The NRA, Bilbo Baggins, URI and Teny Oded Gross

Just like it did in Congress, it looks like the NRA will beat back stricter gun laws at the Rhode Island State House as well, reports Sam Bell of the Rhode Island Progressive Democrats.

“Rhode Islanders favor an assault weapons ban by a margin of 64% to 27%, but we aren’t hearing from them,” Rep. Linda Finn told him. “We’re just hearing from the NRA.”

Is anyone surprised by this? Or even think it’s at all newsworthy that the NRA is more politically powerful than the entire progressive left on this issue here in Rhode Island? Of course not!

We live in a culture dominated by violence. Today in Rhode Island we are celebrating the Haymarket riot and tomorrow there is a State House ceremony honoring the burning of the Gaspee. These are two acts of terrorism that we celebrate for their historical significance. The other weekend, to escape the horrible reality of the Boston bombings and subsequent manhunt, I watched a fantasy movie called The Hobbit. It was about magical forest creatures who have been at bloody war with each other for 60 years.

But one of the most tacitly violence-condoning actions in our violence-dominated society is the totally outlandish notion that Americans have a right to a gun just in case anyone wants to wage a war against the government. Teny Oded Gross, of the Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence, put it this way to Ian Donnis of RIPR:

“As far as I know [the US] is the first democracy on the planet that is actually saying you should arm yourself against your own citizens. That is actually outlandish. I’m surprised there’s not more outrage about that.”

I really don’t care what constitutional scholars think about the wording of the Second Amendment, I’m pretty certain this is a societal recipe for disaster.

While we may not be able to beat back the NRA at the State House, we can support the Institute for the Study & Practice of Nonviolence out in the real world. In fact, you can do so tonight.

A URI journalism “digital immersion” class has spent the semester making content for the Institute and they will be showing it off tonight at the downtown Providence campus on Washington Street from 6 to 8 p.m. If you plan on being at the State House tonight to testify, please stop by this exhibit. And if you’re going to this exhibit, please go to the State House to testify for stricter gun control in Rhode Island.

Here’s an example of their work, which explains more about what the Institute does:

Here’s more on the event tonight: