Annihilate The GOP And The Gun Lobby

This is the only way to stop gun violence in America.

by Ben Cohen

Another weekend, another series of mass shootings in America. The massacres in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio killed a total of 31 people in horrific circumstances that are all too familiar. A deeply disturbed white male takes his revenge on the society he sees has wronged him, and creates a terrifying legacy of pain, death and suffering.

The rise in white nationalism and vitriol against immigrants from president Trump and his supporters was most certainly a large factor in the attacks in El Paso (authorities still do not know the motivation behind the killer in Dayton). This is a serious issue that the nation must confront and work to control. But the issue, as is always the case with gun massacres, is the guns themselves. America must pass serious gun control legislation to prevent this insanity continuing.

Understanding the GOP’s role in gun deaths

By now, Americans have come to expect gun massacres. It is simply a feature of American life and, according to pro-gun activists, the “price of freedom”. With Republicans controlling most branches of government and the judiciary, no action will be taken to prevent further outbursts of deadly violence and mass killings. There will be no background checks, no meaningful restrictions on gun access, and no acknowledgment that guns are even responsible for gun deaths. Donald Trump did not even mention guns in his speech at the White House today, instead blaming “the perils of the internet and social media,” (a bizarre scapegoat given his frequent racist, divisive outbursts on Twitter).

With this type of leadership, it is now abundantly clear that until the GOP is completely destroyed and routed from government at all levels, there will be no change in America.

The solution is simple

We know that the most effective way of reducing gun deaths is to dramatically reduce the number of guns in America. The fact that this is still up for a debate is testament to the callousness and intellectual fraudulence of the Republican Party. As many of them understand the catastrophe that is climate change, they know full well America’s addiction to firearms is a scourge on public health. But they do not care. In 1996, the Republican controlled Congress was pushed by the NRA to pass an amendment that prevented the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) from using federal funds to “advocate or promote gun control.” This means the US is unable to treat routine gun massacres as a public health issue, because it legally cannot view them as such.

This is a sign of a deeply corrupt political system that values gun manufacturers and their customers over the lives of ordinary people.

No massacre is bad enough

It is now abundantly clear that the GOP is willing to see Americans die by the thousands in order to hold on to political power. Just as the oil lobby dictates GOP policy on energy, the gun lobby dictates GOP policy on guns. As Quartz reported, the NRA quite literally forces Republicans to fight gun control legislation:

Months after the Sandy Hook shooting, Barack Obama’s gun safety proposals failed to get enough votes in the Senate to clear the 60-vote threshold, despite polls showing 90% of the country supported universal background checks. “It came down to politics—the worry that that vocal minority of gun owners would come after them in future elections. [Congress members] worried that the gun lobby would spend a lot of money and paint them as anti-Second Amendment,” Obama said in a speech afterward.

We have seen this play out over, and over and over again. Dead children, dead minorities, dead women and dead school teachers. The bodies pile up, yet it matters not to the gun lobby or the GOP. There is no tragedy appalling enough and no massacre big enough to make them change their ways or come to the negotiating table.

They will continue to warp the debate on gun control and work to destroy anyone attempting to pass meaningful reform unless they are completely annihilated.

It is time for Americans to understand this very simple truth: there can be no compromise with the gun lobby or the politicians they have bought.

The NRA and every pro gun politician must be excised from government in a painful war of attrition that will take many, many years to win. The NRA must be outspent, and the politicians who take their money must be called out and shamed relentlessly. You take money from the gun lobby, you are responsible for the deaths of thousands of Americans. You vote to block gun control measures, you are responsible for school massacres. You protect the gun industry, you are aiding and abetting terrorism. This might sound extreme, but when you are faced with so much death and so much suffering, it is the only logical response. Americans do not have to live in fear that their children will be blown to pieces while in school. No other country on earth lives with this problem, and a mass movement can ensure Americans don’t either.

Gun activists are destroying America, and it is about time they were thrown into the rubbish heap of history where they rightfully belong.

(image via ABC)

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