What will it take for gun control laws to change?
By CNN's Jack Cafferty:
The tragic shootings that killed six at a Sikh temple in Milwaukee yesterday come just over two weeks after that massacre in a Colorado movie theater.
And once again, it's sure to revive the debate over gun control.
It seems each time something like this happens, a great hue and cry for stricter gun laws goes up, and dies down just as quickly.
Coincidentally before yesterday's violence a group of mayors released an ad demanding that President Obama and Mitt Romney give us "a plan" when it comes to gun control.
The ad features three survivors from the 2011 Tucson, Arizona, shooting that killed six and wounded 13 others - including former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.
But the reality is, the issue of guns is a political hot potato that no politician, Democrat or Republican, wants to touch - especially in an election year.
There's a reason: a lot of Americans want it that way.
In the aftermath of last month's Colorado shootings, background checks for people wanting to buy guns spiked more than 40% in that state.
Meanwhile a Pew Research Poll taken about a week after the Colorado shootings found very little change in Americans' attitudes toward gun control.
Pollsters say other recent major deadly shootings - including those in Tucson last year and at Virginia Tech in 2007 - had little effect on public opinion about gun laws.
The Pew Poll also found about two-thirds of those polled say shootings like the one in Colorado are just the isolated acts of troubled individuals.
Only about a quarter say shootings like this reflect broader problems in American society.
Here’s my question to you: What will it take for gun control laws to change?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
Why would Congress take a five-week vacation with all the problems facing the country?
By CNN's Jack Cafferty:
Congress is on a five-week vacation. They work so hard. The fact is Congress has accomplished next to nothing, but they think they deserve a five-week break.
Millions of Americans are unemployed, and the average American worker only gets 13 paid days off the whole year. But these clowns think they deserve yet another vacation. It's disgraceful.
Meanwhile, the country's problems, which they left behind in Washington, are serious and many:
- Our runaway national debt is nearing $16 trillion.
- They've done nothing about the automatic spending cuts, including hundreds of billions of dollars to the Defense Department, set to kick in early next year.
- The Bush tax cuts are set to expire at the end of this year. The payroll tax cut is set to expire, and estate taxes will rise dramatically as will capital gains taxes.
It's called the "fiscal cliff" for a reason. Unaddressed, these changes will be painful and dramatic. Congress has done nothing. This list still goes on:
- They've also failed to address the issues of food stamps and farm subsidies as American farmers grapple with the worst drought in decades.
- Also still on the table are must-pass spending bills to keep the government running, a cybersecurity bill and the post office bill, as the U.S. Postal Service faces default.
This Congress is one of the least productive in recent history - and you can thank a toxic, hyperpartisan atmosphere plus election year politicking
It's unlikely any of these things will be addressed until after the election is over. The American people deserve better than this, but we won't get it if we keep vote these same people into office.
On November 6, think "out-cumbent."
Here’s my question to you: Why would Congress take a five-week vacation with all the problems facing the country?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
@jackcafferty on Twitter
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