More and more, it gets additionally embarrassing seeing and reporting on what takes place in Missouri and Kansas state capitols. First, it was what was happening financially, fiscally, in Kansas, what with their Governor Sam Brownback and all the Republican legislators there giving tax breaks to the wealthy (think Koch brothers) and corporations and putting the tax burden on the backs of the middle-, lower- and working classes, instead.
And we've all seen how that played out:
Brownback’s Tax Cuts Prompt S&P to Reduce Kansas’s Rating
And this:Kansas Moves to Close Budget Shortfall Following Tax Cuts
So the Right Wingers slashed tax revenues for the wealthy and corporations, ruined the budget, created budget shortfalls and where do we find they're going after budget cuts?Education Is Newest Target of Kansas Budget Cuts
So there was all that stupid and then they went and did this, helping guns and gun owners recently:
Open carry now legal all across Kansas
There apparently weren't enough guns already in Kansas so their legislators thought it an excellent idea to make it legal to allow everyone--EVERYONE--to "open carry weapons, including those with no weapons training. From the article;
On Tuesday, the state's new open carry law allowed anyone who wants to carry a gun on their holster to do so.
People in the state of Kansas have always been allowed to openly carry weapons, but over time, cities like Prairie Village made it illegal.
On Tuesday, lawmakers made open carry laws equal with concealed carry laws: it is uniformly legal now in every city across the state.
Private businesses can still forbid it, but public spaces like parks and municipal buildings must allow it.
Cities have four years to prepare their city halls for open carry laws.
Isn't that just a little ball of brilliance? As though there weren't, as I said, already enough weapons in our society. This has the capability of making Kansas far more like the old stereotype of the "wild, wild West." Guns everywhere, guns on every hip. Yeehaw. Not to be outdone, Missouri has just gone on their own gun tirade. From The Kansas City Star yesterday:
Reckless gun measures threaten public safety in Missouri and Kansas
A circuit court judge in St. Louis last week ruled that a convicted felon had the right to keep a loaded pistol in his vehicle, thanks to a constitutional amendment that Missouri lawmakers proposed and voters approved in 2014. If other courts reach the same interpretation, the state will lose a crucial law enforcement tool. The amendment was drafted by lawmakers as yet another gesture to affirm to voters — and gun manufacturers — that they will tolerate no restrictions on the right of citizens to bear arms. The amendment makes two exceptions: The state can limit the rights of convicted “violent” felons or those decreed by a court to be a danger because of a mental illness.
Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/opinion/editorials/article12721739.html#storylink=cpy So now, Missouri's legislators are deciding it's somehow a good to great idea to have felons still be able to own and carry--openly carry--weapons and hand guns. Because liberty, I guess. Liberty and 'Merica!, right? It's difficult to not satirize and lampoon ideas like these--and the people who create them and carry them out or try to. To whom does this make sense? To whom is this remotely a good idea? The tax and financial ideas and legislation in Kansas was given warnings for how reckless, if not foolish it was and would be and what the consequences would be. We've seen, for the last 30 years, how "trickle down economics" not only doesn't work but ends up creating deficits and budget shortfalls and debt. And now, with guns and weapons. If you do a Google search on "Harvard study on guns", you can and will find a long, long list of studies that show more guns equals more shootings and more killings, more death. It only makes sense. The studies document it across states, across the nation and across the planet, worldwide. It only stands to reason. Yet here, in Kansas and yes, in Missouri, too, there are legislative pushes for more and more weapons because darn it, we have our Second Amendment, all those rights and they shouldn't be encumbered in any way. We should be smarter than this. We should be smarter than all of this, guns, budget and all. Talk about a race to the bottom. And it's an ugly race. And there are no winners.
Well, no winners except the already-wealthy and the gun nuts, anyway.