Tuesday, December 18, 2012

PRETEND TO COOPERATE NOW, WATER DOWN THE RESULTS LATER

The gutless wonders at the NRA are waiting to break their silence on the Newtown shootings until the last weekday before a holiday weekend, hoping the public is too focused on other things to respond with the hate the NRA deserves. From an NRA statement released today:
The NRA is prepared to offer meaningful contributions to help make sure this never happens again.

The NRA is planning to hold a major news conference in the Washington, DC area on Friday, December 21.
Charles Johnson has a prediction:



Sounds plausible -- and it worked like a charm for the gun lobby after the Virginia Tech shootings, as John Flowers explains:
Back in 2007, after what is still the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, Washington needed to act. And so Congress passed The NCIS Improvement Amendments Act of 2007. The law requires all states to submit mental health records to national databases maintained by the FBI.

.... The NRA said, essentially, it wouldn't oppose any deal...PROVIDED the bill did two main things.

The first, was to more narrowly define who could be considered a "mental defective" (and, yes, that's the bill's language).... a person could be granted his right to bear arms again were he, for instance, "rehabilitated through any procedure available under law" -- which could mean just about anything.

The second was something called a "Relief from Disabilities" program. This is the mechanism by which the mentally ill can re-establish their mental health bona- fides to buy guns again.
As The New York Times reported last year after examining this process, judges with little expertise and inadequate access to petitioners' mental health records make these decisions -- with predictable results:
The Times found multiple instances over the last decade in which people who won back their gun rights went on to be charged with or convicted of violent or gun-related crimes, including spousal battery, negligent discharge of a firearm or assault with a firearm.
Perhaps this is because not nearly enough information gets into the federal database:
There is no guarantee, however, that a formal record of adjudication or involuntary commitment will find its way into the NICS database. Often disqualifying mental health records go unreported by the states. In Colorado, for example, only about 1% of people who have disqualifying mental health histories have been reported to NICS.

Another problem is that few Americans suffering from serious mental illness ever come into contact with the "system" or receive treatment for their condition(s).
No contact with the system, no record. In fact, even a voluntary commitment doesn't register as a disqualifier under the law.

The bad cop in all this is Gun Owners of America, which opposed the 2007 law, even as the NRA supported it while working to weaken it. Nice one-two punch, guys. And we can probably expect more of the same this time around.

2 comments:

  1. And lord knows, the parents of these dead children can't sue the NRA or GOA in civil court, thanks to our usual band of gutless Congressional weasels!

    Slightly OT, but I'll tie in together at the end, I hope.

    We had a case here, almost 20 years ago, where a bachelor party met in this one well known area bar/seafood restaurant, had one drink, and then went off barhopping to, none of them can remember how many bars - only that it was a lot of them, and they could only remember a few of them.

    Needless to say, one of the party, drunk, smashed into another car early in the morning, and killed a couple of people.

    Well, there was a lawsuit, and none of the bars they were able to identify who served this party later in their drunken oddessey had any money, and threatened to close down, if sued. So, the attorney's, after exhausting every other place, sued the place where they started off and had ONE fechin' drink.

    JUST ONE!
    Costing this place's insurance company millions of dollars, and I have no idea how much for the owner, for that one round of drinks.
    THEY were held responsible, for a group who started off their wild, traveling, bacchanal with one drink.

    So, unless sh*t's changed, in this area, we can sue a bar for serving the FIRST drink to a party of drunks, who went on to other bars and got sh*tfaced drunk and killed someone, but some parents of a dead child killed by a maniac with a semi-automatic, can't sue the NRA or GOA.

    And that, folks, is what having high-priced lawyers and lobbyists will buy you - protection for the rich gun companies, from civil lawsuits.
    NICE!

    Maybe the parents of those dead children can return the Chistmas gifts, get their money back, and apply that to the price for their coffin.

    I sure hope the parents kept the receipts!

