In the last 72 hours there have been 93 gun-related deaths in the USA - IN ADDITION TO the 49 killed in Orlando. http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/artic...ated-deaths-in-72-hours-not-including-orlando "Five people died in a mass shooting in Roswell, New Mexico. Four of those were girls aged between three and 14. Juan David Villegas-Hernandez, 34, is now charged with murder. He is accused of killing his 34-year-old wife Cynthia Villegas and their four daughters - Yamilen, Cynthia Janeth, Abby and Ida." Speechless ...................
Looks like this was one very long debate about the gun laws in America... 14 hours worth of talkiing, described as a 'filibuster' - (had to google that word as i'd no clue what it meant...) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-36545432 Lets hope it was all worth it in the end...?!?
Red, you should watch the US TV series The West Wing - it's very handy for learning all these US political phrases!
Sarah Palin's comment today on Jo Cox tells you everything you need to know about Americans and guns.
The US Senate rejects terror list gun sales restrictions...!! http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-36563337 Back to the drawing board then...
There's a great picture circulating on Twitter which shows all the Senators who voted against the Bill(s) and how much the NRA have donated to their campaigns. Money talks.
Looking at the voting lists, they pretty much voted according to party lines: In the two votes held the first was 47-53 with two Republicans voting with the Democrats and one Democrat voting with the Republicans. In the second vote it was 44-56 with one Republican voting with the Democrats and three Democrats voting with the Republicans.
I can only echo what has been said throughout the thread. The US is a terrifying country sometimes that for all it's greatness, is a long way behind the rest of the world. For me, America builds itself on heroism. It's the one constant running through its veins. You take away Guns and suddenly the victim stance and the heroism is gone. I always feel, when watching the head of the (insert State here) police department addresses the media to update the world on a mass shooting, as if its the day they have waited for their whole lives. Does anyone kind of get what I mean? US films are all about heroes and fighting against evil. You take away Guns (evil), and you don't need heroes. Their media would be lost for what to write in my view. They're a very complex country with far more influence than logic. It seems like more and more of their people are waking up though now.
I saw a heartbreaking post on Facebook this morning that had gone viral: a US mother had posted a picture after she found her three year old daughter standing on the toilet seat. When she asked her what she was doing she told her mum that they had been taught at nursery what they should do in the event of a lockdown. What kind of country thinks its ok to have to teach small children how to hide from rampaging gunmen and what must those poor children be thinking about life and the comprehension that someone might come in to their school to shoot them?!
Democrats occupy the floor in a sit-in aimed at forcing a vote on gun control http://www.bbc.com/news/video_and_audio/headlines/36601526
The salient point of the above article, was the failure of a 100 previous bills on the subject in the last 5 years. The sit in looks great, but it too looks doomed to failure. How sad is that?
Unless the Democrats can win a majority and take back the House in November, all they can hope for at this stage is keeping the debate in the public eye. Hopefully a lot of Americans might have had their eyes opened to the fact that the NRA is buying votes in the House and that they are no longer prepared to stand for it. I love that C-SPAN took their video feed from the Periscope video being broadcast from a Congressman's phone. How dare the Speaker shut off the cameras in the hope of silencing democracy!
One of the horrendous things about these gun deaths, is that unless a massive shooting incident takes place, hardly any of it makes too much of a ripple. In a three day period from the 19th through to the 22nd of this month, more that a 100 American citizens died by gun fire.
I don't know how many of you watched The West Wing when it aired, but there are some great pieces on gun control. If only US lawmakers actually behaved this way!
