Case in point:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 02437.html
Dingell, NRA Working on Bill to Strengthen Background Checks
By Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, April 20, 2007; Page A10
With the Virginia Tech shootings resurrecting calls for tighter gun controls, the National Rifle Association has begun negotiations with senior Democrats over legislation to bolster the national background-check system and potentially block gun purchases by the mentally ill.
Rep. John D. Dingell (Mich.), a gun-rights Democrat who once served on the NRA's board of directors, is leading talks with the powerful gun lobby in hopes of producing a deal by early next week, Democratic aides and lawmakers said.
Under the bill, states would be given money to help them supply the federal government with information on mental-illness adjudications and other run-ins with the law that are supposed to disqualify individuals from firearms purchases. For the first time, states would face penalties for not keeping the National Instant Criminal Background Check System current.
Here again we have the NRA, in response to a tragedy, rushing to compromise without even knowing the definition of the word. "Compromise" means working things out so that both parties benefit; if you convince a mugger to let you keep your family photos, that's not a compromise. Neither is spotting someone who looks like they might mug you, and rushing up to give them cash in hopes of appeasing them.
The latter seems to be the thinking in this case. "They might enact tougher laws, so we better work with them to enact tougher laws."
I hope I'm not the only one to whom this makes no sense.
Kevin
