By now, the entire world has watched, as once again, an insane man took his rage out on a building full on innocent people. This time it was an elementary school, 20 children and 6 adults. 7 adults if you include his unfortunate mother.
And, yes, now is the exact time to open the discussion on gun control, specifically regarding assault weapons and massive ammo clips. We as a country have bowed before the National Rifle Association (NRA) for too long. The NRA has the money and power to cow politicians to do their bidding or else lose their job. So, fearful politicians have bent over backwards to do whatever it took to protect that organization instead of protecting the citizens of their own states and districts.
The NRA has blood on their hands. Yes, I am not being hyperbolic, I am very serious. The NRA’s ownership of certain politicians and the GOP in general must stop. The GOP crowd in Congress and a few shameless Democrats love to tout their 100% rating with the NRA. 100% means they fall lock step in with 100% with all the policies the NRA dictates. These cowardly men and women seem to believe the NRA has the power to throw them out of office, which is correct. So that means these are political cowards.
But the problem is not guns such as rifles and handguns but military style assault weapons that a hunter clearly needs to shoot those racing deer! Yes, of course, once upon a time, a hunter used skill, patience and the art of target shooting to hunt deer and other wildlife. While I am not a fan of hunting, I do respect those who do. I know hunters and they are good people with enormous respect for the life they are taking and the machines that do the job. I would be hard pressed to find a respectable hunter who felt it took a massive 100 round ammo clip was necessary to hunt down those sneaky fast deer! Run Deer or I’ll just mow down everything in your path until I blow your white tail away! Now I am a man!
But I don’t know any hunters who stalk their deer with AK-15s, AK-47s, Kalashnikovs or any other weapon of mass destruction. They do not use Rhino-Ammo, a lovely piece of terror designed to do only one thing, they are “designed to do maximum damage to human tissue, a second that can penetrate body armor.”
What the hell is wrong with these people????? Why in the world is it necessary to create such a thing? There is only one purpose, to kill humans in the most severe way possible assuring that there are no survivors. “The beauty behind it is that it makes an incredible wound,” says David Keen, chief executive of Signature Products Corp. in Huntsville, Ala. “That makes the target stop and worry about survival instead of robbing or murdering you.” Are you kidding me? I am flabbergasted that this “man” is proud to create such a wonderful killing tool. But then I also have absolutely no idea why anyone would think it is necessary to own mass murdering assault rifles.
Of course police officers around the country are horrified and have said that these bullets will get into the wrong hands and be used on police and law enforcement officers. I have no words to describe the darkness of a mind that is proud to invent such a destructive bullet.
This country has become paranoid and gun addicted and it’s time an intervention was held. In the last 4 years, there have been so many mass shootings, it’s hard to understand the defense of mass killing weapons by the GOP, FOX News and of course our good friends at the NRA.
It’s worth mentioning that the NRA shut down their Facebook and twitter accounts immediately following the Newtown shootings. So now they want to be quiet? Cowards. Hey NRA, if you stand behind your rhetoric about freedom to bear arms, why not listen to those who disagree? Are you ashamed? Are you sorry? Are you angry that your sick policies of putting a gun in everyone’s hands is no longer as attractive as it once seemed? You are a building full of cowards and bullies. Take responsibility and start working to make this a safer country, not fighting to get everyone armed to the teeth.
President Obama, I’m also talking to you. I am shocked that you would sign legislation allowing guns into National Parks and on Amtrak trains. WHY? Why does anyone need a gun on a train or in a park? In case the robbers ride up alongside the train on their horses? Do you think we live in the Wild Wild West? This puts to rest the ridiculous idea that Obama will take your guns away. So far, he’s given you more places to bring your precious metal lover.
Yes I do believe this country has a sick obsession with guns. They hide behind the 2nd Amendment as though the founding fathers believed that a well-armed militia included a Connecticut matron and her assault weapon collection. I’m sure when she and her son went to the rifle range she needed the Bushmaster to make sure the target was shredded to microscopic bits.
Mr. President, you gave a nice speech on Sunday, I heard you say “meaningful action” but I have very little faith in you or the Congress to tackle the gun lobby. You have nothing else to prove, you have no re-election to worry about. You have the bully pulpit with which to bully the bullies. Use it. Pressure Congress to re-instate the Assault Weapon Ban. Please work to make having clips of ammo over 10 rounds illegal. Please work to make buying and trafficking of guns across state lines illegal. Please work to close the gun show loophole which does not require background checks.
