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You are here: Home / Open Threads / President Obama’s Statement on the Oregon Shooting

President Obama’s Statement on the Oregon Shooting

by Betty Cracker|  October 1, 20157:23 pm| 118 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat

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He’s sad. He’s angry. He’s tired of the bullshit politics around this issue. And he’s telling it like it is.

Well said, Mr. President.

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Reader Interactions

118Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    October 1, 2015 at 7:25 pm

    I like that he ended the “don’t politicize” excuse.

  2. 2.

    MazeDancer

    October 1, 2015 at 7:27 pm

    Everyone wants to watch the President’s remarks. Never seen him that angry.

    He made it clear that only changing the laws will stop the killing, and that he can’t do that by himself, and that every American has to help. By electing people who will make the changes that work everywhere in the civilized world.

  3. 3.

    A guy

    October 1, 2015 at 7:29 pm

    Obama is a stupid fuck.

  4. 4.

    Elizabelle

    October 1, 2015 at 7:31 pm

    NBC should have re-aired Obama’s remarks, in full, with their Nightly News instead of going with their prepared newscast.

    What was said is that important.

    Thank Dog for the internet and social media. Will make the rounds.

  5. 5.

    Elizabelle

    October 1, 2015 at 7:32 pm

    @A guy: Banana cream pie. Maybe coconut.

  6. 6.

    Mike in NC

    October 1, 2015 at 7:32 pm

    @A guy: Keep stroking your barrel, imbecile troll.

  7. 7.

    SiubhanDuinne

    October 1, 2015 at 7:34 pm

    @A guy:

    A guy Obama is a stupid fuck.

  8. 8.

    Baud

    October 1, 2015 at 7:34 pm

    Unhappy trolls make for a happy Baud.

  9. 9.

    Elizabelle

    October 1, 2015 at 7:34 pm

    I don’t see how every gun humper is not already turning out to vote GOP. And they’re losing, in national elections.

    Gun violence is a great 2016 campaign issue. It’s not terrible for the Democrats. It’s terrible for the GOP, who drove Congress to a 11-19%? approval rating, from behind their security gated and armed officer protected offices.

  10. 10.

    sacrablue

    October 1, 2015 at 7:34 pm

    Can someone finally apply a banhammer to this troll? He adds absolutely nothing to this place.

  11. 11.

    Betty Cracker

    October 1, 2015 at 7:36 pm

    @Elizabelle:

    …from behind their security gated and armed officer protected offices.

    This point cannot be emphasized enough, IMO.

  12. 12.

    Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)

    October 1, 2015 at 7:36 pm

    We should “politicize” the hell out of this. And of every other fucking slaughter. Jesus…

  13. 13.

    SiubhanDuinne

    October 1, 2015 at 7:36 pm

    I haven’t yet seen Obama’s statement, but I was in the car and listening to it on sat radio, and I have never heard him sound so exasperated and angry and just fed up with not a single solitary fuck to give.

    When he writes his presidential memoirs, I expect gun violence is going to be a major chapter.

  14. 14.

    SatanicPanic

    October 1, 2015 at 7:36 pm

    Back in my day we had better trolls. No wait, we didn’t, they were just as dumb.

  15. 15.

    Baud

    October 1, 2015 at 7:37 pm

    Sanders will be on Chris Hayes and O’Malley on Rachel tonight. I’m sure this issue will come up, so we’ll see what they have to say.

  16. 16.

    Steeplejack

    October 1, 2015 at 7:37 pm

    @A guy:

    Here’s a pretty bug of some sort.

  17. 17.

    Morzer

    October 1, 2015 at 7:40 pm

    Maybe we should consider creating a hunting season when decent Americans can buy licenses and shoot the appropriate number of NRA members. One hundred bucks gets you one trophy head and so forth.

  18. 18.

    Sourmash

    October 1, 2015 at 7:40 pm

    Only quibble is that he even mentioned that maybe this won’t happen again in his tenure as president. Odds are that it will happen many more times before January 2017.

  19. 19.

    Wag

    October 1, 2015 at 7:40 pm

    Stop the Earth. I want to throw the NRA off. I’m not going anywhere. The Earth is my home. I want those responsible for the ever rising death counts to leave

  20. 20.

    Mnemosyne (iPhone)

    October 1, 2015 at 7:41 pm

    @A guy:

    … says the guy who doesn’t know what a Pap smear is for.

    Dunning-Kruger in action.

  21. 21.

