Sunday, January 10, 2010

The Gun Safety Issue in Health Care

Media Matters reports on the latest hysteria to come from the Gun Owners of America (GOA).

On January 7, 2010, the far-right Gun Owners of America sent an email to supporters claiming the Senate health care reform bill would trample Americans' second amendment rights. In reality, the bill specifically bans the collection and use of firearm-related data that would adversely affect the rights of gun owners.

Part of the GOA message reads like this:

Senators are now insisting that the current Senate health bill protects the rights of gun owners, even though this version would still allow the BATFE and FBI to troll through the ObamaCare database for gun owners who would be disqualified because of their medical information.

As an aside, has everyone lost their minds over the word "troll?" Why is this word being misused so often? Are the writers of the word so bereft of a healthy vocabulary that they can't help themselves? And, I can't help but noticing which side of the political divide tends to do this most.

What's your opinion? Is everything objectionable "trolling" now?

About the gun safety issue in the health care debate, wasn't that taken care of? Why are these people still beating a dead horse?

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

4 comments:

  1. They are actually using "troll" in the appropriate context. To describe a broad, indiscriminate fishing trip.

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  2. I always liked "trawl" for that, but you're right.

    Lately I find myself turned off my the overuse of "troll." That's all.

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  3. Troll and trawl both have the same effect when used in that context.

    The only difference between the words is that trawling means to look for something specific, while trolling means to look for anything.

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  4. I agree that this is the fishing context of the word, rather than the unpleasant being who lives under a bridge.

    I don't know the specifics that the GOA is worried about, but there does need to be a separation between law enforcement and medical records, with gun rights being only a minor reason for that.

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