Baby Steps Towards Gun Safety Sanity

For days right wing radio has been apocalyptic in its response to the fact that the Obama administration would propose dozens of Gun Safety Initiatives by executive order thus bypassing Congress.  I heard Hannity yesterday for a few minutes. I thought he would burst a blood vessel.

But a look at the list does not indicate anything too radical. From a policy standpoint, I might not have had much issue with Executive Authority. Politically though, with tensions high, it is eminently clear that Congress must initiate and pass legislation for anything dramatic to have credibility. It seems to me Obama has done that. The Executive Authority List could not be more innocuous.

This it seems is typical and par for the course. The president makes his moderate suggestions and proposals. Then the Radio Right goes batsh**, starts screaming Socialism and Marxism, and “He wants to take your guns away” and “Obama is doing an unconstitutional end around because he can’t get done what he wants to do in Congress”, just a complete, fat-pack of lies.

Those who are screaming that this is an unconstitutional usurpation of powers are lying to the public. That is unless you consider the Justice Department sending a letter to gun dealers with precise instructions on how to complete background checks a wild-eyed Neo-Nazi National Socialistic proposal. Judging from some of what we have heard these past few weeks there is no shortage of those that do.

The only item that seems even mildly controversial regards Obamacare regulations which prohibit doctors from talking to their patients about guns in the home. First of all, this is stupid policy. Press reports attribute the prohibition to Harry Reid, the Senate Democratic leader and a former Pro-NRA guy, and the president who did not want the NRA effing up Obamacare. It seems like Obama may want to  nullify through Executive order part of a law that he passed and signed. The right will go bat-sh** over that. Beyond that? Nothing. Even there the language “clarify” seems to leave plenty of wiggle room to do precisely nothing regulation-wise. If Wall Street reform is any guide, those hoping for strict regulation not specifically spelled out in the legislation should not be surprised if that one goes away quietly.

·        Clarify that the health-care law does not prohibit doctors from asking their patients about guns in their homes.

In the larger sense the atmosphere is poisonous. I continue to be amazed that a Right Wing cadre of survivalists, ideologues, and radio hucksters, continue with each passing day to veer closer and closer to rhetoric which is openly hostile to American ideals of Democratic process, without paying any penalty in the court of public opinion.

 The last two weeks has seen a litany of veiled death threats, calls for insurrection, succession, and literal calls to arms, with nary a voice being raised to condemn those that would threaten with violence and insurrection that which cannot be legislated. Liberals and leftists, who call for Massive Civil Disobedience Actions in response to this policy or that, are quite often quite loudly condemned. I remember a host of complaints from moderates and even a few faux-liberals condemning the mess that the Occupy protestors left in the parks. Never mind that catastrophe that the banks unleashed with the perverse  greed, “Look at the mess in Zuccotti.” Oh my, they’re so dirty. In response it’s good to remind people of Don Rumsfeld’s famously arrogant remark regarding the looting and rioting in Iraq after the fall of Saddam: “Democracy is Messy.” Where are all those people now? At what point might we hear Brian Williams echo his condemnation of Trump—“He has driven well past the last exit To relevance”—in response to some of what is out there?

As the rhetoric gets increasingly hot, and the radio right fans the flames, up to and including explaining and justifying the secessionists all we here is crickets in response.  This is not to say there are not strong, vociferous even, voices in support of gun safety measures. There are. But the response to the attacks on small-d democratic principles, however the gun policies shake out, has been largely muted.

Not in terms of his first amendment rights which are absolute, but in terms of shared rules of decency and dialogue what are the limits to what  is being said? By Ted Nugent? Alex Jones? And perhaps most obscenely Larry Ward who suggested that “…Martin Luther King, Jr. would agree with me if he were alive today that if African Americans had been given the right to keep and bear arms from day one of the country's founding, perhaps slavery might not have been a chapter in our history.” Mr. Ward no student of history might be interested to know that learn that Bayard Rustin and Dr. Kings biographies tell similar stories about how Mr. Rustin worked on Dr. King to get him make his commitment to Non-Violence complete and dispose of the guns he once kept in his home. Daddy King, Martin’s father, opposed the idea fervently because King was in such danger after Montgomery.

Perhaps it is unfair to condemn the masses for the rhetorical craziness of the fringe, but moderates on the gun issue have been largely silent. The stage has been turned over to the fringe, and their establishment spokesman, Wayne LaPierre who offered nothing, and who himself seems little disconnected from reality.

The radio right’s effort to cast today’s announcement as a usurpation of Constitutional Powers by the President is designed specifically to feed the anger of the ill-informed and to add to the climate of misinformation. This will not calm the wing-nuts, even though some of them have had to back off their initial statements when publicized in the press, or visited by law enforcement, NRA Board Member Ted Nugent, for example.

People have Free Speech Rights to make their statements, but we are veering into dangerous territory. Those opposed to gun control have only heard hotter and crazier rhetoric swirling in their echo chamber. There is no calm, no explanation of the legislative process. Comprehensive background checks for the 40% of purchases that slip through the cracks through gun shows and private sales and so forth have been branded an un-Constitutional attack on the Second Amendment.

On Mental Health, with two exceptions I think the plan is swing and a miss. At the Federal level, programs which are funded in the millions of dollars cannot be taken seriously, and must be considered what they are: Test or Pilot Programs. That said, perhaps the most critical contribution would be the commitment to complete the Obamacare regs which require Health Insurance to cover Mental Health, as well as considering Mental Health a Medicaid covered illness. Outside of these two proposals I fail to see anything bold or comprehensive on Mental Health. The increasing shortage of spaces for those suffering for mental health challenges will continue to shrink.

Following is the list of the Executive Authority Actions. All of the big stuff—Background checks, Re-defining and banning Assault Weapons and High Capacity Magazines, are reserved for Congressional action.

·        Send a letter to licensed dealers providing guidance on how to run background checks for private sellers.

·        Direct U.S. attorney general to review categories of individuals prohibited from having a gun and make recommendations to ensure dangerous people aren't slipping through the cracks.

·        Clarify that the health-care law does not prohibit doctors from asking their patients about guns in their homes.

·        Invest $20 million in fiscal year 2013 to give states stronger incentives to share background data.

·        Hold federal agencies accountable for sharing reliable data with background check system.

·        Require all federal law enforcement agencies to trace all firearms they recover and keep in custody.

·        Propose regulations to ensure law enforcement has access to the database needed for complete background checks to avoid unknowingly returning a gun to an individual who is prohibited from having it.

·        Direct attorney general to work with all U.S. attorneys to ensure adequate resources are focused on preventing gun violence.

·        Publish an annual report on lost and stolen guns.

·        Direct the Centers for Disease Control and scientific agencies to conduct research into the causes and prevention of gun violence.

·        Launch a national responsible gun ownership campaign to promote common-sense safety measures.

·        Review and enhance safety standards for gun locks and gun safes.

·        Direct attorney general to review gun safety technologies.

·        Challenge private sector to develop gun safety technology.

·        Provide incentives for police departments to hire school resource officers through COPS hiring grants.

·        Give schools and other institutions a model for how to develop and implement emergency plans.

·        Share best practices on school discipline.

·        Launch a national dialogue about mental illness.

·        Finalize requirements for private health insurance plans to cover mental health services.

·        Ensure that Medicaid recipients get quality mental health coverage.