The Funny Papers

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Tuesday Thought #2

If You F-Bomb A Republican They Tattle On You

I have been impressed and amazed by the high students stepping up in the gun control debate; I love the fierceness, the eloquence, the passion they all have when speaking on this issue. I myself tend to go a bit more gutter-mouthed when railing against the NRA.

And so I was also impressed by 17-year-old Noah Christiansen impassioned phone call to Mark Amodei, his Nevada state Congressman, about the issue and the fact that he told the lawmakers to “get off their f‑‑‑— asses” and pass gun-control laws.

What failed to impress me, however, was that Mark Amodei, a Republican, because of course, had his staff call Christiansen’s school, Robert McQueen High School in Reno, and report the student’s use of the F-bombs, and watch as Christiansen was suspended for two days and barred from joining the student government.

Oh, Mark Amodei … fuck off, sir, kindly fuck off.

Even more childish of the grownup is his defense of his staff’s tattling on Noah Christiansen:

“Welcome to the world where words have impact.” 

Oh Mark Amodei, welcome to a world where asshats lose elections.

Noah Christiansen’s disciplinary record was nearly spotless; he was running unopposed for class secretary; … had never so much as had detention before. But one day at school he joined a walkout in support of the Parkland students and made that phone call.

At 10:17 AM—symbolic for the 17 people killed in Florida—Noah left class one minute early and joined hundreds of other students gathering at the front of the school.  There he took a handout from other students, a list of lawmakers and their’ phone numbers.

Noah wanted to call all of them but settled on Amodei because he knew of the congressman’s record as a gun-rights supporter.; when a staffer answered the phone, Noah said:

“I believe bump stocks should be banned, the minimum age should be raised, and Congress people not already asking should get off their f**king asses and do something about gun control.”

Noah admits he wasn’t so smart in his choice of words, but he does have the right to use the words of his choice; sadly, the GOP fuckmonkey Mark Amodei got his NRA panties in a snit and had his people call the school and while like a gaggle of little bitches about the F-bomb.

Amodei, however, defended his aide’s decision to report Noah:

“He didn’t ask for any specific thing or beat the kid up. He just said, ‘I wanted you know that this guy was really vulgar. We had a lot of calls and nobody else was.’”

So, so, so, sorry Mark Amodei., now … fuck off, asshat.

Students like Noah Christiansen are coming for your seat in Congress and will work to fill it with rational thinking people and not just goose-stepping NRA lapdogs with blood on their hands.

You’re lucky I didn’t call because I’d still be on the line and still be far more vulgar than Noah Christiansen.

But, this is all far from over …

Since Noah’s impassioned plea for gun control legislation did not occur during school or at a school-sanctioned or -sponsored event, the ACLU of Nevada is stepping in to defend him, calling the suspension an unconstitutional attack on Noah’s First Amendment rights.

But officials say Noah Christiansen has a habit of bad behavior and cited the time at a school debate tournament earlier this year when Noah Christiansen went off-script to give his thoughts on how _____’s policy positions and rhetoric is harmful to the community.

Afterward, Noah wrote a letter of apology to his student opponent, who lodged an unfounded bullying complaint against him.

But Noah was never disciplined for that, so why is the school bringing it up now?

Apparently, they want to look as foolish and childish and asshatted as Mark Amodei.

WaPo

ACLU

The United States of Guns: Court Rules Doctor's Can Talk Gun Safety With Patients

Just last week a federal appeals court cleared the way for Florida doctors to talk to their patients about gun safety. What the what, you say; before the appeal doctors couldn’t discuss gun safety? Why is that?

Well, three little letters: NRA. And three more: GOP.

In its 10-to-1 ruling, the full panel of the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit ruled that doctors could not be threatened with losing their licenses—or being fined—simply because they asked their patients if they owned guns and for discussing gun safety:

“Florida does not have carte blanche to restrict the speech of doctors and medical professionals on a certain subject without satisfying the demands of heightened scrutiny.”

In its lawsuit, the medical community—in a case dubbed Docs v Glocks—argued that questions about gun storage and gun safety were crucial to public health because of the relationship between firearms and both the suicide rate and the gun-related deaths of children.

