I’m a friendly person; I like some people; not all of them, and here’s why. If I accept any man or woman as a friend, I must respect them. I believe that ‘respect’ is the most important word in the English language. To earn respect, an individual must be truthful at all times, and have principles he or she is willing to die for.

The social media is filled with lies, and therefore of no value. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat frequently offer excuses to ignore facts and deny reality, regardless of how horrific or disgusting they may be.

With the use of social media, the Russians were able to influence our 2016 election. Both positive and negative emotions affect our decisions when we read or hear something which we want to believe; regardless of how fallacious the ‘information’ might be.

For example; today fake stories continue to exist regarding the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, 2012. The unimaginable happened. 20 first graders and six educators were murdered by a deranged young man with an assault rifle.

Right wing extremists and supporters of the NRA gun lobby fabricated stories claiming that the horrific events which occurred on that day were all staged; they never happened. They claim that anti-gun activists hired actors to portray the unbelievable events of that day.

Of course they have no explanation why those 20 small children never returned home, or how the families of six educators never saw them again except at their funerals.

It’s happening again. After a lone gunman, once again possessing an assault rifle, slaughtered 17 high school students and teachers, the right wing gun nuts are at it again.

Some of the survivors from the attack decided to take action and not sit home and grieve. Emma Rodriguez, David Hogg, and others began holding rallies demanding that state and federal governments ban assault rifles. They marched to the state government in Tallahassee, but their demands fell on the deaf ears of Republican legislators. In March students will be marching on Washington, where the same results will happen; nothing. Republicans are cowards and will continue to support the NRA and not the American people.

Hypocritical Republicans lie when they claim that banning military style weapons won’t change anything. We need look no further than the last three large mass shootings in the United States; all under Trump’s presidency.

In October of 2017, a lone gunman slaughtered 58 men and women in Las Vegas. He had 12 assault rifles in his possession. In November, another lone gunman walked into a church in a small Texas town and murdered 26 men, women, and children attending a church service. He also purchased an assault rifle legally. On Valentine’s Day, 2018, one 19-year-old man pulled a fire alarm, and began shooting students as they came out of the school. He then walked inside and murdered more students and teachers. When the tragic event was over, he had killed 17 people; all with an assault rifle he purchased legally.

First of all, assault rifles have no purpose other than to kill as many human beings as possible in the shortest period of time. Today’s killing machines are far more powerful than the weapons used by our military during the Vietnam War.

If any of these murderers had a handgun or a hunting rifle, the number of those killed would have been far fewer, if any.

When politicians lie to you, and refuse to support the wishes of the majority, what should you do? All Americas should use their own weapons; weapons which are far more powerful than any assault rifle; your vote.

In November we can remove all politicians who refuse to support the will of the people; that means the entire Republican Party. If they have an “R” next to their name, they do not deserve your vote. Time for change; and time to stand up for our nation’s children.

While old, white men do nothing but stand in the way, women and children will lead our nation into the future, beginning on November 6^th. This country belongs to you and me, not the corrupt men and women in Washington.

Op-ed by James Turnage

SOURCE

My five novels are available on the free Amazon Kindle app; CLICK HERE