When I last emailed you a few months ago, I told you about my dad, Reuven, who was killed this past September in a mass shooting in Minneapolis.Let's dispense with the "overwhelming majority of the American people", bullshit, shall we?
Since then, I've been fighting every single day to reduce gun violence, so no one else ever has to grieve like I did.
When the Senate defeated a bill that would expand background checks last week, I just couldn't believe it. Something that 90 percent of Americans support should be a slam dunk.
Right now, we might be witnessing the greatest disconnect between Congress and the American people in our history.
This is why Organizing for Action's job is so important. Together, we can make sure that no one in Washington ever gets away with ignoring the voices of the people who sent them there -- no matter how powerful the special interests.
Add your name -- say you're ready to keep on fighting.
I can't get over the fact that those 45 senators cast their votes against background checks while family members of the victims of Newtown, Tucson, and Virginia Tech watched from the Senate gallery.
Could those senators even look those families in the eye and explain themselves?
The truth I'm finding is that the gun lobby has got decades worth of money and organizing behind them, and they know how to stir their supporters into a frenzy.
But 90 percent of this country is on our side, not theirs. If we all step up, we will be heard. And we will win the next vote.
This past weekend, thousands of OFA supporters got together at 45 targeted events across the country to thank the senators who stood up for us, and to tell the senators who caved to the special interests that we're not about to give up this fight.
That's the kind of action I'm talking about. Join in -- let's make sure that Wednesday was the most powerful the gun lobby will ever be in Washington.
Add your name right now:
http://my.barackobama.com/Keep-Fighting
Thanks. Now back to work.
Sami
Sami Rahamim
Minneapolis, MN
Here is the truth: Yes, if you ask people "are background checks a good idea", without telling them the details, they say, "sure".
But, if you ask people "what national priorities are important to you", then guess what-- the answer is one that Bill Clinton famously would answer this way: "It's the economy, stupid!"
CBS News Poll. March 20-24, 2013. N=1,181 adults nationwide. Margin of error ± 3.Every similar poll that I have seen has pretty similar results. The politicians can read those polls, too. Even when a laundry list is presented and one of the choices is "gun policy", the number doesn't break 15%.
"What do you think is the most important problem facing this country today?" (Open-ended question)
Economy and jobs: 41%
Budget deficit/National debt: 9%
Health care: 5%
Partisan politics: 4%
Guns: 3%
Other: 35%
Unsure: 3%
The message the professional politicians take away from that, as buttressed by their office contact statistics, is this: The people who say they want more gun control really don't care that much about it. The people who say they don't want more gun control do care about it.
Care to guess which group is going to turn up on Election Day and vote their feelings in the matter? The answer is pretty clear to the pros.
One has to wonder why the Obama Administration is spending its political capital on this issue. In the first really big fight since he was re-elected, he has engaged in the political equivalent of Pickett's Charge. In `09, before the GOP recovered from their drubbing, he got the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act through. This time, he chose an issue that, if the Republicans can stay away from nominating clowns like Mourdock, Angle and Akin, might give them a shot at picking up some Senate seats next time around.
Relying on the stupidity of your opponent is not a good plan, in my view. But that seems to be what the Obama folks are doing.
2 comments:
Hey Sami,
News point for you . Check the stats you have been lied to. That 90% support is a meaninglss stat from a hand picked audience.
Another news point, criminals do bad things, they use weapons even guns to do that. By definition most of what you speak of is not gun control but criminal control. Yes, catch and release is a bad things.
If you keep trying to punish people that haven't done anything you will in all likelihood find that all that junk law will get you too.
We don't need one more crappy law that can't prevent and is known not to prevent anything.
Suggestion rather than doing something because you must to feel better, try doing something that will actually accomplish something say like starting a company and hiring people.
Eck!
I'm pro-private gun ownership. I bought my first handgun right before the 1968 Gun Control Act made it illegal. Comrade's lefty politics and pro-gun stand brought me to this site.
But.... Yes, when asked "what is the single most important issue," guns don't rank high. In fact, when one considers the state of our economy, foreign policy, health care, education, etc., it surprises me that guns make the lists at all. One poll that was on the link here even had it at 15%. Amazing. And scary. What are those people thinking?
However, if asked directly, "do you favor universal background checks," every post-Newtown poll I've seen shows "overwhelming" support (70-90%).
I have no problem with instant background checks for all firearm transfers. I'd like to see fewer armed criminals. Yes, we will never prevent all criminals from acquiring firearms. But, we can make it much more difficult, and eliminating ways to circumvent background checks will do that. Combine that with strictly enforcing existing laws against providing firearms to criminals, and we can severely cut their access. Then, basic supply and demand will cause the price of firearms in the illicit market to skyrocket. That will price your average thug right out of the market.
Then, we should end this inane "war on drugs," which is both the cause of and funding for much of the "gun violence." I think that, if we can cut the slaughter down, the antis won't be able to get the traction to impose onerously restrictive gun laws. And we know that too many people want to do just that.
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