It all began in 2011 when the GOP-controlled Florida legislature, with the support of the GOP-controlled Florida governor, Rick Scott, passed restrictions—aimed mostly at pediatricians—stating that doctors could lose their licenses or risk large fines for simply asking patients or their families about gun ownership and gun habits. The GOP-controlled legislature, bought and paid for by the NRA of course, wanted us to believe that they were concerned after hearing some people say they felt pressured to answer questions about gun ownership.

The question isn’t about owning guns; it’s about responsible handling and storage of guns to protect their children, but, apparently, for some of these wingnuts, questions about guns are more bothersome than a doctor just making sure your children are safe.

The Florida law was the first in the country to try to restrict the First Amendment rights of doctors to discuss gun safety and storage with patients and, now, this new court ruling will most likely make it more difficult for other states to pass a similar, ridiculous, measure.

And, naturally, National Rifle Association [NRA] is not happy; they also felt that the medical community’s gun-related questions were discriminatory and also a form of harassment, because the NRA has never seen a gun they didn’t want sold in America and a gun-owner they didn’t want armed to the teeth, even when those gun-owners shouldn’t have guns, say, because of a criminal history or a history of mental illness.

Luckily, then, that the Court of Appeals decided that the law does not violate the Second Amendment, and found that this line of questioning by healthcare experts constituted harm.

Seriously, this is the GOP and the NRA, thinking that a doctor, a pediatrician, asking if you owned guns, if you stored them away from your children, so that perhaps Little Johnny or Little Sally didn’t one day find the weapon and blow their heads off, or the heads of anyone else in the family, is discriminatory.

That’s the United Sates of Guns for the GOP and the NRA but, thankfully, cooler, more rational, less gun-toting heads prevailed.

This time ...

NYT

The United States of Guns: Background Checks and Three-Day Waiting Periods Don't Work

Those of us who fall on the side of sensible gun control should be worried; very worried.

Background checks and waiting periods don’t work; we found that out here in South Carolina last year when a murderer was “mistakenly” sold a gun that he then sued to murder nine people at a Charleston church. The 21-year-old charged — and, just so you know, his name will never appear on this blog — in those nine murders, was allowed to purchase a .45-caliber handgun at a Columbia store because federal authorities could not locate the arrest records within the three-day period; the murderer had a drug charge on his record that would have disqualified him from purchasing a gun.

In 2015, over a quarter of a million background checks were left incomplete after the federal government’s three-day waiting period, meaning that 271,359 guns were sold before the purchasers background check was even finished.

Bad? What’s worse is that when the background checks were completed it was discovered that 9,063 guns had been sold, in South Carolina, to people whom the FBI had determined after-the-fact should never have had a gun. But those nine thousand folks got their guns because the FBI could not complete a background check in time.

Now, to be fair, the FBI doesn’t know how many background checks actually resulted in a gun purchase, so there’s no way of actually knowing how many of those 9,063 people who weren’t checked before purchase actually left the store with a gun. But even if one person who should not be allowed to own a firearm was allowed to purchase one because it just takes too darn long to finish the background check, then maybe the background check and waiting period needs to be longer, huh? Maybe we should oh, I don’t know, make people WAIT until the background check is done, however long that takes, before selling a weapon.

And we do know how many people who do buy guns when they should not have been allowed because of the FBI's retrieval requests; the FBI sends a list of those folks to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms [ATF] and they go out and confiscate those weapons. In 2015, the FBI sent 2,892 such requests to the ATF, up from 2,511 requests in 2014.

Looks like more and more people, who shouldn’t have guns, are getting them.

Luckily South Carolina’s Congressman, James Clyburn, a Democrat because, of course, has proposed the Background Check Completion Act, which would prevent a gun from being transferred by a licensed dealer until the background check is finished no matter how long it takes.

“The latest numbers show the problem is not going away, but getting worse. Congress must pass my bill, the Background Check Completion Act, to close the Charleston Loophole and keep dangerous weapons out of the hands of people the law already says should not own them. The policy should be very simple: no check, no sale.” — Rep. James Clyburn

Doesn’t that seem right? You know, better safe than sorry; better safe, than dead.

Take a minute to get your Congressional representatives a shout out — find them HERE — and tell them that this loophole that allows people who should not have guns to purchase guns, needs to be closed.

One life saved would be enough.

The State