Is he tone-deaf, brain-dead, or both?
After not doing anything to push through the passage of strong gun control bills in Delaware, Governor(?) John Carney has joined with other governors to urge the Feds to do something, anything, to address the gun epidemic.
He did this without even a hint of irony. Irony that was not lost on News-Journal reporter Sarah Gamard:
For Carney, gun control is a familiar topic. At the state level, Delaware Democrats failed this year to ban certain semi-automatic weapons and cap magazines at 15 rounds, along with another measure that would have required a permit to buy and own a gun…
Over the summer, Carney appeared to have given up on trying to pass a ban to certain semi-automatic weapons as long as there weren’t enough votes in the General Assembly, even though he supports the policy.
“I’ve been of the view to try to find a different way to address that issue,” Carney told The News Journal at the time.
Carney’s ‘different way’ has now emerged: Kick the can down I-95 to the Feds.
This feckless governor chose not to call the General Assembly back into session after any one of a number of massacres to address these bills. He publicly said that the sponsors needed to ‘compromise’ on the bills, but didn’t say what those compromises should be. Only ban semi-automatic weapons from black people? Limit the potential carnage caused by these weapons to 20 rounds instead of 15? John, just how much carnage should the people of Delaware be willing to accept in order to keep those 200 gun nuts who come to Leg Hall happy? They’ll never be happy, but timid legislators and governors fall for this rope-a-dope every single time.
John Carney has not led on this issue. He could have held McBride, Poore, Delcollo and Cloutier accountable, but he mumbled something about compromise and moved on. If a Democratic governor who supposedly supports ‘reasonable’ gun control provisions can’t/won’t use his power to galvanize the General Assembly into action, then what good is he to anybody? Other than the Chamber of Commerce, of course.
I’m serious. For once, John, don’t kick the can down the road. Do something. Be a governor, for Christsakes.