"Ci aspettiamo un'altra uscita del Presidente contro le armi in America. Cosi' le vendite schizzeranno ancora piu' in alto."
Qesto il commento di un conoscente che lavora in una azienda specializzata nella produzione di armi.
Il dibattito pubblico organizzato da CNN alla George Mason University non poteva essere piu' sintomatico di questa 'mission impossible' che Obama sta affrontando a conclusione del suo duplice mandato.
Qualunque sia la sua simpatia politica l'americano medio non vuole rinunciare ad avere un'arma addosso, in auto, o in casa. Trentamila persone muoiono ogni anno negli States per armi da fuoco includendo anche migliaia di suicidi e di incidenti causati da bambini o adolescenti che trovano in casa armi incustodite. Il resto fa parte delle uccisioni di massa gestite da maniaci con turbe mentali, terroristi, gang criminali e via citando.
Le domande di segno contrario che sono state rivolte al Presidente hanno confermato che l'America e' oggi un paese polarizzato, incapace di trovare soluzioni ragionevoli e razionali ai suoi tragici problemi atavici. Una nazione in cui il dibattito democratico e' manipolato da media prezzolati, denaro diffuso in ossessionanti video clip dei presunti candidati alla presidenza. Un Paese in cui la presenza della National Rifle Association (che si e' rifiutata di partecipare al dibattito CNN adducendo che si trattava solo di PR della Casa Bianca) con i suoi cinque milioni di iscritti e e le centinaia di milioni di dollari distribuiti ai rappresentanti del Congresso dei due schieramenti la fa da padrone parlando alla pancia dell'americano medio che non riesce a usare la testa.
Come ha detto il Presidente: "Negli USA un bambino non puo' aprire una confezione di aspirine ma puo' tirare il grilletto di una pistola."
Qui sotto il nostro Lettore trova l'articolo del Washington Post che fa il punto sulla trasmissione della CNN.
Buona lettura.
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As Obama tries to bridge divide on guns, it seems as wide as ever
Ahead of President Obama’s town-hall-style event on guns Thursday night at George Mason University, the campus police chief sent an email to students alerting them that protesters might show up outside the venue with their firearms.
He
noted that Virginia is an open-carry state, in which it is legal to
publicly carry and display licensed firearms. Though it is not clear
whether anyone did, the matter-of-fact tone of the notice underscored
the challenge for a president who has described his inability to move
the nation toward what he considers “common-sense” restrictions on
firearms as his most frustrating failure.
And it may have highlighted the scope of Obama’s disconnect with a large segment of the American public on the issue.
As
the president appeared before a audience of 100 partisans on both sides
of the debate at George Mason — and was beamed into the living rooms of
homes in red and blue states on the live CNN broadcast — his efforts to
bridge the cultural divide on guns looked increasingly hopeless.
“Celebrate
that we’re good people and 99.9 percent of us aren’t going to kill
anyone,” Taya Kyle, the widow of former Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, whose
story, including his death at the hands of a mentally unstable man, was
the basis of the movie “American Sniper,” told Obama plaintively. She
had written a commentary article earlier in the day saying stricter gun control “won’t protect us.”
Obama thanked her and her husband for their “service.”
The
president has ventured into a battle in which specific policy proposals
are overshadowed by deeply held attitudes about the proper role of the
federal government. The debate is taking place in a country where nearly
a third of the citizens live in a home with guns, according to federal
statistics, and 22 percent report owning firearms.
“I
respect the Second Amendment. I respect the right to bear arms,” Obama
told moderator Anderson Cooper on Thursday night. “But all of us can
agree to take common-sense steps to keep guns out of the hands of people
who want to do harm.”
Aides said before the
event that the president was eager for a “serious conversation” with his
opponents. But Obama’s frustration was palpable from the start. “Our
position is consistently mischaracterized,” he said. Noting that the
National Rifle Association had declined an invitation to the town hall,
the president said: “I’m happy to meet with them. . . . But the
conversation has to be based on facts and the truth and what we are
proposing, not some imaginary fiction that Obama is trying to take away
your guns.”
The event came as the
capstone to a week in which Obama announced new, relatively small-scale
executive actions to regulate the gun industry. In an opinion piece
published in the New York Times late Thursday, Obama said he would not
campaign for or support any politician in either party who does not
support “common-sense gun reform.”
Meanwhile, the depth of antipathy to his message in some areas of the country has been clear.
Gun
sales soared again in the wake of Obama’s announcement. While polls
show that expanding background checks to cover purchases at gun shows
and online remains enormously popular, the American public is far more
polarized on the broader question of restricting access to firearms.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), a presidential hopeful, sent a fundraising email to supporters that said “Obama wants your guns” and featured a doctored image of Obama in riot gear.
Cruz
is “appealing to people’s anxieties and insecurities and outright fears
in an attempt to win votes,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest
said Thursday. “In some cases it veers into territory of being
irresponsible, but that’s clearly what he’s up to. He’s not the only
one.”
Last weekend, armed ranchers took
control of a federal building in a wildlife refuge in eastern Oregon,
arguing that they should have more freedom to operate on federal land
and trying to wrest control from the U.S. government.
In
a floor speech this week, Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.), who represents the
area, joined other GOP lawmakers in expressing sympathy for the
occupiers. Although Walden said the ranchers had “gone too far,” he
added that he empathized with their anger.
That
Obama’s forum was broadcast on cable news — which the president has
said he almost never watches, because of the hyper-partisan discourse —
shows how determined he is to break through the noise to reach the
public.
The NRA called the show a
“public relations spectacle orchestrated by the White House.” A CNN
spokeswoman said the network approached the White House with the idea
for the forum after the mass shootings in San Bernardino, Calif., last
month and maintained complete editorial control.
The
president fielded questions from a rape victim who opposes more gun
restrictions, but also from gun-control advocate Mark Kelly, husband of
former Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who survived a shooting
in 2011. Giffords stood next to him.
“Part of the reason this ends up being a really difficult issue is that people occupy different realities,” Obama said.
Studies have shown that Americans living in a home with firearms are more likely to be injured by guns. But gun rights advocates have cited a half-dozen incidents in the past two years in which individuals have reportedly averted a mass shooting by opening fire on the potential perpetrator.
John
R. Lott Jr., a conservative gun rights activist who heads the Crime
Prevention Research Center who was not at the town hall, said in an
interview that administration officials tend to gloss over the fact that
people who have been victims of violent crime are more likely to own
guns than those who have not.
Congress
rejected a package of tighter gun laws in 2013 in the wake of the
December 2012 elementary school shooting in Newtown, Conn. A frustrated
Obama announced 23 small-scale executive actions later that year and two
more in subsequent years. Aides said he was moved to act again in the
wake of a shooting that killed nine people last fall at a community
college in Roseburg, Ore.
The
president visited that community in October to console family members.
His motorcade drove past a crowd holding several dozen signs welcoming
him — and an equal number protesting and making clear their opposition
to any change to gun laws.
“Gun free zones are for sitting ducks,” one read.
On
Thursday, Obama recalled visiting Newtown after the rampage there,
which he has called the most difficult time of his presidency.
“It’s the first time I ever saw Secret Service cry,” he recalled. “It continues to haunt me.”
