gun control legislaion supported by the NRA?!

file this under "things i never thought I'd read"

via rawstory:

The US Congress, spurred into action by the Virginia Tech shooting rampage in April, approved Wednesday a measure broadening background checks for gun buyers.

The measure, the first major gun control legislation approved since 1994, passed by voice vote in both the Senate and House of Representatives

The legislation provides funds to improve the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), the main US background check system for gun purchases, and to encourage states to broaden checks on local gun owners.

"A credible ... federal database to provide accurate background checks benefits everyone," said Senator Patrick Leahy, one of the bill co-sponsors.

Improving the background check system "will help curb the number of firearms that get into the hands of troubled individuals," he said.

The measure was supported by the powerful gun lobby, the National Rifle Association (NRA), and now awaits President George W. Bush's signature to become law.

"The end product is a win for American gun owners," the NRA said in a statement, describing the measure as "pro-gun legislation."

another reason why the 2nd amendment is a stupid-ass amendment

via msnbc.com:
CINCINNATI - A woman shot and killed a panhandler who asked her for 25 cents, police say.
“He asked her for a quarter,” Police Chief Tom Streicher said. “That’s apparently all there was to it.”

Donald Francis, who police believe was homeless, stood outside a gas station late Monday asking people for money. Geraldine Beasley had complained about Francis to someone else, and when he approached her she pulled out a gun and shot him, police said.

Francis, 44, died at the scene.

Beasley, 62, was charged with murder and on Wednesday was ordered held in lieu of $500,000 bail, according to court documents. Her attorney, Mass Ionna, told Municipal Court Judge Fanon Rucker that his client has mental issues.

Beasley’s court record dates back 15 years with traffic charges, eviction cases and civil judgments both for and against her. She was fined in 2003 for improperly transporting a loaded gun after officers found one in her van.

right-wing idiots blame the victims of the va tech shootings

so basically, it's the students' fault they died cause they didn't rush the shooter or weren't packing themselves? wow...forget simon cowell rolling his eyes, these are the folks really disrepecting the victims.

syndicated radio host neal boortz: "I would love to get some psychological or somebody in the business that can answer this question: How the hell do 25 students allow themselves to be lined up against the wall in a classroom and picked off one by one? How does that happen, when they could have rushed the gunman, the shooter, and most of them would have survived?"

columnist and foxspert michelle malkin: "Instead of encouraging autonomy, our higher institutions of learning stoke passivity and conflict-avoidance. And as the erosion of intellectual self-defense goes, so goes the erosion of physical self-defense."

nathaniel blake of the publication human events: "The students at Virginia Tech should be heartily ashamed of themselves. College classrooms have scads of young men who are at their physical peak, he writes, and none of them seems to have done anything beyond ducking, running, and holding doors shut. Something is clearly wrong with the men in our culture."

but, the worst of the worst has to be the national review's john derbyshire, who not only insults the victims of the massacre, but her even drops a 9/11 reference in there for no reason...maybe he can get a gig writing speeches for the president: "Where was the spirit of self-defense here? Setting aside the ludicrous campus ban on licensed conceals, why didn't anyone rush the guy? It's not like this was Rambo, hosing the place down with automatic weapons. He had two handguns for goodness' sake -- one of them reportedly a .22. At the very least, count the shots and jump him reloading or changing hands. Better yet, just jump him. Handguns aren't very accurate, even at close range. I shoot mine all the time at the range, and I still can't hit squat. I doubt this guy was any better than I am. And even if hit, a .22 needs to find something important to do real damage—your chances aren't bad. Yes, yes, I know it's easy to say these things: but didn't the heroes of Flight 93 teach us anything? As the cliche goes—and like most cliches. It's true—none of us knows what he'd do in a dire situation like that. I hope, however, that if I thought I was going to die anyway, I'd at least take a run at the guy."

what supreme doucebaggery....

kudos to mediamatters.com and "countdown" for compiling these.

short thought on the virginia tech shootings

the horrible events of today in virginia only elicited a short response from the president saying he was "shocked and saddened." personally, i wanted a lot more than this from the president, but i suppose i shouldn't be surprised. the real heroes are the kids and police on site in virginia who tried to help, and as i was thinking about it, i could not help but think of what another president said after 44 people were killed by a bomb at an american college:

"The streets of heaven are too crowded with angels tonight. They're our students and our teachers and our parents and our friends. The streets of heaven are too crowded with angels, but every time we think we have measured our capacity to meet a challenge, we look up and we're reminded that that capacity may well be limitless. This is a time for American heroes. We will do what is hard. We will achieve what is great. This is a time for American heroes and we reach for the stars. God bless their memory, God bless you and God bless the United States of America...'Joy cometh in the morning,' scripture tells us. I hope so. I don't know if life would be worth living if it didn't. And I don't yet know who set off the bomb at Kennison State. I don't know if it's one person or ten, and I don't know what they want. All I know for sure, all I know for certain, is that they weren't born wanting to do this. There's evil in the world, there'll always be, and we can't do anything about that. But there's violence in our schools, too much mayhem in our culture, and we can do something about that. There's not enough character, discipline, and depth in our classrooms; there aren't enough teachers in our classrooms. There isn't nearly enough, not nearly enough, not nearly enough money in our classrooms, and we can do something about that. We're not doing nearly enough, not nearly enough to teach our children well, and we can do better, and we must do better, and we will do better, and we will start this moment today! They weren't born wanting to do this."

yeah, that's president bartlet, again making me think the bush administration should at least hire aaron sorkin to write some speeches for the president.