House Speaker, Paul Ryan had this to say, "People have a guaranteed right to Second Amendment rights,' Ryan said. 'We’re not going to take away a person’s constitutionally guaranteed rights without due process.” Alright, the process is to draft bills and to let members vote on them. The bills have been written. However, the Speaker is refusing to let members vote. That act by the Republican-controlled Congress is thwarting the due process.
In reaction to being thwarted, Democratic Members of the House of Representatives are staging a protest. They simply want a bill on which to vote.
The majority of Americans want stricter gun control legislation, and the current subject is to restrict persons on suspected terrorist lists from purchasing guns. That is reasonable in the wake of American gun violence and massacres, don't you think?
Here is what Donald Trump thinks.
"Keep enemies of the state away from guns
Q: You've talked about wanting to keep the terror watch list but, under current law, individuals on the terror watch list and the no-fly list have been allowed to buy guns and explosives. Are you OK with that?
TRUMP: We have to have a watch list, but we have the laws already on the books as far as Second Amendment for guns, if people are on a watch list or people are sick, this is already covered in the legislation that we already have,
Q: But under current law people on the watch list are allowed to buy guns.
TRUMP: If somebody is on a watch list and an enemy of state and we know it's an enemy of state, I would keep them away, absolutely.
Source: ABC This Week 2015 interviews of 2016 presidential hopefuls , Nov 22, 2015
Gun-free zones are target practice for sickos
The gun-free zones are target practice for the sickos and for the mentally ill. They look for gun-free zones. The six soldiers that were killed. Two of them were among the most highly decorated, and they weren't allowed on a military base to have guns. And somebody walked in and shot them, killed them. If they had guns, he wouldn't be around very long. I can tell you, there wouldn't have been much damage. I think gun-free zones are a catastrophe. They're a feeding frenzy for sick people.
Source: GOP "Your Money/Your Vote" 2015 CNBC 1st-tier debate , Oct 28, 2015
Gun ownership makes US safer, not more dangerous
Q: You have a concealed weapons permit. Why?
TRUMP: Because I like to have myself protected.
Q: In the context of current gun violence, would you advise people to get that?
TRUMP: Well, I'm a big Second Amendment person. As an example, for the horrible thing that just took place in Oregon had somebody in that room had a gun, the result would have been better.
Q: So, should people get armed the way you are?
TRUMP: Well, that's up to them.
Q: What about teachers?
TRUMP: I think that if you had the teacher, assuming they knew how use a weapon, which hopefully they would, you would have been a lot better wh
Source: CBS Face the Nation 2015 interview by Bob Schieffer , Oct 11, 2015
Mental health more important than gun control
TRUMP: No matter what you do, guns, no guns, it doesn't matter. You have people that are mentally ill. And they're going to come through the cracks. And they're going to do things that people will not even believe are possible. And whether it's the school shootings, which are really very prevalent in this country. They seem to be more prevalent in this country.
Q: What's your explanation?
TRUMP: They're just sick people. They are mentally imbalanced.
Q: Do you think we have more mentally ill people than other countries?
TRUMP: I think what we have is I think we have copycats. I think they watch it and they see it here maybe more than other places.
Source: Meet the Press 2015 interview moderated by Chuck Todd , Oct 4, 2015
Laws are ineffective in preventing gun violence
Q: Should there be a sense of urgency on gun control?
TRUMP: The way I look at it, you take Chicago, you take Baltimore, you take various other places where you have tremendous gun violence and death, right? The strictest laws in the United States-- in the world-- for guns happens to be Chicago where they have a lot of problems. Baltimore, a lot of the places where you have the biggest problem is where they have the strongest laws. So I don't think it's about laws.
Q: But local laws without a national floor are pointless.
TRUMP: It really is mental health problem.
Q: You don't believe that we have too many guns?
TRUMP: Well, for example, the school at which the last mass shooting occurred was a gun-free zone and you were not allowed to have guns there. You could make the case that it would have been a lot better had people had guns because they could fire back."
http://www.ontheissues.org/Celeb/Donald_Trump_Gun_Control.htm
Here is what Hillary Clintons says about gun control.
