William T. Robinson, Jr.
Enough is enough! Another mass school shooting! The latest mass school shooting has occurred at a Texas elementary school where the gunman killed 19 children and two adults. The voices of young, innocent children killed in school shootings are crying out for stricter gun control. Their senseless deaths must mean something.
No more rhetoric from gun lobbyists and spineless legislators refusing to combat the NRA (National Rifle Association) for stricter gun control legislation, especially banning the sale of assault weapons to civilians. Shame on anyone who claims they value the sanctity of life still vacillating on stricter gun control legislation, especially those refusing to demand immediate banning of assault weapons.
In the name of everything sacred and holy, let’s stop putting profit ahead of human lives. Older Americans and parents should be beyond outraged and stand up and demand stricter gun control legislation, if for nothing more than the safety of our children. It should not be about profit or hiding behind the Second Amendment anymore. Our children have been at risk of being gunned down at schools for years. Yet somehow we find ways to play down this pending threat. We have left an indelible blot on our nation and should be profoundly ashamed of our hesitation to protect our citizens, especially our children.
Are we listening to the grieving voices of the families of those who have lost loved ones to a mass shooting? Their loved ones demand better, because their deaths should not have been in vain. Please stop making gun control legislation a political party issue, hiding behind the Second Amendment which says it is the right of the people to keep and bear arms. Using the argument that one should have the right to bear arms should not warrant a civilian being able to possess an assault weapon that has the capacity to kill numerous people in a short time—unless we see the streets as a war battlefield. Sometimes it should be about doing the right thing for the greater good.
Wake up America! It has been about a decade since a gunman killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut with many more school shootings occurring yearly. Very little has been done to enact stricter, meaningful gun control legislation. Innocent people in public venues continue to be killed needlessly.
Why would anyone need an assault weapon, unless they are on the battlefield—or unless they wanted to mow down a large number of people in a short period of time? I don’t think anyone is against banning guns, per se. But assault weapons are capable of doing irreparable, deadly harm to many people in a short period of time.
We must be mindful of the smokescreens or diversions used by those in the pockets of the NRA. When all is said and done, it is apparent that profits are more important than innocent lives where the NRA is concerned. The arm of the NRA is long and powerful, encompassing the pockets of many of our elected lawmakers.
As I speak now, you’ll find some NRA advocates or lobbyists purposely avoiding putting more pressure on gun control legislation, opting to put more emphasis on spending more money on school security and preventive strategies to offset these massacres. I don’t know if we will ever be able to stop people from killing others, whether the killers are mentally ill or just malicious. But we can decrease the number of people killed at any given time by banning assault weapons.
Like it or not, America’s conscience to do the right thing is on trial. Our legislators should be held accountable to serving the public, not the RNA. I am praying that this country has the courage and compassion to do the right thing. The blood of our slaughtered children is demanding justice.
