The President did say he thought some of his powers should be curtailed

[Warren DeMontague]

53. Odd, innit?

I mean, I agree about the excuse part, although I kind of think executive and surveillance agencies by their very nature attempt to expand their power. It's sort of what they do.

Kind of like when people expect corporations to do things other than try to make money and maximize shareholder profit... maybe they'll do other things so they can get there in a more roundabout way, or get better PR (with the intent of making more money, etc) but fundamentally that's what the entity is designed to do.

But you're absolutely right. If things were approached rationally, we'd be much more focused on stuff like assault weapons or high capacity magazine clips, etc. The fact that we can't move forward even the most basic legislation after something like Sandy Hook... It's almost like I can't even talk about it, it's too depressing.