In response to U.S. gun carnage, Canada to enact tough laws

[MU82]

Maybe a little movement, as Republican pols and leaders are starting to get a little more involved ...

From the Washington Post:

Sen. John Cornyn (Tex.), who is leading the talks for Republicans, said in an interview Thursday that he shared a sense of urgency. "I think we need to act, and we need to act relatively quickly," he told The Washington Post. "We could lose this opportunity to do what we could to save lives, which to me is what this is all about."

While Republicans have long emerged as unflinching defenders of gun rights, encouraged by a voting base that includes millions of gun owners, there are signs that GOP lawmakers may have more negotiating space than in the past.

An open letter published Sunday in the Dallas Morning News signed by more than 250 prominent Texas conservatives offered support to Cornyn as "the right man to lead this bipartisan effort." The signers also endorsed a federal red-flag law and expanded background checks.

In an interview Friday, the key Democrat negotiating a federal red-flag provision, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (Conn.), said he was encouraged by the progress that had been made on that aspect of the negotiations.

Blumenthal said he and Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) had come to an agreement between the two of them on a basic framework for legislation that would create a system of incentives, grants and federal standards for states that create their own red-flag laws. But he said details were still being hashed out as the discussion moved to a wider group of bipartisan negotiators.

Cornyn said Thursday that he is willing to consider expanding the scope of criminal records that can block a gun sale under the federal instant background check system to include juvenile records. That could theoretically block a sale to a young gun buyer who has been judged responsible for a criminal act in sealed juvenile proceedings but has no adult record.

Baby steps. Not getting my hopes up yet.

Also ...

Former U.S. Rep. Will Hurd of Texas wrote an op-ed in the NYT with the headline: I'm a Republican Who Represented Uvalde in Congress. I Want More Than Thoughts and Prayers.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/06/opinion/politics/will-hurd-uvalde-congress-guns.html?campaign_id=9&emc=edit_nn_20220606&instance_id=63307&nl=the-morning&regi_id=108420427&segment_id=94340&te=1&user_id=d36dcf821462fdd16ec3636710a855fa

He mostly talked about things having to do with mental health but also supports universal background checks and other legislation that the vast majority of Americans want.

[TSmith34, Inc.]

Meanwhile those people with easy access to guns despite tough gun control laws in Philadelphia are not being held accountable.

https://www.inquirer.com/news/philadelphia-gun-arrests-2021-convictions-vufa-20210330.html

Good to see you in support of tough gun laws and expressing a desire that those who break those laws face the consequences.

[JWags85]

Udalve native Matthew McConaughey published an op-ed today advocating for things like universal background checks, age limits for semiautomatic rifles, red flag laws and waiting periods ... basically the kind of stuff nearly everyone here is on board with. Except he reframes the discussion as "gun responsibility" instead of gun control.
Potayto-potahto, far as I'm concerned, but if changing a word will get more people on board and something accomplished, then I'm all for it.


https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2022/06/06/matthew-mcconaughey-editorial-time-responsible-choices-guns/7523836001/

Honestly, thats kind of brilliant.  Reframing something with a slight twist can often be foolishly effective.

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

Honestly, thats kind of brilliant.  Reframing something with a slight twist can often be foolishly effective.

I was just thinking the same.

Gun responsibility may in fact be a far better description in the first place

And we were born a few weeks apart in November 1969 and both big U2 fans.

[MU82]

Honestly, thats kind of brilliant.  Reframing something with a slight twist can often be foolishly effective.

"Gun responsibility" -- I like it!

The GOP always has been better at this than the Dems.

Frank Luntz made a science out of it:

"Death tax" instead of "estate tax" ... "exploring for energy" instead of "drilling for oil" ... "parental choice" instead of "school choice" ... "tax simplification" instead of "tax reform" ... "illegal aliens" instead of "undocumented workers" ... etc.

[jesmu84]

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/05/27/stopping-mass-shooters-q-a-00035762

[TSmith34, Inc.]

"Gun responsibility" -- I like it!

The GOP always has been better at this than the Dems.

Frank Luntz made a science out of it:

"Death tax" instead of "estate tax" ... "exploring for energy" instead of "drilling for oil" ... "parental choice" instead of "school choice" ... "tax simplification" instead of "tax reform" ... "illegal aliens" instead of "undocumented workers" ... etc.

