#RandiRhodes @RandiRadio blog: 'Children Are Dying'
by Randi Rhodes,posted Jan 31 2013 1:22PM
Today at a Senate hearing on gun violence, both Gabrielle Giffords and Wayne LaPierre spoke. Gabrielle Giffords presented a moving testament to the need to rein in gun violence. And Wayne LaPierre did the same thing—just not intentionally. If Gabrielle Giffords doesn’t fill you with enough compassion to make you want to do something about gun violence, Wayne LaPierre will fill you with enough fear to give you plenty of motivation. I know that gun advocates hate it when shooting victims testify—yet they are totally unwilling to take any actions to reduce the number of shooting victims. As long as the gun advocates insist on their right to stockpile military-style weapons, sadly we will always have a steady stream of shooting victims and family members to testify at these hearings.
Then the NRA’s Wayne LaPierre had the brass to say “Unfortunately we’ve seen a dramatic collapse in federal gun prosecutions in recent years.” Could part of that be that your allies in the Congress have kept the BATF without a director? The NRA and its allies in Congress have impeded every effort at every level of government to stop illegal gun sales or even to keep track of criminals and the mentally ill. If the present law is not working, that’s because the NRA won’t let it work.
Senators Ted Cruz and Lindsey Graham are angry that they couldn’t bring guns to the hearing as some sort of sick visual aid. Frankly, I think they should have let them do it. I can’t think of a better argument for gun control than the image of somebody like Ted Cruz wielding an assault rifle at a Congressional hearing.
Here’s a shocking but totally non-surprising fact: 131 of the 233 House Republicans represent districts that are more than 80 percent white. Republican state legislatures have carved out all of these lily-white districts. It’s not just gerrymandering, it’s white-man-dering. Decades after we made segregation illegal, Republicans have managed to impose de facto segregation onto our electoral map. With these racially gerrymandered districts, the Republicans don’t really represent America. They’re actually closer to representing South Africa—and the South Africa of 1985, at that.
Listen to The Randi Rhodes Show Monday through Friday 6 PM to 8 PM on WWRWL AM 1600.
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