    Patrick

    October 1, 2015 at 7:42 pm

    @A guy:

    Obama is a stupid fuck.

    Wow! That really says something about you, considering how much President Obama has done with his life compared to you. You are spending your days writing insignificant internet comments, while President Obama managed to get elected President twice.

  22. 22.

    Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)

    October 1, 2015 at 7:42 pm

    I’ve come to the conclusion that we as a society like these mass slaughters. We say we don’t. But at some point, you have to look at what people do, rather than what they say, when you want to know what they believe. And, over and over again, we as a society have looked at this shit, and chosen to let things keep on the way they are. All I can conclude from this is that we Americans like this. It makes us happy. We want more of this. If we someday do something to stave off these slaughters, then I’ll conclude otherwise. But until that, what else could a reasonable person think?

  23. 23.

    Elizabelle

    October 1, 2015 at 7:43 pm

    Maybe the FBI can’t collect statistics, and maybe Congress doesn’t want anyone to —

    but couldn’t we — and other blogs — help keep a tally of gun-violence deaths? Like when Josh Marshall had his readers around the country keep tabs on what was going on with Bush replacing US attorneys. He exposed that to sunlight and stopped that strategy in its tracks.

    Why can’t we, and Talking Points, and Kevin Drum’s reader commenters, and others around blog nation put up and share info? Info on murders, accidental gun deaths, suicides. Anything we can glean. With links.

    We might not be able to do a perfect daily tab — it takes a few days to get the story out, reclassify events, etc. — but it would be better than the nothing we have now.

    If Congress won’t let someone do this job, maybe we should do it for them.

    Plus, if any networks or news organizations do make keeping numbers on gun deaths their mission, we could help assess if they’re doing it accurately. As we’ve learned, they don’t always …

  24. 24.

    Mnemosyne (iPhone)

    October 1, 2015 at 7:45 pm

    Funny line from the Wikipedia article about Dunning-Kruger:

    “The paper concludes that, in contrast to high performers, ‘poor performers do not learn from feedback suggesting a need to improve.'”

    Funny how it applies even to trolls.

  25. 25.

    Baud

    October 1, 2015 at 7:46 pm

    @Elizabelle:

    Vox put this up.

  26. 26.

    Schlemazel

    October 1, 2015 at 7:46 pm

    We all know that this was staged and nobody was actually shot. If not that then it was a false flag operation by Obama so he can finally take my precious from me.

    Sigh, I am so sick of this shit, I hate what America has become.

  27. 27.

    Morzer

    October 1, 2015 at 7:46 pm

    @Elizabelle:

    Kind of like a national debt clock, but with American lives lost to gun-fetishist violence. Might even compare the number of American lives lost to NRA-sponsored terrorism with the number lost in say Europe and China.

  28. 28.

    Schlemazel

    October 1, 2015 at 7:48 pm

    @Elizabelle:
    Everyone here’s favorite web site has a weekly feature recounting stupid gun accidents, shootings and deaths. It is not comprehensive but it’s bad enough.

  29. 29.

    Betty Cracker

    October 1, 2015 at 7:48 pm

    @Morzer: Don’t know if you’ve watched the statement yet, but PBO basically challenges the media to do that. To compare gun deaths with terrorist killings, etc.

  30. 30.

    Chris

    October 1, 2015 at 7:49 pm

    I can’t remember him ever expressing my frustrations with the country this well before.

    I loved him specifically calling out all the bullshit, cultlike mantras that’re repeated in everyday conversations (“more guns are going to save us!”) Complete fucking nonsense which we’ve accepted as tribal shibboleths for far too long because ‘merica!

    I loved that he points out the blatantly fucking obvious (and it applies to more than just gun violence), that every other industrialized democracy in the world has found ways to control this kind of thing without devolving into a Stalinist dystopia, and we can too.

    Best of all, I loved that he actually called out the media to do their fucking jobs. Something that could’ve been said every day of his presidency, and a lot longer than that for that matter.

    I don’t know where Obama will rank among ex-presidents (good luck topping Carter), but as a president-in-his-last-two-years, I’m loving him.

  31. 31.

    Villago Delenda Est

    October 1, 2015 at 7:51 pm

    @A guy: You’re projecting again, stupid fuck.

  32. 32.

    Mandalay

    October 1, 2015 at 7:51 pm

    How to address the thorny issue of being accused of of politicizing gun deaths?

