My first thought on hearing that gun control legislation with universal background checks was not even going to be debated in the US Senate – too many white guys. Not enough people with other life experiences and backgrounds.
Harry Reid seems to want to keep his version of the Senate as a group of close and honorable colleagues in his brain, regardless of his actual recent experiences. He would not let the new young smart Democratic senators of both genders kill the 60-vote deals, because if so, the Republicans would do the same to them in future terms. Those Republican senators slyly agreed to be moderate – and then promptly broke their word at the first opportunity.
I am glad that the constituents of at least 3 Senators – 2 Dems and 1 R (a woman) – are calling them out on these votes against the mildest of gun legislation. I also love Joe Nocera’s daily count in the New York Times – giving us one or two sentences about gun tragedies all across the country.
These white guys – and the women who vote the same way – are the last of a dying breed in this country. Most folk below 50 are multicolored and much more exuberant and very tolerant. So it’s only a question of time until America returns to its senses.
But I don’t want to wait – let’s keep pushing until even The White Guys get that gun legislation is necessary – to have a ‘well regulated militia – as the Constitution says.