Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Speaking Up For Stricter Gun Control is Helpful

"Silence Always Favors the Wrongdoer" - Gloria Allred

The subject of guns makes me want to speak up in support of stricter gun control laws in America. It takes a lady whose husband was killed by a gunmnan on a rampage and elected to public office -- Carolyn McCarthy, D-NY -- to have the strength and power to publicly support stricter gun control laws. This is my personal platform to support her and add my single, small voice to the good, quiet individuals with the nerve to publicly support gun control laws.

According to this article in today's New York Times, N.R.A. [National Rifle Association] lobbyists have succeeded in loosening gun control restrictions recently. With the so-called Disclose Act, four million gun-toting Americans (all N.R.A. members) are now legally secret and anonymous political and financial backers of the N.R.A. At least they're not the majority of Americans. But clearly, the greater good of society has lost some freedom in the elusive quest of progress toward greater civilization.

With retrogressive gun control laws, America becomes, in a sense more primitive, less civilized, less hospitable. Healthcare is an urgent need for gun shot victims. Republicans  who recently successfully destroyed gun control laws are also undermining healthcare reform. Insurance companies, too, are now banned from charging higher premiums for people with guns in their homes. Guns create a much more violent society, and one that many sane and rational people in other developed countries choose not to inhabit or even visit.

The perennially charming National Rifle Association has succeeded at winning over politicians, somehow, while my (and our) silence has not. Actually, this baffles and disappoints me, because I thought President Obama's government would help crush the overwhelming power of lobbyists in D.C. Obviously, lobbying by special interests hasn't gone away and is still enormously effective, whether or not at the will of the majority.

What is the good in promoting relaxed gun laws anyway? No, don't let me know, I don't care for the other side of this topic. To my set of values, unfortunately the bad side won - a shame for America at home and abroad, and just plain ugly for business and the future. Pity.

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