Side-Tracking the Gun Debate

Author: striker57
The NRA and it’s allies are very good at side-tracking the media coverage of the real issues around semi-automatic weapons and 30-round magazines. Just take a look at what they have been able to generate as “news” while the the final funerals for victims of Sandy Hook are being conducted and 2 NY Fire Fighters were killed by a by an individual using a Bushmaster assault weapon:

A White House petition calling for the deportation of CNN personality Piers Morgan, a U.K. citizen, over his recent comments criticizing U.S. gun laws rocketed past the 25,000 signatures it needed for an official response Monday.
As of this writing, nearly 40,000 people had signed a petition demanding “Mr. Morgan be deported immediately for his effort to undermine the Bill of Rights and for exploiting his position as a national network television host to stage attacks against the rights of American citizens.”
 A petition on the White House’s “We the People” website needs 25,000 signatures in the first month of being posted to earn an official administration response.
and
Morgan isn’t the only news anchor with a White House petition aimed at him.  A petitionto arrest “Meet the Press” host David Gregory for possession of a high-capacity rifle magazine had more than 2,000 signatures on Monday.
While interviewing National Rifle CEO Wayne LaPierre last week, Gregory held up a 30-round magazine to ask if it should be banned. The cartridge is illegal in Washington, D.C.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/274489-white-house-petition-to-deport-piers-morgan-soars-past-threshold
Then you got the god squad types blaming the lack of religion in public schools, the far right and NRA blaming movies and video games:

The head of the NRA, Wayne LaPierre, also blamed the entertainment industry, among others, for contributing to violence in the U.S. He cited “blood-soaked slasher films like ‘American Psycho’ and ‘Natural Born Killers.’”
“Isn’t fantasizing about killing people as a way to get your kicks really the filthiest form of pornography?” LaPierre said. “In a race to the bottom, media conglomerates compete with one another to shock, violate and offend every standard of civilized society by bringing an ever-more-toxic mix of reckless behavior and criminal cruelty into our homes — every minute of every day of every month of every year.”
So far it’s unclear what caused 20-year-old Adam Lanza to shoot 26 people to death at Sandy Hook, before killing himself. There’s no evidence that shows Lanza was influenced by violent TV and movies, though the AP has said he reportedly enjoyed playing the popular game “Call of Duty.”

http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/274393-movie-studios-under-spotlight-in-newtowns-wake
And my personal local favorite, this clown blaming the “mentally ill” and calling for people not guns to be regulated:

LYNN — A former National Rifle Association executive vice president and Lynn native said “restrictions on the freedoms” of mentally ill individuals need to be discussed and established in the wake of the Newtown school massacre.
“One start is to address the part of the mentally ill. There must be some discipline: We can’t just say, ‘We need to help these people.’ We have to start separating the mentally ill from so-called normal people,” J. Warren Cassidy said Tuesday. . .  .
Cassidy said it is time for the NRA to comment publicly on Newtown and state “that the essential problem is mental illness.”
He said gun control proponents “don’t want any compromises” in debate over restricting firearms in the massacre’s wake.
“My point of view I’ve held for a long time is that major parties advocating for gun control is they want to ban private ownership of firearms in the U.S. Don’t be deceived that they want to restrict certain firearms,” he said.