Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Colorado, home of the deadly Aurora theater shooting, passes a number of strict gun control bills. Update!

Courtesy of MSN News:  

Lawmakers in Colorado, where a gunman burst into a theater last year for a deadly shooting, narrowly passed a handful of gun control bills, signaling a political shift under pressure from the White House. 

"Enough is enough. I'm sick and tired of bloodshed," said Democratic Rep. Rhonda Fields, who sponsored a state bill limiting the size of ammunition magazines. Fields, whose son was fatally shot in 2005, represents the district where the theater gunman opened fire. 

Vice President Joe Biden called some lawmakers personally before the vote. Democratic Rep. Dominick Moreno said the vice president "emphasized the importance of Colorado's role in shaping national policy around this issue." 

While the issue of gun control faces a difficult time in the U.S. Congress amid opposition from most Republicans and even some of President Barack Obama's fellow Democrats, some states are moving ahead with their own measures. New York state earlier this year passed some of the strictest gun control measures in the country. 

The Colorado gun control measures go next to the state Senate, where they'll need even more support against opposition from many Republicans. 

The state's Democratic-controlled House approved bills on ammunition restrictions; background checks on all gun purchases, including those between private sellers and firearms bought online; a ban on concealed firearms at colleges and stadiums; and a requirement that gun purchasers pay for their own background checks. The ammunition restrictions measure would limit magazines to 15 rounds for firearms, and eight for shotguns.

 As one can imagine the Republicans did their best to stop or slow the progress of these measures.

Republicans argued that the proposals restrict the right to bear firearms guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the Constitution, and that they won't prevent mass shootings like the ones in Colorado and December's attack at a Connecticut school. 

"This bill will never keep evil people from doing evil things," said Republican Rep. Jerry Sonnenberg. 

Republicans also said students should have the right to defend themselves. 

It makes sense that the first of the new strict gun control laws, except for New York of course, would come from the states that suffered the most tragic circumstances due to the lack of them.

Personally I feel that this is just the beginning, and that there are going to be many more states instituting their own restrictions in advance of the ones that the federal government is likely to hand down in the very near future.

Of course for every state that sees the writing on the wall and realizes what they must do, there is another that reacts in panic to the idea of new gun restrictions. Like my own state of Alaska for example:

A bill in the Alaska House that would criminalize federal gun regulation is on track to be scheduled for a vote. 

HB69, by House Speaker Mike Chenault, was moved from the House Judiciary Committee on Monday. 

The bill would make it a felony offense for federal officers to attempt to enforce any new federal laws that attempt to limit gun ownership in Alaska. 

The bill has garnered broad support among House Republicans and become a symbol in the fight against federal overreach. But a legislative attorney has said he believes much of the bill is unconstitutional. 

Just like a Republican from Alaska to decide to fight what he sees as an attack on the 2nd Amendment with his own unconstitutional bill. What was he suggesting? That our State Troopers arrest federal agents for enforcing federal laws?

And here I thought only those in the South were interested in fomenting a new civil war.

What this dipshit fails to recognize is that the mood in the country has shifted, and if a place like Colorado can implement new laws like this then so can many other states previously believed to be gun friendly.  One can only hope that it will not take too many more senseless deaths to convince the rest of the nation, that allowing everybody to own a gun with few restrictions is not the way to keep people safe.

Even in Alaska.

Update: It looks like Missouri refuses to let Alaska out crazy them.

Courtesy of the Business Insider:  

A state representative has proposed a bill that would make it a class D felony for any member of the General Assembly to propose legislation "that further restricts an individual's right to bear arms." 

The bill was sponsored by Republican Rep. Mike Leara. 

So they want to arrest lawmakers for making laws? Wow! Now that is a level of wing-nuttery that may set a new precedent for lunacy.

8 comments:

  1. Anonymous12:35 PM

    Totally and obscenely off-topic: the pictures today of the Duchess of Cambridge at 4 and a half months( with a first pregnancy) make her appear to be as big as Sarah at the end of her eighth pregnancy. Photo proof that the Trig pregnancy was a flim-flam. The Duchess has "tight abs," but is not afraid to show the natural development of her baby.

    ReplyDelete
  2. blind dog smith12:40 PM

    If the Legislature still opens the day with the Pledge of Allegiance, I suggest a minor edit:

    I pledge allegiance to the flag
    of the United States of America,
    and to the republic for which it stands,
    except for those laws with which we do not agree,
    one nation, with liberty and justice for those we deem worthy.

    Otherwise, these guys are lying every time they open a session--of course, some of us have felt that way since this session started....

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous1:05 PM

    Former Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin has joined Harvard University as a visiting scholar.

    According to an official press release, the conservative pundit and reality television star will teach four courses over three years at Harvard's prestigious Kennedy School of Government in Cambridge, Mass., beginning in fall 2013.

    The transition to academia comes just weeks after Palin was unceremoniously released form her contract at Fox News, which had served as her primary source of income since 2009.

    The former Alaskan governor will focus her classes on topics close to her heart, including the war on terror, welfare reform, U.S. evangelicals, and oil and gas development.

