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Health & Fitness

Syndicated Columnist E.J. Dionne Calls for Republican Support for Reasonable Gun Measures

Will the GOP echo the view of most Americans or will it Continue to Side with Gun and Ammunition Manufacturers and the National Rifle Association? Stay Tuned!

Washington Post syndicated columnist E. J. Dionne has a marvelous and important column that appears in today’s Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Jan. 10, 2013): “Calling All Republicans: Only with GOP Help Can Gun Safety Prevail.”

It is obvious that imposing even the most modest and reasonable restrictions and regulations designed to keep high-powered weapons and ammunition out of the hands of the homicidal will be a challenge, given the historic power of the gun manufacturers’ best friend, the National Rifle Association.

Mr. Dionne is quite correct, that initiatives will go nowhere without a fair amount of Republican support, as gerrymandering enables the GOP to maintain a considerable plurality in the U.S. House.

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Mr. Dionne states, “Suburban Republicans especially need to declare their independence from viewpoints antithetical to those held by the vast majority of their constituents.” Are you listening, Representative Tim Murphy? No, I am quite certain that he is not listening, at least, not yet. Representative Murphy recently had the audacity to state that he sees gun control measures as a “distraction,” not at all a part of the discussion or the solution to horrors such as that which occurred in Newtown, Connecticut.

I wonder if Representative Murphy will slam his office door in the face of his former colleague Gabrielle Giffords when she seeks to address the members of Congress in a plea for reasonable regulations on firearms.

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People of goodwill should say, and continue to say to Representative Murphy, the following, “No one measure is an instant solution to the multi-faceted problem of the United States being the gun murder capital of the world, but why must we make it easy for those inclined toward slaughter to inflict misery, pain, and grief upon so many”?

I do not consider myself a one-issue voter, but this issue is critical to me. Senator Robert Casey has had the courage and decency to renounce his former position of being pro-gun with virtually no limitation. I will be closely watching the actions of Representative Murphy and Senator Pat Toomey. I will expect nothing from them and will be pleasantly surprised if they choose to act.

I believe that those that seek regulations on guns which would infringe on no one’s Second Amendment rights are on the side of the angels, including the 20 angels whose bodies were riddled with fatal bullet wounds in beloved Newtown.

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