A Bullet To Representative Democracy

On April 17, 2013, our United States Senate shot down any new legislation to address gun safety issues.  Most notably, it rejected any expansion of background checks for gun purchasers.  The intent of this expansion was to make such procedures universally applicable for all gun sales, including the now-exempt gun shows and online sales.

An astonishing consensus of 90% of Americans have been consistently supportive of such a common-sense measure, including over 80% of gun owners.  But the Senate saw fit to reject this national mandate.  Or, more correctly, 45 of 100 senators voted against it – sufficient to kill it in a parliamentary setting where “the majority” has now perversely become a 60% standard.  Put another way … a minority of 45% of the Senate “defeated” a majority of 55% and rejected what 90% of the country wants to see enacted.  It is a paradox I can think about only so often or so long, because it makes my head hurt.  Only in the archaic, self-serving world of inflated egos that is our U.S. Senate could this through-the-looking-glass scenario occur.  What had been called “the greatest deliberative body in the world” has now become “the world’s most debilitated body.”

The “no” vote was made up of 41 Republicans and 4 Democrats.  4 politically courageous Republicans sided with 49 Democrats and 2 Independents in saying “yes.”  (Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid tactically voted “no” so that he can recall the bill again later.)  In the aftermath of the “no” vote, these obstructing 45 offered up all kinds of varying reasons for their vote against universal background checks – reasons that collapsed under the slightest scrutiny or reasoning:

·       “The bill would add an undue burden and paperwork to gun purchasers.”  (No.  The purchase application is estimated to take less than five minutes.  Far less than registering my car at the DMV.)

·       “The bill would interfere with the ability of qualified purchasers to buy a gun.”  (No.  It would put all purchasers and retail outlets on equal footing, and as intended only prevent the unqualified from buying.)
·       “The bill would lead to a national gun registry database tracking all guns and gun owners, thus invading their privacy.”  (No.  The current background check system has not created such a registry.  The proposed bill specifically prohibits anyone from doing so as a felony punishable by 15 years in prison.  That said, our national registry of automobiles has not limited any qualified driver from buying or owning a car.)
·       “The bill would require onerous background checks for transfers of guns among family members.”  (No.  Provision was made to exempt such private transfers from required retail procedures.)
·       “The bill would not have prevented the Sandy Hook massacre.”  (True.  But it would have potentially led to holding the killer’s mother accountable for irresponsibly making her guns available to her obviously disturbed son.  And it would go a long way to preventing the senseless everyday shooting of our kids on streets and in shopping malls across the country.)
·       “The problem is not guns, but is a mental health issue.”  (No.  Gun violence comes from the mentally ill, from domestic terrorists, from small people trying to act big, and from old-fashioned criminals.  It is a gun owner problem, which is why we seek to do checks on purchasers, not metal firearms.)
·       “Criminals will just ignore and circumvent this law anyway and get guns illegally.”  (On that logic, why do we have any criminal laws?  Criminals by definition ignore and break the law, but the laws prevent many from doing harmful actions.  This “logic” is too stupid to even speak with a straight face.)

All of this false logic, however, attempts to overshadow the three real goals of these 45 votes:
·       to unify a voting bloc of Republicans still intent on defeating any proposal by the current President for their own political advantage, versus governing the country;
·       to stave off in future Republican primary elections potential rivals who would accuse them of being soft on the 2^nd Amendment and of being “pro-government” (as if that would be a bad thing!) – fears about reelection trump good governance;
·       to hide the millions of dollars in political donations from the NRA and gun manufacturers that have been received by 42 of the 45 senators.

So where does this leave the 90% of the country?  We sit anxiously at the bedside of a wounded proposal, but not a dead one.  Remarkably, the public is not yet turning loose of this one.  Approval ratings for these 45 Senators are showing substantial negative impacts.  Media attention continues to trumpet this issue, from conservative Joe Scarborough’s morning commentary to comedian David Letterman’s nightly “Stooge of the Day” pictures spotlighting each one of the 45.  Fundraising to support future anti-NRA candidates is rising, and two leading Republican fundraisers in Florida are refusing to raise money for “no” candidates.  Citizens are showing up at town meetings to call these senators out to answer for their votes.  The tide of action against gun violence may have rolled back for now, but ocean tides of support may well be rolling back in yet again.

Yet all of this legitimate debate about the pros/cons of gun legislation is frankly overshadowed by an issue of even greater and more lasting importance.  Which is that when 45% of our senior legislative body is able to prevent what 90% of the citizenry wants, the unique American concept of “representative democracy” has suffered a major bullet to its core.  It moves “Washington” from being simply dysfunctional to almost treasonable by failing the 225 year old test as to whether “We, the People” can govern ourselves through elected representatives acting on our collective behalf.  This is a far more ominous and consequential threat to our survival as a society than all of the horrible mass shootings combined.  And a far greater and more potent issue for future elections.

Will we remember these 45 votes in the elections of 2014, 2016, and 2018?  This blatant ignoring of the democratic ideal?  The 45 are hoping that their votes will be long forgotten by their next election.  But I have written to my Senator Kay Hagan (D-NC) to thank her for her courageous “yes” vote, and promised to work for her 2014 reelection.  And I have written to my Senator Richard Burr (R-NC, recipient of substantial NRA/gun association donations) to tell him that I would remember his “no” vote all the way to his 2016 reelection campaign.  Further, that I would be writing to him once every month until November 2016 to remind him that I had not forgotten.  (I am hoping that other letter writers will do something similar.)

Lest we forget – April 17, 2013.  The day the grand and noble American experiment of representative democracy was critically wounded by a mass shooting from 45 United States Senators.