I used to say *seriously* the price you have to be willing to pay for nearly unfettered access to guns is the occasional mass murder. But we’ve gone way beyond the ‘occasional’ mass murder. I wasn’t okay with the price to pay for the ‘occasional’ mass murder before, and I’m not okay with what seems to be a regular occurrence.
I worked in the defense industry in the second part of my career. For the first part, I was as teacher. 4th grade was my gig. Those 19 dead kids? 4th graders. I thought about all the 4th graders I taught and loved and that was an additional gut punch on top of this God awful horror. You know what kind of drills we had in school? Fire drills. And today, in the U.S. you have active shooter drills. In schools. Jesus. Who are we as a country? What do we stand for? Is nearly unlimited gun access more important than the lives of children? After Sandy Hook, nothing was done. After Parkland, nothing was done. And there were hundreds of mass shootings in between, nothing was done. While in the defense industry, I had many friends who were Republicans and serious gun collectors. One guy I worked with in Afghanistan had 75 guns and over 20,000 rounds of ammunition. Why, I asked him? To protect himself from the government was his reply. He was crazy. And this is crazy.
GOP, c’mon. If I’m a felon, I can buy an AR-15 today. Sure, I’d be breaking the law, but if I wanted one, I could get one - just go to a gun show and buy from a third party. I’ve been to gun shows. I’ve actually been to two of them, both in Fort Worth. Then first time, I went because I was curious. The second time, I brought my wife (on Valentines Day, you’re welcome honey!) People march around with a flag stuck in the barrel of their AR-15’s that has a price on the gun. I have the money. I can buy one. No background check. If I wanted to buy a car, I’d have to have a license, which involves taking a written and practical test. Get insurance (which would include a background check into my driving history). Register and license my vehicle with the state. But not for a gun, thank you gun show loophole that the GOP won’t even talk about closing. And remember, law abiding AR-15 owners are law abiding AR-15 owners. Until the day they’re not. If I want an AR-15 today, I can buy one (and for the record, I’m not a felon, never even had a speeding ticket.) I have a clean background and have the money. I’ve never fired a gun before, but I can buy one, with no instruction, no training, no test to pass so I can demonstrate I know how to locate the safety, load it, store it and fire it. Again, that’s crazy. The worst tragedy is what happened, again, at Uvalde. The second worst tragedy is the GOP will obstruct any meaningful gun laws so they can hold on to power and money. Hey Republicans, are you going to do anything? Anything at all? I fear the deeply saddening answer to that question is no.
#GOPGunsOverPeople #GOPpartyofPutin #GOPpartyofno #GOPpartyoflies
