E.J. Dionne is making sense …
“A not-so-small miracle is unfolding before our eyes. After nearly two decades in which established opinion insisted that it would never again be possible to pass sensible regulations of firearms, the unthinkable is on the verge of happening. This week, Sen. Patrick Leahy, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is expected to announce plans to start marking up gun bills to send to the Senate floor, proposals that will include ideas put before the country by President Obama and Vice President Biden. The president’s agenda, in turn, was inspired by advocates and legislators, mayors and police chiefs, who have been working quietly in the wilderness for years. Told over and over again that members of both parties were forever destined to do the National Rifle Association’s bidding, these supporters of thoroughly moderate and reasonable weapons measures never gave up and never surrendered. Their time has come.”
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
79 Responses to Gun Control is Happening
Now on The Trail
boy was i wrong on oscar wins!
kudos to our tinseltown pro jamie.
Gun control = a sign of a liberal shift in the USA.
Meanwhile, the GOP keeps drifting to the EXTREME right.
This actually helps strengthen the liberal shift because so many people now equate “conservatism” with idiots who want to bring guns to the grocery store.
yep Nash, the nation is done listening to fools who go to gun shows and accidentally shoot each other
I was thinking the other day, I do that occasionally. We will never be able to get rid of all the assault rifles that are already in circulation. Even if they are banned, they will never go get those that are already out there. Besides the other new laws they are considering, I was just pondering a law that would make people who own those guns, maybe any guns, co-responsible for any mahein they are used for. If your kid or someone else takes your gun and uses it to kill someone, you will be charged with assessory to murder and responsible financially for the damages. That might encourage people to either keep them carefully locked away or give up those unnecessary weapons. People demand their rights but don’t want the responsibility that should go with those rights.
So far our best advocates have been the pro-gun folks themselves. They have ventured off into black helicopter land. On the family facebook, it is rather interesting what gets passed around.
Just remember there are 30% out there that will never agree to anything,It is those that think themselves civilized that can be persuaded to go along.
If you can just keep Ted nugent and the current NRA leadership as the face of the progun side the US could be a gun free society in less than 10 years
};-O
Jack
As a huge Seth McFarlane fan I just gotta say… it didn’t look good that the joke of the night belonged to Daniel Day Lewis. IMO, the problem was that Seth was too muzzled… ya just can’t say the type of jokes he does in that venue.
And the night belonged to Adele, Streisand, Streep, and of course Michelle Obama… we women rock!
So far our best advocates have been the pro-gun folks themselves.
Jack… that’s the best line of this whole debate. It feels good to see the majority of this country have finally gotten fed up with the batshitcrazies.
that is a wild avatar, whskyjack. love it !!!
Well, after watching parts of the Daytona 500 (my redneck guilty pleasure -- or one of them anyway) and watching Iron Man and Iron Man II, I tuned in to the Oscars (Didn’t they use to call it the Academy Awards? Whatever). My take on the evening (having seen exactly NONE of the nominees) is that Seth did a good job, Adele and Barbra stole the show, followed closely by the bit from Chicago. Congrats to Daniel Day-Lewis. Having not seen the film, I have to rely on my judgment from his previous roles, which were uniformly excellent. And for what it’s worth, I am happy Argo won -- odd to have the film win without the director being nominated, right?
Now to gun laws -- it’s about time.
I love that avatar also Jack! Simple but makes a strong statement.
Sequester guns, not dollars.
“…we women rock!”
You betcha Renee!
I’m not a Nascar fan. Don’t know doodle about it but it just felt funny to me that Danica was third going into that last lap and finished 8th. She DID seem to have enough car. Was she afraid? Was she boxed in? Any experts here?
I didn’t watch the Oscars, I’m not certain why people do. But many of you seem to get great enjoyment out of it. It maybe one of those religion things, I’m not certain why people do religion either.
One point about hosting , I’ve notice that edgy humor doesn’t go over well, If you host do folksy humor.
Jack
Craig
Glad you like it, I kinda enjoyed my previous one where I disappeared with a white on white Camo avatar.
