Lawmakers ignoring the will of the people

The week of June 19 was an interesting one in America. We had the juxtaposition of — finally — a gun safety bill passing out of Congress and the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade. Predictably, the Arkansas congressional delegation voted against the gun measure while hailing the Roe decision as a great victory for life.

The gun safety bill was a tepid one, falling short of enacting measures that are widely popular in America. While it does strengthen background checks for 18- to 20-year-olds, eliminates the “boyfriend” loophole and expands mental health programs as well as offers federal aid to states with “red flag” laws, it does not provide for outlawing AR-style assault weapons, or provide for universal background checks, despite these things being supported by a large majority of Americans.

The Roe decision now condemns women to second-class status. Aside from preventing them from accessing the most personal health care, it permits Arkansas or other states to also prohibit abortion in cases of rape or incest. Thus a woman who is the victim of a violent felony is now further victimized by the state, which is forcing her to carry her attacker’s baby to term, reminding her daily for the next nine months of this violence. This will take at least a year out of her life and have negative impacts on her family life, schooling and career opportunities, not to mention the lifelong emotional and psychological trauma that goes with such crimes. How the Legislature can inflict such cruelty with no regard for the well-being of the rape victim is beyond me. Anyone who sponsored, voted for, or implements this law is nothing short of a barbarian.

There are two ironies that jump out at me from this. The first is that our elected representatives can, almost in the same breath, say they are pro life, standing up for the unborn, while at the same time refusing to vote to enact measures that will serve those children once they are here, or that would work to significantly reduce the gun violence that may be the very thing that cuts down those kids in school when they are 10.

The other irony is that our esteemed representatives vote against the wishes of the public, despite popular majorities in favor of gun safety laws, somewhere in the 90% range for universal background checks and red flag laws; and in the 60% range in favor of abortion being legal in some form. It’s apparently more important to maintain good standing with the NRA, so they can collect the election contribution (almost $2 million to Tom Cotton alone); and the rabid base than to serve the overall public good. That the people we elect to represent us ignore the wishes of the majority is unconscionable. It appears representative democracy is virtually dead in America.

TOM BECKETT Siloam Springs