    She will also join Harvard's Consortium for Energy Policy Research, and is expected to contribute several peer-reviewed research papers concerning the economic efficiency of Alaska's oil-funded sovereign wealth fund.

    Intellectual Elan

    Some have reacted with surprise to Palin's move to academic life, given her public reputation as an anti-intellectual. However, David T. Ellwood, the dean of Harvard's Kennedy School, says there is nothing unusual about the appointment.

    "World-class universities routinely hire former high-level public officials to teach courses on a visiting basis," Ellwood says. "We already have former counter-terrorism czar Richard Clarke on staff. Spain's ex-prime minister taught at Georgetown. And Tony Blair teaches at Yale.

    "As a former governor and a major-party nominee for vice president, Mrs. Palin is certainly a high-level figure. And the Kennedy School will benefit greatly from her knowledge and experience."

    Palin has reportedly already been spotted house hunting in the Beacon Hill neighborhood of Boston. Local real estate agent Phillip Dunphy says she toured a $3 million townhouse on Chestnut Street just last week.

    "We showed Mrs. Palin a great place," Dunphy says, "but it didn't have a big enough mantle for a moose head, so she declined to make an offer."

    Matanuska Maid

    According to the press release Palin's course topics seem quite advanced, with a heavy emphasis on the practical application of political philosophy.

    The list of her courses includes
    •John Locke and the State of Exception: Extrajudicial Executive Action In the Age of Terror
    •The Evolutionary Psychology of The Welfare State
    •Pascal, Chateaubriand and The Modern U.S. Evangelical Movement
    •The Geopolitics of Arctic Hydrocarbon Resource Development

    Despite the impressive curricula, some Harvard students are skeptical about their new professor's ability to deliver the intellectually challenging experience they've come to expect.

    "Sarah Palin?," exclaims a shocked Dalia Richmond, a second-year masters student in public policy. "The same woman who said her foreign policy experience is seeing Russia from her house? What's she qualified to teach? How to tie a shoe?"

    Palin's new role as a professor will finally put to rest the rumors, first reported in the Washington Post, that she would be joining Al-Jazeera as a on-air commentator.

    A spokesperson for Palin said that the governor was "thrilled" to be working at Harvard, and hoped to bring a little "Wasilla main street" to the Ivy Towers of America's most venerated university.

    http://dailycurrant.com/2013/02/18/sarah-palin-teach-class-harvard/

    ReplyDelete
  4. jcinco1:34 PM

    I'm so proud of Governor Hickenlooper, Senator Udall, Senator Bennett and all the congressional state members who stood strong. And a special fuck you to my congressman, doug lamborn, as I know the sniveling little t-bagger voted against it. little dick weed that he is. You'll note the little pussy attended the sotu this year as even the right wing, bird cage liner rag of a newspaper in colorado springs admonished him for his non attendance grand standing last year.

    ReplyDelete
  5. jcinco1:38 PM

    Just to clarify, I do understand these bills were passed on a state level. But they were supported by the governor and both of our senators...jerk off, lamborn,was, of course, against them...

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous1:41 PM

    That's right, me at Harvard. How do you like them apples, liberal elites?

    https://twitter.com/SaraPalinUSA/status/303963747163176961

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous3:15 PM

    Rep. Joe Heck (R-Nev.) on Tuesday was forced to clarify earlier comments in which he appeared to agree that former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) had been used during President Barack Obama's State of the Union speech as a "prop" for gun control advocates.

    -------------------------------------
    Radio talker says Giffords being used as a "prop," and Rep. Joe Heck agrees

    http://www.ralstonreports.com/blog/radio-talker-says-giffords-being-used-prop-and-rep-joe-heck-agrees#.USQHPlo6VH2

    During an interview between the congressman and Alan Stock of KDWN, the conservative radio host called it "nauseating" that Obama had specifically invoked Giffords -- who is still recovering from a devastating gunshot wound to the head suffered during a mass shooting in 2011 -- as a reason to bring gun control legislation to a vote in Congress.

    The audio file is attached, transcript below:

    Stock: "At the end of the president's State of the Union when he said have a vote for Gabby Giffords... have a vote for this and that. I found that to be nauseating and you know what else is nauseating too... putting Gabby Giffords up there...who can't even clap her hands... as a figure.. of somebody being.. having shot her. iI think it's a shameful act putting her up there as a prop... I'm sorry. I really do."

    Heck: "Yeah, no I agree. I think again in the cloud of emotion surrounding Connecticut those who are anti-gun want to use that to limit their Second Amendment rights."

    -------------------------------
    She "can't even clap her hands," Stock said. "I think that is just a shameful act by putting her up there as a prop. I'm sorry, I really did."

    Heck seconded Stock's claim.

    Heck later attempted to walk back the claim in a statement to Nevada reporter Jon Ralston.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/19/joe-heck-gabrielle-giffords_n_2720291.html

    How degrading and insulting to speak about Gabby like she's a vegetable or something. She has more courage than these two assholes do any day of the week. NAUSEATING to bring attention to a friggin' fellow Congresswoman's experience that is directly related to legislation pending? Who ARE these people???

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. jcinco3:30 PM

      I hope Gabby and hubby respond...

      Delete

Don't feed the trolls!
It just goes directly to their thighs.