Carol, while “!” is fun, maybe a more appropriate avatar should be “?”
One thing about the image used, at least I own the copyright to this one. Though you all are free to steal it.
Jack
Faire’s Commentary on the Oscars:
1. I CANNOT BELIEVE THEY LEFT ANDY GRIFFITH OUT OF THE IN MEMORIAM SEGMENT! GRRRRRRRR!!!!!!
2. Michelle looked like a movie star herself!
3. Shirley Bassey--WOW!!!!!
4. The only good thing I have to say about Seth McFarlane is--he can sing. Otherwise, he fell flat as a host and I hope he doesn’t get the gig again next year.
OK, So I own a building and a street artist paints a picture on it. Who owns the art?
Jack
I really like Seth and I was very impressed with ALL his talents but I think that his part was a little too long and then that cut off time for those winners to give their proper thank yous. This award show is really is all about those who win those awards, not a variety show.
CT, not exactly an expert, but have gone to and watched races at onelevel or another for over 40 years. She could have dropped out of line any time in the last 3 laps if she knew that Dale Jr. who was running 4th during those laps would go with her -- the bottom line was where she would have had to go -- but no one was able to drive past the upper line cars. Hard to say whether she had enough car to drive past Jimmie Johnson even with drafting help. 8th place is remarkably good considering that was her 11th Sprint Cup race (which is very different from the Nationwide races she has run in).
The will of the people finally overcomes the money of the NRA. Oh, there will be rear guard actions by those senators and reps who owe their souls to Wayne LaPiere and his minions, who will scream bloody murder (pun intended) but the times they are a-changin’, and Americans at large are sick of the rhetoric. It’s time.
Besides, if they can pass a gun control measure, no one will notice that they did nothing about sequester.
Survived for another movie year. Final score on my New York Times ballot: 20 of 24, mainly because I really didn’t like either Silver Linings Playbook or Django Unchained so couldn’t bring myself to jump on those bandwagons.
My favorite tweet of the evening: Jennifer Lawrence -- when you fall down and Hugh Jackman immediately jumps up to rescue you -- STAY DOWN until he gets there.
Now back to politics except if you haven’t seen a quirky little charmer -- Moonrise Kingdom -- Do so. It will make you smile every time you think of it.
Oh and my favorite 10 minutes of the whole evening
Pogo, remarkably good, for a woman, just ain’t good enough for me when you’re that close. Hillary did remarkably good when she ran for president. That wasn’t good enough for me!
I guess I’m hard to satisfy.
Jamie,
Good to see that clip again. That is what the Awards show is about. Celebrating the art of entertainment.
Agree with your assessment of Hugh Jackman -- handsome, mega talented, has the “it” factor in spades. And seems like a really nice guy. One little observation: Mr. Baron Cohen is a handsome fella.
Faire,
Where was Andy Griffith? Good catch. A Face In The Crowd was forgotten.
I thought the reaction to the Boob Song was really impressive, with the female actors expressing shock to the cameras with their expressions saying, “But, I did it for the sake of our art!”
ct, good idea. sorta on the order of shared responsibility when you knowingly let an unlicensed driver use your car and bad happens.
another good reg: to buy/possess/use a gun, require proof of “gun safety” qualifications on the order of carry permits such as proper training, appropriate age, liability insurance (like no-fault driver laws require), a showing of no mental or criminal history, etc.
this way anyone could get one upon meeting the requirements and flashing the card just as they do in voter registration.
The last movie we saw in a theater was Jaws. That would have been in the early 70s when we were in Panama. The next one that we considered seeing was The Exorcist, but The New Yorker’s review had words to the effect, “Any parent who allows their child to view this film is insane.”
At that point, movies were no longer fun.
But Patd you know what happens to good ideas. It doesn’t take those guns away, if already purchased and owned, it just requires some responsibility of ownership.I think that it’s reasonable.
come all ye young fellows who handle a gun…
wiki’s synopsis of “an cailin ban” or “molly ban”
A self-defense weapon out of view inside one’s house is hardly an “attractive nuisance” in the sense that an uninvited guest who came across it and shot herself in the butt could sue the weapon’s owner. To criminalize the failure of the individual to lock his self-defense weapon in a safe, making the weapon useless for its intended purpose, is something I would vigorously oppose.
