Aug 06, 2012
The shooting rampage Sunday at the Wisconsin Sikh Temple outside Milwaukee has got to prompt serious soul-searching about our out-of-control gun policies in this country.
Although President Obama's timely words of condolence strike the right note, once again the President did not seriously address the main problem: that the floridly psychotic, violent racists, and anyone else who attends a gun show or chooses to order thousands of rounds of ammunition online, has easy access to weapons like the two semiautomatic handguns the temple gunman apparently used.
This is not a hunting issue. It is not an issue of self defense. It is a question, as the President himself put it after the horrible massacre in a Colorado movie theater, of whether automatic weapons belong in the hands of soldiers, or of anyone who cares to use them.
It is, as Mitt Romney put it when he signed an assault weapons ban as governor of Massachusetts, a question of whether we allow easy access to weapons that have no other purpose than to hunt and kill people.
Neither President Obama, Mitt Romney, nor the leaders of both political parties in Congress will take up legislative solutions: renewing the federal assault weapons ban, the Brady Bill, or, Senator Lautenberg's common sense proposal to ban the sale of magazines that fire off more than ten rounds at a single trigger squeeze.
That is because both parties are hostages of the NRA ( See 'Time to Stand Up To The Gun Nuts')
But the American people owe nothing to the NRA. People of good will and common sense have to come together to put an end to the insanity and protect our basic right to live in a country where innocent people are not routinely gunned down in movie theaters and places of worship.
Enough is enough.
The idea that nothing can be done, or that the answer is more guns in the hands of more would-be vigilantes, is an obvious lie.
We have to stand up to this evil. How many more of these tragedies can we allow?
Join Us: News for people demanding a better world
Common Dreams is powered by optimists who believe in the power of informed and engaged citizens to ignite and enact change to make the world a better place. We're hundreds of thousands strong, but every single supporter makes the difference. Your contribution supports this bold media model—free, independent, and dedicated to reporting the facts every day. Stand with us in the fight for economic equality, social justice, human rights, and a more sustainable future. As a people-powered nonprofit news outlet, we cover the issues the corporate media never will. Our Summer Campaign is falling short. The only way Common Dreams can survive is with the support of readers like you. Will you donate $27 to keep nonprofit journalism alive? |
© 2023 The Progressive
Ruth Conniff
Ruth Conniff is Editor-in-chief of the Wisconsin Examiner. She formerly served as Editor-in-chief of The Progressive Magazine, and opened the Progressive's office in Washington, DC, during the Clinton Administration, where she made her debut as a political pundit on CNN's Capital Gang Sunday and Fox News. Se moved to Oaxaca, Mexico, for a year in 2017, where she covered U.S./Mexico relations, the migrant caravan, and Mexico's efforts to grapple with Donald Trump.
The shooting rampage Sunday at the Wisconsin Sikh Temple outside Milwaukee has got to prompt serious soul-searching about our out-of-control gun policies in this country.
Although President Obama's timely words of condolence strike the right note, once again the President did not seriously address the main problem: that the floridly psychotic, violent racists, and anyone else who attends a gun show or chooses to order thousands of rounds of ammunition online, has easy access to weapons like the two semiautomatic handguns the temple gunman apparently used.
This is not a hunting issue. It is not an issue of self defense. It is a question, as the President himself put it after the horrible massacre in a Colorado movie theater, of whether automatic weapons belong in the hands of soldiers, or of anyone who cares to use them.
It is, as Mitt Romney put it when he signed an assault weapons ban as governor of Massachusetts, a question of whether we allow easy access to weapons that have no other purpose than to hunt and kill people.
Neither President Obama, Mitt Romney, nor the leaders of both political parties in Congress will take up legislative solutions: renewing the federal assault weapons ban, the Brady Bill, or, Senator Lautenberg's common sense proposal to ban the sale of magazines that fire off more than ten rounds at a single trigger squeeze.
That is because both parties are hostages of the NRA ( See 'Time to Stand Up To The Gun Nuts')
But the American people owe nothing to the NRA. People of good will and common sense have to come together to put an end to the insanity and protect our basic right to live in a country where innocent people are not routinely gunned down in movie theaters and places of worship.
Enough is enough.
The idea that nothing can be done, or that the answer is more guns in the hands of more would-be vigilantes, is an obvious lie.
We have to stand up to this evil. How many more of these tragedies can we allow?
Ruth Conniff
Ruth Conniff is Editor-in-chief of the Wisconsin Examiner. She formerly served as Editor-in-chief of The Progressive Magazine, and opened the Progressive's office in Washington, DC, during the Clinton Administration, where she made her debut as a political pundit on CNN's Capital Gang Sunday and Fox News. Se moved to Oaxaca, Mexico, for a year in 2017, where she covered U.S./Mexico relations, the migrant caravan, and Mexico's efforts to grapple with Donald Trump.
The shooting rampage Sunday at the Wisconsin Sikh Temple outside Milwaukee has got to prompt serious soul-searching about our out-of-control gun policies in this country.
Although President Obama's timely words of condolence strike the right note, once again the President did not seriously address the main problem: that the floridly psychotic, violent racists, and anyone else who attends a gun show or chooses to order thousands of rounds of ammunition online, has easy access to weapons like the two semiautomatic handguns the temple gunman apparently used.
This is not a hunting issue. It is not an issue of self defense. It is a question, as the President himself put it after the horrible massacre in a Colorado movie theater, of whether automatic weapons belong in the hands of soldiers, or of anyone who cares to use them.
It is, as Mitt Romney put it when he signed an assault weapons ban as governor of Massachusetts, a question of whether we allow easy access to weapons that have no other purpose than to hunt and kill people.
Neither President Obama, Mitt Romney, nor the leaders of both political parties in Congress will take up legislative solutions: renewing the federal assault weapons ban, the Brady Bill, or, Senator Lautenberg's common sense proposal to ban the sale of magazines that fire off more than ten rounds at a single trigger squeeze.
That is because both parties are hostages of the NRA ( See 'Time to Stand Up To The Gun Nuts')
But the American people owe nothing to the NRA. People of good will and common sense have to come together to put an end to the insanity and protect our basic right to live in a country where innocent people are not routinely gunned down in movie theaters and places of worship.
Enough is enough.
The idea that nothing can be done, or that the answer is more guns in the hands of more would-be vigilantes, is an obvious lie.
We have to stand up to this evil. How many more of these tragedies can we allow?
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.