Darren Bailey, Illinois gubernatorial candidate, wins the Blogorahmah award for fastest GOP dismissal of the shooting in Highland Park. Just a few hours after the shooting, and only 20 miles away, he tells a crowd, let's move on and celebrate the holiday.
He made the obligatory vague references to "thoughts and prayers" and mentioned a couple things about mental health and crime prevention, carefully skirting around any reference, even vague ones, to guns. The usual.
I don't like to post political stuff, and only a few of you read my page anyway, but, c'mon.
Sad to say, and very inconvenient, we have more than one problem in this country. If you're a Republican and reading this, then, sorry I don't mean to offend, but maybe you could look into this Bailey guy and decide if this is who you want to represent your party. If you're a Democrat, and live in Illinois, maybe find out who's running against Bailey and help them out. This is our government--it IS "us,"--so let's think harder about who we hire to run the government.
Oh. Wait. Bailey's campaign later issued a clarification. Well then. We stuff his words back in his head. Never mind. Nothing to see here.
Eh, nothing a politician says on anything surprises me anymore. My expectations for politicians on both sides of the aisle are low in general. It surprises me more that responsible gun owners (which we'll define here as gun owners of sound mind, well-trained in gun handling, and committed to storing their guns safely - I'm not a gun owner, but believe these people exist) aren't more vocal when this stuff happens. I have to imagine that the responsible gun owners would be distressed about the irresponsible people having guns and that responsible gun owners would want to see more background checks, etc.
ReplyDeleteThis particular incident with Bailey is not such a great example of how some Republicans want to appear to be anti-gun-control but may be a good example of how any Republican fears looking too soft on 2nd amendment rights should they even mention guns after a tragedy involving a shooter.
DeleteBut I found his dismissive, let's-move-on attitude so soon--as in, same day--after the shooting to be a little shocking. Not that anything could really shock anymore, as you indicated.
Good point about the "good" gun owners. Where are they? The NRA started out as a very safety and education oriented group but morphed into this confrontational, bulldog, "rights" organization that doesn't actually seem to represent the bulk of its own members. This sort of lines up with the Republicans in general who seem to be intent on establishing a minority rule. Maybe the responsible gun owners don't realize that they are actually the mainstream; maybe they are intimidated. It's a good question.
Responsible gun owners are legion but I think we don't hear from them because they would hold a place in the Radical Center, a political identity I would gladly occupy if it were actually visible and proven to exist.
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