Post-shooting politics put party above country

Post-shooting politics put party above country

By Chris Baldus  |  Managing Editor

Much about the politics of the Orlando shooting is maddening, but I’m going to focus on our Iowa senators. They failed and they know it. They bluster now because they did not act when they should have.

Sen. Charles Grassley sent a news release out Tuesday calling for details about what federal officials knew about the nightclub shooter that killed 49 people. He also wanted to know about the shooter’s family — his dad has a satellite TV program with a pro-Taliban slant, the news release says. Was the shooter on a terrorist watch list? What is the shooter’s criminal record? Grassley is all about finding out what authorities knew and why this lunatic was able to pull this off. It’s not like the authorities are not already doing that. Read the news!

Grassley, however, needs to appear like he’s a senator of action to cover his own complicity.

Our junior senator, Joni Ernst — who sadly is from my generation — sent out her own news release Monday in which she called for more to be done to “do more in our fight to defeat terrorism here at home and around the globe.”

“We have already been told that ISIS is present in all 50 states,” she said. “We simply cannot afford to sit on the sidelines as attacks on Americans, powered by Islamic terrorism, continue to take place.

“Now is the time to stand united against evil, and prevent future acts of terror from happening here at home.”

Oh, she’s good at bluster, and fearmongering. I can do that too. Just insert the evil group of your choice in her sentence. For example: We’ve been told that the Ku Klux Klan is present in all 50 states. We’ve been told that Nazis are present in all 50 states. Those statements are as true, or more so, than hers.

Yes, it’s time to stand united, but not behind her. She failed already and is showing no signs of trying to correct her mistake.

Here’s the problem: People that authorities have already identified as threats can pull together their arsenals without a problem. This shooter was on a terrorist watch list from 2013-14. He had been under an FBI investigation. There was a paper trail, but he was still able buy his arsenal legally. No flags alerted authorities that he bought a gun originally designed for military use — for blowing people away in the most effective manner possible.

Doesn’t it make sense to impede weapon purchases by people who have been on terrorist watch lists?

Doesn’t it make sense that when someone who had been on a terrorist watch list and under federal investigation buys a weapon that can kill a lot more people in a minute than a handgun can that we at least let the cops know that he bought it?

Grassley and Ernst have demonstrated they don’t think so. In December they voted against a proposal banning FBI terror suspects from legally buying assault weapons and explosives.

Digest that. They said it’s OK for those alleged ISIS people in all 50 states to buy military-type weapons. Isn’t this a war? Should Americans be arming the enemy, especially on the homefront?

The senators so wanting action against terrorists voted against Senate Amendment 2910, “To increase public safety by permitting the Attorney General to deny the transfer of firearms or the issuance of firearms and explosives licenses to known or suspected dangerous terrorists.”

The Second Amendment would not be in danger. Our right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is.

Party politics are more important than our lives.

This is insane.

Contact Editor Chris Baldus at cbaldus@charlescitypress. com