After a gunman opened fire during a Louisiana screening of her most recent movie, “Trainwreck,” Amy Schumer has joined the gun control fight.
She appeared Monday with New York Sen. Chuck Schumer who announced a three-part gun violence initiative.
Meanwhile, read this powerful open letter to Amy Schumer from Sarah Clements, whose mother survived the Sandy Hook massacre. The letter encourages the actor to do precisely what she is doing.
Dating Jesus 
Love Amy Schumer. But I just cannot take her cousin’s initiatives seriously.
Dylan Roof would not have passed his background check except for the unreasonable time limit contained in the law. No mention of that in Schumer’s initiative #1. In properly crafted legislation, the bureaucracy should have been able to place a flag on Roof’s purchase, because of his arrest, holding it up until all the paperwork was done and on file. The focus should be on public health and safety, not consumer convenience and profit. Also…”incentivize” and “should be” denote no substantive change to Business As Usual.
Initiative #2: If the Schumers really want to improve care and funding for people with mental health and substance abuse problems they should be pushing through Single Payer legislation currently languishing in Congress. Simply retaining the already grossly inadequate public funding concerning these issues is, obviously, just not good enough. Again…no substantive change.
Initiative #3: Hauser’s reported involuntary commitment never happened. An order to apprehend and evaluate was issued…which…he apparently passed because the attending doctors, after 5 days, did not petition the court to have him committed involuntarily. They released him.
The study proposed by Schumer is a waste of time. A national public health and safety standard on firearms should be preemptive and proactive in character, as it is in every other instance. Anyone under any court order…apprehend and evaluate or involuntary commitment…should be reported to the FBI. This places the responsibility on the subject/potential purchaser to provide proof of sufficient stability required for firearm ownership. Again…no substantive change.
There is, however, a hint of recognition that there exists some inadequacy in existing law. That might be encouraging if it was just Amy Schumer on the pulpit. Aligning herself with a professional opportunist like Chuckles, unfortunately, detracts from that.
I see the Sandy Hook survivors settled their civil suits against the Lanza estate. Let’s hope that helps. The lawsuit against the city, and the one against the manufacturer are still in the works. A ruling against Remington could be a real shot in the arm for gun control.
Check out Sarah Clements’ letter, linked in the article about Schumer. It contains details about so many of the horrors that have happened and keep happening.
The other night I was considering going to a late showing of “Trainwreck.” I ended up not going for a different reason, but for the very first time ever I had a little twinge about facing a shooter in a movie theater.
It’s sad that we think like that now, isn’t it? I went to see a movie last week and for a brief moment thought the same thing.
DAMN IT!
Signed,
One of those women who think we SHOULD have a say in things. (Houser thought we shouldn’t.)
BTW, one of the women killed by Houser, Jillian Johnson, was an artist and an activist and an entrepreneur and a wife and a stepmother and a member of the female quintet The Figs. She left behind many loving friends who mourn her. What’d Houser leave behind?
You made me wonder…so I looked around a bit.
He had a family…an estranged brother who never thought him capable of that level of violence…who gave him money…
A mother who lent him money to get back on his feet after being evicted…
An ex-wife who filed numerous domestic violence complaints against him, (which was sufficient to deny his application for a concealed carry permit), who hid all his guns and joined with their daughter in seeking a protective order against him…
A daughter who joined with other relatives to petition a court for an apprehend and evaluate order after being threatened by him, (we all know how well that worked out)…
He had a law degree…which explains a lot…but no state bar certification…
He was a big fan of Hitler…
He was a minor celebrity on the local talk radio…
He operated numerous business over his lifetime…
He was well known to local police for his “erratic” behavior and had been arrested once for arson…
He had prescriptions to treat manic depression and bipolar disorder his ex-wife said he often forgot to take…
And…of course…victims…
So — do you think people like this know that they’ll never be respected and loved so they might as well get attention in any way they can?
I took a 9-year-old to a movie today, and again had a small twinge ahead of time, and didn’t hear about the latest theater-episode until my charge was safely back at home. After I paid for our tickets the cashier asked to look in my bag. It’s a small-to-medium shoulder bag. I have NEVER been asked to open my bag at a movie theater before, even when the bag was bigger and could have held many candy bars or a soda or two. Is this a new policy, checking for…….. weapons?
I honestly don’t know. It’s a possibility.
I think it’s very difficult to apply a general characterization. One can see similarities among actors. But just as easily those similarities can disappear. Not apply.
Ressentiment is a term that keeps popping up in my mind. I think it’s endemic in America…especially among white folks. Most times…people find less violent means to deal with it. Toss in uncompromising stress…some batshit crazy…substance abuse of different kinds…and a good deal of hate and discontent…..? Maybe I read too much.
To me…two factors stand out. One…there’s a great many people out there capable of this kind of violence. Two…we are not prepared to deal with it.
This latest theater attack is very disturbing. Like a contagion.
Sorry…missed a switch there. There’s only one link in that mess.
Good link, though. Succinct, and I believe it explains a lot.