    Easy peasy: explicitly politicize gun deaths. Take a clear position, attack the vile bastards directly, and put the ball in their court:

    “We have a Congress that explicitly blocks us from even collecting data on how we could potentially reduce gun deaths. How can that be?”

    How can that be indeed!

    Get Congress to explain why they support innocent people getting slaughtered every time this happens.

    No more Mr. Nice Guy. Go for the throat.

  33. 33.

    Mnemosyne (iPhone)

    October 1, 2015 at 7:51 pm

    Also, too, I’m going to keep spamming the comments with a link to this New Yorker article about efforts to curb the violence in NYC’s projects:

    http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/10/05/a-daughters-death?intcid=mod-yml

    Volunteers are working their asses off to try and improve things and they’re undermined at every turn by what Coates calls the “Grey Wastes” of a system that can’t picture any solution that doesn’t require mass incarceration.

  34. 34.

    Villago Delenda Est

    October 1, 2015 at 7:52 pm

    The NRA is a terrorist organization.

    Go after it with even greater alacrity than Al Qaeda, because the NRA is domestic.

  35. 35.

    Morzer

    October 1, 2015 at 7:53 pm

    @Betty Cracker:

    Haven’t seen it yet, but it’s long past time that we did.

    Seriously though, when do the trolls get booted? It’s not like they add anything to the ambience round here, unless you consider a parfum de vieux litterbox rewarding.

  36. 36.

    VincentN

    October 1, 2015 at 7:53 pm

    @Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.):

    I wouldn’t say that our society as a whole likes this state of events so much as it’s indifferent or doesn’t care enough about trying to change.

    Of course indifference isn’t that much better than sadistic enjoyment but at least the former implies we do care a little bit. Just not enough to really do anything about it.

  37. 37.

    Mnemosyne (iPhone)

    October 1, 2015 at 7:53 pm

    @Elizabelle:

    The LA Times is actually doing a good job with their Homicide Report blog, which includes police shootings:

    http://homicide.latimes.com

    ETA: They check the records at the County Coroner’s office, which captures deaths that are not otherwise reported.

  38. 38.

    Morzer

    October 1, 2015 at 7:54 pm

    @Betty Cracker:

    Haven’t seen it yet, but it’s long past time that we did.

    Seriously though, when do the trolls get booted? It’s not like they add anything to the value of our subscriptions round here, unless you consider a parfum de vieux litterbox rewarding.

  39. 39.

    benw

    October 1, 2015 at 7:54 pm

    Thank you, Mr. President, for speaking for me.

  40. 40.

    redshirt

    October 1, 2015 at 7:55 pm

    Is there anything the President could do via executive order to try and regulate gun sales? Or, how about define what a “well regulated militia” means in context of the second amendment.

  41. 41.

    Hal

    October 1, 2015 at 7:56 pm

    Strike up the Hitler gun control quotes folks. There’s been another mass shooting that can only be explained by not enough guns, and too many gun control laws.

  42. 42.

    JCT

    October 1, 2015 at 7:56 pm

    Hmmm, sounds like an ammosexual paradise: “Oregon: no permit need to purchase a gun; no registration or license to own a gun; no assault weapons ban; shall-issue open carry” and schools are NOT a gun-free zone.

    Hey, Wayne LaPierre you waste of protoplasm – what went wrong? Oregon is everything you ever hoped for.

  43. 43.

    Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)

    October 1, 2015 at 7:57 pm

    @Mandalay:

    Seriously. And even more pointedly, we need to point to Republicans in Congress who do everything they can to keep laws from going through and say to their faces that they like to see this shit, that it makes them happy, that they want to see more of it. They’ll squeal and bleat, and accuse others of impugning their integrity and weep and wail in general, but it’ll put them on the defensive.

    As the old, and maybe apocryphal tale goes about Lyndon Johnson, when he accused an opponent of molesting sheep or something, when an aide asked whether the guy really did do that, Johnson said, “No, he doesn’t. But I want to see him go on the record denying it!”

  44. 44.

    bemused

    October 1, 2015 at 7:57 pm

    @Morzer:

    Too bad we couldn’t let his mommy and daddy know what he’s been doing on the internet instead of his homework. He sounds like a 14-15 year old teen punk to me.

  45. 45.

    Mandalay

    October 1, 2015 at 7:58 pm

    @Elizabelle:

    Info on murders, accidental gun deaths, suicides. Anything we can glean. With links.