They had previously floated gun safety, but responsibility sounds better to me.

[Uncle Rico]

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/05/27/stopping-mass-shooters-q-a-00035762

Thanks for this link.  Interesting study and interview

[MU82]

Thanks for this link.  Interesting study and interview

Agreed. I thought this passage was especially illuminating:

POLITICO: In your book, you say that in an ideal world, 500,000 psychologists would be employed in schools around the country. If you assume a modest salary of $70,000 a year, that amounts to over $35 billion in funding. Are you seeing any national or state-level political momentum for even a sliver of these kind of mental health resources?

Densley: Every time these tragedies happen, you always ask yourself, "Is this the one that's going to finally move the needle?" The Republican narrative is that we're not going to touch guns because this is all about mental health. Well then, we need to ask the follow-up question of what's the plan to fix that mental health problem. Nobody's saying, "Let's fund this, let's do it, we'll get the votes." That's the political piece that's missing here.

POLITICO: Are Democrats talking about mental health?

Densley: Too often in politics it becomes an either-or proposition. Gun control or mental health. Our research says that none of these solutions is perfect on its own. We have to do multiple things at one time and put them together as a comprehensive package. People have to be comfortable with complexity and that's not always easy.

Peterson: Post-Columbine there's been this real focus on hardening schools — metal detectors, armed officers, teaching our kids to run and hide. The shift I'm starting to see, at least here in Minnesota, is that people are realizing hardening doesn't work. Over 90 percent of the time, school shooters target their own school. These are insiders, not outsiders. We just had a bill in Minnesota that recognized public safety as training people in suicide prevention and funding counselors. I hope we keep moving in that direction.

[Pakuni]

"Gun responsibility" -- I like it!

The GOP always has been better at this than the Dems.

Frank Luntz made a science out of it:

"Death tax" instead of "estate tax" ... "exploring for energy" instead of "drilling for oil" ... "parental choice" instead of "school choice" ... "tax simplification" instead of "tax reform" ... "illegal aliens" instead of "undocumented workers" ... etc.

"Supply side economics" instead of trickle down/voodoo economics.

[jesmu84]

"Supply side economics" instead of trickle down/voodoo economics.

I'm still waiting to get trickled on

[tower912]

Tourists.

[Pakuni]

Getting off topic here, but Carlin had a brilliant routine on our use of euphemisms ro hide reality.

https://www.lingq.com/en/learn-english-online/courses/87644/george-carlin-euphemisms-447260/

[Pakuni]

Two weeks after Udalve, Texas lawmakers are finally taking action to ban an insidious threat to the state's children ... drag queens.

https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-politics-and-policy/texas-lawmaker-proposes-ban-minors-watching-drag-shows-rcna32183

[JWags85]

Two weeks after Udalve, Texas lawmakers are finally taking action to ban an insidious threat to the state's children ... drag queens.

https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-politics-and-policy/texas-lawmaker-proposes-ban-minors-watching-drag-shows-rcna32183

And this is relevant to the thread, other than to bait and politically troll, how?

[Pakuni]

And this is relevant to the thread, other than to bait and politically troll, how?

It's relevant to show how Texas lawmakers' priorities are effed up, as they would rather waste time on meaningless gestures like this than anything that might actually protect children.
You are free to ignore my posts.
If you feel "baited" by this, you're part of the problem.

[Uncle Rico]

And this is relevant to the thread, other than to bait and politically troll, how?

It might be that it also shows how unserious we are as a nation

[JWags85]

It's relevant to show how Texas lawmakers' priorities are effed up, as they would rather waste time on meaningless gestures like this than anything that might actually protect children.
You are free to ignore my posts.
If you feel "baited" by this, you're part of the problem.

I'm not baited in any way.  I'm not offended by drag shows nor do they make me clutch my pearls.

You're a smart dude and a valuable poster, so ignored your posts would be loss, especially in season.

But I also enjoy this board most of the time.  We've had 3 gun threads closed for political BS.  People are rightly called out for injecting unrelated political banter into threads that cause chaos.  This does nothing to enrich that discussion other than open an avenue for right and left to argue about something else. 

You're smart enough to know exactly what you were doing.  Everyone's favorite punching bag does the same thing but just not as smoothly or stating good intentions.

