Yesterday in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room in the West Wing, named for the press secretary who was near-fatally shot in the head during an assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan, President Obama boldly announced that Vice President Biden would be heading a task force to assemble a syllabus of new regulations against guns and the gun culture. This is, of course, fantastic news and it’s very likely that out of this task force we’ll at least achieve a new ban on assault rifles, a ban on extended clips and the closing of loopholes including the insidious gun show loophole, which allows Americans to purchase firearms at gun shows without a background check or waiting period.
This is a fantastic first step, but as I’ve written before it can’t be the only action that’s taken. During this ongoing process, activists should not only continue to push the federal government to be persistent in its campaign against the gun culture, but there needs to be tenacious activism at the state level, where we’ve witnessed one Republican legislature after another pass horrendous laws against women, workers and minorities.
And it looks like the next state-level legislative atrocity will be a movement to arm school officials and teachers. [continue reading]