    Try this: http://www.gunviolencearchive.org/

    They really have their act together as well. Fifteen separate incidents have already been logged for today!

  46. 46.

    Frankensteinbeck

    October 1, 2015 at 7:58 pm

    @Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.):

    I’ve come to the conclusion that we as a society like these mass slaughters.

    Close. The trick is that we are not one society, not one homogeneous mass that doesn’t want to do anything. We are many societies all trying to get what we want out of the same government. Yes, some of those groups are quite happy with these mass slaughters, and will literally die to make sure that they can perform one if they finally can’t take it anymore. There are other groups who disapprove, but don’t really care, not nearly as much as they care about telling liberals to fuck off. And so on.

  47. 47.

    azlib

    October 1, 2015 at 8:00 pm

    We basically have to come around to the point where we know the NRA is a criminal organization and is responsible for blocking legislation that would at least cut down on these awful incidents.

  48. 48.

    Anoniminous

    October 1, 2015 at 8:00 pm

    @redshirt:

    Is there anything the President could do via executive order to try and regulate gun sales?

    No.

    Congress needs to pass some laws.

  49. 49.

    Renie

    October 1, 2015 at 8:00 pm

    I live in the NYC metro area so I don’t understand at all the gun culture. So glad our President is speaking out. This situation needs to be changed. Hope people listen but don’t have much hope. Too many people watching stupid shit on tv rather than caring what is happening in their backyards.

  50. 50.

    WaterGirl

    October 1, 2015 at 8:01 pm

    @Steeplejack: Thank you! I was trying to remember what that phrase was but I couldn’t come up with it.

  51. 51.

    Mandalay

    October 1, 2015 at 8:02 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    The NRA is a terrorist organization. Go after it with even greater alacrity than Al Qaeda, because the NRA is domestic.

    Right. And the NRA has also caused the deaths of far more Americans than Al Qaeda.

  52. 52.

    Chris

    October 1, 2015 at 8:03 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    The NRA is a terrorist organization.

    @azlib:

    We basically have to come around to the point where we know the NRA is a criminal organization

    I’ve been saying for years that arms dealers are to the United States what drug dealers are to Mexico.

  53. 53.

    Elizabelle

    October 1, 2015 at 8:05 pm

    Another thing: I’m thinking we could do a SHOE campaign. Sadly, we cannot throw them at NRA-owned or enabling Congresscritters. It’s tempting, I know.

    But we could keep a few extra with us. And gently lay them on the table, whenever we encounter a Congresscritter in real life. They can’t hide in their GUARDED AND GATED offices all the time.

    Or a gun-humping local politician or newspaper columnist or editor. We know what they look like.

    We go to a town hall. We hand them a shoe. They show up at our diner, humping for votes. We hand them a shoe.

    We see them out dining with lobbyists? Or even their family? We go up, smile sweetly, and place a shoe on the table. In a nonthreatening manner. It is just a shoe.

    The more creative (or less time pressed) among us could decorate the shoe. We could put on pictures of the dead, and maybe a little about what they liked to do with their lives, and what they intended to do. Had they, you know, been able to grow up.

    Some of the shoes will be elderly wives whose husbands killed them, not out of malice, but out of despair. Too many of the shoes will be little kids who picked up a gun. Curiosity killed the … toddler. Or, worse, the child’s sibling. That little face goes on a shoe too.

    Message is: stand with us, walk with us, or take a shoe and walk with the shooters.

    I love the idea of John Roberts getting shoed out of restaurants.

    Circulate pictures on social media, of the shoe, of your congresscritter and the collection of shoes.

    Because we are all damn sick of this routine. I am not even paying attention to today’s details. It’s too much.

  54. 54.

    Mnemosyne (iPhone)

    October 1, 2015 at 8:06 pm

    @Renie:

    I’m not going to make a rousing defense of people who would rather watch stupid shit on TV than think about these things, but there are definitely times when I need to go away and not think about them for a while lest I spin down into a major depression, and I’m way more politically engaged than most people I know.

    Eventually, people just get overwhelmed with the knowledge that these things are happening and *nothing* is going to be done, so they just tune out. And I can’t entirely blame them.

  55. 55.

    Mandalay

    October 1, 2015 at 8:08 pm

    @Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.):

    And even more pointedly, we need to point to Republicans in Congress

    Some Democrats are also part of the problem.

    I will be listening to Bernie’s comments on this very closely.

  56. 56.

    Archon

    October 1, 2015 at 8:08 pm

    @A guy:

    Ok your just a troll, I can ignore your comments completely now.

