As so often happens in America, a potential solution to a problem becomes so politicized any actual outcome is a far cry of a solution at all.
The latest of course has to do with new gun control proposals calling for a ban on assault weapons and 30 round ammo clips. Vice President Biden has been selected to head up a commission and is expected to send a proposal to the president tomorrow.
If the past is prologue, whatever gun control proposals Biden, the commission and the Congress finally submit to the president to sign are unlikely to be a solution.
Take for example the background check system which took effect in 1998 "that prohibited people from possessing guns if they were convicted of a felony, addicted to drugs, committed domestic violence or were involuntarily sent a mental institution." That sounds pretty substantial but the NRA "successfully" lobbied the Congress to include a provision in that law that requires an appeal process so the mentally ill could appeal and have their gun rights restored.
That provision says the states are required to set up the appeals process BEFORE getting federal grants to collect records. The result; apparently some "2 million mental health records aren't in the system according to the National Center for States Courts". [1] Why?
The cost for the appeals process is entirely born by the states and far outweighs the possible federal grant money they could receive and becomes prohibitive in light of other state funding priorities. So "nearly half the states have sent in only a handful of names to be included in the data base system, this from a July GAO report. [2]
So you get the picture. What "appears" as a workable remedy to stem gun violence and enacting a law with teeth, through loopholes in the law, lobbying by the NRA and states with strained budgets and other funding priorities, the background check law became a mere impediment to easily get around.
In America as always, "follow the money". The NRA has tons of it and many (most?) in Congress are beholden to it.
As for a new potential ban on assault weapons and 30 round ammo clips, the NRA, its millions of adherents along with their lackeys in Congress will likely ensure any new gun control measure enacted won't be a great impediment to the owners of some 300 million firearms in this country.
Considering the "brisk" sales of new assault weapons sold since the Connecticut massacre last month any new gun control measure may be like shutting the barn door after all the horses have left.
To the gun crowd its "lock and load" good buddy and be prepared. Or is that too over the top?
