Posted by
Shogrensus on Wednesday, April 18, 2007 12:19:50 AM
Rosie, clearly very upset, spoke of her involvement with the Million Mom March and its efforts to expand gun control following Columbine in 1999.
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Rosie: And you know since 1999, Columbine, what happened? All the mothers got together in America- we formed the Million Mom March. We marched on Washington- estimates of almost 2 million mothers there. We protested, we picketed against the NRA and for the government to make sensible gun legislation and what has happened since then? Nothing. Nothing. I am shocked that I am numb about it. I am shocked that you know Columbine which took me out at the knees, literally, where I thought I would never recover and went on anti-depressants. I thought I don’t know how I had a child like your, like you do. I was your age with a baby and the concept of sending them away from the school from the nest, of the dangers that lurk out there-but somehow this one, I am almost numb to it. I think, well here we go again.
Joy: Do you feel that it’s worthless its useless to protest to raise your voice against gun control? For gun control?
Rosie: I think there will never be gun control in America and I think having tried to fight it for five years of my life it was a futile attempt.
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While she states that there were estimates of 2 million moms marching on Washington in support of gun control, other estimates ranged from tens of thousands to a maximum of 750,000. While the moms made a valiant effort to turn out in droves, the turnout was far below projected numbers. Distorting facts does not support her cause.
The tens of thousands of moms who marched on Washington weren't really picketing the NRA, they were protesting the Second Amendment. The right to bear arms was firmly entrenched in the Constitution in 1791 in the Second Amendment of the Bill of Rights, whether they like it or not.
The most recent court decision about gun rights comes out of the DC Court of Appeals, that ruled that a DC gun ban violated individual gun ownership rights.(Click here to read)
The moms, and any one else who wants to promote gun control through legislative initiatives must root their position in Constitutionally sound arguments or they will lose. Rosie's frustration is indicative of the difficulty inherent in developing such an argument.
Rosie and the moms will have a tough row to hoe if they decide to politicize this tragic event by using it to push a gun control agenda. One mentally ill young man should not have the power, or importance, to usurp the rights guaranteed by the Second Amendment.