    Thank you.

  57. 57.

    Elizabelle

    October 1, 2015 at 8:09 pm

    @Mnemosyne (iPhone): Thinking about stupid shit on TV: would we have had as much torture enthusiasm without “24”? (I don’t know, I never watched it, but hear it was good.)

    TV is all about solving one’s problems with weaponry. Not wit, not wisdom, guns or the threat of guns.

    That could change too.

  58. 58.

    NorthLeft12

    October 1, 2015 at 8:09 pm

    @Betty Cracker:

    …

    from behind their security gated and armed officer protected offices.

    And gun free zone too.

  59. 59.

    Mnemosyne (iPhone)

    October 1, 2015 at 8:10 pm

    I don’t know if the $100 I just sent to Gabby Gifford’s PAC, Americans for Responsible Solutions, will do a damn thing, but at least I tried to spit into the wind.

  60. 60.

    Villago Delenda Est

    October 1, 2015 at 8:12 pm

    Thank you, President Obama. You speak for me.

  61. 61.

    Elizabelle

    October 1, 2015 at 8:13 pm

    @Mandalay: Yeah. Maybe we can get the Democrats who support guns to support commonsense gun safety legislation. They can co-exist.

    Tim Kaine came out for that weeks ago. Not sure of the specifics of his proposed legislation, but he was governor during the Virginia Tech massacre, and that is not an experience one ever forgets.

    Make the gun-humpers come out of the shadows. The paranoid reader comments on the Richmond Times Disgrace story about Kaine’s planned initiative were laughable. Really laughable.

    We need to laugh. Not let them get a toxic comment echo chamber going.

  62. 62.

    Villago Delenda Est

    October 1, 2015 at 8:13 pm

    @Elizabelle: Problems are solved with guns if the script say so.

    Real life does not operate on a script. Real people are as easy to herd as cats.

  63. 63.

    MomSense

    October 1, 2015 at 8:17 pm

    @Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.):

    Some of us would like to do more but speaking out about gun violence is really dangerous. The gun nuts go after you using intimidation and other means to silence you. They especially harass women. I’m afraid to be involved amy more.

  64. 64.

    Elizabelle

    October 1, 2015 at 8:17 pm

    Listening to Chris Van Hollen. He’s right. If this were a virus, we would be in action.

  65. 65.

    MazeDancer

    October 1, 2015 at 8:20 pm

    @Elizabelle:

    Chris Hayes tweeted that on his show tonight they were playing the President’s full remarks.

  66. 66.

    Elizabelle

    October 1, 2015 at 8:21 pm

    @MomSense: Yes. That is true. They’re bullies and cowards, and that is why they have the guns.

    There are more of us. We need to make sure you have cover.

    It’s pathetic when we learn that police department’s hands are tied because the bad behavior is not illegal. (Thinking of Sam Brownback’s brother terrorizing his community.) That has to change, and it will take time and effort. Against single issue paranoids. Not easy.

  67. 67.

    schrodinger's cat

    October 1, 2015 at 8:21 pm

    @Elizabelle: I watched one season of 24. I think it was season 3. I would give it a B+, good but not great.

  68. 68.

    Chris

    October 1, 2015 at 8:22 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    I like the term “script” – really captures how this kind of thing works. Ideas like “more guns will prevent violence” are absurd just on the face of it, but we (or at least enough of us) just agree to go with it and suspend our disbelief like we would in a movie. Because… reasons?

  69. 69.

    Geeno

    October 1, 2015 at 8:22 pm

    @redshirt: No. The SCrOTUS has already defined the militia as the olden days concept of “the Militia of the Whole” – the entire citizenry, and that “well regulated” means do whatever you think is necessary.

  70. 70.

    Elizabelle

    October 1, 2015 at 8:22 pm

    @MazeDancer: Yeah. On the libtard channel that don’t got no viewers. But I’ll take it.

    Am sure C-Span is rebroadcasting. Also that video is making the rounds on social media, among the youngs and more technical of us.

  71. 71.

    RK

    October 1, 2015 at 8:23 pm

    America was settled with violence, glorifies violence and our leaders continue to commit violence. I’m for gun laws, but there are underlying problems with our culture.

