March For Our Lives

[Scooter]

Perhaps, but once the precedent has been set, banks may choose to expand the list of weapons that manufacturers/retailers are prohibited from making/selling if they want to borrow their money or use their services.

[BoSoxGal]

Isn’t it more likely that after some period of time banks and corporations will go quietly back to having financial relations with gun manufacturers? It’s the way of capitalism, after all.

[Big RR]

That would be my guess; it's good PR right now at little to no cost, but if there is to be any loss, it will be to the public, not the bank.

[Scooter]

I think the difference this time is that people are looking at the business relationships with the gun lobby and now that the precedent has been set to call out those relationships, that will happen again and again whenever massacres like this occur. Can a business afford to ignore those calls in perpetuity? Maybe some can, but several seem to have already signalled that they are not prepared to.

[Crackpot]

It’s a distinction without a difference. AR15s are military grade weapons so no trouble getting financing there. In fact I can’t think of one “problematic” gun that doesn’t have a legitimate military purpose.

[Scooter]

They don't say military-grade weapons, they say "used for non-military purposes". That's about whom they sell them to, and if they aren't being produced for military contracts, then B of A won't lend to them.

[Crackpot]

The point is it can be used as for a military purpose so therefore it could get a loan. The only guns I see this decision stopping are those freaking pink abominations.

[Big RR]

Scooter, I think the problem is that this is window dressing; unless the differences can be defined functionally in a way that makes the more dangerous attributes of the singled out weapons clear, I think the public would eventually see through it. so far as I have seen, this has not been done for the so-called assault rifles--yes they have a pistol grip and might look more appealing to the Walter Mittys of our society, a standard hunting rifle can shoot pretty much the same rounds at the same rate, and attach the same magazines. So banning the rifle that somehow "looks" more dangerous does nothing but push the would be shooter to using a standard hunting rifle. If they can say we will not loan to companies making guns having specific properties (capable of using large magazines/drums, firing rates in excess of a certain number, etc.) and can show this actually contributes to safety, I think a lot of the public would embrace it, otherwise, they will tire of the charade.

[Lord Jim]

A lot of very motivated new voters going to the polls this November

Well, I'll believe that when I see it...

For decades, every election cycle I've seen predictions about how "this will be the year" that "the young voters" are really fired up and will turnout in big numbers, and every year come election day, it has never materialized

I think it’s insulting to the youth in the extreme to assume they’ll all get distracted between now and November and forget to show up at the polls.

Recent youth activism not reflected in voter registration numbers

Two months of youthful activism in the wake of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre was expected to produce a bumper crop of teens registering to vote for the first time.

But in Tallahassee, the epicenter of the Florida protests, all the noise, speeches and carnival-like atmosphere have not produced a number of new young voters. The opposite happened. There now are fewer voters among the 18-25 age group than there were before the shooting.

According to the Leon County Supervisor of Elections office, there has been a drop of 690 registered voters in Leon County since Feb. 14 among the youngest voting-age group.

The number of vanishing youth voters grows larger the longer you look at voter registration rolls. Tallahassee, home to more than 63,000 students of two universities and a college has seen registration among younger voters drop by 4,673 since March 2017.

https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/ ... 512474002/

[RayThom]

Recent youth activism not reflected in voter registration numbers..."

[MajGenl.Meade]

There now are fewer voters among the 18-25 age group than there were before the shooting.

Self-evident, no?