Lack of Transparency

In recent opinion pieces, the president of the NRA, David Keene, gets on his high horse to lecture President Obama about “the crucial importance of transparency in government …” regarding the authority to use drones to kill American citizens and others without trial or charges. The nerve of that hypocrite!

The NRA has used its toadies in Congress to block statistical data about criminal gun use in the files of federal agencies from being released to the public. The Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms agency has been severely restricted in gathering gun data and in investigating gun dealers and gun sales and is prohibited by the Todd Tiahrt gun amendment from releasing any data on gun use to the public. The Centers for Disease Control has also been prohibited from gathering much significant data on gun use and violence or of disclosing any such information to the public.

We should all be outraged by this deliberate campaign to prevent any meaningful studies on gun use and violence. It has keep the public largely ignorant regarding gun use that killed over 30,000 Americans last year.