FactCheck: 33,000 gun deaths includes suicides & accidents
Hillary Clinton asserted, "90 people a day die from gun violence in our country. That's 33,000 people a year." Is that true? We checked and found that her statement was technically true but misleading.
The federal CDC publishes statistics on causes of death for all Americans. Here are the figures from their 2013 update:
21,175 suicide by gun
11,208 homicide by gun
505 accidental discharge of firearms
32,888 total deaths by firearm
So Secretary Clinton is technically correct about her figures. The misleading aspect is that voters interpret "death from gun violence" as "murder". Self-inflicted and accidentally-inflicted deaths should not count in a political discussion about restricting firearms (or at least, should be counted differently). Clinton chose to use the misleading statistic because it is more persuasive than saying "11,000 deaths from intentional gun violence against others". We rate Clinton's statement as "true but misleading."
Source: OnTheIssues FactCheck on 2016 NBC Democratic debate , Jan 17, 2016
I support Brady Bill and closing the Charleston loophole
CLINTON: I have been for the Brady bill; I have been against assault weapons. I have voted not to give gun makers and sellers immunity. And I would hope that [others] would join the Democrats who are trying to close the Charleston loophole. We need to move on this consensus that exists in the country. It's no longer enough just to say the vast majority of Americans want common sense gun safety measures including gun owners.
OnTheIssues explanation: "The Charleston loophole" refers to a recent shooter in Charleston S.C. who legally purchased the weapon he used in the shooting because of a "default proceed" rule. That rule means, if the FBI does not notify the dealer within three days, the purchase can proceed. In the case of the Charleston shooter, he WAS on the FBI list due to previous arrests, but due to a clerical error by a county jail clerk reporting his arrest with the4 wrong agency, he was allowed to purchase the weapon.
Source: 2015 ABC/WMUR Democratic primary debate in N.H. , Dec 19, 2015
Arming more people is not appropriate response to terrorism
O`MALLEY: Secretary Clinton changes her position on this every election year. When ISIL does videos that say the easiest way to get a combat assault weapon in the US is at a gun show, we should all be waking up.
CLINTON: Guns, in and of themselves, will not make Americans safer. We lose 33,000 people a year already to gun violence, arming more people to do what I think is not the appropriate response to terrorism. The first line of defense against radicalization is in Muslim-American community.
Source: 2015 ABC/WMUR Democratic primary debate in N.H. , Dec 19, 2015
Reverse gun manufacturer immunity; let them get sued
Q: You say that Senator Sanders took a vote on immunity that you don't like. So if he can be tattooed by a single vote and that ruins all future opinions by him on this issue, why then isn't he right when he says your wrong vote on Iraq tattoos you forever in your judgment?
CLINTON: I said I made a mistake on Iraq, and I would love to see Senator Sanders join with some of my Senate colleagues in addition the Senate that I see in the audience. Let's reverse the immunity. Let's put the gun makers and sellers on notice that they're not going to get away with it.
SANDERS: Let's do more than reverse the immunity.
Q: Was that a mistake, Senator?
SANDERS: Let me hear if there's any difference between the Secretary and myself. I don't know that there's any disagreement here.
Source: 2015 CBS Democratic primary debate in Iowa , Nov 14, 2015
Don't shield gun manufacturers from lawsuits:I vote that way
Q: For a decade, you said that holding gun manufacturers legally responsible for mass shootings is a bad idea. Now, you say you're reconsidering. Which is it: shield the gun companies from lawsuits or not?
SANDERS: Bernie Sanders has a D-minus voting rating from the NRA. Back in 1988, I told the gun owners of Vermont that I supported a ban on assault weapons. I have strongly avoided instant background checks, doing away with this terrible gun show loophole. And I think we've got to move aggressively at the federal level.
Q: Is Bernie Sanders tough enough on guns?
CLINTON: No, not at all. We have to look at the fact that we lose 90 people a day from gun violence. This has gone on too long and it's time the entire country stood up against the NRA. The majority of our country supports background checks, and even the majority of gun owners do."
http://www.ontheissues.org/2016/Hillary_Clinton_Gun_Control.htm
Democratic House Members staging a sit-in for gun control legislation
thwarted by the Speaker of the House
thwarted by the Speaker of the House
Stricter gun controls are needed at once.
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