Gun control - Gun rights debate redux

President Obama is eager to use the latest D.C. shooting to advance his political agenda on gun control.  He's not the only liberal to hop on this tragedy for political purposes, but he certainly will be the most visible.  And it will be the most visible when he fails.

Via CBS DC:

In the wake of the shooting at the Navy Yard, Obama spokesman Jay Carney said the president is implementing executive actions and reiterated his commitment to strengthening gun laws, including expanding background checks to sales online and at gun shows.

“The president supports, as do an overwhelming majority of Americans, common-sense measures to reduce gun violence,” Carney said.

Of course everybody supports common-sense measures to reduce gun violence.  The problem Mr. Carney is that not everybody defines common sense the same way you or the president do.  And the president had better tread carefully on this one - the gun debate was a loser for him not long ago and despite the deep sorrow of the tragedy, the return to common sense over gun control versus gun rights won't take long.  The debate is not a winnable one for the president.  Common sense is not the issue, the issue is the uncommonness of these types of crimes and the root cause.  What gun control and 'executive actions' will do is convey to everyone except the gun control zealots that the president believes himself to be above the constraints of power placed upon his office.  He is not. It won't help him. 

 

Besides the debate being a political loser for the president, it won't help the problem.  No amount of gun control will stop mass killings. It just won't. Evil is evil, and mental illness is mental illness. Gun control doesn't do a thing to change either one.  The stress of society is pretty bad for a lot of people.  While it may not have mattered in this instance, better economic times would certainly relieve stress at an individual level and may correlate to lower instances of violent crime.  How about you stay pivoted to jobs Mr. President?  At least there your heavy handed efforts will have minimal impact on society.

D.C. Mayor - Politics at its Worst

In light of the D.C. shootings yesterday, trust a liberal to get out in front of this with a political agenda, that is as incorrect as it is revolting in this time of loss.  Nevertheless, D.C. mayor Vincent Gray blames the shootings on, believe it or not, the sequester.

Via The Washington Times;

D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray said he wondered if budget cuts had something to do with a gunman getting onto the Washington Navy Yard on Monday, killing 12 before being killed himself.

“As I look at, for example, sequestration, which is about saving money in the federal government being spent, have we somehow skimped on what would be available for projects like this and then we put people at risk,” Mr. Gray said on CNN’s “New Day” on Tuesday morning.

The shooting of Congresswoman Gabby Giffords immediately had liberals running to Tea Party blame, which turned out to be incorrect as well as targeting Sarah Palin because she wanted conservatives to 'target' districts for Republican wins.  Again, grossly inaccurate and politically motivated.  Oh, and morally wrong in addition to factually wrong.

 

Liberals it seems, can't let a tragedy go to waste.  Most conservatives won't blame this on say violent video games or other conservative concerns the way liberals jump to conclusions.  We tend to realize that this is the act of a sick mind (or minds).

 

But Liberals are all to eager to cast blame in conservative directions because they know they won't generally be called out on their vapid accusations by a tacitly complicit media.  There's no cost to throwing out unfounded accusations for them so they feel emboldened to spout ridiculousness.  That's not changing any time soon, which is unfortunate because it is politics at its worst.