Mass shootings across the U.S. leave dozens killed or wounded this weekend
Led by Representative Jay Dickey of Arkansas, they added a provision to a 1996 spending bill declaring that “[n]one of the funds made available in this title may be used, in whole or in part, to advocate or promote gun control.” 2 Congress also stipulated that $2.6 million of the CDC’s budget, which was the amount spent on firearm injury research during the previous year, would be specifically earmarked for research on traumatic brain injuries.
On March 21, 2018, Congressional negotiators reached a deal on an Omnibus continuing resolution. The $1.3 trillion spending agreement also includes language that codified Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar's interpretation of the Dickey Rider in testimony on February 18, 2018, before the US House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee. While the amendment itself remains, the language in a report accompanying the Omnibus spending bill clarifies that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention can indeed conduct research into gun violence, but cannot use government appropriated funds to specifically advocate for gun control. The bill included no funding earmarked for gun safety and was signed into law by U.S. President Donald J. Trump on March 23, 2018.
The fiscal year 2020 federal budget included $25 million for the CDC and NIH to research reducing gun-related deaths and injuries, the first such funding since 1996.
Gun legislation is a "measurable" event...which means the score given to the congressclown on his gun votes will determine how much funding he gets from the NRA. Thus is the partnership between your congressclowns and the NRA. This begs the question, which has been asked many, many times: who is running this country?
According to last week's CBS poll on guns, most Americans want gun legislation in place. This includes a majority of Americans who believe semi-automatic guns like the AR-15 should be banned.
If the majority of Americans want that to be the law of the land, what in heaven's name is preventing the GOP from enacting sane legislation?
Money. Cash. NRA support. More cash. This isn't about what We, the People, want or need. This is about greed and power. Hmmm. No news there.
If you are tired of reading about kids shot up in their classrooms or people gunned down in crowds, maybe it's time to let your personal congressclown know that YOU are the one who pays his/her salary, not the NRA, and that you will use your voice to make sure We, the People are not gonna tolerate their slavish devotion to an organization that tacitly promotes the murder of children, their teachers, and innocent bystanders while the cops just stand there.
Not that it will make much of a difference to them, but seeing us unite as a front just might make a difference to the millions of voters who are coming voter eligible. Let THEM know we may be old, but we're not dead yet, and we will stand shoulder to shoulder with them to protect their children, our grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.
Nope. we certainly are not dead yet.
Yes, I play Wordle and Spelling Bee daily.
I think thr GOP 1) takes too much money from the NRA, 2) need the crazier, more ignorant gun-owners to win and 3) fear that group of gun-owners because they have guns and aren’t afraid to use them (see Jan 6 2021.)
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ReplyDeleteI fear that nothing will change, despite all the checks, registrations, red flags etc, that are introduced, Consider this: There are currently 400 million firearms in the US, and about 1% of the population are sociopaths. You only have do the math to see that it will happen again..and again. When a gunman killed 16 children in Dunblane, Scotland in 1996, the UK government immediately banned the private ownership of handguns. Now of course the UK does not have a 2nd amendment or a strong gun lobby and it will never happen here. However, since 1996 there have been zero mass school shootings in the UK, so draw your own conclusions. I am not making a judgment either way on the 2nd amendment since it was introduced for sound reasons, however until we have a reduction in the availability of lethal weapons then expect the status quo to remain.
Ed,
I have called all number of people regarding political situations - NFL, Ron Lauder, tons of senators, governors...on and on. I have never spoken to anyone who was as off the wall as the NRA. They threatened to call the local authorities, and believe me I said nothing than spoke about background checks, ammo, no need for a tommy gun at home. I told them to go ahead and notify the local authorities, that I worked there for four years. But they were all like maniacs, not a sane conversation either time.
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