deaths are commonplace. The wrong people especially children, get hold of guns that are not their own and accidents even murder follows – in fact that is exactly what happened in Newtown – a son killed his mother and stole her guns. Even in Florida where an attempt was made as to decide when it was legal “to stand your ground”, the perception still is that unnecessary deaths occur. (Blog: Travyon Martin and the American Judicial Process April 2012 ).

So there is not one iota of scientific evidence to support the NRA philosophy

WHERE THE NRA IS COMING FROM

Before the NRA calls Jay H. Ell ridiculous let’s keep the conversation to the issue at hand  - carnage in schools. This because murdering children offends our sensibilities far more than randomly killing people who are have seen a far deal of life such as College students. Well to affect this simplistic solution just to provide armed personnel for schools it would cost 6 billion dollars. There is also no guarantee of its success. There  is also the negative influence it will have in feeding into susceptible minds the concept of violence, the “accidents’ that will inevitably happen when “suspicious” people are accidentally shot, not to mention those killed in the crossfire to take into account.

As Senator Liebermann commented the NRA will blame everything besides guns. Liebermann predicts that NRA’s stance will make it harder to pass gun laws.

The rationale of the NRA is to defend ownership of any type of weapon or ammunition in the belief that any compromise, even though it may stop wholesale carnage, may be the slippery slope to making even more compromise. One wonders what the NRA policy would be on the sale of hand held missiles that could bring down airplanes?

Off course the NRA would not change the spin that has worked so well for decades. They have the money to back it up as the conventional wisdom is they represent gun dealers not gun owners. How many owners of machine guns and those who own magazines with 100s of bullets are even members of the NRA and if they are, do they deserve this vigorous defense? Jay H. Ell cannot imagine there are too many sub machine gun owners in the NRA.

NRA INFLUENCE AND POWER

There is debate as to whether the NRA is as powerful as they were in the past. New York Mayor Bloomberg, has long held that NRA is no longer so influential. Bloomberg has long been advocating for gun restriction and is head of a group of 750 like thinking  Mayors of Cities and Towns throughout the country. The Mayors maintain that 74% of gun owners support sensible gun control. Bloomberg outgunned and outspent the NRA in the San Bernardino California  Congressional election by deposing pro gun Congressman Baca with a gun restriction opponent.

Also in the last election with the vast sums of money being spent thus made the NRA’s contribution disproportionately smaller.

The Brady Center for Gun Control, the foremost proponents of gun control, has found new life with this mobilization of public opinion and of course Obama has given his full power as President behind the move and the majority of the country is behind him.

THE CHAOTIC REPUBLICAN CAUCUS, NRA AND GUN REFORM

Well with all this outrage, gun reform or at least the ban of assault weapons, or magazines containing endless clips, or the proper institution of background checks should be a formality. But it is not so easy in the present political climate and with the NRA taking such an uncompromising stance.

While this is not a purely party political issue the NRA is a Republican  paymaster and it is the Republican caucus who fears them the most. As it is known the Republican Party and it’s Republican caucus are in a total shambles at the moment. They have a total disconnect with reality and the country’s sentiment on fiscal matters.  Why should it be any different on guns?

To pass any gun law Republican votes are needed. At the moment it is their unelected megalomaniacs and organizations that control them. They are too disorganized and leaderless to do anything

 other than follow their unelected leaders. So no one else may be afraid of the NRA but those that matter, namely the Republican caucus, are.

Now everyone, even the NRA, believe that attention should be paid to Mental Health Care. The latter obviously plays a big role in this mayhem. Yet will the NRA instruct the Republican caucus to reinstate State and Federal health care budgets that have been slashed and then expand them to meet the pressing mental health needs? Not likely. The fiscal conservatives have never regarded mental health or any health care for that matter as a “necessity”.

So Obama may come up with a plan and Feinstein might get her bill through the Senate but what will happen in the House? Obama better start thinking out side of his box. It is obviously not enough to have the majority of the electorate on his side. Even though it is a more mobilized electorate than ever before it just doesn’t cut it. Maybe Obama should speak to Republican swing votes one at a time and get legislation passed. Otherwise America nothing will happen till some maniac will shoot newborn babies in a hospital nursery with assault weapons.

The legislators with fiscal chaos looming closed the shop and went home for a holiday and only came back three days before the deadline.  Obama included.  So what chance do sensible and rational gun laws really have?