Amy Schumer is this summer’s “it” girl. One can’t pick up a magazine, turn on the radio or TV without hearing about comedian Amy Schumer or her new movie, “Trainwreck.”
But now the actress is making headlines for a different reason, that is she has come out to endorse tougher gun laws in the wake of a shooting at a movie theater in Lafayette, Louisiana, that left two people dead and nine others injured.
The movie theater was playing Trainwreck. Schumer, who is a distant cousin of pro-gun control Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), held a press conference on Monday to advocate for universal background checks.
“These are not extreme ideas,” said Amy Schumer, standing beside Sen. Chuck Schumer. “No one wants to live in a country where a felon, the mentally ill or other dangerous people can get their hands on a gun with such ease.”
“These shootings have got to stop,” she added. “I don’t know how else to say it.”
John Russell Houser, the gunman responsible for the shooting, had a history of mental-illness but nevertheless passed a background check when purchasing a handgun in Phoenix City, Alabama, in February of 2014.
Apparently, Houser’s prior mental history was not reported to or documented in the NICS database, which the FBI uses to run background checks. Obviously, the NICS system should be kept up to date and all pertinent information should be submitted. Not many disagree on this point.
The larger question I have for Schumer is whether she really thinks laws of any sort, let alone background checks, will stop crazed individuals from taking innocent lives?
As Breitbart.com pointed out, all of these individuals passed background checks and ended up breaking all sorts of laws in grotesque fashion:
Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez (Chattanooga), Dylann Roof (Charleston), Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi (Garland), Jared and Amanda Miller (Las Vegas), Elliot Rodger (Santa Barabara), Ivan Lopez (Fort Hood 2014), Darion Marcus Aguilar (Maryland mall), Karl Halverson Pierson (Arapahoe High School), Paul Ciancia (LAX), Andrew John Engeldinger (Minneapolis), Aaron Alexis (DC Navy Yard), Tennis Melvin Maynard (West Virginia), Wade Michael Page (Sikh Temple), James Holmes (Aurora theater), Jared Loughner (Tucson), Nidal Hasan (Fort Hood 2009), Jiverly Wong (Binghamton), Seung-Hui Cho (Virginia Tech), Naveed Haq (Seattle), and Mark Barton (Atlanta).
Schumer’s instinct is not wrong. These shootings have to stop. I agree. But coming to a sensible conclusion on the best way to eliminate or at least mitigate the damage done by these killers has to be the goal.
While many agree that Fixing NICS, improving the data in the system, is a step in the right direction, ultimately the solutions for stopping these shootings lies in improving mental health treatment for those at-risk individuals and ensuring that law-abiding citizens have a means to protect themselves in every place they have a lawful right to be. Put another way, we double down on efforts to help those with mental illness and eradicate gun-free zones.
This ditzy blonde wants tougher gun laws. Who is she to sound off like that? She is not a constitutional scholar, and probably wouldn’t know what an amendment was if you held a gun to her head. I wonder if she like another ditzy blonde, can’t figure out if Chicken Of The Sea is fish or chicken. She is an actor, i.e. a professional liar. One who makes a living trying to convince you that she is someone who she is not, mouths words written by someone else, and probably has an IQ that wouldn’t even match the room temperature. She would probably wet herself if she ever even touched a live weapon. She needs some time at Front Sight Resort, in Pahrump, NV, so she can know enough about firearms to discuss them intelligently, rather than just parroting something someone else has told her.
That is Phenix City, not Phoenix City. It is in Alabama, not Arizona. How do I know? Lived there 18 years.
That is Phenix City, Phoenix City. It is in Alabama, not Arizona. How do I know? Lived there 18 years.
Cannot reform NICS until HIPPA is repealed…and that will not happen anytime soon. When Mental Health Professionals are faced with devastating sanctions for informing the authorities about their dangerously ill patients, [they] simply will not take the risk…I do not blame them either. BUT, the 500lb Gorilla in the room is: the said fact that every one of the modern “spree” shooters was known to be dangerous by immediate family, friends and or co-workers…These folks have no HIPPA restrictions on them…the blood of the innocents is on their hands…they could have told someone…anyone… in authority, but instead they remained silent and a tragedy was the end result. As a society, we must get over our own PC’ness’ and speak up when we become aware of a family member or friend who needs intervention.
Great point. It should also be reformed to allow all the medical facts are released to the public on person determined guilty of a crime particularly regarding pharmaceuticals usage.
When the new, “miracle psychotropic drugs,” came along we shut down many of our mental institutions, and turned the mentally ill out on the street. These drugs only work if the mentally ill take them, and most patients stop taking them at some point. We need to rethink our whole mental health philosophy.
She is nothing more (or less) than another Hollywood creation called an actor. Her range of individual thinking begins & ends with a script. Soon she will be forgotten & dumped into the pile shared with other ‘has-beens’.
Why would someone look to such a vulgar person to influence and represent them on any issue?
BTW, I was referring to Amy and not Chuck.
We could start by banding ALL GUN FREE ZONES.
Right On! How about armed guards a schools, too. Oh wait, that would be common sense. Never mind.
these bone heads should think beyond the campaign contributions and realize even with their armed body guards, if Americans are unarmed, their amred body guards will not be able to protect them from a terrorist horde. however if all Americans were armed, like some scandinavian countries, then the horde would never think of coming here to play.
thinking, the lost art.
So typical…fat,dumpy,plain Amy needs an extra 15min. to attract another Hollyweird payday….desperate to come up with the cash for a complete body makeover including extensive cosmetic dentistry, liposuction, nose job, tit job, etc,etc. Does anyone else see the irony of her mentioning felons, mentally ill, or other dangerous people, while standing next to her cousin ChuckyouSchummer. Anyone who stands between him and a television camera should be armed or at least wearing a crash helmet.
She would do best if she Advertised for an Exercise Machine But again that looks to be, from her looks, something she knows nothing about
Unfortunately there will never be a law that will stop one human from murdering another. From the first civilizations humans have used weapons to kill one another. Whether it be with a stick, stone or anything else used to cause injury or death. And this will continue until we as humans no longer exist. Words on paper (laws) are not going to stop one person from killing another. When a person gets in a vehicle there is a seatbelt. It is a form of protection. Put there to help prevent injury in case of an accident. We as a nation fortunately have our 2nd amendment rights. It was put there for a reason. Beyond hunting and sporting. It is there as a form of protection. Only through education and training with a weapon is a person able to lessen the chance of harm to themselves or loved ones. Write a law that gives every able bodied (and mind) adult the education and training in self defense, both with and without a weapon. Only then will we as a people be less of a target. And more able to protect ourselves and those around us from harm. Predators rarely attack predators, they look for prey.