I won’t even address my reaction to individual citizens being responsible for the damage and mayhem and murder resulting from felons stealing their automobiles or weapons or chainsaws.
flatus, do you feel the same about bartenders (or party hosts) serving that one more for the road drink to an obvious drunk that results in a vehicular tragedy?
i think ct meant to hold responsible those who knowingly sell a gun to an obviously unsuitable person who goes forth to do harm to self or others.
The word that struck me in today’s topic headline ( and used in the featured article) is happening. I am grateful for anyone keeping the issue of gun regulation in the fore, and introducing meaningful legislation to enact it, but happening doesn’t equal happened. To get to happened we need statesmanship, which has been sorely lacking. Have a feeling every member of the Congress and Senate could be given a copy of Lincoln and few would feel shame, let alone realize it.
how’s page speed today? i did some turbo-charging last night
george clooney, born in ky as was neither ms judd nor sen. mitch mc, has a better chance of making the dance. he’s purtier than both too.
Pat, the booze thing is accepted law, now, in many jurisdictions. I agree with it.
Reread CT’s 0748 from today to see if I misunderstood.
Craig, you’re just now getting things fully operational? Like edit? It was really slow earlier--give us some time to give it some exercise
It’s a shame about the chat…that last interface was really neat. But when it stopped working, it stopped; good riddance.
flatus, edit function has been back for a while. yours is working right?
always one more thing to do. optimized the database and refreshed server last night. takes about 24 hours after that for the benefits to fully kick in
yeah, i’ve now tried 3 different versions of free chat room add-ons and none got ‘er done. they crash once 20 or so people in the room. get what you pay for, i guess. don’t think it’s worth buying one, we wouldn’t use it enough.
Craig, oh yes, edit’s working well.
Guess it’s just a matter of waiting until the db engine is happy with the way it’s built its caches.
It was doing quite well until Sturg sent his 3 comments
Hmm, three c-17s just flew over the house at _low_ altitude going east to west in “let’s drop paratroops and equipment” formation. I wonder if they’re after Joe Wilson?
ha, our server will never understand sturg
Eric Cantor’s latest, acc. to Daily Kos: he wants to do away with OT pay for hourly workers.
I think we ought to demand that Congress get NO pay until they straighten up & fly in a sensible direction. Note that I do not use the traditional “right” for said direction. Straight up the middle or left, I’m okay with.
I really wanted to reserve that law for those assault weapons. Even if we decide to ban them in the future, I’m sure they will not take those that are already purchased and owned. But what would you do if you had a youngster in the house and a loaded gun or a friend’s youngster came over? Do you think that it is adequate to just say, no no honey, don’t touch that? Almost any gun safety requires that your gun won’t be easily available to you at the drop of a hat.
And there’s the problem Patd. I rest my case.
How about no pay until they pass campaign finance reform?
faire, absolutely. no work, no pay. so wish we could sue the bastards for nonfeasance* at least… some for malfeasance. gawd, they haven’t feased for weeks!
no wonder cantor is against ot pay. he doesn’t even know what regular worktime is let alone working over it.
*the intentional failure to perform a required duty or obligation (per leg. dict.)
Carol, that’s different than what you said this morning. Only a fool will say that common sense shouldn’t apply to a situation such as you describe.
in that oath they took, what did they not understand about
I want a reason to demand some responsibility for keeping those mega weapons from killing any more children. Come up with a plan, any plan. I don’t have any of my own children but I do care about the well being of other people’s children.
And maybe we can’t leave it up to what each individual thinks is convenient. Too many people live by the philosophy that…shit happens.
Carol, I agree.
And the other thing that we absolutely must do is end gang membership as a stepping-stone towards manhood in many of our communities.
It can be done as my daughter proves year after year.
I don’t think it’s going to warm up. I had better get this morning’s paper.
