Gun control in the U.S. is a proven perennial subject. The Tucson tragedy hasn’t changed anything for the moment. President Obama has just put this piece back into the No Theatre’s repertoire by writing a column and throwing this worn out topic back to pre-campaign days. Intelligently, he removed this maddening theme from the heart of the 2012 campaign. Let’s settle into the front row of the theater and see if the players have improved their performances for this great moment in the “complete bulls—” repertoire.
As guest of honor at the annual Safari Club Convention in Reno, just weeks after the Tucson carnage, Sarah Palin simpered a few silly empathies before getting back in the saddle in front of 2,000 members of an association that sees itself armed to the teeth. Politicos understood that the speech’s only meaning was “we must not give in on the Second Amendment,” and we must not change anything. Carrying weapons is a fundamental right and talking about it brings up …
Tucson and its six dead, one miraculously alive after being shot in the head. With the national emotion after the 2010 midterm election failure, it was naive to believe that this self-examination would last more than a “prime time” — let’s be generous — a fortnight.
So, Obama’s column in The Arizona Daily Star on Sunday, March 13, played like the opening curtain of this drama that the U.S. is acting out between dramas, if possible, at a time when the voting machines don’t even have the candidates’ names — early enough in the campaign so as not to disturb it. And it went just as it should have.
The two main roles: The president and the NRA (National Rifle Association), which includes the millions of Americans who carry guns.
The president’s monologue, which opens the play, is without vulgarity. “But since that day, we have lost perhaps another 2,000 members of our American family to gun violence.” It’s too obvious, especially if it can’t come back to declining unemployment statistics.
More seriously, Obama brags that with his administration, he has extended and expanded the rights to carry firearms for hunters who travel with them through national parks and environmental sanctuaries. …
Though forced to admit that talking about U.S. weapons makes people angry and that some people do not use them properly. Well, yeah, if there have been 2,000 deaths since Tucson, it’s certainly because “some people” do not use them for hunting small rabbits to put in casseroles.
And then Obama’s acting is remarkable as he proposes a solution: Strengthen existing NICBCS legislation, which is a filter that each state may use and which helps prevent lunatics and criminals from buying weapons. And to improve performance we will create a competition between states, just like a McDonald’s employee-of-the-month. Nice, right? I’m not making this up.
The second lead, the NRA, gives their reply from backstage and does not want to meet with the president. Why indeed? Its speech is always the same. Any dialogue on weapons and/or their sales is moot. The main problems are criminals and lunatics. They recommend concrete measures: Arrest and prosecute criminals without carrying weapons (10 per month per court); stop the ATF program, “Fast and Furious,” the hotbed of illegal border transactions; prevent the media from giving the floor 24 hours a day to criminals and lunatics who kill; and call a spade a spade. With Tucson did we place the blame on competent authority figures? In fact, the loophole is in our mental health assessment! It’s certain. Curtain.
Who’s to say that Obama didn’t try to write a remake of the play?
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