    ReplyDelete
  2. A message from the Conservative Tautology 9000 SuperComputer, of which
    we are all familiar:

    LOADING...LOADING...

    Guns don’t kill people!

    Guns protect people by killing other people! ERROR...ERROR>>>>REBOOT

    Free speech is a greater threat than guns. Free Speech can hurt people
    and should be regulated!

    Guns don’t threaten people. People threaten people! With Guns!
    ERROR…ERROR>>>>REBOOT…

    No law would have prevented Adam Lanza from his massacre, so the
    system worked! Just like no law can prevent speeding or drunk driving!
    No law should be ever changed regarding guns, ever, unless it makes
    them more accessible and free. But not voting! Voting takes IDs and
    background checks!

    Loaded guns in elementary schools carried by union thug teachers are a
    good idea! THUGS=BAD=TEACHERS=GOOD=GUNS=ERRORERRORERRORERRORERRORERRORERRORERROR>>>>>>REBOOT

    We don’t need to talk about guns, we need to talk about mental health
    / video games / the cowardly victims / arming teachers / mean liberals
    / praying / freedom / states’ rights / The NRA's sensitive fee-fees /
    The Founders / movies / The Media / The Mayan Apocalypse. The more we
    talk about guns, the less free we are!

    If a black gang member / Skeery Muslim / Jack-booted sun-glassed ATF
    agent did it, it’s TYRANNY!

    If a mentally disturbed white male did it, then it’s FREEEEEEEDOM!!!!
    ERROR 0x000BC7F RACISM=BAD CHKSUM ERROR??>>>>>REBOOT

    Stop politicizing the tragedy, and stop pointing out how I politicize
    the tragedy by demanding your utter obedient silence on the subject of
    guns and massacres! ERROR>>>>>>REBOOT

    Guns protect you always, just like magical talismans! Unless you go to
    sleep and your mentally ill son takes your guns and kills you while
    sleeping. WE NEED CONCEALED CARRY PERMITS INSIDE HOMES!!!

    Citizens with guns can stop massacres! Except massacres are on the
    rise and there is no evidence of a single case of an armed citizen
    stopping a massacre! Better luck next time!! H’yuk!

    The more guns we have, the safer we are! Just like Nancy Lanza! She
    was so safe! Guns protected her from EVERYTHING, except her own guns!
    What a coincidence! Killed by your own unsecured weapon! How ironic!
    ERROR=IRONY=BAD=BUT NOT AS BAD AS RESTRICTING GUNS>>>>>>>REBOOT

    Guns protect you always, especially in the Old West, which had even
    stricter gun control laws than today. TYRANNY!!

    Guns protect you always, even on military bases, where they require
    you to tape your magazines to help prevent accidental shootings, and
    the mess hall, chapel, barracks, latrines, and other places are
    "gun-free zones" where you have to check your weapon. TYRANNY!!!

    Guns are forbidden inside the Supreme Court, where conservative
    justices ruled that 2nd Amendment Rights need not be regulated at all,
    not even trigger locks. FREEDOM!!!

    It should be harder to buy drugs, buy alcohol, smoke cigarettes, buy
    medicine, buy stocks, buy a blowtorch, download music, buy fertilizer,
    get credit, buy a car, rent a car, rent a UHAUL, get a job, board a
    plane, fly a plane, drive an 18 wheeler, donate an organ, apply to
    school, apply for a loan, apply for the military, apply for the
    police, apply to be a firefighter, cross the border, apply for
    welfare, ask for charity, get healthcare, get insurance, work with the
    elderly or children, cut hair, teach, practice law, file your taxes,
    vote, marry, divorce, apply for housing/apartments, open a business,
    open a franchise, get an internship, get a grant, or exercise free
    speech than it is to buy unlimited guns with unlimited ammunition from
    dealers with no license. ERRORERRORERRORERROR>>>>>>>>>>>>> 0x00000BF
    PLEASE RETURN UNIT TO MANUFACTURER. HAVE A NICE DAY.

    ReplyDelete