Tag: background checks

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News Round-Up: February 20, 2018

Great Britain’s bob sled team

Some news items you might have missed:

• Kenneth-in-the-212 points up that Great Britain’s bobsled team (above) has a lot to offer both on and off the track 😉

• Newly-installed Army Secretary Mike Esper says the issue of transgender soldiers serving in the military “hasn’t come up” when he talks to American soldiers.

• South Carolina lawmakers have filed legislation that would define marriage as only between men and women, and deem same-sex unions as “parody marriages.” One of the authors of the bill calls same-sex marriage “an impersonation of actual marriage.”

• The latest Quinnipiac poll shows a staggering 97% of Americans support requiring background checks for all gun purchases.

• The Department of Defense’s new policy on service by transgender troops is due tomorrow. Does Defense Secretary James Mattis have a plan?

• Out UK singer Calum Scott covers Gay Times Magazine. In his interview, Scott explains how his songwriting changed after coming out: “When I was honest about myself and my feelings and especially my sexuality, it started flowing out of me like a river.”

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White House: Trump Is “Supportive” Of Efforts To Improve Background Checks For Gun Purchases

The White House has announced Donald Trump “is supportive of efforts to improve the federal background check system” in the aftermath of the Florida shooting last week which left 17 dead and dozens injured.

Via CNN:

Principal Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah said in a statement on Monday that Trump spoke with Sen. John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, on Friday about a bill he introduced with Sen. Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat, that aims to strengthen how state and federal governments report offenses that could prohibit people from buying a gun.

“While discussions are ongoing and revisions are being considered, the President is supportive of efforts to improve the federal background check system,” Shah said. Students, teachers and lawmakers have urged Trump and other Republican lawmakers to take action on guns in the wake of the Parkland, Florida, shooting.

Trump, however, ran for president as a pro-gun candidate and tied himself to the National Rifle Association throughout the campaign. The White House didn’t vigorously push the Cornyn-Murphy bill when it was introduced, and the President also said he was open to banning bump stocks, devices that enable rifles to fire more rapidly, in the wake of last fall’s Las Vegas shooting — but there hasn’t been significant further action by the White House on that front, either.

To date, the only action taken by Donald Trump on the issue of guns was to roll back regulations that made it more difficult for those with mental health problems to get firearms.

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President Obama’s Frustration With Congress Over Yet Another Mass Shooting: ‘Somehow This Has Become Routine’

At a press conference Thursday, President Barack Obama’s frustration with a lack of action from Congress to prevent mass shootings – like the one that happened today at Umpqua Community College in Oregon – was on clear display.

“It cannot be this easy for somebody who wants to inflict harm on other people to get his or her hands on a gun,” Obama said.

“It cannot be this easy for somebody who wants to inflict harm on other people to get his or her hands on a gun,” Obama said.

He recalled an interview in which he said that America is the only country on Earth that sees these kinds of mass shootings regularly. Hours later, there were reports of a shooting at a Lafayette, Louisiana, movie theater.

He continued: “We spend over $1 trillion on preventing terrorism…yet we have a Congress that prevents us from even collecting data on how to reduce gun deaths.”

The president also made note that “our thoughts and prayers are not enough. They are not enough.”

“Somehow this has become routine.”

I agree. Over 80% of Americans support universal background checks when purchasing a gun. Can we not do even just that?

One guy fails to ignite a shoe bomb on an airplane, and now we all take our shoes and belts off to go through airport security. We can’t take a few minutes to do a background check on a felon or mentally ill person?