Bfgrn
New member
Republicans need a message about guns other than the NRA’s “we need more good guys with guns” idea, which, by my estimation, would cost about $5 billion and impose a federal mandate for armed guards at schools rather than allow for local control, neither of which strike me as conservative approaches or solutions.
The Newtown massacre created a tipping point on the gun debate in America. The Obama administration and Democrats are moving quickly to reframe the issue and move new policy. As a citizen, I think it is appropriate and overdue. As a political observer, I think it’s smart politics. As a Republican, I think it’s yet another instance where the party, by refusing to recognize reality, is going to end up looking like the “stupid party” that fails to adapt and evolve to changing circumstances in our society.
And yes, we need to look all the contributing factors to violence in our society, including mental health interventions and violent media. But recently 11,000 Americans lost their lives in gun-related deaths in a year. During the same period in Japan, 11 died. And last time I looked, they play videogames too.
Unless the GOP comes out with a proactive plan that has some appearance of responding to recent events, then it continues to play defense and digs deeper the hole it has been digging for itself in recent years. On issues where the physics are moving irrevocably forward, like immigration, gay rights, and guns, the Republican Party continues to look backward. And backward is a sure path toward irrelevance.
more
The Newtown massacre created a tipping point on the gun debate in America. The Obama administration and Democrats are moving quickly to reframe the issue and move new policy. As a citizen, I think it is appropriate and overdue. As a political observer, I think it’s smart politics. As a Republican, I think it’s yet another instance where the party, by refusing to recognize reality, is going to end up looking like the “stupid party” that fails to adapt and evolve to changing circumstances in our society.
And yes, we need to look all the contributing factors to violence in our society, including mental health interventions and violent media. But recently 11,000 Americans lost their lives in gun-related deaths in a year. During the same period in Japan, 11 died. And last time I looked, they play videogames too.
Unless the GOP comes out with a proactive plan that has some appearance of responding to recent events, then it continues to play defense and digs deeper the hole it has been digging for itself in recent years. On issues where the physics are moving irrevocably forward, like immigration, gay rights, and guns, the Republican Party continues to look backward. And backward is a sure path toward irrelevance.
more
