TTAG Daily Digest – Wishful Thinking, The Final Solution and Reckless Posting

New York Law School Starts Gun Control Clinic

Michael Bloomberg distributes a little more pocket change . . .

New York Law School announced it is starting a new law school clinic focused on gun violence. The clinic, NYLS-Everytown for Gun Safety Legislative Advocacy Clinic, is possible through a partnership with Everytown for Gun Safety. According to Law.com, this is the first law school clinic of its kind.

Everytown for Gun Safety is a nonprofit gun control advocacy organization created by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2014. Two of the group’s deputy legal directors will lead the clinic as adjuncts. One of them, Jonas Oransky, said, “We consider ourselves a counterweight to the NRA, and we’re up and running in 50 states – pushing strong gun safety legislation and trying to fight the worst gun lobby items. We now have enough work and bandwidth that we can really let students take on a lot of it.”

There are clinics at other law schools that focus on policy or legislation but none are solely focused on gun control. This clinic will allow eight students to spend their time addressing gun safety laws for each state, helping to push for changes to improve gun control and fight off challenges. The legal directors stated they will have the students doing research and legislative outreach work on issues like background checks for gun purchases and stopping domestic abusers from obtaining firearms.

This is how to ultimately defeat the NRA

The NRA’s six million members provide the funding for their political efforts. Seems pretty democratic to us . . .

Cynics are correct to doubt, despite the epidemic of school shootings around the country, that meaningful gun control policy will be forthcoming, even though over two-thirds of Americans want stricter gun laws. And everyone knows that there are two groups to blame: The NRA, and the politicians caught in its thrall.

To break the NRA’s stranglehold on politics, we have to directly address the attributes that make them so effective. This means democratizing political fundraising to limit the NRA’s financial firepower, and expanding the number of active voters to normalize the impact of NRA members in many districts where candidates are held hostage by the organization.

Iceland is a gun-loving country with no shooting murders since 2007

And in the US, gun ownership is a civil right, not a privilege granted by government officials . . .

Candidates are examined by a doctor who checks they are in good physical and mental health.

They have a meeting with the chief of police, who asks them why they want to own a gun and runs a background check to make sure they have no criminal record.

Then comes the lecture, followed by a written test the next day that they have to pass with a grade of 75 percent or higher.

The final part is a day-long practice session at a shooting range outside the capital. Here, against the backdrop of snow-capped mountains, they blast at bright-orange targets fired into the sky by a machine.

“It feels like somebody cares that you’re getting a gun and what you’re going to do with the gun,” Garðarsson says at his apartment on the outskirts of Reykjavik. “So you’re not going to buy a gun to do stupid things.”

Florida Cop Under Fire for Violent Facebook Comment About Parkland Student David Hogg

Wishing harm on the little twerp is stupid and unproductive, but this is tame by any standard . . .

A veteran Florida police officer is facing disciplinary action for posting a violent comment on Facebook about student gun-control activist and Parkland school student David Hogg. K-9 officer Brian Valenti of the Coconut Creek Police Department made the comment on a post about Hogg’s recent anti-NRA “die-in” protest at Publix stores.

Commenting on a photo of the protest, Valenti wrote, “Hope some old lady loses control of her car in that lot. Jus saying.”

Valenti, who has 23 years on the force, later removed the post but not before it was spotted and his superiors made aware of it. The police chief, Albert Arenal, later admitted the comment was “unprofessional and inappropriate,” saying Valenti “will be offering an apology, as he has indicated that he wants to do whatever he has to do to make it right,” the Sun-Sentinel reported. Arenal could not say how Valenti would be disciplined but said the department will “look into it more fully on Tuesday.”