As more politicians weighed in on the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, it became apparent that they did not relate to the real world. Instead, they live in a political dome that excludes everything but pleasing Donald Trump, re-elections, and big donors. One politician’s answer to mass shootings with semi-automatic rifles was so absurd, it needed to go to the very top of the political bad ideas list.
David Hoggs survived yesterday’s mass shooting at #Parkland. Now he wants politicians to move beyond ‘thoughts and prayers. and take meaningful action.
Will Congress listen? pic.twitter.com/hDYAffE3vY
— Anthony G. Brown (@RepAnthonyBrown) February 15, 2018
Former South Carolina Lt. Governor, Andrew Bauer (R), said that he had the solution to this serious problem, which has spread violently across our nation. Bauer had a three-pronged answer to mass shootings. He said on CNN to beat them, make them watch the old TV series, Andy Griffith, and make them pray in school:
‘We have a culture thing here that we’re not discussing. When I grew up it was (the television show)Â Andy Griffith. You never had school shootings and we still had prayer in school and we drove to school with guns in the car.’
He got worse the longer he spoke. Bauer said that the Republicans would not take action against guns. He blamed teens eating Tide PODs and “a cultural shift” :
‘Today, we are in a different time. The movie industry, the rap industry in general talks about these things that are common now and we have almost desensitized it. Now we have to worry about kids eating Tide PODs. Instead of discipline – we go after parents who discipline their children. When I was in school, the principal had a paddle. It was called the Board of Education, and he used it on all the students. We have changed the mindset today. It’s scary now that students would even contemplate this type of behavior.’
Fortunately, there are a few politicians who live in the real world. Former Michigan governor, Jennifer Granholm responded to Bauer. She said that she respected the gun culture in American, but:
‘That doesn’t mean that you can’t have reasonable restrictions. Do you think there is a moment now for Republicans, either out of fear or morality or compassion, to say enough is enough. We are going to do some reasonable restrictions?’
The former South Carolina politician answered, avoiding the issue of guns:
‘I think it sounds good. I think there is a bigger problem. If you look in Virginia, one of the biggest school shootings ever, it was done with a handgun, not an AR-15 (semi-automatic rifle).’
Then, Granholm came back into the conversation:
‘There (are) an awful lot of gun control measures that do have impact. There’s been a lot of studies about this. There’s no question. For example in Connecticut, when they adopted tough gun control, they saw 40 percent decline in homicides by guns. Contrary to that, in Missouri, where they have very lax standards and they release them, you increase gun homicides. Those are just two anecdotes of a million about what the impact is.’
The former governor continued:
‘There’s no question that reasonable restrictions work. There’s no question that gun owners themselves are in favor of background checks, mental health checks. The only question is, why does Congress not act? And it is because of the NRA.’
Politicians when asked how to prevent another mass shooting. pic.twitter.com/TCfPpWUkaa
— Cameron (@CameronScribs) February 15, 2018
Featured Image via Getty Images/George Frey.
