Georgia Senators Johnny Isakson (“A” rating from the NRA) and Saxby Chambliss (“A+” rating) joined 14 Republican colleagues Thursday in voting to begin a Senate debate over gun control.
For that, they have been harshly criticized as traitors, RINOs and sellouts by fellow conservatives. Chambliss has already announced that he will not seek re-election in 2014, but for Isakson, the vote could have important repercussions. And that’s just crazy. In fact, it epitomizes the venal, knowing stupidity of much of our modern political discourse.
Let’s be clear about what’s going on: The 68-31 vote taken Thursday wasn’t about passing an actual gun-safety bill. It wasn’t a vote on whether the Senate should be allowed to vote on an actual gun-safety bill. It was a vote on whether the Senate, supposedly the greatest deliberative body in the world, should even be allowed to talk about a gun-safety bill on the floor.
If you think about it, that’s remarkable. Given what has happened in Connecticut and elsewhere, why should political leaders such as Isakson have to risk their careers just to allow a debate over these issues? Why are the NRA and its supporters so terrified?
The question becomes even more pertinent when you consider just how mild the proposed legislation really is. Although there are proposals out there to once again ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, those are going nowhere. The only legislation that could even plausibly pass the Senate would expand background checks for would-be gun purchasers, tighten laws against criminal gun-trafficking and improve reporting of those too mentally ill to be allowed to purchase weapons.
That’s all.
Yet to hear gun-crazy groups tell it, the legislation will practically clear the way for confiscation. In one Internet ad, for example, the National Association of Gun Rights accused Isakson of “helping grease the skids for Barack Obama’s radical anti-gun agenda.” It also urged readers to demand that Isakson join “Senator Ted Cruz and Senator Rand Paul’s filibuster of ANY and ALL gun control legislation. That includes so-called ‘Gun Trafficking,’ ‘Mental Health Screenings’ or expanding ‘Background Checks!’”
On what crazy planet do provisions addressing gun trafficking, mental health screenings and background checks constitute a “radical anti-gun agenda”? More to the point, what crazy planet gives veto power to people who promulgate and believe such nonsense? Oh, right: This crazy planet.
I’m usually an optimistic sort. But garbage like this gets really, really frustrating. Thanks to Thursday’s vote, we’re going to at least hear the U.S. Senate debate this issue. After weeks of discussion, at least 60 senators will then have to vote in favor of allowing a vote. If that obstacle is cleared, we may see an actual vote on the legislation itself.
If this so-called “radical anti-gun agenda” somehow survives all that, what happens next? Probably nothing, to be honest. The bill will then go to the U.S. House, where it will die.
On opening day at major league stadiums around the country including Turner Field, a moment of silence was held this month for the 26 victims — 20 children, six adults — at Sandy Hook Elementary School. The ceremonies were sweet and well-intentioned. They gave everybody a nice, warm feeling, and a reassuring sense that the victims and their families had not been forgotten.
But if nothing changes, if we can’t take even the mildest of steps to tighten our laws, those gestures will have been as empty as those 20 Connecticut bedrooms.
