Are Politicians 'Cowed' by the NRA

I think the example of the rampant bloodshed in Chicago this month is a very effective response to all the left-wing cries for gun control coming out of the Colorado shooting. But it's interesting seeing progressives getting all worked up about this.

One of the New York Times pieces I've linked recently (I don't care enough to go back and find it) quoted Democrat New York Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy to the effect that Members of Congress were "afraid of the gun lobby." I'll have more on the congresswoman later (she's interviewed at Democracy Now! here), but for now I wanted to share this piece at the Guardian UK, "America's love of guns: how attempts to tighten gun laws have foundered" (Americans are "cowed" by the NRA), and also this CBS News clip featuring Democrat Rep. Jim Moran --- who is factually wrong on at least one or two points (suspect Holmes did not walk into the theater armed, so metal detectors at the door wouldn't have stopped him, for example). And while the "politically castrated" remark is colorful, notice after that how Moran essentially argues that nothing would have stopped the shooter --- he was wearing a "bullet proof vest" --- and citizens defending themselves "would have just caused even more deaths." Perhaps not, especially since Holmes' AR-15 jammed and someone familiar with firearms who was packing would have recognized an opening and perhaps saved lives. It's all conjecture. No one wants a movie theater breaking out in gunfire like "the O.K. Corral," but people like this are ridiculously loose with their statements and fabulously hostile to the Second Amendment. It's been a very revealing last couple of days in that respect.

And toward the end there Moran drops that magic number of "6,000 rounds of ammunition," which as I mentioned is like honey to the busy-bees of the anti-gun lobby. These people sound like raving idiots overwhelmed by all the political opportunity this week. Sheesh.

PREVIOUSLY: "'As Easy as Ordering a Book From Amazon' — Suspect James Holmes Amassed 6,000 Rounds Via the Internet."