Friday Follies: We Both Reached for the Gun Edition

So what are people saying about guns, now that some time has passed since Sandy Hook Elementary's tragedy?  The Obama Administration seems to be coming down to proposals on universal background checks (which like 85% of people support and a whole lot of people think is already the law - it's not, there are gun-show and internet loopholes) and banning high-capacity magazines, but abandoning the assault weapons ban.  If you disagree with that, the time to let people know is now.  Here's what people have been talking about, about guns...


The Scary:

• Conspiracy Brother Alex Jones (he gets uber-scary starting at the 2-minute mark) - 

                                                          

• There is a dude who thinks threatening to kill people is a good way to get people to stop demanding gun control.  James Yeager - who is the CEO of Tactical Response, a Tennessee-based company that specializes in firearms and tactical training - I'm going to just give you the link to the story with the video, because dude just starts just swearing.

• The NRA has gotten an increase in paid members since Sandy Hook - in the neighborhood of 100,000...  BUT over 900,000 people support the petition by Mayors Against Illegal Guns (Bloomberg's group) to Demand a Plan to end gun violence.

The Bizarre:

• Silencers protect kids' hearing?  Not criminals?  Hmm.

• Ban me?  No, Ban YOU.  Wyoming lawmaker proposes a state ban on enforcing any federal ban of guns.  Dude.  It's called the Supremacy Clause.  Look into it.

From Newtown

• The NRA is "disappointed" that VP Biden is calling for restrictions on guns.  In related news, the NRA is "disappointed" that the sun rose this morning.

• Please call us "gun safety" advocates, not "gun control" advocates.  Um, okay.  Did Luntz put you up to this?  Because this sounds like him...

The Sad:

• The Biden press conference on gun control happened at the same time as a new school shooting in California.

• Why is the NRA so intractable, even in the response to tragedy and their own members' support for reasonable gun control measures (see below)?  Well...

• Gun deaths in America since Newtown (695 at last count - 7 of them children, 27 of them teens).

The Useful:

• LUNTZ!  Doing something positive!  Way to come to the light side of The Force, man -

The Luntz-man.

• 74 percent of NRA members and 87 percent of non-NRA gun owners support requiring criminal background checks of anyone purchasing a gun.

• 79 percent of NRA members and 80 percent of non-NRA gun owners support requiring gun retailers to perform background checks on all employees – a measure recently endorsed by the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the trade association for the firearms industry.

• 71 percent of the NRA rank-and-file also supports barring people on terror watch lists from buying guns. 

• 64 percent of NRA members believe gun owners should be required to alert police about lost and stolen guns. 

• The NRA’s Washington office strongly opposes all of that.

• Syracuse basketball coach Jim Boeheim uses the occasion of his 900th win to advocate for gun control (KY Coach Rick Pitino agrees) - 

                       

• Bubba: half of mass killings have happened since the assault weapons ban expired.  Also, high-capacity magazines are nuts.

• Lots of Famous People - 

                       

• Governor Cuomo - 

...I'm with the Gov, man:  Stop.  The.  Madness.  Stand with the kids and teachers and cops, not the gun manufacturers and criminals.