We have many mass shootings in America, and far too many of them have been at our nation’s schools. After the most recent slaughter of 17 students and teachers in Parkland, Florida, Republican politicians recited the same lies they have every time one of these tragedies occurs. “Banning assault rifles won’t change anything. The problem is mental health.”

Let’s talk about ‘mental health’ first. In February of 2017, Republicans repealed regulations instituted by President Obama to prevent mentally challenged Americans from purchasing weapons of mass destruction. Your illegitimate president signed it.

Now for one of the most ridiculous lies ever told by the tools of the NRA gun lobby. In the last three mass shootings which took the lives of 58 men and women, 26 churchgoers, and 17 students and teachers in Las Vegas, a church in a small Texas town, and a high school in Parkland, Florida, all three shooters purchased their military weapons legally. If they had possessed hunting rifles or handguns, the deranged man in the hotel rooms in Las Vegas could not have slaughtered one-tenth of the victims. The shooter in Texas would have been overpowered almost immediately before he could have fired enough rounds to murder 26 men, women, and children. The Florida shooter would have been taken down by his former fellow students.

Today the president of the NRA, Wayne LaPierre, finally spoke out about the most recent attacks. He offered a solution for school shootings; more guns. He would arm teachers, janitors, and cafeteria workers. This would increase gun sales and the profits for gun manufacturers and gun sellers would grow.

LaPierre is a criminal. He has no interest in the safety of innocent Americans; his only goal is increased profits for an industry.

Arming school officials would accomplish one thing; they would become the first targets of a deranged shooter armed with an assault rifle and wearing a bulletproof vest. Without months of training, 99 percent of all people would be unable to use their weapons effectively in a crisis. Anyone who believes that this is a viable solution must seek psychiatric treatment, and be forced to pass an IQ test before voting in our elections.

In 1976 the NRA moved from being a ‘gun safety’ organization to a gun industry lobby. The NRA donates millions of dollars to politicians in local, state, and federal elections. That money is provided to them by Smith and Wesson, Kruger, Glock, Winchester, Remington, and every other gun manufacturer in the world.

Assault Rifles were created for the military. Their only purpose is to kill as many human beings as possible in the shortest period of time. No civilian has a need for an assault rifle.

The individual who murdered 17 people in Parkland was just 19 years old. He legally purchased an AR-15, but could not buy a handgun. He was allowed to by a lethal weapon designed to kill other men, women, and children, but he could not walk into a bar and buy a beer.

Pardon me, but what the f**k is wrong with the thought process in our nation; more specifically, our corrupt government?

Many of the young protesters who filled the streets of our cities yesterday will be 18 before our November election, and nearly all of them will be 18 by the 2020 election. They will be voting; voting Republicans out of office.

The largest demographic in America is millennials. This new generation will join them in changing our nation. More women are registered to vote and in our colleges today than men; and they are voting.

My group, baby boomers, no longer dominate our politics. We are dying off, and I say good riddance. Many of our votes are all too often cast based on emotions inspired by the lies told on Fox Noise, by Rush Limbaugh, by Laura Ingraham, Alex Jones, and others. They are not voting for the best candidate; the best man or woman who supports the issues most important to them; they are voting for a cowardly and hypocritical party.

Trump and his failed party will be responsible for an enormous voter turnout. Younger Americans and women of all ages will be running for office, and voting in numbers never seen before.

All Americans must follow our young leaders who have the courage to tell the truth. They will lead us in the effort to take our country back from right wing extremists.

Op-ed by James Turnage

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Image courtesy of DonkeyHotey

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