It might be that it also shows how unserious we are as a nation

Again, does nothing to further a thread on an already touchy topic that has been a powder keg.  We have plenty of other "SMH America" threads.

I don't want Hunter's laptops in economic thread, coup attempts in a baby formula thread, AOC tweets when discussing China logistical issues, or whatever old Turtlehead Mitch did when we talk about Summerfest.

[Pakuni]

I don't want Hunter's laptops in economic thread, coup attempts in a baby formula thread, AOC tweets when discussing China logistical issues, or whatever old Turtlehead Mitch did when we talk about Summerfest.

Hunter's laptop has nothing to do with the economy.
Coup attempts have nothing to do with baby formula.
AOC's tweets have nothing to do China logistics.
Mitch McConnell has nothing to do with Summerfest.

Texas lawmakers who worry more about protecting children from a drag performance than a homicidal maniac armed with semiautomatic weapons has everything to do with the topic at hand.
When mass shootings happen elsewhere, legislators take action to try to prevent a reoccurrence. When massing shootings happen in the U.S., legislators condemn drag queens, video games and hip-hop. Oh, and doors. Too many doors.
How can you not see this as not only relevant, but central, to our problem?

[JWags85]

Hunter's laptop has nothing to do with the economy.
Coup attempts have nothing to do with baby formula.
AOC's tweets have nothing to do China logistics.
Mitch McConnell has nothing to do with Summerfest.

Texas lawmakers who worry more about protecting children from a drag performance than a homicidal maniac armed with semiautomatic weapons has everything to do with the topic at hand.
When mass shootings happen elsewhere, legislators take action to try to prevent a reoccurrence. When massing shootings happen in the U.S., legislators condemn drag queens, video games and hip-hop. Oh, and doors. Too many doors.
How can you not see this as not only relevant, but central, to our problem?

The US government has a long and storied history of not addressing problems, diverting attention to other things while using tragedies to further alternate agendas and initiatives, misplacing blame and hatred, etc...  Its not new, its not groundbreaking, I don't think it does anything for productive discussing here.  Unlike the Matty M article and related commentary.

Nothing in the statement or the article mentions the shooting.  He didn't say banning children at drag shows would have stopped the shooting.  Its just another dumb piece of legislation from fundamentalist moron.

[lawdog77]

Hunter's laptop has nothing to do with the economy.
Coup attempts have nothing to do with baby formula.
AOC's tweets have nothing to do China logistics.
Mitch McConnell has nothing to do with Summerfest.

Texas lawmakers who worry more about protecting children from a drag performance than a homicidal maniac armed with semiautomatic weapons has everything to do with the topic at hand.
When mass shootings happen elsewhere, legislators take action to try to prevent a reoccurrence. When massing shootings happen in the U.S., legislators condemn drag queens, video games and hip-hop. Oh, and doors. Too many doors.
How can you not see this as not only relevant, but central, to our problem?

Plenty of time in a legislators day to pass more than one law.

[Uncle Rico]

Plenty of time in a legislators day to pass more than one law.

I'll wait then for Texas to address the gun culture issues in their state knowing they can pass more than one law a day

[MU82]

Right in this thread, we had a long discussion about priorities.

Well, Texas GOP lawmakers -- presented over the weekend with a letter from Republican donors to enact common-sense gun-responsibility measures that a majority of people want -- instead prioritized legislating hatred against "others."

Not just relevant, but EXTREMELY relevant.

Happiness is a warm gun.

[JWags85]

Incredibly powerful stuff from Matthew McConaughey at the White House.

"We can't truly be leaders if we are only living for reelection" is a pretty stinging indictment of politics in general.

I'm no fan of celebrity politics but I can think of far worse faces for a sea change movement.  From Uvalde, dude is Texas to the CORE.  Long time hunter, grew up with guns and isn't anti-gun by any imagination.

[lawdog77]

Right in this thread, we had a long discussion about priorities.

Well, Texas GOP lawmakers -- presented over the weekend with a letter from Republican donors to enact common-sense gun-responsibility measures that a majority of people want -- instead prioritized legislating hatred against "others."

Not just relevant, but EXTREMELY relevant.

Happiness is a warm gun.

Ever think they will enact some common sense gun responsibility measures, just maybe they are actually formulating something that will work and not some spur of the moment crap that wont do much (like a lot of legislation seems to do)