The presidential race has degeneratedto the point where I am going to attempt tocheer you up by talking about abortion andguns.
And state legislatures. We do not, as anation, devote a whole lot of attention towhat happens in state capitols, althoughI personally enjoy those fights aboutselecting an official rock or state muffin.
In recent years, one of the most popularactivities in many legislatures has beenfinding new ways to expand the rightto bear arms in places like schools(Utah) or bars (Tennessee) or airports(Georgia). The other is tromping onreproductive rights. I am telling you allthis as a lead-in to a fascinating bill thatwas recently proposed in the MissouriHouse of Representatives. It would treatMissourians seeking to buy firearms thesame way it treats Missourians seeking toend a pregnancy.
“For instance, there would be a 72-hour waiting period,” said the sponsor,Representative Stacey Newman.
Missouri has piled so many unnecessaryrequirements on abortion providersthat it’s down to one clinic in St. Louis.
Newman didn’t attempt to limit the stateto one gun store — her bill just requiresthat residents buy their guns at a licenseddealer located at least 120 miles fromtheir homes. After cooling their heels in alocal motel for three days, the prospectivebuyers would have to listen to a lectureabout the medical risks associated withfirearms and view pictures of people withfatal gun wounds.
Most Missouri lawmakers regardthemselves as pro-life. Therefore, Newmanfeels, they ought to want to do somethingabout the fact that St. Louis and KansasCity both rank in the top 10 Americancities for firearm deaths.
“It was one way to get people’s attention,”she said.
Nobody thinks her bill is going to pass— or even get a hearing in the Republicandominatedlegislature. Newman says theodds are far more favorable for proposedlegislation that would allow people tocarry concealed weapons on collegecampuses and require that women whowant abortions get permission from theman who impregnated them.
We live in hard times, people. Butwhen you think of Missouri, give a fondmental shout-out to Stacey Newman. Andremember her lesson — when it comes tocivil liberties, there’s currently far moreconcern in this country over the right tobuy weapons than there is over a woman’sright to control her own body.
All the major Republican candidatesfor president are pretty much on the samepage when it comes to firearms. So muchso that you probably can’t guess which oneof them said: “I used to think they neededto be registered, but if you register themthey just come and find you and take yourguns.”O.K., it was Ben Carson.
All the major candidates are alsoopposed to giving women any rightswhatsoever when it comes to terminatinga pregnancy. But lately, there’s beendisagreement on the far edge of the issue:whether bans should include an exceptionfor rape and incest victims. It came up ata recent gathering of a group of donorsand activists called the Republican JewishCoalition. (This was the same event whereDonald Trump told his Jewish audience:“I’m a negotiator, like you folks … Is thereanyone in this room who doesn’t negotiatedeals?”)Senator Ted Cruz, the up-and-comingdarling of social conservatives, wasasked about his abortion positions, and herambled on about the evils of contraceptiveswithout ever acknowledging that he doesoppose giving any leeway in the cases ofrape or incest. Cruz is also, of course, anavid protector of all things gun-related,and recently theorized that the manarrested in the mass shooting at a PlannedParenthood clinic was a “transgenderleftist activist.” Ah Ted Cruz, Ted Cruz.
“If the nominee of the RepublicanParty will not allow an exception for rapeand incest, they will not win,” predictedSenator Lindsey Graham, who followedCruz to the podium. The presumptionis that voters will demand some show ofmercy, but there are plenty of women whoare not victims of rape whose stories areequally heart-rending. Girls who becomepregnant before they’re old enough toknow what they’re doing. Poor womenwith several children and two jobs whosebirth control method fails. Women whodesperately want a baby but discover thefetus they’re carrying is too deformed tosurvive after birth. Most Americans don’twant to prioritize — they’d leave the wholematter to the women and their doctors.
But t he cu r r e nt d eba t e o n t heRepublican side has slid so far to the rightthat the moderates are people who do notwant to force rape victims to carry thefetus to full term. Or allow concealedweapons in kindergarten.
Maybe what this campaign needs is a72-hour waiting period for everything.
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