Yesterday I published a diary suggesting that President Obama declare an emergency that would allow him to ban gun sales until such time as Congress would enact some kind of meaningful gun control. The comments below have persuaded me that even though I was advocating a very temporary action designed to wake up a country and a Congress that truly believes nothing will ever be done, I was wrong to suggest it. The downside of any kind of “state of emergency” outweighs the good that would come from forcing the Congress to act. Therefore, I withdraw the suggestion, insofar as it’s possible to do so. But I still hate the thought that the response to the two mass killings in the last four days will be, yet again, a national shrug of the shoulders. In that way, I suppose it’s a terrible example that elections have consequences.
wilky