Ben Dickmann is not a household name; but it should be. His courage to simply do the right thing should set the example for all Americans and the Republican Party. The NRA gun lobby is partly responsible for tens of thousands of deaths each year in our nation, and GOP politicians must divorce themselves from greedy gun manufacturers and gun sellers, or forever be known as complicit in every death in our nation from the use of a gun.

Mr. Dickmann is a conservative and and the owner of multiple firearms. He carried his AR-57 assault rifle into the Broward County Sheriff’s Office in Tamarac, Florida, and surrendered it.

“Is any of this going to be cheap and or easy? Nope. But, if you want to continue to maintain your “right” to keep and bear arms, why would you not be willing to prove your ability to maintain that right? I am. I know I would pass. Any responsible gun-owner should be able to. There are so many other types of guns out there that you can still own and use, we don’t need the military style rifles in the public market.”

These were remarks Mr. Dickmann made in a lengthy Facebook post on Saturday.

“I could have easily sold this rifle, but no person needs this. I will be the change I want to see in this world. If our law makers will continue to close their eyes and open their wallets, I will lead by example.”

Unlike Republicans in Washington, Mr. Dickmann displayed honor, courage, and respect for his fellow man. He challenged Republicans to take action an renounce the NRA’s millions of dollars in campaign contributions.

“I am standing up and saying to anyone that will listen…We need better, more comprehensive gun control, ownership, and training requirements in this county. We need to start this now. We needed to start this 20-30 years ago in all reality.”

He continued to reiterate that he knew all of this would not be easy, and that it would be expensive, but he continued to repeat the need to stop the loss of lives at the hands of vile, white men who use military style weapons to slaughter innocents.

Sadly, I don’t expect cowardly and greedy men such as Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan, Ted Cruz, Steve King, and dozens of others to listen or care about Mr. Dickmann’s, or high school senior, Emma Rodriguez’ pleas. Money is their only god. They will continue to rant about mental health, although in February of 2017 they passed a law removing restrictions on the purchase of lethal weapons by men and women who were legally mentally challenged, instituted by President Obama. Hypocrites one and all.

November is approaching; vote the cowardly bastards out of office and take your country back.

Op-ed by James Turnage

SOURCE

Photo courtesy of H. Michael Karshis

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