The senate and its failure to get shit done.
April 18, 2013 at 3:30 am
(This post was last modified: April 18, 2013 at 3:35 am by Creed of Heresy.)
Ok, so, we all know what just happened to the gun control vote. It didn't go very good for proponents. It went terrific for people who are convinced that it should be easy and quick to buy just about any gun at any time from anywhere without having to even submit your damn ID, though. *Rolls eyes.*
Once again I find myself being one of the few firearm fanatics going "Uh, no, this was actually kind of bad, guys" while my fellow fanatics are screaming about what a victory this is. A victory? A victory for what? Letting convicted murderers and rapists and diagnosed sociopaths have easy, unfettered access to highly lethal weaponry? Well gee aren't we just the champions of liberty. *Rolls eyes. Again.*
Ok. Hyperbole and initial annoyance aside.
I think a fairly sizable part of the problem comes from the fact that the bill was, contrary to what everyone has been saying, NOT just about expanding background checks. There were nine pieces to it, including the limitation of magazine capacity, automatic weaponry, and added requirements for transferring a weapon in registration to someone else, some of which started bordering on the downright tedious.
Ockham's Razor would have been perfectly suited for this bill. Had the bill simply been about expanded background checks and nothing more, the NRA would likely not have become so riled up, nor would many state senators. But, see, that's the problem. The gun-control proponents went for broke. They didn't just want one thing, they wanted ALL of it. They wanted every last slice of the cake and unfortunately when you start pushing too hard, you start pushing potential allies away. And that's what happened.
This was a demand for all states to submit to overall Federal control in matters of ALL forms of firearms. Not just a background check, but you also were now going to limit every last one of the 50 states to where they could only own a gun with so many rounds and that could fire so fast and could only be registered by such and such and transferred only under certain circumstances. Too much shit. That's the story of this bill: Demanding too fucking much.
Maybe Obama and the democrats will learn their lesson and strip away some of the more onerous aspects of the bill and focus instead on the one part that we all agree upon: The fucking background checks. Stop trying to shovel the limitations of everything else onto people, go with what people overwhelmingly agree with, THEN approach the other issues you want to address later.
Unfortunately this came off with too much guilt-tripping. "These people got shot, it's not your fault, but all the same, someone else used a gun similar to yours and therefore we don't want to let you possess such weaponry yourself because nobody can be trusted" was the overall tone to what was being said.
Drop the other eight provisions and just fucking focus on the background checks. That's all you need, that's all we really want for the most part, and that will pass unanimously! But instead, Obama blew his load. He drummed up a ton of publicity, tried to rally a bunch of support, had them in the palm of his hand and then suddenly wanted to added a bunch of other shit that people do NOT agree so much on into the bill.
This was not a smart move. Now we have to wait several months for the bill to be reintroduced in any form. Passions from the aftermaths of the shootings will have died down, reducing support, and people will probably stop caring again. Less people will be vocal, and for all we know, the attempt to get just the background checks implanted may well now be in total jeopardy. Thus, this bill might have actually damaged whatever hopes we all had of ensuring that convicted felons cannot get access to firearms. I sure hope not, though.
Yes. I am aware there's another thread on this. But this is more my informed opinion and speculation on the matter and the overall situation as opposed to the ruling, so...hence I made a new thread.
Once again I find myself being one of the few firearm fanatics going "Uh, no, this was actually kind of bad, guys" while my fellow fanatics are screaming about what a victory this is. A victory? A victory for what? Letting convicted murderers and rapists and diagnosed sociopaths have easy, unfettered access to highly lethal weaponry? Well gee aren't we just the champions of liberty. *Rolls eyes. Again.*
Ok. Hyperbole and initial annoyance aside.
I think a fairly sizable part of the problem comes from the fact that the bill was, contrary to what everyone has been saying, NOT just about expanding background checks. There were nine pieces to it, including the limitation of magazine capacity, automatic weaponry, and added requirements for transferring a weapon in registration to someone else, some of which started bordering on the downright tedious.
Ockham's Razor would have been perfectly suited for this bill. Had the bill simply been about expanded background checks and nothing more, the NRA would likely not have become so riled up, nor would many state senators. But, see, that's the problem. The gun-control proponents went for broke. They didn't just want one thing, they wanted ALL of it. They wanted every last slice of the cake and unfortunately when you start pushing too hard, you start pushing potential allies away. And that's what happened.
This was a demand for all states to submit to overall Federal control in matters of ALL forms of firearms. Not just a background check, but you also were now going to limit every last one of the 50 states to where they could only own a gun with so many rounds and that could fire so fast and could only be registered by such and such and transferred only under certain circumstances. Too much shit. That's the story of this bill: Demanding too fucking much.
Maybe Obama and the democrats will learn their lesson and strip away some of the more onerous aspects of the bill and focus instead on the one part that we all agree upon: The fucking background checks. Stop trying to shovel the limitations of everything else onto people, go with what people overwhelmingly agree with, THEN approach the other issues you want to address later.
Unfortunately this came off with too much guilt-tripping. "These people got shot, it's not your fault, but all the same, someone else used a gun similar to yours and therefore we don't want to let you possess such weaponry yourself because nobody can be trusted" was the overall tone to what was being said.
Drop the other eight provisions and just fucking focus on the background checks. That's all you need, that's all we really want for the most part, and that will pass unanimously! But instead, Obama blew his load. He drummed up a ton of publicity, tried to rally a bunch of support, had them in the palm of his hand and then suddenly wanted to added a bunch of other shit that people do NOT agree so much on into the bill.
This was not a smart move. Now we have to wait several months for the bill to be reintroduced in any form. Passions from the aftermaths of the shootings will have died down, reducing support, and people will probably stop caring again. Less people will be vocal, and for all we know, the attempt to get just the background checks implanted may well now be in total jeopardy. Thus, this bill might have actually damaged whatever hopes we all had of ensuring that convicted felons cannot get access to firearms. I sure hope not, though.
Yes. I am aware there's another thread on this. But this is more my informed opinion and speculation on the matter and the overall situation as opposed to the ruling, so...hence I made a new thread.
