Well, once again a vocal minority has blocked legislation that a majority of Americans supported including the assault weapons ban and background checks.
You see, according to the GOP anti-abortion philosophy, every lima bean-sized embryo is so precious that American women, American citizens, must be condemned to go through a dangerous, excruciating painful childbirth experience that has been the leading cause of death for women worldwide from the dawn of time to today.
Yet when it comes to the over 36,000 people in America who die from guns each year... the GOP line is to say stoically "them's the breaks for pertecktin' our seckund am'ndm'nd rahts."
Perhaps instead of "gun violence victims" we called these men, women, and children who are killed by guns each year "embryos in their 240th month of development" the GOP would then reflexively start passing laws to protect them. Just brainstorming here.
But on a more serious note, I think it's time that we Democrats stop depending on the federal government to enact change. If we seriously want to stop gun violence, we need to go to the state level to bring down the number of guns on the street.
Eliminating something on a state-by-state level has been the tactic of the anti-abortion movement and so far it's been proved dispiritingly effective. Now it's our turn to use that tactic for gun control.
Maryland, New York, and Connecticut have already enacted tough gun control laws in their states. New York City is already enjoying a record low crime rate due to gun control laws. I want to see that trend continued in other states.
Seeing our guys win the national elections may have been a great morale booster... but so far we have been terrible at passing bills that have gotten overwhelming public support. Democrats have been winning the battle for hearts and minds but the GOP is still winning the policy wars. Indeed, due to gerrymandering and the un-reformed filibuster it's clear that GOP no longer cares how little support they have among the voting public.
We've been playing this game in Congress since 2011. Even after a humiliating election loss the Republicans are still playing this game.
We're not going to win on the federal level. We're only going to win state-by-state.
More below the crushed, empty cartridge.
As most people following this controversy realize, over 87% of US counties have no access to abortion clinics. This statistic represents a huge health care vacuum in the US. The restrictions women are facing concerning their own bodies are shrinking on an almost daily basis due to waves of anti-choice legislation across the country. Moreover healthcare physicians themselves are threatened by domestic terrorists such as the Army of God. Thus medical students understandably move away from the field of abortion and women who need abortions are left at the mercy of unlicensed butchers like Kermit Gosnell.
Now lets compare the amount of abortion clinics in the country to the amount of licensed gun sellers. There are 724 abortion clinics in the United States today. Compare that to over 129,000 licensed gun dealers in the US as of 2013. In other words, there are more gun dealers in the US than there are groceries. Hell, there are more gun dealers in the US than there are McDonalds! Also, these are just the LICENSED gun dealers. Throw in estimates of unlicensed gun dealers in the US and that number could shoot past half a million.
I want to see those numbers reversed. I want to see over a 100,000 women's health clinics in the US while the last open gun dealer in Mississippi has to hit his knees every month in front of the state senate just to keep his business open.
How do we get on the road to this America? We go to the states. We campaign for progressive state congressional candidates. We go door to door each election year and tip enough voters towards Democratic and left-wing candidates running for state congresses that federal government gridlock no longer has such a devastating effect for this.
I want to see the NRA run scared the way that NARAL is running scared now. I want to see morose articles in right-wing publications about how there is only one gun dealership left in Connecticut and two gun dealerships in the entire state of New York. I want to read heart-tugging stories about how deprived doomsday preppers and pot-bellied hunters need to fly to North Dakota just to have a prayer of scraping up a handgun. I want to hear tear-jerking narratives about how a young boy was unable to bag his first buck because the last Vermont gun dealer had to close due to new state rules involving corridor width and door length in gun shops.
Let's make that a reality. C'mon people, let's go to the states.