We shouldn’t pretend that Uvalde has had any impact on changing people’s minds about what should be done regarding gun ownership in this country. No, a 2019 poll done by Fox News, after the mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton (Do we even remember Dayton? I didn’t, but I did manage to remember El Paso. Our mass shootings are no longer all that “special” unless they’re particularly awful, particularly American awful, that is), the poll showed that 90% of Americans favored universal background checks. Further, 81% favored taking guns from at-risk people. And 66% favored banning the fcking AR-15 (the only gun used in mass shootings nowadays). Perhaps banning the AR-15 has a few more supporters, but those numbers cannot get much higher.

And nothing happened then, and from the NRA convention, it would seem that nothing is happening now.

But one mega-MAGA supporter, Jon Voight, has split from the pure gun manufacturing position and wants background checks and guns out of the hands of the mentally ill. Let’s ignore the fact, for now, that often, the first sign of mental illness is the shooting itself, and just focus on the fact that the majority of Americans want something done that would take money away from the gun manufacturers. And that’s precisely why it won’t get done unless there’s a sea change among politicians.

According to Mediaite, Voight doesn’t see this as a left or right position. Except, if that was the case, why do all the Democrats favor doing something but not enough Republicans will even join to get past the filibuster? (Thanks, Joe and Kyrsten) Regardless, here is the MAGA man himself, Voight:

“It’s not about Left, Right, guns, no guns. This is about brains that are dysfunctioning. This is mental. This is not about healthy human beings serving the country with arms to bear or even the right of this Constitution for bearing arms.”

“We must identify every individual for their credentials, for their mental capacity to bear arms. There should be proper qualifications for gun ownership and proper testing. One should only own a gun if they’re qualified and schooled.”

It is woefully less than what we actually need but it would take some guns out of some hands. Maybe. But the only people that will lose anything are people too mentally unwell to be trusted with guns, gun manufacturers, and politicians. That would seem to be fewer than 10%.

Stunning. Even Jon Voight, but not dancing Trump.

MAGA hero, actor Jon Voigt, goes off the rails on them after the Uvalde school shooting: “There should be proper qualifications for gun ownership. Proper testing. One should only own a gun if they’re qualified and schooled.” pic.twitter.com/mvdepiLdWo

— Ron Filipkowski 🇺🇦 (@RonFilipkowski) May 28, 2022

****

[email protected], @JasonMiciak, with Nicole Hickman