It's a trick. When people tell you that you shouldn't politicize a tragedy like the shooting in Aurora, Colorado they are unwittingly helping to spread NRA propaganda. After a tragedy like that, it is the most logical thing in the world to ask what went wrong and how we can fix it. When you ask that question, the obvious answer is our gun laws. It's awfully hard to stab 70 people and kill 12 of them in a short period of time like that. It's very easy to murder those same people if you have an AR-15 assault rifle, a shotgun and two glocks.
This is the obvious conclusion that the NRA desperately wants you to avoid. So, they do a brilliant trick where they tell you that you are not allowed to talk about the problem in the immediate aftermath of the violence and death their guns caused -- that would be politicizing the tragedy.
They know that after a certain amount of time passes people are going to move on anyway and never get back to the issue. Big news events are when people are motivated to action. That's exactly why Republicans and the NRA don't ever want you to talk about guns after a big news event like this. They figure that within a week people will get distracted and the gun manufacturers they represent can go back to making money off of weapons that murder us.
No one is a better authority on this than Colin Goddard who was shot four times at Virginia Tech and now works for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. You can see the emotion on his face here as he asks the best question about the conversation we need to have about guns in this country: If not now, when?
You also need to remember that this is not about gun owners versus the rest of us. Most gun owners believe in reasonable regulations on guns. Did you know that people on the terrorist watch list can still buy guns? Most NRA members are against that insane policy, as the rest of us are. So, why does it exist? Because the NRA doesn't represent gun owners, they represent gun manufacturers! That's who pays the bills at the NRA and their motivation is to sell as many guns as possible, no matter how ridiculous or how murderous.
We should be really proud -- we're #1 in ...
1. The number of guns per capita. 90 guns for every 100 people. Yemen is a distant second at 61.
2. In gun violence. Nearly 100,000 people get shot every year. That's 270 people a day and 87 dead because of gun violence every day. That's seven Colorado shootings per day!
3. The number of child deaths because of guns. Nearly 3,000 kids are killed by guns every year.
And gun manufacturers cheer on! What is their response to all of this? They send out their Republican minions to say that the answer is more guns. If only other people in the crowd had guns, then everything would have been alright. Yes, because in that dark, smoke filled theater if there were more than two or three shooters everyone would have known who was the original shooter and less people would have been shot, right?
How would the third gunmen know if the second gunmen were part of the team that was shooting the place up (like Klebold and Harris at Columbine) or one of the guys trying to prevent it? Let alone the fourth or the fifth gunmen, let alone the cops who show up.
So, why do people like Rep. Louie Gohmert blame the victims and tell them things would have been OK if they had all brought their guns, too? Because Gohmert gets money from the people who make money when you get murdered.
One last note on whether tragedies like this get politicized or not. How many times have you heard conservatives say that we had to torture people because there might be a situation in which there is a ticking time bomb? In this case, James Holmes literally set a ticking time bomb in his booby-trapped apartment. Yet, there was no talk of torturing him, or taking away his rights, not giving him Miranda warnings, indefinitely detaining him or calling him a terrorist. Are you sure the same thing would have happened if his name was Mohamed al-Abdullah instead of James Holmes?
If the shooter was Muslim, do you think you would have heard any Republicans saying "let's not politicize this tragedy." They would have been screaming about terrorism the minute the story hit the airwaves. In fact, they would have been so knee-deep in politicizing it that we might have invaded another Middle Eastern country by now.
Watch Cenk Uygur on Current TV every weeknight at 7et/4pt. Go to current.com/GetTYT for channel information. Watch The Young Turks on YouTube here.
Follow Cenk Uygur on Twitter: www.twitter.com/CenkUygur
Arianna Huffington: Sunday Roundup
No, we need mental health treatment. We need to have stronger laws on institutionalizing people deemed to be a risk, and honestly...we need to invest in new techniques for screening.
We can do that as soon as you get off your computer and start using parch paper and a quil or a hand operated printing press to use your freedom of speech
NRA/gun fanatics: Quit believing the bull from the NRA about government coming after your guns and ammo...they are not and they cannot. Stop thinking regulations equal taking away rights and your guns. ID and background checks, are attempts to prevent guns landing in the hands of murderers like the guy in Colorado. It's a small thing to ask, for us to wait for checks, in order to keep killers from getting their hands on these weapons.
Anti-gun fanatics: Stop yelling that we need to take away all guns or forcing laws that severely limit gun use and ownership. Even I do not believe there is a reason to have an assault rifle to hunt and I see limited reasoning for hand guns or 1000s of rounds, but our freedoms allow us to keep them.
The NRA, gun and ammunition makers get $billions, having this debate rage on, every year. We are strip searched or large bottles of shampoo are taken away at airports, but, if you buy 1000s of rounds of ammo or a rifle with a magazine holding more than 6 rounds, that's "OK"., but it's NOT for hunting. With checks on all weapon purchases, this particular mass murderer would have been caught months ago.
What the US needs is not "gun-control" it's control on WHO can have a gun - psych reports? However, even in the UK, the strict laws do not stop the guy who "flips" at some point in the future.
Might want to look up what happen after hurricane katrina.
"ID and background checks, are attempts to prevent guns landing in the hands of murderers like the guy in Colorado"
Yeah becasue it work to to him
"Even I do not believe there is a reason to have an assault rifle to hunt and I see limited reasoning for hand guns or 1000s of rounds, but our freedoms allow us to keep
Ar platforms are use all the time for hunting one of my favorit rifle to hunt coyotes with. handguns are one of the best selfdefence firearms out there. And last 1000 is nothing i just shoot all most 2000 round this past weekend.
People like you who call yourself a gun own get me so made. First the Second Amendment has nothing to do with hunting. Next you do not care about gun laws as long as they dont affect you. So one day if they come for your hunting rifle of shotgun dont complain
No National outrage,,,,,,,and not one attributed to an NRA member
“You're politicizing the tragedy.”
“Maybe if he hadn't had high-capacity magazines.”
“You're politicizing the tragedy.”
“Maybe if he had not been able to buy thousands of rounds off the Internet.”
“You're politicizing the tragedy.”
“Maybe if everybody in the theater was armed and started blasting away randomly?”
“FAP FAP FAP FAP...”
And that is a good thing.