I guess I passed out before they passed out the Oscars. It must have been the Nathans hot dog served Chicago Style. Or the cheap tempranillo. Anyway, I missed out on watching my picks go down to inglourius defeat, one after the other.
Congrats to all you winners. I could have sworn that so soon after the French silent movie won, the Academy would feel justified in picking a pious epic, ala mode cecil b demille, that hauled in mega-tonnage of moola.
is anyone using the “Notify me when new comments are added” option below the comment box?
just curious how it’s working for you. it sends you an email whenever anyone posts a comment here. certainly can understand not wanting that, which is why it’s just an option, but there is an easy unsubscribe link on each email.
oh and by the way you can always revise your listed email on your “Edit My Profile” page in the drop-down menu at your screen name upper right corner. That’s also where you can change your password anytime.
we’re off for a taste testing at our wedding restaurant (free food!). later
CT, not remarkably good for a woman (I didn’t say, imply or mean anything of the sort). Remarkably good for a driver with no more experience in the Cup cars than she had. The only real differences between her and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -- her fellow rookie and boyfriend -- is that she is a woman and has tremendous name recognition and marketing power. He finished 12th. It’s pretty unusual for a Nationwide series driver to do a whole lot in Sprint Cup their first few years unless they are driving for a top team with one of their best crews. Tony Stewart is the big dog at Stewart Haas Racing (prolly could tell by the name) -- won the 2011 Sprint Cup and in the past 3 seasons has all but 3 of SHR’s wins (Ryan Newman had one win in each season). He’s got the most sponsorship money -- which translates into consistency. Danica’s crew chief is pumped. Her last three races were 13, 10 & 8th place finishes. And that is good in anyone’s book. The Nascar year runs until November -- 3 wins in a year is an outstanding year, so stay tuned. That was just page one of the 2013 Nascar book.
Thanks for the info Pogo and I know you didn’t mean..for a woman. I just added that because I was aggravated that she couldn’t hold that 3rd place. Yesterday was probably the first time I watched Nascar. She is a good marketing tool. It’s almost too scary for me to watch though. I can’t stand to watch them following so close at that speed.
I worked as a nurse at a horse racing track for a short time. It was one of my many moonlighting jobs when I was teaching at the U. It was fun to learn about the racetrack culture. I learned that with horse racing, sometimes jockeys could gang up and box someone in.
C. Everett Koop dead at 96
Craig, had a look at your Maggianos Little Italy link. The colours and name evoked the second most famous line in movie history.
The first being: “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn”
Wow, watching Stephen Brill, discuss his “Time’ article, “Bitter Pill”. If everything he says is true, the hospitals and HMOs he describes are criminal organizations.
On taking one’s guns to town:
What? Big Iron.
Where? On his hip.
For whom? Texas Red.
Im going in the AM to pick up a chessboard to keep up with the moves.
lulz… just make one.
(paper, ruler, pencil, tape, 32 bottlecaps = low-rent version)
Obama Gets Aggressive on Sequester Marketing with State by State Impact Reports
by Taylor Marsh
my horsie would look like a kitty cat or something
hmmm….i could come up with 32 bottle caps in no time at all…….
Uptown version: Dowels, a sharpie, ruler, and a piece of birch plywood. Until then…
TPMDC
Why Democrats Are So Confident Of A Sequestration Victory
Thanks Pat & Renee, he is adorable, such a pleasure.
oldsea, i had to get rid of the image uploader we were using when you posted his pic, just wasn’t working well, so we lost your pic. when you get a chance try posting another with this new uploader, it works well but only takes jpeg (.jpg) file
you need a better education in what the federal government’s purpose is when the country hits the economic skids.
Eat a little pork that hasn’t been inspected.
you need a better education in what the federal government’s purpose is when the country hits the economic skids.
I just love contaminated baby food. Don’t you?
you need a better education in what the federal government’s purpose is when the country hits the economic skids.
Your a semi driver, you don’t need no stinking physical exam! Now Drive!
A few laughs in there. ‘Night.
I miss George, born in Liverpool 70 years ago.