Sometimes one can just sit here undecided as to where to start the weekly column because of the unbelievably dire things that happened this week, namely the mass shooting in Parkland, FL at Majory Stoneman Douglas High School and the Special Counsel's filed indictment of a Russian company in St. Petersburg, the Internet Research Agency. Not to mention the God-awful responses by the president on both.
But gnawing fact: 14 year olds.
How many times can it be said in this column, we as a society have failed to act responsibly with our Constitutional rights so laws need to be enacted to protect Americans from gun violence.
Here's the Second Amendment verbatim from the U.S. Constitution:
(Never mind the fact that it's called an Amendment, meaning it can be changed; couldn't agree more with NBC's Carol Lee's opinion of conservative columnist for The New York Times Brett Stephens' call for a repeal of the Second Amendment, and that it was an academic exercise.)
Amendment II
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the
security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms,
shall not be infringed.
If you fight for the Second Amendment, you have to fight for all parts of it, and "well regulated" we are not.
Extrapolating that out, the president and congress are derelict in their oath to protect the American people. As NBC's Carol Lee pointed out, in the wake of this latest mass shooting, the political response has been standard from all sides, with the noted exception of the student victims who are speaking up and shaming politicians on social media. And it is important to note that at the very end of the Mr. Todd's interview with Broward Country Superintendent Robert Muncie, Mr. Muncie said that he was going to support giving a platform to students to speak out on this issue. These students can make a difference if they're empowered by the adult community, and in Florida that certainly seems to be the case. So Rick Scott and Marco Rubio are definitely on notice. In all these mass shootings, the particular circumstances are all a bit different, but the underlying fact remains the gun. Republican politicians and the president, as evidenced by his 7-minute speech, not only do not account for guns in the equation but don't even acknowledge their existence.
As Emma Gonzalez succinctly and appropriately put it: We call B.S.
In Florida, you can buy an AR-15 at eighteen years of age, but you have to wait until you're 21 to buy a handgun. Despite Senator James Langford (R-OK) quoting statistics that outline how more murders are committed with handguns in an attempt to make sense of this law, it simply doesn't measure up. And let not forget that neither does Florida's Stand Your Ground law. It's commendable that Mr. Langford is working on fix the background check, but it's not enough. Mr. Langford was also very clear that there shouldn't be any changes in the ease to purchase firearms, including the AR-15 because according to him they are used for hunting. For the record, any self-respecting hunter doesn't use an AR-15, period. The Oklahoma senator also calmly pass the buck at one point saying that only the courts can change gun laws, which is not the case. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) for his part, clarified that he is against such weapons being for public purchase.
CNBC's Rick Santelli said that gun laws need to be made on a local level, but the suggestion is short-sighted because it doesn't account for buying guns in one state and bringing them to another. He also suggested a point system as the background check where everything you've done is taken into account. Again short-sighted in conservative doctrine as it creates a national database registry system.
For those who say it's not the appropriate time to talk about policy, you would have to wonder whether they're waiting for these tragedies to occur with enough frequency that there is no appropriate time and space to speak about them. It's ridiculous.
As for the NRA... Here's where wish list gets tied to reality.
The other big story of course is the Special Counsel's indictment of 13 Russians. You can read the entire 37 pages right here:
SPECIAL COUNSEL'S OFFICE INDICTMENT, FOR THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
U.S. vs. INTERNET RESEARCH AGENCY, LLC
One of the indicted individuals is a Russian oligarch named Yevgeny Prigozhin, known as Putin's chef, who provided significant funding to the Internet Research Agency, all but implicating the Kremlin in the decision to undertake such an operation as outlined in the indictment.
As Chuck Todd outlined at the very top of the program, the week started out with the heads of all the U.S. intelligence agencies testifying to Congress that Russia committed a cyber attack against the United States, something Russian operatives termed 'warfare,' and it ended with the Mueller indictment confirming it. Yet, the president can only view this attack through a lens solely focused on himself, ignoring the larger implications of what this means for the country. Sadly, we've come to expect as much from Mr. Trump.
But damned if he does and damned if he doesn't comment on Russia, according to Mr. Santelli, who by the time we got to this point in the program should have just kept his mouth shut, spouting shallow opinions. The president shouldn't comment on an attack against the United States? OK, Rick...
As NBC's Hallie Jackson explained, the White House undercut the statement from National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster and really has no coherent response to what to do about the actions of these Russian individuals. And no mention of punishment or prevention. This is something that everyone sees, with the lone exception of the president, or not... Cornell Belcher took us to that logical place, asking where are Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell to take the lead? If these two can not do anything on gun regulation, they have to at least do something on this. If not, then what the point of them? They'd both prove themselves utterly useless by doing nothing on both.
As Ms. Lee explained, this indictment is very narrow, does not implicate or exonerate the president, and is only the beginning. If you've read the indictment and followed the investigation, you know that we haven't even gotten to the financial part of the investigation, which we're sure is coming from Mr. Mueller.
This financial part could include Russian money funneled through the NRA then contributed to the Trump campaign. (It's been out there in the press, from Axios: https://www.axios.com/report-fbi-investigating-whether-1516308991-1efd1e3d-3774-4e6b-abf2-39dff9d6f1d0.html). Name checking a Warren Zevon song, it's all about lawyers, guns and money, but if this is proven to be true there won't be enough of any of them for the NRA to salvage them.
Panel: Hallie Jackson, NBC; Carol Lee, NBC; Rick Santelli, CNBC; Cornell Belcher, Democratic Pollster
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