Just because they’re not anywhere near a majority at the moment doesn’t mean that they’re not prepared to stop on their radical agenda. I imagine that the Tucson shootings must seem to be a heaven-sent opportunity for them:
Rep. John Conyers (Mich.), top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, and 15 other Democrats on the panel sent a letter to Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) on Friday seeking hearings on several gun-safety issues related to the Tucson shooting.
Conyers and his fellow House Democrats wanted to ‘investigate’ (read: grandstand) on extra-large ammunition clips; less superficially obnoxiously, they wanted an investigation into the procedures regarding mentally ill people’s access to guns. The problem is, it’s a little disingenuous of them to have the hearings now. There’ll be plenty of time for those after we hear precisely how Loughner slipped through the system – and actually get confirmation that the man is too insane to stand trial.
House Republicans understand that last bit, which is why I can take this occasion to write something that I had so few opportunities to meaningfully do during the previous four years: “Representative John Conyers? Sit down, make yourself comfortable, and pour yourself a big mug of Shut The F*** Up.”
…Smith, who took over as chairman of the Judiciary Committee at the start of the 112th Congress is rejecting the Democratic demand, suggesting that congressional hearings could interfere with the criminal case against Loughner.
Not that the fear of screwing up a legal case has ever on its own stopped a liberal Democrat from grandstanding with his or her chairmanship privileges, as an examination of the 110th and 111th Congressional record will show. Fortunately, making it impossible for a Democrat to be a Congressional House chairman in the first place works perfectly well as a deterrent against their antics…
Moe Lane
(via somebody or other)
One thing Moe – they’re not grandstanding on ‘extra-large capacity’ magazines – they’re grandstanding on standard capacity magazines for a very large percentage of the handguns in the US – basically almost everything under 40 cal has a larger than 10 round magazine as standard. Don’t let them redefine reality by adopting their terminology.