Senate Republicans and Democrats reach background checks deal

[Franzl]

Better than nothing.  Which is about all we can ask for nowadays.

[Franzl]

No - of course not.  I never said it would solve all gun violence problems.  But that doesn't make this a bad law.  Just because a law doesn't solve every problem doesn't mean you shouldn't pass it.  Will voter ID laws stop all voter fraud?  Of course not--but that doesn't mean we shouldn't have them.

And just because a law is a feel good response to nanny-staters doesn't mean it's a good idea, or it'll work.

Why do we even bother to limit access to nuclear weapons?

[Franzl]

If this is about preventing violence, then why is Obama getting a free pass to do whatever he wants.

Who knows how many innocent people he's murdered in the Middle East with completely unnecessary drone strikes.

That's a discussion we could certainly have, but irrelevant to the issue of reducing domestic gun violence.

[Franzl]

Gun extremists love argumentation by label. Will "black market" types obey the law? With the definition of "black market" being a market outside the law. Hence the argument really comes down to "people who don't obey the law, won't obey the law." This is hardly even a coherent thought, let alone the decisive argument against life-saving laws.

It won't stop the illegal firearms market. It's just easier and less dangerous to leave criminals alone and go after those who willingly submit to the government.

There you go again. An illegal firearms market is by definition illegal. You labelled it yourself as illegal. Every law ever written is subject to the same criticism that it doesn't stop illegal disobedience of it.

There is nothing voluntary about this law, otherwise it wouldn't be a law. If you don't follow it, there will be punishment. Hence it's not about people who "willingly" submit, it's about all people, whether they're willing or not. They'll all have to go through a background check as enforced to the best of the law's ability. It's amazing when the gun extremists claim that the solution to gun crime is to better enforce existing laws, and then argue against measures like this which are designed precisely to better enforce existing laws.

Well to be fair, he's arguing (I think) that there shouldn't be any regulations on guns, not that existing ones should be enforced.

It's insane, but isn't contradictory.

[Franzl]

NRA opposes the deal, continues to be a joke.

Remember they nominally support background checks...

I mean seriously, these guys don't actually give a crap about gun owners. The only people they actually strive to defend are gun sellers - and they want to make sure they are able to sell to any criminal.

So far as I've read, the deal also closes the gun show loophole, which I'm sure is what the NRA can't stand, and is also the best thing in this half-baby step. The NRA doesn't care about how many dead kids we have, so long as we keep selling more, more, more guns.

Guns don't kill people, people kill people!

[Franzl]

I'm now in a war on Twitter being called a liberal for saying that it's ridiculous to think the 2nd Amendment should be interpreted 100% literally... what a bunch of wackjobs.

I think it's time for someone to switch parties. The Right is getting far too absurd for you.

88% of Republicans support background checks.  (I was also challenged on that figure, provided 3 polls, and then never heard from the nutcase again.)  I'm not in the minority here.  The ultra-right wingers are.... and a very small minority at that.

Doesn't matter. That ultra-right has the power, especially within the GOP.