Boehner Stymies Gun Reform

Third gun control bill proposed since Tucson shootings
Stumble This! High-profile gun violence has historically renewed legislative interest in the cause of Gun Control, and the shootings of twenty people in Tucson, Arizona is no exception -- only this time, the measures face steeper hurdles than before. Rep. Gary Ackerman, a Democrat from New York, is the third congressman to propose a gun control bill in the wake of the Murders on Saturday. (The other two are also New Yorkers.) His bill seeks to accomplish a goal other gun control advocates have ...

For Once, Washington Gets it Right
Anyone walking around Capitol Hill this week would have been struck by the stillness and quiet -- and especially by how vividly this contrasted with the acrimony swirling online, on Cable News, and on Talk Radio over who should bear the blame for last weekend's massacre in Tucson that gravely wounded Representative Gabrielle Giffords and killed six others. Critics like to claim that Washington is the catalyst for this sort of rage. But right now, they'd be hard-pressed to turn up much evidence....

Rep. Peter King To Propose Law Making It A Crime To Come Within 1000 Feet Of Federal Officials With A Gun
As Democratic and Republican members rush to line up with new bills to restrict Speech or guns after the Tucson massacre, Rep. Peter King once again will not be outdone in criminalizing conduct. He is reportedly planning to introduce a bill that would make it illegal to knowingly carry a gun within 1,000 feet of the President, Vice President, Members of Congress or judges of the Federal Judiciary. This, of course, raises the problem with politicians being mobile. In states allowing concealed wea...

NY GOP Congressman joins Lautenberg in fight for gun control
In the wake of Saturday's senseless shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ8) and several others, which claimed the lives of six innocent individuals; conversation has heightened in various areas. Political vitriol has certainly be at the forefront with liberals and Conservatives slinging mud at each other in nothing more than finger pointing. Elected officials have weighed in and most have tried to watch what they say in order to pay proper respect during this time of mourning. Both ...

How Violent Talk Blocks Sane Gun Laws
WASHINGTON — The slaughter in Tucson hasn’t shaken us out of bad political habits. Instead of promoting a sober conversation about the dangers of violent political talk, it has reinforced divisions between left and right. Even responsible Conservatives have dismissed any suggestion that Saturday’s attack is reason enough to condemn the threats of violence that have become standard to the discourse at the extremes of their side of politics. More importantly: We have not focus...

Why Gun Control (Still) Won't Work
It has been a dismal decade for Gun Control advocates. They lost the federal so-called assault weapons ban when it expired in 2004. The Supreme Court made history by proclaiming an individual right to own Firearms for self-defense. A Democratic president came into office vowing not to take away anyone's guns. So it's no surprise that anti-gun forces would take the Mass Shooting in Tucson as a rare opportunity to reverse their fortunes. It's also no surprise that their proposals are models of fut...

The Problem With the Militarization of Rhetoric
Washington—The slaughter in Tucson hasn’t shaken us out of bad political habits. Instead of promoting a sober conversation about the dangers of violent political talk, it has reinforced divisions between left and right. Even responsible Conservatives have dismissed any suggestion that Saturday’s attack is reason enough to condemn the threats of violence that have become standard to the discourse at the extremes of their side of politics. More importantly: We have not focused a...

How Violent Talk Blocks Sane Gun Laws
The slaughter in Tucson hasn’t shaken us out of bad political habits. Instead of promoting a sober conversation about the dangers of violent political talk, it has reinforced divisions between left and right. Even responsible Conservatives have dismissed any suggestion that Saturday’s attack is reason enough to condemn the threats of violence that have become standard to the discourse at the extremes of their side of politics. More importantly: We have not focused at all on how the...

New poll shows Americans still not buying media spin on Tucson shootings
The last poll from CBS that showed Americans rejecting the “extreme Rhetoric” blame game was taken in the first couple of days after the shooting.  This Gallup Poll for USA Today was conducted on Tuesday, with plenty of time for the media’s “magical thinking,” as Allahpundit put it, to mold Public Opinion.  It’s still no sale: Most Americans reject the idea that inflammatory political language by Conservatives should be part of the debate about the forces ...

N.Y. Republican offers low-cost security training for members
Freshman Rep. Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.) says he doesn't see a need to spend additional money on security for members of Congress in the wake of Saturday's shooting in Arizona.  Instead, the former FBI agent, who worked undercover to help bring down mobsters and tackle Corruption on Wall Street, is offering his own services to House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and his fellow members.  Grimm penned a letter to Boehner Wednesday suggesting simple, low-cost security awareness training for members...

Boehner's blunder? House Speaker picks cocktail party over Tucson memorial
House Speaker John Boehner is taking heat from some Democrats after skipping out on Wednesday's memorial service for the Shooting Victims in Arizona and instead hosting a cocktail party for the Republican National Committee.   The Ohio Republican turned down President Obama's invitation to travel on Air Force One to Tucson, Politico reported.   "It is disrespectful for Speaker Boehner to skip joining the President's and Bipartisan congressional delegation to the Tucson Memorial so he could h...

Using The Giffords Shooting To Destroy Free Speech
Now it is clear that Jared Loughner was stalking Gabrielle Giffords for years, long before Sarah Palin and her supposed “target” electoral map. Now it is clear that Loughner’s classmates were afraid of him months ago. One teacher wrote last summer: “Hopefully he will be out of class very soon, and not come back with an automatic weapon.” A Student wrote: “He frightened the daylights out of me. I kept saying to people, ‘I’m afraid he’s going ...

