Living in Georgia comes with certain political realities, a red-white-and-blue-knuckled grip on the Second Amendment being one of them. That two Republican senators from the South voted against universal background checks for gun buyers isn’t a surprise. Nor is the fact that Chambliss, during his most recent election, was one of the gun lobby’s biggest beneficiaries in the Senate. Isakson also enjoys the gun lobby’s seal of approval, which he makes sure to tell constituents.
But what was less expected, perhaps, were the results of a February poll by Mayors Against Illegal Guns that found 91 percent of Georgians support mandatory background checks in all situations. Not only am I not alone in thinking that reform is needed, I’m not even in the minority for once.
Last week, I wrote about the failure of the Manchin-Toomey compromise and why it sucks to live in Georgia if you want to see more regulation of gun purchases (and guns in general). Found out today one of the senators holding things back — Saxby Chambliss — is giving the commencement address tonight at my alma mater UGA. Ugh.
