Day 257: The Second Amendment Calls for Strong Regulation — It’s Time to Listen

Congress — especially Republicans — must ignore the NRA, who threatens, bullies and profits after mass shootings.

After a mass shooting, there are the bleary red eyes of local officials having to make public statements, stories of heroism from first responders and citizens at the scene, grainy videos of terrified people in total chaos, and endless clips of police officers canvassing a horrific scene. Very quickly, there is also a call from many conservatives that it’s not the appropriate time to discuss reasonable gun safety laws.

So when is it okay, exactly, to have that conversation?

Most people know what you’re talking about if you list Las Vegas, Orlando, Sandy Hook, Aurora and San Bernadino. But there is also a mass shooting in the U.S. almost every day.

There have been more than 11,600 deaths linked to gun violence so far in 2017, which is roughly equivalent to nearly four 9/11 attacks in terms of the total number killed on September 11, 2001. Comparatively, more than 15,000 were killed by gun violence in 2016, and there were 383 mass shootings.

There have been dozens of shooting incidents in the last 48 hours alone.

If we’re not going to talk about reasonable gun laws in the wake of nearly 600 people being shot in Las Vegas — including 59 killed — in a span of 10 or 15 minutes, will we ever? If it’s never okay to discuss gun safety laws after a mass shooting, and there is nearly a mass shooting every single day, will it ever get discussed?

Donald Trump takes to Twitter immediately when a terrorist in a vehicle hops a curb and plows into pedestrians, or opens fire on a group of people. He calls for travel bans or extreme vetting or a border wall. But when it comes to the execution of dozens of innocent Americans — where a terrorist was able to fire thousands of bullets from a cache of two dozen powerful weapons — we can’t talk about that? We can’t try to prevent future loss of life? We can’t make sure people didn’t die in vain?

That is absurd.

Interestingly, though he’s flip-flopped many times, Trump appears fairly moderate on gun laws, once calling out GOPers who blindly kowtow to the NRA. If he wanted to get something done on the gun safety front, he probably could, especially since Americans overwhelmingly prefer reasonable gun laws. Individuals on the No Fly List can still readily purchase powerful guns. There are trade show loopholes, where sellers can bypass otherwise-required background checks. Wait times to purchase are embarrassingly low or non-existent in many areas.

But why are more sensible laws not on the books?

Well, for one, the NRA cashes in when tragedy strikes.

As the rest of America mourns yet another murderous gun spree on campus, a review of financial filings shows just how far the mammoth gun organization has been able to cash in, big time, on the fallout that followed Sandy Hook in December 2012.

Membership dues jumped as supporters rallied to the cause. So did profits. And executive pay ran into the millions. Not bad for a charity that is exempt from taxes.

So, in turn, the NRA donates millions of dollars to members of Congress’ campaigns, holding to their head the threat of slander and financial backing of their opponent if they do anything that might otherwise restrict gun rights.

This isn’t about taking away everyone’s guns, either. There are limitations on the First Amendment, for instance: you can’t yell “Fire!” in a crowded theater or incite riots. Courts routinely grapple with the term “unreasonable searches and seizures” in the Fourth Amendment.

The Second Amendment begins: “A well regulated…”

Well regulated.

Just because it’s yet another time to talk about gun reform, that doesn’t mean anyone should hold their breath that Congress actually will. Feckless Republicans killed a bill that would have expanded background checks for prospective gun buyers after the Sandy Hook tragedy. Since then, virtually nothing has happened on the gun-safety legislation front.

Terrorists come in all shapes and sizes. It doesn’t particularly matter what is learned about the Las Vegas coward: whether he’s a Democrat or Republican, whether he used to be a social worker or businessman, whether he had money or relationship problems. All of that is irrelevant to this conversation.

The common denominator in all gun violence is the guns. It’s time to have a real conversation about how we can prevent more of these tragedies moving forward.

257 days in, 1205 to go

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