Arizona Shootings Unlikely to Change Gun Culture
Now is the time for mourning the Victims of Saturday’s mass shooting in Tucson, Arizona, but it’s not the time for new gun-control laws aimed at preventing such tragedies in the future. That’s the political consensus in the wake of the attack on Representative Gabrielle Giffords at a “Congress on Your Corner” event at a Safeway Supermarket. A deranged gunman killed six of Giffords’ constituents, including a Federal Judge and a 9-year-old girl, with a Glock 19 ...

Media Point Fingers at a Favorite Enemy -- The Second Amendment
It was inevitable. After spending several days following the Tucson massacre working to curtail the 1st Amendment, the left and the media are now targeting the 2nd. As always, they have help from either those legitimately concerned for their safety or others trying to scavenge political points from the dead and wounded. Following the attack on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, Rep. Peter King (R-NY) is planning to push a bill “to ban the carrying of any firearm within 1,000 feet of what he describe...

Boehner Shuts Down Peter King Gun Control Legislation
I guess Rachel Maddow called me out, among other people, a bit for displaying a bit of cynicism over the possibility of Gun Control Legislation getting through Congress. I’m all for rallying the Troops with a “we can do it” Speech, but when I wrote that, I was thinking of this. The Speaker of the House, who sets the schedule, just does not support new Gun Control legislation, it seems. Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is rejecting gun-control Legislation offered by the chairman ...

What Obama said after the Tucson massacre about "human understanding" and the "old assumptions" we ought to challenge.
Following the advice in the Shaker hymn that followed the President's Speech last night, I kept it simple. I highlighted the passage in the Speech about how we should take "a good dose of humility" and not "use this tragedy as one more occasion to turn on one another." But I'm not a Shaker, and I'm a little wary when the Most Powerful man in the world advises the masses to be humble and come together as one. So I want to look at what he said just before that: Scripture tells us that there is ev...

Freshman Rep. Grimm: Low-Cost Ways To Make Congress More Secure
Rep. Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.), a former FBI Special Agent and combat Marine, sent a letter to House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) Tuesday night recommending security training for Members of Congress. Grimm is against knee-jerk Legislation in the aftermath of the attempted Assassination of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) last Saturday, but does suggest Members of Congress be trained to protect themselves. In an exclusive interview with HUMAN EVENTS on his security plan, Grimm said, “Legisl...

ThinkFast: January 13, 2011
In a moving Speech before an audience of more than 26,000, President Obama offered the nation’s condolences last night to the Victims of the shooting in Tucson. Calling for a “more civil and honest public discourse,” Obama urged Americans to “live up” to the expectations of slain nine-year-old Christina Green, who had recently been elected to her Student council. “I want America to be as good as she imagined it.” Three colleagues and friends who were in the...

Closing the Gap
When Jared Loughner walked into the Sportsman’s Warehouse in Tucson, Arizona, to purchase a Glock 19 on November 30, 2010, he had every right to walk out the legal owner of the semi-automatic Handgun. In hindsight, after he used that weapon to kill six innocent people and wound more than a dozen during an attempted Assassination of Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, it is easy to question that sale. Given current U.S. Gun Laws, however, there was no reason to prohibit the transacti...

Rep. Flake to deliver weekly GOP address
A week after the Arizona shooting that claimed the lives of six and wounded fourteen, Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) will deliver the weekly Republican address, Speaker of the House John Boehner announced Thursday. Aides to Rep. Flake said his weekly address will focus only on the Arizona shooting rather than, say, healthcare or the Deficit.  “I’m proud on behalf of House Republicans to deliver this address honoring the Victims of the shooting in Tucson, Arizona and thanking the heroes who a

Poll: Health Care Obama's Best -- And Worst -- Accomplishment
In a stark measure of just how divisive the Health Care law is, a Quinnipiac Poll released today finds that that piece of Legislation is both the most popular and unpopular accomplishment of Obama's presidency. In the poll, Health Care reform was by far the top answer to two open ended questions that asked respondents to name the best and the worst thing Obama has done as president. Twenty-six percent of respondents said Health Care was he best thing Obama has done, while 27% said it was the w...

Tea Party Foes Smell Blood, Shanghai Children Into Their Cause
In the wake of the Tucson shooting tragedy, leftists are decrying all the violence. Yet they are clearly out for blood.  Sound contradictory? Of course it does, but there it is.  Those who hate on the citizen movement for smaller government, as exemplified by the Tea Party, really smell blood now. The shots from Jared Loughner’s gun truly have been heard around the world.  An article in Sunday’s Guardian online describes the sort of feel-good event

MSNBC Ed Schultz Has (Live TV) Proctology Moment
MSNBC’s Ed Schultz desperately needs a proctologist because he just inserted his own head up his own rear - and on national television, no less. It must hurt even worse considering Schultz began his broadcast by having so much fun using the Tucson tragedy to bash Conservatives.  First off, he began by smearing the armed services.  The cause of the horror at Tucson was because of “the crisis of under treated Mental Illness among our Veterans and other mentally ill Amer...

Tom DeLay Says He Would Welcome Guns at His Public Events
Unrepentant but facing three years in Prison on a money-laundering conviction, former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay maintained his innocence Thursday and also said he hasn't changed his hard-line stance on Gun Control in the wake of the Arizona shootings. DeLay, who represented a Houston-area district, was one of the Most Powerful and feared Republican members of the House of Representatives in the first half of the last decade -- and also an ardent backer of Gun Rights. On NBC's "Today" show,...

Would stricter gun control help?
As the country recovers from the shooting rampage in Arizona on January 8th, 2011, we all wonder about our safety and the safety of our elected officials. Some blame the "dont retreat, reload" Tea Party culture. Some are questioning the lenient Gun Laws in Arizona. Here in Massachusetts, the Gun Control laws are extremely stringent. According to former Boston police lieutenant Thomas Nolan, Arizona gun law has no waiting period, and does not require licensing or registration ...