Mr. President, this is the time to talk about gun control. The NRA no longer holds this country hostage with their tyranny and fear tactics. Please let the gun owners understand that no one is coming to take their guns unless those guns are the kind that can kill 20 children in a matter of minutes. These weapons need to be illegal in the hands of anyone other than military or law enforcement. Period.
In case you need reminding of the path of destruction these gun manufacturers have created, let me remind you:
According to Think Progress, the rate of people killed by guns in the US is 19.5 times higher than similar high-income countries in the world. In the last 30 years since 1982, America has mourned at least 61 mass murders. Below is a timeline of mass shootings in the US since the Columbine High massacre:
December 14, 2012. 20 Children and 6 adults people were shot and killed at Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, CT.
December 11, 2012. On Tuesday, 22-year-old Jacob Tyler Roberts killed 2 people and himself with a stolen rifle in Clackamas Town Center, Oregon. His motive is unknown.
September 27, 2012. Five were shot to death by 36-year-old Andrew Engeldinger at Accent Signage Systems in Minneapolis, MN. Three others were wounded. Engeldinger went on a rampage after losing his job, ultimately killing himself.
August 5, 2012. Six Sikh temple members were killed when 40-year-old US Army veteran Wade Michael Page opened fire in a gurdwara in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. Four others were injured, and Page killed himself.
July 20, 2012. During the midnight premiere of The Dark Knight Rises in Aurora, CO, 24-year-old James Holmes killed 12 people and wounded 58. Holmes was arrested outside the theater.
May 29, 2012. Ian Stawicki opened fire on Cafe Racer Espresso in Seattle, WA, killing 5 and himself after a citywide manhunt.
April 6, 2012. Jake England, 19, and Alvin Watts, 32, shot 5 black men in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in racially motivated shooting spree. Three died.
April 2, 2012. A former student, 43-year-old One L. Goh killed 7 people at Oikos University, a Korean Christian college in Oakland, CA. The shooting was the sixth-deadliest school massacre in the US and the deadliest attack on a school since the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre.
February 27, 2012. Three students were killed by Thomas “TJ” Lane, another student, in a rampage at Chardon High School in Chardon, OH. Three others were injured.
October 14, 2011. Eight people died in a shooting at Salon Meritage hair salon in Seal Beach, CA. The gunman, 41-year-old Scott Evans Dekraai, killed six women and two men dead, while just one woman survived. It was Orange County’s deadliest mass killing.
September 6, 2011. Eduardo Sencion, 32, entered an IHOP restaurant in Carson City, NV and shot 12 people. Five died, including three National Guard members.
January 8, 2011. Former Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-AZ) was shot in the head when 22-year-old Jared Loughner opened fire on an event she was holding at a Safeway market in Tucson, AZ. Six people died, including Arizona District Court Chief Judge John Roll, one of Giffords’ staffers, and a 9-year-old girl. 19 total were shot. Loughner has been sentenced to seven life terms plus 140 years, without parole.
August 3, 2010. Omar S. Thornton, 34, gunned down Hartford Beer Distributor in Manchester, CT after getting caught stealing beer. Nine were killed, including Thornton, and two were injured.
November 5, 2009. Forty-three people were shot by Army psychiatrist Nidal Malik Hasan at the Fort Hood army base in Texas. Hasan reportedly yelled “Allahu Akbar!” before opening fire, killing 13 and wounding 29 others.
April 3, 2009. Jiverly Wong, 41, opened fire at an immigration center in Binghamton, New York before committing suicide. He killed 13 people and wounded 4.
March 29, 2009. Eight people died in a shooting at the Pinelake Health and Rehab nursing home in Carthage, NC. The gunman, 45-year-old Robert Stewart, was targeting his estranged wife who worked at the home and survived. Stewart was sentenced to life in prison.
February 14, 2008. Steven Kazmierczak, 27, opened fire in a lecture hall at Northern Illinois University, killing 6 and wounding 21. The gunman shot and killed himself before police arrived. It was the fifth-deadliest university shooting in US history.
February 7, 2008. Six people died and two were injured in a shooting spree at the City Hall in Kirkwood, Missouri. The gunman, Charles Lee Thornton, opened fire during a public meeting after being denied construction contracts he believed he deserved. Thornton was killed by police.
