On 24 March 2018 In DC and other cities, hundreds of thousands of students and others marched to demand common sense gun control in the wake of dealdly school shootings in the U.S.
I actually laughed when I first read this story. When I read a follow-up story about how they were “flying off the shelves,” I shook my head. How stupid is the American public?
Bulletproof backpacks are the latest effort by the NRA and the cowardly right-wing to misdirect the facts. I keep trying to picture a second grader attempting to scramble to the closet, find his or her backpack, and use it as a shield.
The fact is that they wouldn’t be effective when a high velocity rifle is the weapon of choice for a domestic terrorist.
“Rifle projectiles present a threat level greater than handgun and even shotgun ammunition,” Peter Diaczuk, professor of forensics at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said. “This is due to the higher velocity and consequently greater kinetic energy of a rifle bullet.”
Let’s get to the truth here. Only three common sense regulations will lessen the number of deaths in America from gun violence; there is no other choice. Extensive and comprehensive background checks should be mandatory for ALL gun purchases. Military-style weapons must not be available for purchase by the American public. Finally, high-output magazines must be banned for sale in gun stores, gun shows, and on the internet.
I know that most of the American people are more intelligent than they appear. They cannot possibly believe the lies coming from the NRA gun lobby and the Republican Party. This is not a second amendment issue, it’s a public safety issue and that must take precedence over any other argument.
The truth is that if one entire political party was not owned by the NRA, steps would have been taken long ago to amend the second amendment.
Issues deliberated at the Constitutional Convention in 1789 relating to the second amendment were far more complicated than gun ownership. The truth is that if our founding fathers could have foreseen the weapons of mass destruction sold at your local gun store today, they would have been a much longer and more defined amendment.
Sadly, the right-wing continues its refusal to do the right thing. Their motto continues to be “profit before people;” profit for gun manufacturers and gun sellers.
Finally, the truth is that the right-wing and the NRA do not care about the second amendment; they care about billions of dollars in sales for greedy and uncaring men and women who have the blood of innocents on their hands.
Stand with the families of the victims of the hundreds of mass shootings which have occurred over the last three years; nearly 300 in 2019. Demand change. Call your Congressmen and Senators and demand reform or tell them they will not receive your vote. They’ll pay attention to that; it will hurt them in their wallets.
Tell everyone, “the truth lives here.”
Op-ed by James Turnage
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