Gun Huggers have their knickers in a twist

[billh58]

about the Democratic Party's support for gun control, and especially Gabby Gifford's bipartisan support for Senator Pat Toomey. I posted a portion of this article a few days ago, but parts of it bear repeating:

Second, it must be made clear to both political parties that the gun control movement is now a potent political force and will remain so. The 2016 election cycle brought a historic infusion of resources from gun control groups into the political process, with Michael Bloomberg’s Everytown for Gun Safety and his Independence USA Super PAC, along with Gabby Giffords’ Americans for Responsible Solutions PAC, leading the way. Their spending contributed to some impressive victories, particularly the successful Nevada referendum to extend background checks to all gun sales, in a state with a record of hostility to gun control, aided by $16 million in spending by gun control forces, as well as the defeat of Republican incumbent Senator Kelly Ayotte in New Hampshire, with the help of $8.8 million in ads hammering her pro-gun votes in the Senate. Significantly, Republican incumbent Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania was reelected, even though he sacrificed NRA support by co-sponsoring a universal background check bill after Sandy Hook. Toomey received the support of Everytown and ARS, which sent a message that gun control forces will exercise their political muscle to support Republicans willing to buck the gun lobby. Going forward, this kind of well-financed, hard-nosed election activity by the gun control movement must become a permanent feature of the political landscape in a way that it has not been in the past.

Third, there will be a formidable progressive coalition opposing President Trump’s Supreme Court nominees and the gun control movement must be an active and influential part of that coalition. On the gun issue, nothing is more important, in the long run, than the composition of the Supreme Court. There must be a powerful mobilization against any nominee who would extend the right to be armed to public places, or who would make that right into an inviolable barrier to sane gun laws.

Leon Wieseltier recently called for “a fierce spirit of opposition” to the Trump Presidency. For all who cannot tolerate the scores of innocent American lives lost every day to gunfire, nothing less will do.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dennis-a-henigan/what-does-the-nra-want-_b_13135086.html

The right-wing gun lobby, and its enablers are gnashing their teeth because we are beginning to use their tactics against them. The gun control movement is not, and should not be, a one party issue as it has been for so long. We Democrats can and will support common sense gun control measures, and welcome the support of like-minded Libertarians, Greens, and Republicans.

The USA gun violence epidemic is not a political issue, but a humanitarian one and more and more Americans are getting the message that the anti-American right-wing gun lobby is raking in blood money while killing our children. It is time to put an end to their "deaths for profit" scam.