Ebola & the NRA. Really. The gun lobby opposed local & state officials from being required by federal law or action to conduct background checks and successfully convinced the conservatives on the US Sup Ct. to (errantly) rule that state officials could not be ordered or commandeered to take action ordered by the feds (in the case of the Brady Act background checks). The case was Printz v. United States (1997). This anti commandeering rule is now federal/constitutional law and seriously impairs the ability of national and federal action, especially in the case of disasters. We are left to having Rick Perry run the show. Justice John Paul Stevens elegantly predicted that this 1997 Printz case and the anti commandeering rule announced by the 5-4 conservative majority would hamper the ability to respond to epidemics and natural disasters in his recent book, Six Amendments: How and Why We Should Change the Constitution. THE NRA filed an amicus curiae brief in Printz to knock down federally mandated background checks and supporting the rule that the feds could not order state officials to take action. The Virginia Tech massacre was a direct result of the failure to conduct the required background checks. Now we face Ebola w/o the constitutional power to order state officials to take necessary actions. Just another example of how the gun lobby is wrecking America.
Adding to the problem, the NRA has opposed President Obama’s nominee for U.S. Surgeon General because he views gun violence as part of a national health problem.
