The odious spectacle of the slobbering hog El Rushbo, imitating innocent kids crying (Limbaugh sputtered in a mocking voice: “They don’t want to die.” Then he simulated crying ) and because they implored Obama to take action in this gun-crazed land was too much. Well, almost enough to make me think my German and Swiss friends are correct in us being a psychopathic nation. But what the hell are these gun whacko fools blubbering about? Why was a Texan nut Reepo Rep named Steve Stockman proposing the impeachment of Obama for any Executive order? Why was a university professor actually spreading conspiracy theories that none of the Sandy Hook kids were really killed, it was all a "false flag" operation by Obama and the feds to seize guns? Has this country gone totally fucking nuts? Well, maybe it has because we've allowed the gun crazies to have teir way for too long, thanks also to the cowadice of the Democrats- who opted to try to win more elections as the cost of letting more died in homicides from firearms.
Now, let's clear our heads and look at the historical backstory. Those of us who lived through the 1960s, also lived through more U.S. high profile political assassinations than at any other time: JFK, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Robert Kennedy. By the time Martin Luther King and RFK were slain in 1968, an enormous outrage spurred passage of the "Gun Control Act" which basically stipulated that executive orders could be used to halt the spread of any weapons deemed unecessary and unsafe. This legislation is what prompted Goerge H.W. Bush in 1989 to issue an Exec Order banning importation of a whole list of automatic and other weapons.
Now what do we have with Obama? Basically a very tepid set of 23 Executive Orders which are tame by comparison, including:
1. Issue a Presidential Memorandum to require federal agencies to make relevant data available to the federal background check system.
2. Address unnecessary legal barriers, particularly relating to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, that may prevent states from making information available to the background check system.
3. Improve incentives for states to share information with the background check system.
4. Direct the Attorney General to review categories of individuals prohibited from having a gun to make sure dangerous people are not slipping through the cracks.
5. Propose rulemaking to give law enforcement the ability to run a full background check on an individual before returning a seized gun.
6. Publish a letter from ATF to federally licensed gun dealers providing guidance on how to run background checks for private sellers.
7. Launch a national safe and responsible gun ownership campaign.
8. Review safety standards for gun locks and gun safes (Consumer Product Safety Commission).
9. Issue a Presidential Memorandum to require federal law enforcement to trace guns recovered in criminal investigations.
10. Release a DOJ report analyzing information on lost and stolen guns and make it widely available to law enforcement.
11. Nominate an ATF director.
12. Provide law enforcement, first responders, and school officials with proper training for active shooter situations.
13. Maximize enforcement efforts to prevent gun violence and prosecute gun crime.
14. Issue a Presidential Memorandum directing the Centers for Disease Control to research the causes and prevention of gun violence.
15. Direct the Attorney General to issue a report on the availability and most effective use of new gun safety technologies and challenge the private sector to develop innovative technologies.
16. Clarify that the Affordable Care Act does not prohibit doctors asking their patients about guns in their homes.
17. Release a letter to health care providers clarifying that no federal law prohibits them from reporting threats of violence to law enforcement authorities.
18. Provide incentives for schools to hire school resource officers.
19. Develop model emergency response plans for schools, houses of worship and institutions of higher education.
20. Release a letter to state health officials clarifying the scope of mental health services that Medicaid plans must cover.
21. Finalize regulations clarifying essential health benefits and parity requirements within ACA exchanges.
22. Commit to finalizing mental health parity regulations.
23. Launch a national dialogue led by Secretaries Sebelius and Duncan on mental health.
I mean, look at the list! Provide incentives for schools, issue a Presidential Memorandum, release a DOJ report, publish a letter from ATF, Review safety standards ...? How Milquetoast can you get? And Limbaugh, Stockman and every Minuteman between here and Miramar FL are wetting their panties? Only a psycho or confirmed sociopath would have any problem with those 23 vanilla-passive Exec orders. Not that they might not effect something constructive in time....but certainly not as much as a ban (such as I proposed) on all multiple clip magazines. Or a ban on high power rifle imports such as under Poppy Bush.
The gun whackos and NRA nuts all ought to be ashamed of themselves for making so much ado about this. If they had any real principles, they'd be cooperating to at least show they care about the deaths of those 22 kids at Newtown, as opposed to mocking them!
Makes you almost feel diseased to call yourself American.
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