Thursday, January 10, 2013

Daily Kos: This time things are different.

Daily Kos: This time things are different.:


This time things are different.

That is the first line of Reframing the Gun Debate, a New York Times column by Charles M. Blow that I highly recommend.
He follows with this paragraph:
This time, nearly a month after the horrible mass shooting in Newtown, Conn., the public attention hasn’t ricocheted to the next story. On the contrary, sorrow has hardened into resolve.
Blow reviews the apparent approach of the White House, including the Vice President's frank statement that the President may take executive action on some things.He will also go through the arguments offered by General McChrystal about why military style weapons should not be in civilian hands.
But for me the heart of his op ed begins with this attempt to reframe the discussion:

First, let’s fix some of the terminology: stop calling groups like the National Rifle Association a “gun rights” group. These are anti-regulation, pro-proliferation groups. They prey on public fears — of the “bad guys with guns,” of a Second Amendment rollback, of an ever imminent apocalypse — while helping gun makers line their pockets.
At this point, perhaps the American people are finally willing to hear the truth about the NRA and the gun industry.Please keep reading.