Which Democrats are voting against health care, retirement, and education?

Yes, anyone can pick apart the voting records of any person on Capitol Hill and find some bill they've voted against, and say "A-HA!!! You voted against health care!" etc... because it's a favorite strategy to load a bill with so many unfavorable provisions that one can't vote for it without betraying one's own side. Example- it was Democrats who originally proposed a Department of Homeland Security after 9/11, and who were then maneuvered into voting against it by the withdrawing of Civil Service protections for its employees; so they faced a choice between being "unpatriotic" or betraying one of their core constituencies, career civil servants.

Second- if any school, anywhere, is conducting drills by having "masked men burst in, pretend to shoot little kids, and they have to pretend to die", they're doing it wrong. So, so wrong. I'm not sure where Umair Haque gets this from, but the school drills in my state consist of locking the building down and having everyone shelter in place, very reminiscent of the 1950s bomb drills. And we're hearing that these are going to be discontinued because they create so much disruption and stress for children, and really serve less purpose than just training the staff in how to respond.

Nobody thinks school shootings are "normal". They aren't "daily", or even "weekly" or "monthly". And they may be less frequent than you think. In a CNN article on school shootings, their definition included accidental discharge of a firearm and even injuries sustained from BB guns.

Even one is far too many. But let's not imagine that there's a daily rampage of shootings in American schools. It is far more- vastly more- the exception than the norm. And it's certainly no reason to characterize America as "ultraviolent". The fact that we're still shocked by these incidents speaks for itself.

But we're founded on a Constitution of individual rights as well as responsibilities, and these must be balanced. We're not there yet. The responsibility side needs one or two weights dropped on it. I would be happy to see more stringent background checks, harsher penalties for violating the regulations around selling and buying guns, and stricter enforcement of the laws we already have, along with something mentioned about "open carry of long guns". But I would also be happy to remind everyone that by far the vast majority of gun owners never commit a crime, not even speeding, and are aware of the awesome burden that goes with ownership. Please don't lump us in with those militia idiots who go around with M-4geries on their shoulders "because it's their right". They give us all a bad name.