America & World IV: Trump's Taxing Day

[Asura]

Biden's tweets are really ridiculous though.

People are now saying "someone should do something" is the Democrat version of "thoughts and prayers". Biden's literally saying "something should be done" when someone in the room presumably needs to nudge him and say "umm, that's your job Mr. President"

[fishbowlhead]

He is doing something, and that something is taking a sweet golden parachute from an arm’s company when he’s voted out.

[QualityChimp]

Can't get my head around yet another school shooting.
I assume the usual excuses will be rolled out:
"He's an immigrant! We need to tighten immigration laws!"
"There weren't enough armed guards on site!"
"He was playing violent video games!"
"19 children is sad, but think of all the children killed in abortions!"

Literally, any step towards gun control would be progress, but the bill to improve background checks has been halted by 50 Republican politicians.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/24/us/democrats-gun-control-school-shooting.html

"Within hours of the shooting in Uvalde, Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader, moved to clear the way to force votes in coming days on legislation that would strengthen background checks for gun purchasers, pushing to revive measures with broad appeal that Republicans have blocked in the past.

The pair of bills would expand criminal background checks to would-be gun buyers on the internet and at gun shows and lengthen the waiting period for gun buyers flagged by the instant background check system to allow more time for the F.B.I. to investigate. The measures, passed by the House in 2019 and again last year, have languished in the Senate amid Republican opposition. Even as they publicly mourned the massacre that killed 19 children and two adults on Tuesday, Republican senators gave little indication that their positions had changed."

Even Biden has been unable to make any traction.
He made a law banning assault weapons in 1994, but it had a 10 year clause and was never renewed when it lapsed in 2004.

Here's a pretty damning article on the decade of hand-wringing and inaction since Sandy Hook to today in Uvalde:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/05/22/guns-biden-democrats-buffalo/

"Gabrielle Giffords huddled with Vice President Joe Biden in his private office just off the Senate floor on an April Wednesday in 2013, watching the stunning defeat of a bill to expand background checks to most gun sales.

Giffords — a former Democratic lawmaker who still had difficulty speaking after being shot in the head in 2011 during an event in her Arizona district — was equal parts furious and devastated as she watched 46 of her former colleagues, including five Democratic senators, vote against the gun-control measure informally known as Manchin-Toomey.

The gun bill had emerged in the wake of the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., just four months prior — a massacre that left 20 children and six adults dead. Now it was clear that not even 20 slaughtered first-graders would move the nation to change its gun laws."

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[MartyG]

He's president though. He could literally decree things today if he had the stones right

No, he can't. He and every president before and after him are bound by the fundamental rights laid out in the US constitution which they are sworn to uphold. The president does not have the executive power to supersede these rights by decree of an executive order and these can be legally challenged in court or overturned by the next president that comes along anyway, so Biden cannot just ban the sale of ARs for example - he could try, but it would ultimately fail at the supreme court (especially with the current make up) due to second amendment rights.

For a real change it will require Congress to agree on policy and change the constitution, so here's what's going to happen: Absolutely nothing is going to happen.

[QualityChimp]

Ultimately, this is the right way, because it does sound sensible that Biden can say "ban guns!", overriding Congress, but you need to realise that Trump could also make his own laws up without restraint.

However, it's a messed up system where 90% (or thereabouts) of Americans agree on increased background checks gun ownership, but 50 Republican senators refuse to pass it.

[Cassius_Smoke]

I think I saw its 288 school shootings in 3 years. Brazil has had 8. Brazil!

The US has a big ****ing problem with guns.

[QualityChimp]

Naturally, a lot of people are citing the UK's response to Dunblane and the improved gun laws as an example on how it can be tackled and everyone applauding those efforts.

Well, everyone except this one journalist. I wonder what happened to this guy?

[Asura]

Naturally, a lot of people are citing the UK's response to Dunblane and the improved gun laws as an example on how it can be tackled and everyone applauding those efforts.

Well, everyone except this one journalist. I wonder what happened to this guy?

"I've seen people handing over guns in tears saying 'my wife gave me this for our anniversary'"

Was there someone nearby to say "Your wife was a weirdo. Who gives a GUN for an anniversary present?"

[QualityChimp]

"I've seen people handing over guns in tears saying 'my wife gave me this for our anniversary'"

Was there someone nearby to say "Your wife was a weirdo. Who gives a GUN for an anniversary present?"

"I don't have a gun, let alone many guns that would necessitate an entire rack."

[wakka]

Naturally, a lot of people are citing the UK's response to Dunblane and the improved gun laws as an example on how it can be tackled and everyone applauding those efforts.

Well, everyone except this one journalist. I wonder what happened to this guy?

That is bloody amazing.

[fishbowlhead]

Can’t we just have a sweeping ban on humans instead?

[Blobcat]

That would probably mean you're an elite pro abortionist and that's a whole thing

[cutmymilk]

I agree. Biden calling for "us" to do something like he isn't the president and literally the only person that could actually do something. He would have to change some laws but that's a small price to pay and what a legacy he would leave.

There needs to be harsh prison sentences for people who are determined to keep their arms after a ban. With the hunting culture, it's more difficult than here but it could be like the UKs famer law on a larger scale.

[Neon Ignition]

I love that the argument often relies on Americans saying they need the guns to defend themselves or their homes. I honestly can't think of a single gun incident report from the US where there was an attack and someone actually stopped it using their own gun in defense

[Asura]

I love that the argument often relies on Americans saying they need the guns to defend themselves or their homes. I honestly can't think of a single gun incident report from the US where there was an attack and someone actually stopped it using their own gun in defense

That's actually a bit of a tricky thing to quantify (I looked it up). It's mainly because America defines a "mass shooting" as over a certain number of deaths, but when a shooting happens in a place with concealed carry rules, the shooter is likely to be shot by a bystander before they can commit a massacre - and there are incidents in the US every year where a shooter maybe shoots one person, and is immediately shot by someone else. Plus, there have been situations where, during a school shooting, a bystander has just shot the perpetrator.

This isn't a good thing though; I mean I'm sure there are incidents where a bystander has shot the wrong person, for example - and clearly it would be better if no-one had guns in this instance. But it's true.

I'm not advocating this, btw. Just upon looking it up I did find people with lists of times that kind of thing did happen.