  72. 72.

    graham

    October 1, 2015 at 8:25 pm

    I am a very cynical, hard left, old school liberal, and know Presidents come and go and usually disappoint me badly. Obama has as well, but he has also made me very proud he is our President on many occasions. He is a serious person in a country that has few serious people left. He has done many things that have helped average Americans, in a very difficult political era for getting anything done. Yet he has. Fuck the NRA, fuck these obstructionist Republicans, these unserious, racist cocksuckers and Randian motherfuckers who have taken this country down and are beating on working people and stomping on poor people. Fuck them. That is all….

  73. 73.

    Mnemosyne (iPhone)

    October 1, 2015 at 8:25 pm

    @Elizabelle:

    It’s hard to say, because there’s never a one to one relationship between fictional violence and real-life violence. I do think the “torture always works!” message of “24” didn’t help, but that’s been in movies and TV pretty much forever. In media, the only people torture doesn’t “work” on are the good guys.

  74. 74.

    David Koch

    October 1, 2015 at 8:25 pm

    @Mandalay:

    I will be listening to Bernie’s comments on this very closely.

    He says there’s no difference btwn a hammer and a machine gun

  75. 75.

    ellie

    October 1, 2015 at 8:27 pm

    @Elizabelle: I love a coconut cream pie! There is a restaurant where I am from called Smuckers that makes the most fantastic homemade pies. I always torn between the coconut cream and the chocolate peanut butter cream pie. Yum.

  76. 76.

    Chris

    October 1, 2015 at 8:28 pm

    @graham:

    I honestly never expected to like him as much as I’ve come to. Not that I too haven’t been disappointed in him several times, but overall my respect for him has only gone up, not down, over the course of his presidency. I’ll miss him when he’s gone.

  77. 77.

    graham

    October 1, 2015 at 8:28 pm

    @Chris: Indeed.

  78. 78.

    Chris

    October 1, 2015 at 8:29 pm

    @Mnemosyne (iPhone):

    I think it was a case of a positive feedback loop between reality and fiction. The public bloodlust after 9/11 gave the show a big incentive to show viewers what they wanted, and viewers in turn were probably influenced to some extent by the fantasy they were being shown.

  79. 79.

    Elizabelle

    October 1, 2015 at 8:31 pm

    @ellie: We just have to order them both.

    And aren’t we all supposed to be eating cherry pie and good coffee this week, in honor of the late Log Lady?

  80. 80.

    redshirt

    October 1, 2015 at 8:32 pm

    I’ve been an Obot since December 2007 and nothing he’s ever done has made me doubt for an instance.

    He’s the best.

  81. 81.

    MazeDancer

    October 1, 2015 at 8:33 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    The NRA is a terrorist organization.

    Salient points on MSNBC tonight were that 80% of NRA members are for background checks. As is 90% of America. And that Congress lives in fear of the NRA using all their money and no morals to destroy members who won’t stop all gun safety legislation and that’s why nothing happens.

    The answer is to, pardon the expression, target some races to bring down candidates who are wholly owned by the NRA. Drive home the point that voting for specific candidates is voting for the NRA support of mass murder. Or more positively put, that the only way to close the gun show loophole is not elect the NRA’s pawn.

    Stopping the NRA owning elections is the only way to get even modest gun safety laws. That was the President’s point. That every voter is responsible for the future of gun safety legislation.

  82. 82.

    Kate P

    October 1, 2015 at 8:33 pm

    I used to worry because my daughter works as a counselor in a high poverty urban school, now I am beginning to think she made the “safe” choice.

  83. 83.

    Mnemosyne (iPhone)

    October 1, 2015 at 8:34 pm

    @Chris:

    And it doesn’t help that stupid people (like a Supreme Court justice who shall not be named) assume that any fictional show set in modern day must be a documentary. I mean, “Game of Thrones” is torture porn, too, but it’s harder to sell as a model for public policy since it has dragons flying around.

  84. 84.

    Elizabelle

    October 1, 2015 at 8:37 pm

    Foxwatching:

    Bill O’Reilly talking with someone who might be a student at the Oregon campus, and is a veteran too. Bill O asks what guy thinks when he hears Obama speaking about guns.

    student: “What about Chicago?”

    Bill O: “Yeah, that’s what I think too.”

    Whoever said that would be the response, several hours ago … bingo on Bill O.

  85. 85.

    Elizabelle

    October 1, 2015 at 8:39 pm

    @MazeDancer: We could do it, too. Bring down some NRA pawns.

  86. 86.

