I don't forsee this passing in toto, but it's a good place to start to shape a new policy, one that fits a nation catching up with the 21st century:
President Barack Obama will propose an assault weapons ban and better background checks for gun buyers on Wednesday as part of a package of proposals to curb gun violence one month after the Newtown school massacre.
The proposals will include executive and legislative measures, with the latter sure to face an uphill battle in Congress, where appetite for renewing an assault weapons ban is low.
By the by, as a side note, a masterful stroke including children at the press conference. We're already seeing rumbles from the right about grandstanding...from the usual suspects, of course. But it will inoculate the President from really harsh criticisms about the proposals, since you'd basically be calling schoolchildren liars.
Of course, that wouldn't stop the zagnuts from doing precisely that.
The more and more I read and talk to conservatives, the more convinced I am that they see a handwriting on the wall that's telling them time's up, and they're fighting tooth and nail to hold onto an illusory past where they actually mattered. Even Ed Meese thinks he's still relevant, even tho his old dead boss would probably side with President Obama on this issue because, you know, he was shot.
We've treated them like our kid brother who tagged along on a guy's night out long enough. Time to put them to bed and get on with things.
The assault weapons ban will be a tough sell in the House, of course. Here's where "We, the People" come in. We have to get on the horn to our legislators. The NRA, the Gun Owners of America, and all the other crackpot rightwing jackboots will have their troops lined up, ready to threaten and intimidate their lawmakers. We have to make it clear that the 4 million (yea, right) members of the NRA are shouted down by the whispers of the other 326 million of us.
Make your kids write. Make your cat write (I know mine is already drafting a letter). This is important. We spoke up when the first bailout package was proposed in the Bush administration and beat that back. We can beat this crowd, too. They don't have nearly the influence banks did.
From what I've read and heard, the bill as proposed is a good one, if incomplete. But it's hella better than letting terrorists run our nation.
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