Victims of Gun Violence Subjected to Background Checks by Senate
Message to you people from the corporate puppets of America. You can
watch the mostly
repugican cowards spit in 90% of America’s faces but
calling the out will result in a background check. Don’t you dare
believe that the First Amendment applies to you, while sitting in the
Tea House or the NRA owned Senate.
It’s okay to invade a woman’s privacy or personal autonomy, but hey,
if you want to buy a military assault weapon your privacy matters.
After voting against expanded background checks to buy deadly
weapons, our Senate added insulted to Patricia Maisch and Lori Haas,
both VICTIMS of guns violence because they uttered 3 words: “Shame on
you!”
Maisch and Haas, who said what sane America was thinking at the time,
were promptly ushered out of the gallery. After that, they underwent
more scrutiny for exercising their First Amendment rights than someone
would undergo to buy a gun.
ThinkProgress reports,
As they left the Senate gallery, a police officer
approached and asked them to follow him. The three walked downstairs to a
public hallway, where they were peppered with questions: “What’s your
name?” “Where are you from?” “What are your Social Security numbers?”
The officer left to run a background check on the women, who were
instructed to sit on a bench. Another uniformed officer watched over
them, even escorted Haas to the bathroom and told her she couldn’t lock
the stall door.
This is reminiscent of Maria Meecham’s
experience in the gallery of the House of Representatives, after two repugican Congressmen from her state high-fived, each other following a
vote that denied a minor pay raise for the troops that repugicans like
to use as props when professing how much they support our troops.
Words by victims of gun violence warranted a background check, but
doing the same in the name of keeping deadly weapons out of the hands of
people who shouldn’t have guns is seen to be an infringement on their
Second Amendment rights. Corporate profits trump everything. The Second
Amendment trumps the First Amendment and for that matter, our right to
not be shot.
The irony wasn’t lost on Lori Haas, who told Think Progress:
“Very ironic that an hour and a half investigation into
two women shouting in the Senate gallery takes place and yet real
criminals and other prohibited purchasers get willy nilly access to fire
arms.”
In another Onionesque moment, the Voter (no)Integrity Project
of North Carolina wants voters to be fingerprinted before they can
exercise their franchise because it’s so much easier than voter ID and
cheaper too. As for the idea that it would be an invasion of privacy
(as the right wing argued against background checks to buy guns) here is
their response. “ Since the name of the voter is already a matter of
public record, that too would be a tough objection to deliver while
keeping a straight face.”
So there it is, people. The freedom fighting corporatists think
speaking warrants a background check, fingerprints should be mandatory
for voting, but knowing anything about someone who wants to buy a
military assault weapon – that’s treading corporate America’s freedom to
profit from rapists, domestic abusers and violent criminals. In other
words it’s guns over people, speech, voting, women’s personal autonomy
and anything else resembling freedom for we, the people.
Threat to Brazil tribe not lifted
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