    Betty Cracker

    October 1, 2015 at 8:39 pm

    @Morzer: I leave troll banning to Cole, and they have to clear a pretty high bar to get the boot, (i.e., gross, egregious, racist or misogynistic attacks on other commenters, stalking, doxxing, etc.). That’s as it should be, IMO, even though it leaves the door open for some incredibly annoying and stupid assholes.

  87. 87.

    David Koch

    October 1, 2015 at 8:39 pm

    @redshirt: what about tan-suite-gate or mustard on cheeseburger-gate. didn’t that make you doubt him, just a little?

  88. 88.

    Mandalay

    October 1, 2015 at 8:40 pm

    @David Koch: Meh. You have done a fine job of strangling my love for Bernie, but I’m not especially swayed by that particular video clip (which I don’t trust since it was obviously carefully spliced).

    But gun control could become a real wedge issue between him and Clinton.

  89. 89.

    Snarkworth

    October 1, 2015 at 8:41 pm

    CBS News tonight surprised me…they really put this in context, talking about how congress refused to do anything about guns after previous disasters, even though the American people overwhelmingly wanted action.

    Just struck me as a departure from the usual mealy-mouthed “what can you do?” narrative.

  90. 90.

    Elizabelle

    October 1, 2015 at 8:42 pm

    Bernie for instant background checks. Unlicensed gun owners loophole should be eliminated.

    He doesn’t think we should be selling automatic weapons. More mental health care.

    Is this the Bernie people think is a gun threat?

  91. 91.

    Roger Moore

    October 1, 2015 at 8:42 pm

    @Chris:

    I’ve been saying for years that arms dealers are to the United States what drug dealers are to Mexico.

    Yeah, but the guns that cross our border to Mexico are doing far worse things to their country than the drugs that cross the other way are doing to ours.

  92. 92.

    Elizabelle

    October 1, 2015 at 8:44 pm

    Has his thinking evolved over time? (Voted against suits against gun manufacturers; that’s a problem.)

    Strong INSTANT background checks. He’s constant on the INSTANT part. I would think effectiveness and comprehensiveness is more important than speed, but …

  93. 93.

    Elizabelle

    October 1, 2015 at 8:45 pm

    Would like to hear Bernie say something about owners having to insure and secure guns. Not hearing that.

    But he is someone one can work with on guns.

  94. 94.

    Anoniminous

    October 1, 2015 at 8:45 pm

    Bernie Sanders on Gun Control.

    Rated F by the NRA, indicating a pro-gun control voting record.

  95. 95.

    Aleta

    October 1, 2015 at 8:45 pm

    For a start, people might try to vote these sheriffs out of office: http://cspoa.org/sheriffs-gun-rights/
    It’s the typical Oathkeepers stuff.

    Sherrif Hanlin (elected in Douglas Cty, Oregon and overseeing today’s killings), is on this list. He (and the others) sent a pretty outrageous letter to VP Biden in Jan 2013 to let him know he would not enforce any gun control laws passed by Congress or orders by the President that “are deemed unconstitutional.” Mother Jones has the letter.

  96. 96.

    HumboldtBlue

    October 1, 2015 at 8:45 pm

    @Mandalay: Bernie isn’t a Democrat and his ties to the NRA have been duly noted in two threads today.

  97. 97.

    Betty Cracker

    October 1, 2015 at 8:47 pm

    @graham: Amen!

  98. 98.

    Elizabelle

    October 1, 2015 at 8:47 pm

    @Aleta: How inconvenient for Hanlin.

    The Tulsa sheriff who allowed his friend to carry a firearm as a volunteer deputy, and insurance mogul/play cop shot the unarmed guy: sheriff resigned yesterday. Took a while, but his fate was sealed …

  99. 99.

    redshirt

    October 1, 2015 at 8:48 pm

    Hey Betty,

    Can we get a football thread?

  100. 100.

    Elizabelle

    October 1, 2015 at 8:49 pm

    @Snarkworth: Good on CBS. Thank you.

  101. 101.

    Anoniminous

    October 1, 2015 at 8:50 pm

    @Snarkworth:

    WHAT?!!?

    runs outside

    Nope. The sky is still there.

  102. 102.

    David Koch

    October 1, 2015 at 8:50 pm

    @Elizabelle: no, it’s the one who “thinks there’s an elitism in the anti-gun movement” and dismisses the utility of gun laws, “if you passed the strongest gun control legislation tomorrow, I don’t think it will have a profound effect on the tragedies we have seen.” It’s the one who votes to protect gun corporations over dead kindergartners.

