Sorry, NY Daily News: Republicans are prepared to do something

For the record, I remain highly skeptical of the notion that the federal government has to "do something" in response the recent shootings that have captured the media's - and thus the nation's - attention. Not every problem is the result of too little legislation or regulation, and when there's no clear and obvious action that would solve the problem, politicians are not serving anyone well by doing whatever they can think of simply because there's a clamor for action.

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Having said that, let's now revisit the claim of the left as exemplified by Wednesday's New York Daily News front page, which is that Republicans offering prayers are engaged in "meaningless platitudes" because they refuse to actually do anything - anything, of course, being gun control. Just in case you haven't seen it: (scroll down for image) Lefties I heard from yesterday insist the cover is not an attack on prayer or on people who pray, but on politicians who should take action but refuse to do so - choosing instead to hide behind promises of prayer as if that could possibly be enough. Now, aside from the question raised above of whether it really makes sense for the U.S. Congress to "do something", it's nonsense to say this is not an attack on prayer - since those of us who know God understand that there is no greater action you can take than to ask Him to take action. I don't expect a liberal newspaper to understand that, but their lack of understanding doesn't make it any less true. But even with that on the record, the claim that Republicans refuse to do anything but pray is simply not true. USA Today talked to Paul Ryan about it for today's edition:

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Speaker Paul Ryan said Thursday there are still too many unknowns about the San Bernardino shootings, but he said one common theme among many mass shootings is mental illness, an issue he says Congress has already been working on with legislation. "People with mental illness are getting guns and committing these mass shootings," Ryan said on CBS This Morning. Ryan made the same point earlier this week in reaction to the post-Thanksgiving shooting at a Colorado Planned Parenthood clinic. The Wisconsin Republican said part of the discussion surrounding mental health legislation is who should and shouldn't have access to guns, but he signaled that barring gun purchases by people on no-fly terror lists — as President Obama urged Wednesday — is not an option. Ryan said government officials put people on such lists without any due legal process and so denying those listed the right to bear arms would violate their rights. "People have due process rights in this country," he said. He said that if someone is suspected of plotting an attack, law enforcement officials should arrest them. Ryan suggested there will be multiple issues Congress can address, whether it's finding gaps in enforcement or passing legislation. But he said there shouldn't be a rush to do either at the risk of "infringing upon the rights of law-abiding citizens." "We just want to get it right," Ryan said.

What Ryan is doing here is exactly what is supposed to happen when Legislation is under consideration. He's weighing the pros and cons, being careful to protect the rights of the innocent and raising real questions about whether emotional reactions would actually solve the problem. Of course, none of this matters to the American left and their media servants. Anything short of repealing the Second Amendment constitutes accessory to the next mass murder in their minds, because gun control and only gun control is the solution to the problem - despite all the problems associated with confiscating guns already in circulation, keeping criminals from buying guns illegally and taking away the right of innocent people to use guns to protect themselves. None of this should even be a consideration as far as the left is concerned. Just ban guns. Anything else you suggest is akin to doing nothing. Oh, and you need to do it yesterday because it's an emergency. This is how you end up with extremely poor legislation that makes some people feel better in the moment but accomplishes nothing and creates all kinds of other problems along the way. Ryan is taking a thoughtful, measured approach to what - if anything - should be done. That's what a good legislator should do, but most just want to engage in emotional bluster at this point. So no, Republicans are not unwilling to do anything but pray. It's too bad the New York Daily News doesn't understand, though, that prayer is more powerful than trying everything else in the world while refusing to pray. Maybe if they talked to God a little they wouldn't be such a terrible newspaper.

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