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The Tide is Turning : Senator With A Rating From NRA Calls for Rational Gun Control
Democratic Senator Mark Warner has an A rating from the NRA, but that isn’t stopping him from calling for rational gun control laws.
Here is the video of Sen. Warner on WTVR CBS 6:
Warner said, “I believe every American has Second Amendment rights, the ability to hunt is part of our culture. I’ve had a NRA (National Rifle Association) rating of an “A” but, you know, enough is enough. I think most of us, realize that there are ways to get to rational gun control. There are ways to grapple with the obvious challenges of mental illness.”
The conventional Beltway wisdom since the Newtown shooting has been that any new gun control law would be difficult to pass because of the NRA’s influence over members on both sides of the aisle, but Mark Warner’s support for gun control is the biggest sign yet that NRA is not nearly as influential as it has been made out to be.
If more Democrats follow Warner’s lead, the Republican Party will be forced into another uncomfortable defense of one of their special interests against the wishes of a majority of Americans. A new ABC News/ Washington Post poll found that 54% of Americans now support stricter gun control laws. Fifty two percent favor banning semi-automatic handguns, and 59% favor banning high capacity magazine clips.
Fifty two percent of Americans agree with Warner that this is broader problem than just guns. It is heartening to hear the Senator and so many others talk about mental health issues along with guns. It turns out that most Americans are smart enough to know that a new gun control law isn’t going to solve the problem. Solutions like investing in our dismantled and dilapidated mental health treatment system also have a large role to play.
We can have sensible gun laws without banning all guns. Public policy does not have to be a zero sum game.
I suspect that Mark Warner isn’t the only member of Congress with an A rating from the NRA who is considering a change of heart. For decades U.S. gun policy has been completely irrational. It may have taken the senseless murder 20 innocent children during the holiday season to help many Americans see the folly of allowing gun manufactures and their lobbying organizations control our policy on guns.
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11 Responses to The Tide is Turning : Senator With A Rating From NRA Calls for Rational Gun Control
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Amy Bolling
Dec. 17th, 2012 at 2:11 pm
Do I believe that 100% of mass shootings are caused by someone that’s mentally ill? Yes, I do. It is sad but its true. But what about the other 200+ people that are killed everyday in this country due to gun violence? Are people really trying to say that those are all contributed to mentally ill people? That sane people don’t kill people? That thought is crazy in itself. So guns don’t kill people but people kill people? Ya they do but with a gun!! I don’t think that anyone is denying that we need better mental health services in this country but we also need better gun regulations. If a person wants a gun in this country it should hard to get one. Automatic Rifles should be banned. They are weapons of war. It might be a persons right to own a gun but it is the right of ever citizen to be safe on the streets.
Ryan
Dec. 17th, 2012 at 4:16 pm
@Amy Bolling.
Automatic weapons are already banned in the US. Another case of misinformation. The problem is not guns, it is people. Guns don’t climb off the shelf and shoot people. And how many situations of gun violence are the result of LAW ABIDING CITIZENS using legally obtained guns? Less than those using ILLEGALLY obtained guns. Furthermore if your argument is credible then we should look to ban cars because of the number of traffic fatalities. We should also ban alcohol because of the number of alcohol related deaths each year. Or how about baseball bats. Many women are battered each year using tools such as these but yet the argument for the ban of these “tools” never comes. Use common sense when you spout things like this. GUNS DON’T KILL PEOPLE, PEOPLE KILL PEOPLE.
Reynardine
Dec. 17th, 2012 at 6:12 pm
Men can be trusted with extended-fire weapons and women can’t be trusted with ova.
haikukitty
Dec. 17th, 2012 at 9:44 pm
AUTOMATIC WEAPONS ARE NOT BANNED IN THE U.S. – I don’t know where that ridiculous statement is coming from. I have stood next to my husband’s cousin while he fired off 20-30 rounds in seconds – from an automatic rifle. Or maybe you’re playing the semantics game, as if a “semi-automatic” assault rifle isn’t every bit as dangerous as a fully automatic weapon.
And the next person who says guns don’t kill people should have to stare down the barrel of a firing gun, because it is the most ridiculous nonsense ever spoken.
If people were repeatedly murdering large groups of innocent adults and children by putting poison in their food or water – NO ONE would say “it’s not the poison that’s killing people, it’s the people..” Yes, people are killing people but they are killing people WITH GUNS! And they are killing people, specifically, WITH ASSAULT WEAPONS, over and over and over again.
Please don’t ever say “Guns don’t kill people” again. You sound like a completely brainless, brainwashed idiot. I really can’t stand to hear one more asshole repeat that NRA bullshit.
Stephen Vallentyne
Dec. 17th, 2012 at 2:36 pm
Look to Australia, in 1996 they to had a senseless act like this and they did some thing about it.They have not had another sense. Enough is enough
Bill
Dec. 17th, 2012 at 3:21 pm
I wish I could be more impressed with the change of heart of Senator Warner, Senator Manchin, and Morning Joe. For some reason I am not impressed. If it took the tragedy in Connecticut for them to realize the dangers of assault weapons I question their judgment.
Paws
Dec. 17th, 2012 at 5:35 pm
While I appreciate his words now, I will write the same thing I wrote earlier in the day when I read Manchin’s words: Why did it take so long? Why did he not feel this way after the last mass shooting, or the one before that, or the one before that?
Let’s see if he continues to push for sensible legislation and if he works like hell to get it passed.
Paws
Dec. 17th, 2012 at 5:36 pm
I just realized I wrote pretty much what Bill wrote. Why isn’t there a delete button for when I make mistakes like this!?!?! :)
Marwill
Dec. 17th, 2012 at 5:37 pm
Bill, My son in law and five year old grandson were killed on a dangerous stretch of highway. The state government had decided that if there was another fatality there they would spend millions on upgrades. My darlings were that last fatality. The thought that no other deaths have occurred on that patch of highway is a comfort. At least the Government did something. It is too late for the victims in Newtown, but if it means assault weapons are outlawed, then something positive will have come out of a terrible tragedy. We can’t change the mistakes of history, but hopefully we can learn.
Shiva (Moderator)
Dec. 17th, 2012 at 5:52 pm
Morning Joe this morning gave an impassioned speech in which he did a 360 on his view of gun control. He used to be an A rated representative by the NRA and turned his back on them this am
Reynardine
Dec. 17th, 2012 at 6:17 pm
Senator Daniel Inouye has just died.