  103. 103.

    Betty Cracker

    October 1, 2015 at 8:53 pm

    @redshirt: Didn’t even realize there was a game! Gimme a sec and I’ll post something under Adam’s thread upstairs. Is the dog murderer taking snaps? If so, Go Ravens, I guess. Bleh.

  104. 104.

    Mnemosyne (iPhone)

    October 1, 2015 at 8:54 pm

    @Anoniminous:

    Rated F by the NRA, indicating a pro-gun control Democrat voting record.

    Fix’d. The NRA is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Republican Party. Is there a single Democrat currently in office who voted in favor of PPACA and also has an “A” rating from the NRA?

  105. 105.

    Chris

    October 1, 2015 at 8:55 pm

    @Mnemosyne (iPhone):

    I think “24” was unique in that it was very, very meaningfully casting itself as a war on terror show that was pushing one side of a real debate.

  106. 106.

    Roger Moore

    October 1, 2015 at 8:55 pm

    @Elizabelle:

    Tim Kaine came out for that weeks ago. Not sure of the specifics of his proposed legislation, but he was governor during the Virginia Tech massacre, and that is not an experience one ever forgets.

    For related issues, while I am frequently disappointed by Dianne Feinstein, I know I never need to doubt her sincerity in supporting gun control. She has terrible first-hand experience of what guns can do, and she is never going to back down on this issue.

  107. 107.

    Anoniminous

    October 1, 2015 at 9:02 pm

    @Mnemosyne (iPhone):

    Did you read the link?

  108. 108.

    Elizabelle

    October 1, 2015 at 9:13 pm

    The White House sent video of Obama’s address tonight out as an email. That will make the rounds.

  109. 109.

    Gin & Tonic

    October 1, 2015 at 9:25 pm

    @Elizabelle: But he is someone one can work with on guns.

    Assumes facts not in evidence.

  110. 110.

    Mnemosyne

    October 1, 2015 at 9:37 pm

    @Anoniminous:

    Yes. Did you? Because these are the subject headings:

    Mixed approach to gun control vs. gun rights
    I’m pro-hunting, but no one needs an AK-47 to hunt
    Voted YES on banning high-capacity magazines of over 10 bullets.
    Voted YES on allowing firearms in checked baggage on Amtrak trains.
    Voted YES on prohibiting foreign & UN aid that restricts US gun ownership.
    Voted YES on prohibiting product misuse lawsuits on gun manufacturers.
    Voted YES on prohibiting suing gunmakers & sellers for gun misuse.
    Voted NO on decreasing gun waiting period from 3 days to 1.

    I would not call that a strong record of being pro-gun control, which is why I find the NRA “score” to be suspect.

  111. 111.

    RaflW

    October 1, 2015 at 9:39 pm

    @Snarkworth:

    CBS News tonight surprised me…they really put this in context, talking about how congress refused to do anything about guns after previous disasters, even though the American people overwhelmingly wanted action.

    That is surprisingly helpful.

  112. 112.

    bystander

    October 1, 2015 at 9:50 pm

    @Betty Cracker: You might consider adding “artless” to the list, just to cover wannabe satirists.

    This mass murder will be indistinguishable from the others 6 months from now. And the repubs who have a stranglehold on our government will still be referred to as “Congress”.

  113. 113.

    The Pale Scot

    October 1, 2015 at 9:56 pm

    Prez Obama to America:

    “You people are fucked up”

  114. 114.

    Cervantes

    October 1, 2015 at 10:20 pm

    @RaflW:

    Surprisingly honest.

    Helpful or not remains to be seen.

  115. 115.

    MobiusKlein

    October 1, 2015 at 10:23 pm

    @A guy: takes one to know one. And so’s your old man

  116. 116.

    Arclite

    October 1, 2015 at 11:00 pm

    Amazing speech. The Real Obama. He’s given some great speeches over the years, but none like this. Wish we’d had 8 years of lame duck Obama.

  117. 117.

    AxelFoley

    October 2, 2015 at 1:57 am

    @A guy:

    Obama is a stupid fuck

    Eat shit, asswipe. And choke on it, bitch.

  118. 118.

    AxelFoley

    October 2, 2015 at 2:01 am

    @Sourmash:

    Only quibble is that he even mentioned that maybe this won’t happen again in his tenure as president. Odds are that it will happen many more times before January 2017.

    Um, he did say that odds are it will happen again before he leaves office.

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