Today is Thursday, June 2, 2022. Today President Biden spoke to the nation from the East Room of the White House in a stirring speech about the carnage in our streets produced by assault-style weapons. In a primetime speech lasting only 17 minutes, Biden urged Congress to “finally do something.” Several times he implored “Enough is enough.” He then called on lawmakers to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, as the country reels from three mass shootings in the last three weeks.

At one point, Biden gave a grim tally of the recent sites of mass shootings: Columbine, Sandy Hook, Charleston, Orlando, Las Vegas, Parkland, and now Uvalde, Texas. He indicated after each and every one of these mass murders, nothing was ever done. This time, Biden noted, something must be done. At one juncture, Biden asked, “How much more carnage are we willing to accept?” To Republicans, they could accept infinite carnage as long as assault weapon are never banned.

The President also said that if Congress could not ban assault weapons, then it should raise the age to purchase those types of guns from 18 to 21. He also called for the strengthening of background checks and called for the passage of “Red Flag” laws which allow courts to remove firearms from those deemed a danger to themselves.

Revealing the grim reality of meeting with family members whose children were murdered in Uvalde, Biden said, “We [First Lady Jill Biden] spent hours with hundreds of family members who were broken, whose lives will never be the same. They had one message for all of us. ‘Do something. Just do something. For God’s sake, do something.’

Accompanying Biden’s walk to the podium were fifty-six lit candles, representing all 50 states and territories. It was meant to symbolize that the “gun epidemic” will take a national response to solve and the nationwide scope of the crisis.

Now the major question remains after Biden made an impassioned plea for change in this blood-drenched United States: Will there be 10 repugnicans in the Senate who will finally vote their conscience instead of declaring their fealty to the gun lobby? I seriously doubt there will be that many repugnicans willing to show their loyalty to children not getting killed in schools.

House Democrats did meet today to debate gun-control bills to address the violence permeating society, as examined in an online article in USA Today by Candy Woodall entitled “‘Shame on us!'”: House hearing debates gun-control bills to address mass shootings.”

Thus the House Judiciary Committee met in the shadow of yet another mass shooting in America, this time in Tulsa, Oklahoma. They met to debate some of the most sweeping gun-control measures considered by Congress in decades. Finally!

The new legislation, dubbed the “Protecting Our Kids Act,” after 19 children and two adults were killed last week in a Uvalde, Texas, elementary school was pushed by House Democrats as their repugnican colleagues showed their cowardly colors by saying “it was too soon to act.” Fuck them! This is preposterous – their argument is pure bullshit. To them, it’s always too soon to act even though at least 31 people – and probably many more – have been killed by gunmen with assault-style weapons in only about three weeks.

The reprehensible Dumpf lapdog Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio stupidly argued that Democrats have “rushed” to pass a gun-control package “in what seems like political theater than a real attempt at improving public safety.” This is just another ridiculous repugnican trope and has no basis in reality. This clown is the top repugnican on the Judiciary Committee, for those who are interested in knowing.

Democrats correctly argued that Congress has waited too long to act, to the consternation of this repugnican bastard. Here are the grim statistics: 311,000 students have experienced gun violence since the Columbine mass shooting in 1999, according to data from The Washington Post. House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler of New York recalled how many years have passed since the first major school shooting at Columbine – 23 years; it’s 15 years since Virginia Tech; it’s 10 since Sandy Hook; and it’s only 4 since Parkland. He grimly stated, “It has been a week since we learned again that gun violence can reach any of our children and grandchildren at any time, and that no number of armed guards can guarantee their safety.” He loudly wondered, “Who knows how long ’til the next one? My friends, what the hell are you waiting for?” This is the rebuke to Jordan’s fucking weak argument.

The package of six bills as outlined by Democrats will ban “weapons of war.” Their legislation would:

1. Raise the minimum age to buy semiautomatic rifles from 18 to 21
2. Ban high-capacity ammunition magazines.
3. Bar the sale of “ghost gun” kits without a background check or serial numbers stamped on the parts.
4. Increase penalties for illegal “straw purchases” of guns.
5. Require gun owners to safely store their weapons, especially when children are present.

These five measures were included in the President’s address to the nation tonight. To me, these are very sensible gun control measures that should be passed immediately, but given the horrible situation in the Senate, no one can tell if this will ever happen, even if a majority of Americans, both Republican and Democrat, demand it!

A bizarre moment occurred at the House Judiciary Committee meeting when a Florida (of course, what better state would produce this mentally deficient lawmaker other than DeSant-ASS’s Florida?) repugnican Rep. Greg Steube used his time to appear remotely with an assortment of guns he owns in a stunning attempt to show what firearms could be banned by the leftist Democrats.

Proudly displaying his manly toys, Steube said this about one of them: “Right here in front of me, I have a Sig Sauer P226,” holding up the weapon that could be seen on the screen. “It comes with a 21-round magazine. This gun would be banned.” So fucking what?

The crazy lawmaker then tried to insert a smaller magazine into the gun, which did not fit “because this gun was made for a 21-round magazine.” Too bad, Greggy boy.

Steube didn’t stop there with holding up two of his beloved weapons. He then held up several other guns, which prompted Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson of Texas to say, “I hope the gun is not loaded.”

The sarcasm from the Democratic lawmaker was met with arrogance on the part of gun-loving Rep. Steube when he retorted, “I’m at my house. I can do whatever I want with my guns.” Let’s hope this nut job adequately stores his many “weapons of mass destruction” away from any children he might have. God forbid if they ever get their little hands on them in some open cabinet.

Becoming a fast friend to fed-up Americans over the intransigence of repugnicans over their opposition to doing anything about passing new gun safety laws, Democratic Rep. David Cicilline expressed anger at his repugnican colleagues over this point in their longstanding opposition: “Spare me the bullshit about constitutional rights,” in referring to a debate on red flag laws, where some opponents of the laws argue the measures infringe on due process rights. Cicilline exploded with fury, stating, “You know who didn’t have due process? You know who didn’t have their constitutional right to life respected? The kids at Parkland, and Sandy Hook, and Uvalde, and Buffalo, and the list goes on and on.” This should shut up those repugnican cowards at the meeting.

Firebrand Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland accused repugnicans of misleading the American public about the Second Amendment in their specious arguments against tighter gun regulations at one point.

Raskin spoke for so many Americans when he retorted, “My colleagues are throwing up the Second Amendment as a smokescreen to protect their opposition to any reasonable gun safety regulation. Enough – that’s what’s killing America. You’re confusing people by saying that somehow any form of gun safety regulation violates the Second Amendment. That’s nonsense. That’s bull. That’s ridiculous.” Well said, Mr. Raskin.

It’s getting late here. I’ll just say that we received a good report from Jocelyn’s vet today. He declared her lungs clear and that that there was no worsening heart developments, so this was very good news. Other than that, that was the highlight of the day.

So have a good Friday.

Stay safe and be well.