Sensible Gun Ownership

(June 17, 2016 – Washington, D.C.) NCNW expresses its sympathy for those who lives were savagely taken at the Pulse nightclub and we are heartbroken for the loved ones of the victims Orlando terror attack. 

The National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) agrees with efforts to prevent terrorism suspects from acquiring guns or explosives. There is no reason to permit a person with sufficient ties to terrorism that they are included on a no-fly list to obtain a weapon. 

NCNW also agrees that it is time to close the gun show/Internet loophole.  Gun purchasers should undergo background checks no matter where the purchase is made.  There is no rational distinction to be made between guns sold online, in a brick-and-mortar store or at a temporary gun show.  If anything, it makes even more sense to conduct a background check in sales settings where the buyers and sellers are even more anonymous than they are at the typical retail store.  That includes purchases made at gun shows and Internet websites.

We would go further.  Permitting a gun purchaser to obtain a weapon if the background check cannot be completed in three days makes no sense, either.  Dylan Roof might have been stopped from slaying nine Bible study students in Charleston had he been denied a gun as a result of the crimes that a completed background check would have revealed.

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Democrats Leave Philadelphia Stronger Together

Democrats offered a smorgasbord of policy options to one of the most diverse political gatherings in US history. More than half the delegates to the conventionwere black, Latino, LGBTQ, disabled, Native American, Pacific Islander or female. On the history making final convention night, Democrats unabashedly showed their liberal roots. Clinton promised criminal justice reform, infrastructure investments, civil rights enforcement, environmental protection, gun control and debt free higher education. The delegates, blogosphere and even conservative pundits ate it up.

One explanation is that the liberal policy proposals were served as an appetizer to a main course of patriotism, military might, flags and moral superiority. The takeout from the evening’s festivities seemed to leave viewers with a sense of confidence, competence and optimism. In short, stronger together.

It remains to be seen whether Thursday night’s euphoria translates into grassroots GOTV investment and more than a temporary surge in the polls. And even more distantly into the future, the real test of an artfully crafted message is whether any President can pull us close enough together to realize our common destiny as Americans.