In 2015 there have been more mass shootings than days in the year. The American people have heard nothing from the NRA about the tragedies, because they encourage them. When the NRA first organized, and before it became a lobby for gun manufacturers and gun sellers, it was involved in gun safety and sensible gun regulations. Today the lobby has no concern for anything other than profits for its employers.

Chris Cox is the Executive Director of the NRA’s Institute for Executive Action, in other words, he controls the lobbyists and directs their actions. When the Attorney General of Virginia submitted a statement informing the public that his state would no longer recognize ‘concealed carry’ permits from other states, Cox had a cow.

“Plain and simple, this is putting politics above public safety. This decision is both dangerous and shameful. The Attorney General knows that permit holders are among the safest groups of citizens in the commonwealth and the rest of the country.”

He wasn’t finished with his misdirection of the facts, and was brazen enough to claim that it was a safety issue affecting 6.3 million Americans.

“At a time when people are scared and desperately need the ability to defend themselves, Herring has chosen the path of making self-defense harder,” Cox said.

The Attorney General’s Office said, “25 states lacked adequate disqualifiers to deny a permit to someone who would be barred from obtaining a permit in Virginia.”

It is the responsibility of government to pass legislation and create rules to protect the many, not only the rights of the few.

It’s time to wage a war against the NRA and its lies. Why is the United States the only nation in the world that experiences gun violence on a daily basis? The truth is that it is the fault of the GOP and its acceptance of campaign contributions from the NRA instead of protecting America’s innocent people.

Republicans are always claiming that in the case of most legislation, state’s rights should have precedent over the federal government. I’m certain that Virginia’s Attorney General, Mark Herring, will receive angry criticism from the GOP for doing the right thing.

The word is “hypocrites.”

Op-Ed

By James Turnage

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Photo Courtesy of Thomas Altfather Good

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