Answers of the Day: Politicizing Tragedy

 

This morning, we posed a question about the news, now we’re posting the best comments. Join the conversation!

The Question of the Day: Will Sunday’s shooting result in any new gun control legislation? From the comments, here are the answers:


Susan Quinn:

I don’t think there will be new legislation, for a couple of reasons. First, people think that a gun will protect them from crazy people like the one in Las Vegas. I wouldn’t be surprised to see gun sales pick up again, and Conservatives aren’t the only ones buying them. Of course, carrying a gun in this most recent situation would not have helped.

Second, there will be much hand-wringing and ranting about the need for gun laws. But at some level, people (I think) are just beginning to understand that all the gun laws in the world will not protect them from this kind of situation. Over and over again we realize that the shooters would not have been stopped by any of the current legislation, and they won’t be held in check by any proposed laws either.

So we can watch people rant and rave, get it out of their systems, and let them feel righteous. The gun legislation, if proposed, will fail.

Mendel:

No idea whether this will actually result in any meaningful legislation.

But if the left can manage to rein in its emotions enough to play this one strategically, it will go after bump stocks.

The best thing the left can do is make gun rights supporters defend the seemingly absolutely indefensible, so that the left can say “see, these guys really are madmen.” Commercial devices which allow legal firearms to fire at automatic weapons rates fit that bill pretty well – little plausible need for them in self-defense or hunting, they are now implicated in the largest mass killing in US history, and automatic weapons are already illegal (a prohibition with which many gun advocates agree).

However, there is always a segment on the right that opposes any and all new restrictions on firearms on principle alone. And the left will have a field day holding those people up as exemplary of the entire population of gun owners.

Eugene Kriegsmann:

My suspicion is that the Left is in a rush to create as much of a smoke storm as they can before the real facts in the case are known. This looks more and more to me like the shooting at the Congreassional ball game. The furor of the Left over the loss of the election and the election of Trump has made them go from the sublime to the ridiculous. The fact that country music is often associated with right-wing politics leads me to speculate that the shooter, enraged by the anti-Trump rhetoric, chose to attack a large group of what he perceived as Trump supporters.

My belief is that once the facts are known, the Left and the media will be seen as the cause of this latest outrage, and even though they are unlikely to accept blame, their cries for more gun control will slowly die away as they have in the past until there is another incident. Then, history forgotten, they will once again drag out their banners and outrage and try again.

DocJay:

No. I’ll be astounded if any legislation is passed by the House and Senate about anything at all. Regarding firearms this is a good thing.

James Golden:

No. Every time there is a mass-shooting, cries for more gun legislation begin again. But none are ever enacted. At the federal level, there is no chance of any legislation any time soon given the Republican control of Congress. As for the state level, Republicans dominate most states, and even many Democrats silently favor gun ownership. So, I don’t foresee any significant new legislation being enacted as a result of this tragedy.

Published in Guns
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There are 6 comments.

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  1. JcTPatriot Member
    JcTPatriot
    @

    I was working and missed the QOTD, but my answer would have been, “No. No matter how much the Left salivates at disarming America à la Cuba, Russia, China, and so on, they just can’t get around that pesky Constitution, forever foiling their plans. Perhaps if Hillary had won and had appointed another Sotomayor or Kagan, they might have been able to get away with it, but with this Supreme Court, the 2nd Amendment will remain defended.”

    • #1
  2. Valiuth Member
    Valiuth
    @Valiuth

    Depends how much Trump wants to triangulate to stick it to those nerds McConnell and Ryan.

    • #2
  3. Fake John/Jane Galt Coolidge
    Fake John/Jane Galt
    @FakeJohnJaneGalt

    There were a couple of gun related bills that were working their way through Congress.  Those are now dead.

    • #3
  4. Johnny Dubya Inactive
    Johnny Dubya
    @JohnnyDubya

    There will be a ban on bump stocks.  Practically speaking, it will be impossible to eliminate them because they are fairly simple and are likely to be easily manufactured through 3-D printing.  That doesn’t mean that a ban shouldn’t be effected.  I would be in favor of it.  Bump stocks serve no real purpose other than allowing their owners to waste a lot of ammo while getting “the thrill of a full-auto experience.”

    • #4
  5. Valiuth Member
    Valiuth
    @Valiuth

    Johnny Dubya (View Comment):
    There will be a ban on bump stocks. Practically speaking, it will be impossible to eliminate them because they are fairly simple and are likely to be easily manufactured through 3-D printing. That doesn’t mean that a ban shouldn’t be effected. I would be in favor of it. Bump stocks serve no real purpose other than allowing their owners to waste a lot of ammo while getting “the thrill of a full-auto experience.”

    Actually I think this isn’t likely to happen because Dems will not go for just Bump Stocks they will demand something bigger because many will be positioning themselves for 2020. The Republicans will then kill it because they will be positioning themselves for 2018. Trump is the only real wild card if he gets behind some sort of compromise reform? But maybe there will be enough Republican and Democrat hardliners that it dies anyway. In fact if I were a devious Democrat I would kind of want to set up a deal with Trump just to help split the Republicans some more. If you can engineer another political failure for Trump and the Republican establishment that would go along with this deal the better.  Also it distract from Tax reform. Distract long enough and maybe you keep it from happening.

    • #5
  6. SecondBite Member
    SecondBite
    @SecondBite

    Out here on the Left Coast, of course.

    • #6
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