Isn’t it crazy every time there’s a mass shooting, it’s never the guns that take any blame?
So many lying lawmakers scold us that “guns don’t kill people.”
It’s mental-health issues – not guns, they insist.
It’s lax building security – not guns.
It’s bad upbringing – not guns.
It’s this, that and the other thing – never guns.
In this country, there are 400 million guns, many in the hands of mentally unstable people. There have been 230 mass shootings so far this year – mass shootings meaning the killing or wounding of four or more people per incident.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz spoke at the National Rifle Association convention in Houston just days after the butchery of 19 school children and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas. Cruz is resorting to his smug mantra: It’s mental illness; it’s a lack of targeting felons and fugitives; gun-control efforts won’t work; such efforts are just more “politicking” by Democrats and the media.
Cruz said the victims are in his thoughts and prayers. Oh yes, always thoughts and prayers. But no action.
Meantime, mealy-mouthed Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is mumbling his usual charade, as he does after every massacre. The Democrats and Republicans, he said, should sit down and see if they can agree on “reasonable” legislation. By reasonable, McConnell surely means laws that won’t pass (he’ll make sure of that!) or laws with no teeth.
Ten years ago, after the killings of children and teachers in Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, McConnell and fellow Republicans blocked gun legislation. The bill called for expanding background checks to gun shows and online sales; and for banning military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammo magazines. The measures failed to pass.
McConnell and Cruz are just two of the Republicans (along with some Democrats) who have long danced like giddy puppets to the tune of the NRA. For worshipping at the Sacred Gun Altar, those politicians are handily rewarded by millions of campaign funds from the NRA, which, by the way, has been embroiled in financial corruption for years.
Like McConnell, some politicians get nervous by the public outrage about the latest killings. As always, they offer thoughts and prayers, hopes and wishes. Wispy words, idle sympathies. But no action. And God forbid, no action against guns that don’t kill people. These politicians, so handcuffed by the Gun Lobby, know that the fuss will blow over – at least until the next election or until the next mass killings occur.
Should we strengthen the mental-health care system? Certainly. Should we constantly review and reinforce schools’ and other buildings’ security systems? Absolutely.
But first and foremost, should we demand accountability from our legislators, insisting they pass a comprehensive gun-safety bill? Yes! Those who scorn such a bill as an “attack on the Second Amendment,” as they always do, should be ashamed. Not doing everything in our collective power to at least try to prevent such shootings is inexcusable, criminal. Other countries have passed such laws, with provable success.
Those who devoutly believe the Second Amendment is untouchable have a few things to learn about the U.S. Constitution and how it has changed over time by way of amendments and new laws: civil-rights laws, Blacks’ right to vote, women’s right to vote, to name a few, and – last but not least – limitations of rights enshrined in the Constitution. For example, the First Amendment (Freedom of Speech/Press), which does not protect libel, slander or using words to incite violence.
Those so-called leaders who will not act to try to prevent mass shootings should be voted out of office at the first opportunity. Ask yourselves: do they want to protect the Gun Lobby or do they want to protect children from butchery?
Remember: Guns DO kill people. And if you don’t believe that, go ask the murdered children’s loved ones who will be grieving forever after.
