A Good Start On Gun Violence

President Obama unveiled the recommendations from the Joe Biden-led commission formed to reduce gun violence in the wake of the massacre in Newton, Connecticut.  In what has been called "the biggest gun control push in decades", the President urged Congress to reinstate the assault weapons ban, tighten up and close loopholes in background checks, and pass a new Federal gun-trafficking law.  In addition, he announced "23 steps he intends to take immediately without congressional approval. These include improving the existing system for background checks, lifting the ban on federal research on gun violence, putting more counselors...in schools and better access to mental health services." [Reuters]  I didn't even know there was a ban on federal research on gun violence.  It is a really sad statement on the power of the gun lobby and arms dealers in our political process.

The proposals are a good start but will need to be pushed against the fierce opposition of the NRA and their supporters in Congress.  As a sign of things to come, the NRA, in one of its most despicable ads in years, attacked Obama for proposing gun control legislation while his daughters were being protected by the Secret Service.  The legislative proposals will also soon be competing for legislative attention with the debt ceiling negotiations and the automatic budget cut discussions ("the sequester"). 

The rabid reaction of the pro-gun wing of the American public to these modest proposals gives one cause to fervently hope that the laws are enacted with all due haste.  Anyone who can react so bizarrely should probably not have access to assault rifles and armor-penetratrating ammunition.  In fact there is no reason on earth why any Joe Average Citizen should own high capacity weapons.  But such is the level of fear stoked by the gun lobby and the fear-and-hate-mongering crowd that those I would consider normally sane people argue that there should not be an assault weapons ban in the United States.  The fact that we are having a debate on this at all is shameful.  No other developed country would even consider allowing such armaments in the hands of ordinary (and sometimes deranged) citizens.  Then again no other developed nation has a death penalty.  But that's for another time.

Will Congress pass the required legislation including the much-needed assault weapons ban? (I'm talking to you, House of Representatives majority, filibuster-abusing Senate Republicans, and gutless pro-gun Democrats.)   Or will we let the deaths of innocents again be in vain?  We'll need to keep the pressure up over the next weeks and months if there is to be any chance at all for comprehensive reform.

I wish I could agree with former Republican Congessman/now MSNBC political commentator Joe Scarborough that either Republicans get in touch with reality on this issue or they will lose control of the House.  On Andrea Mitchell Reports today, Scarborough "laid out what he saw as the GOP's two choices in the House of Representatives. 'They can either pass a comprehensive gun control package right now and shape it under Speaker Boehner, or they can wait two years when they lose the majority and have Nancy Pelosi write that bill...there are no other choices.' " [Huffington Post]  Unfortunately, with the post-2010 gerrymandered Congressional districts providing a majority of safe districts for Republicans, Scarborough's projection appears to be unrealistic. 

So convinced are they of the "safety" of  their Congressional districts, some Republican strategists are proposing changes to the way Electoral College votes are counted.  Several Republican-controlled swing states that voted for Obama in 2012 are considering proposals that would award an electoral vote to the winner of  the Congressional district. The primary objective is to allow a Republican to win the Presidency in 2016.  Perhaps because they think they waited too long with their voter suppression laws (the "strategy" for 2012), they are getting an early start for 2016.   [Mother Jones]

Kudos to the State of New York for passing the toughest gun control legislation in the country this week.  But state laws can only do so much - it's a short hop down I-95 to areas where guns can be purchased more easily. 

As for the Second Amendment, if the Supreme Court cannot figure out how to parse subordinate clauses (as in "A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State"), maybe it's time to repeal this albatross from the eighteenth century.  Let's just hope the right wing bozos on the Court don't overturn New York's tough new gun law before then. 

Going the Wrong Way

While the news cycle has been covering the turmoil in Egypt (Mubarak apparently has just left Cairo), there have been some domestic developments and non-developments that warrant mention. 

Congress has not done anything to address the unemployment rate and increase jobs.  Jobs creation in January was lower than expected.  Much of this was likely due to the severe weather.  Meanwhile, the House Republicans have done nothing on a jobs bill, contenting themselves with their ever-erroneous whining about the negative impact of government spending. 

House Republican budget proposals  (Note 1) have, as expected, shifted the burden of deficit reduction to women, children and the poor while simultaneously eliminating jobs creation programs.
(1) Apologies for the above link - it contains the self serving comments of the Republican chair but it effectively shows their priorities.  For a good analysis of how these changes affect society's most vulnerable see the WonkRoom post at this link) :
- Changing House Rules to allow for unlimited, unfinanced tax cuts (i.e., pay as you go only applies to spending cuts)
- Cutting $2 billion from jobs training programs
- Cutting $1.1 billion from community health centers
- Cutting $1 billion from high speed rail, effectively eliminating  numerous jobs
- Cutting $758 million from the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), which amounts to about a 6 percent cut to a program providing food assistance to low-income women and their infants.
– Cutting $210 million from Maternal and Child Health Block Grants, which amounts to about a 33 percent cut in a program giving low-income pregnant women, mothers and their children access to health care.
– Cutting $27 million from the Poison Control Center, which would essentially eliminate a program supporting local poison control centers and funding a hotline directing residents to their local poison control office.

Meanwhile the Obama Administration has moved to cut home heating subsidies to the poor by $2.5 billion and revise the rules on mortgages.  The latter would require higher down payments and start to eliminate the role of Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae, the traditional entry to home ownership for the middle class.  Meanwhile, Obama's 2011 most recent foray into jobs creation has been to ask the Chamber of Commerce to (pretty please) step up to the plate and create jobs. 

Are these people all crazy or what?

Here's the Obama - Biden plan for the economy.  It's somewhat outdated but would be interesting to see how effective they will be in prioritizing and implementing the remaining elements of this.