• McConnell: There's not much the federal government can do about school shootings
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https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/mcconnell-there-s-not-much-federal-government-can-do-respond-n888676 WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday that he doesn’t think the federal government can do much to respond to school shootings. “I don’t think at the federal level there’s much that we can do other than appropriate funds,” McConnell said at an event with community leaders in the city of Danville during Congress’s Fourth of July week-long recess, according to The Lexington Herald-Leader. The Kentucky Republican also said that improvements to school security might be the best solution — though, he added, Congress could do little on that front either. “You would think, given how much it takes to get on an American plane or given how much it takes to get into courthouses, that this might be something that we could achieve, but I don’t think we could do that from Washington, I think it’s basically a local decision,” he said. “It’s a darn shame that’s where we are, but this epidemic is something that’s got all of our attention,” he added. “And I know it’s got the attention of every school superintendent in the country." His comments Tuesday came days after the mass shooting at the Capital Gazette newspaper in Annapolis, Md., where five people were killed. The GOP-controlled Congress has opposed Democratic calls to pass tighter gun laws such as universal background checks. The last major government spending package Trump signed into law in March, in the wake of the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, included a provision that aimed to improve state compliance with the national background check system for gun purchases. The bill also provided more than $2 billion for school safety, far more than the $50 million the House passed in the STOP School Violence Act, and more than the $100 million in the Senate version of a similar bill. Democrats had argued that the $2 billion figure is Republican spin because that total includes money for programs that already exist. The measure did not provide money for arming teachers. "except appropriate funds", couldn't fit that in the title.
There's lots the government can do even without gun control laws being changed. Better mental health facilities for teenagers for instance. But good luck getting Republicans to put money into anything that doesn't go right into lobbyist's pockets.
This is always the most frustrating thing about the whole argument, like yeah there are a ton of other ways to tackle the issue other than going for guns. But there's literally 0 chance of any of the them happening with a Republican government. So people go after guns because its the easier and more obtainable goal.
https://twitter.com/theonion/status/963923505174728704?lang=en honestly it's getting far past the point of ridiculous
Wouldn't that be exactly what he said though? Apporoptiating funds towards mental health facities for teenagers.
The Onion now reporting on real topics it seems
But haven’t you heard, putting any money into healthcare is basically communism! In in all seriousness, the government needs to change the gun laws and change the way this country handles mentally ill people. It would prevent mass shootings and suicides and would just lead to a safer and happier country, but you’re right there’s no way republicans are doing anything like that.
Sure, but when did you ever see the Republicans appropriating funds towards increasing people's access to healthcare? Usually they go the opposite way.
What laws could be changed to protect more people? I have never been into the gun culture myself, but I see this arguement a lot and don't understand what people mean by it.
Yeah, Republicans are the last people I trust with helping mentally ill people, which is why it especially pisses me off when they go “oh it’s not guns, it’s mental illness!” after every mass shooting. I still think that when it comes to mental health there’s a lot the government could do, at least with making treatment more accessible, they just don’t want to. Just like how they could do something with preventing gun violence, they just don’t want to.
Shockingly the philosophy of limited government does little to actually help those who need it.
Frankly it is shocking, they typically have no problem saying "small government" while taking actions that point toward the exact fucking opposite.
every other western democracy has done a pretty good job of fixing this problem, to say america can't is again an abdication of their duty
Well yeah, everyone knows that it's not that they can't, it's that they (or more specifically, Republicans) don't want to.
This is Mitch in 1990 When I was a child and my dad was in World War II, I got polio. I recovered, but my family almost went broke," he said, over black-and-white pictures of the McConnell family. "Today, too many families can't get decent, affordable health care. That's why I've introduced a bill to make sure healthcare is available to all Kentucky families, hold down skyrocketing costs, and provide long-term care. Dafuq happened to you
power.
Group think and brain drain is one helluva drug
And nobody's willing to budge on guns, either, so that says an awful lot about how much they're willing to fix everything else.
Democrats have a tendency to shoot down sensible gun control laws that actually have a chance of passing, so they can continue to push their AWB shit. They are not innocent in this.
Honestly, every other democracy never had this problem because they never had a gun culture like America.
Invest in proper mental health facilities, put those that need to be there in mental asylums, actually get the FBI/ATF to do their fucking jobs, and disallow the news from constantly making anti-heroes out of mass shooters.
Zero tolerance policies aren't helping
its become an all or nothing issue like abortion though. the NRA regardless of their thoughts and prayers wants no restrictions (except for those preventing imports of foreign made weapons...) and they work day and night to expand gun access, reduce accountability, and block the government from knowing what's even going on. They are the reason why the ATF has warehouses of half filled out paperwork that they have to sift through for every gun crime instead of a centralized database. the democrats for their part do push some bad legislation but there's a court that's entirely too liable to toss all restrictions out on the smallest technicality so it has to be an all or nothing system.
The NRA is the devil in disguise for gun owners. Their sole purpose is to push lobby efforts for gun manufacturers, at the cost of the consumer/members. Democrats suck when it comes to anything sensible too, but there are some decent people who have proposed good ideas that get drowned out in the noise.
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