Guns and Society

It appears that it's going to be another do little week with Congress. The big issue is a non-binding statement denouncing the troop surge in Iraq. This, to me, is really nothing more than an election ploy to get candidates to take a stand on the surge, and then wait and hope that things go good or bad, depending on how one votes so that this vote doesn't come back to bite in the next election. If congress were going to be serious, options would be presented. Of course, we already know that Peter Roskam is going to tow the party line on this one and vote to support the surge without reservation, and it is the "without reservation" that is the problem.

But, given that congress is doing so little, perhaps this is a good time to look at some national news that relates to some issues that congress SHOULD be addressing. Yesterday morning's weather story clouded three news items that I think should concern people: a young man went on a shooting spree in the tourist mall of Salt Lake City (killing 6 people); an 86 year old man shot and killed his granddaughter in Phoenix, and a men were killed in a Philadelphia Navy Yard, a fourth injured, and the shooter then killed himself. And in Chicago, a police officer was shot and killed on his way home from his second job. But gun control seems to be out of the news.

When I was in London last month, the one thing we noticed (and talked about with locals) is this issue of gun control. Now, not to idealize places like London by denying that there is violence, the level of violence is far less, and the level of gun violence in way less. AS we were told by some locals, if we were stopped for any reason, and then found to have a knife on us, we would have the book thrown at us.

Here in the US, we are becoming immune to gun violence. In fact, we seem to becoming immune to unnecessary and violent death - whether it's in the form of gun violence or teen traffic deaths. Specifically pertaining to the gun violence, this should present a problem to Peter Roskam. Over the years, he has been a big cheerleader of the NRA (and they, in turn, have been big donors of his). With one exception (closing the gun-show loophole that requires background checks), he has routinely supported and even proposed legislation that would ease gun ownership. He has proposed ligislation that would require the destruction of background records within 90 days (something law enforcement opposes), and routinely opposed banning assault weapons. While in the Illinois Senate, he even proposed a bill that would have prevented suburban localities from banning handguns. (For those interested, a good resource for Roskam's past records on a variety of issues, go to http://www.answers.com/topic/peter-roskam) On January 10, 2007, the Chicago Sun Times had the following Editorial:

“Banning assault weapons isn't a real issue, said Rep. Peter Roskam during his congressional campaign last fall, because there isn't any real incidence of their use in Illinois. It's a familiar refrain among NRA supporters. Well, tell that to Denise Reed, a resident of Chicago's Englewood neighborhood whose 14-year-old daughter was killed by a stray bullet from an AK-47 while looking out the living room window. And tell that to other victims -- inadvertent or other -- of gang violence involving these decidedly non-sporting firearms.”

For someone who touts himself as so vehemently "pro-life", all of this seems odd. Of course, when you also see how he has voted as far as gay rights, or fudning for supporting programs that serve the poor (and the children of the poor - the most vulnerable in our society), it might be fair to say that what Peter values is equally opportunity and protection for all fetuses and stem cells, but when it comes to a walking, talking and breathing human, it's ok to deny rights, opportunities, and protections.