Montini: Anti-gun violence lady takes down anti-abortion lady

Hypocrisy isn’t lost on smart people.

So it shouldn’t be a surprise that Nevine Melikian of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America was quick to point out the sanctimonious pretense of Cathi Herrod of the anti-abortion Center for Arizona Policy.

Herrod’s organization funnels a lot of money and holds a lot of influence at the Republican-controlled Arizona Legislature. She’s currently pushing a bill (SB 1394) that’s meant to harass women seeking abortions by forcing doctors to ask patients a bunch of intrusive, embarrassing and unnecessary questions.

Herrod said the bill will “help improve women’s health” because “better data means better service.”

Recognizing empty talk

Melikian’s organization has NO influence with the Republicans who control the Legislature. The gun lobby controls our governor and his party.

But the group continues to work hard to prevent gun violence and advocate common sense gun laws, and they speak out when they recognize empty talk.

Melikian read something I’d written about Herrod’s harassment bill and tweeted:

She’s talking about how the Republican-controlled U.S. Congress prohibits the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from studying gun violence. 

What does that mean?

Well, without informed studies the government can’t adequately assess who is injured by firearms, and why, and with what. And it can’t dig into the root causes for such violence and – god forbid – come up with a plan (or at least some viable proposals) for prevention.

Independent organizations are collecting data. The Gun Violence Archive reported that more than 17,000 Americans were killed by firearms last year and another 31,000 people were wounded.

After the massacre at a nightclub in Orlando, Fla., in 2016, Democrats in Congress proposed a budget amendment that would have allowed the CDC to research gun violence. 

Republicans blocked it.

The volunteers with Moms Demand Action and their partners at Everytown Gun Safety are stubborn, however.

Stats versus campaign contributions

They lobby at all levels of government for legislation. The Arizona group is hoping  state lawmakers will pass companion bills (HB 2299/SB 1224) that would more strictly go after weapons owned by domestic abusers.

They’d also like lawmakers to pass bills (HB 2023/SB 1348) that would outlaw “bump stocks,” devices that transform some rifles into automatic weapons like the one used in the Las Vegas slaughter. 

There are very good arguments and plenty of statistics -- numbers -- that might help convince lawmakers to go along with some changes in gun laws.

But the only numbers the politicians in control seem to care about are those with dollar signs in front of them. 

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