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Opinion: Congressional Gun Lovers: Accessories Before the Fact

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Gun and ammunition | Image by sarun_J

If there really is a Hell, there surely is a section set aside for members of Congress who refuse to restrict the sale of assault weapons. They’re called assault weapons for a reason. They are designed to take down as many bad guys as possible as quickly as possible. No ordinary citizen has any need to own an assault weapon. No self-respecting sportsman would choose an assault weapon to go hunting.

But in the wrong hands, they are the weapon of choice for crazies intent on venting their deranged anger by killing as many innocent victims as possible, often people of other skin colors or ethnic backgrounds, but sometimes random crowds who make easy targets. And if not these, then high school kids and even grade school children.

Columbine. Sandy Hook. Parkland. Uvalde.

The list is long and continues to grow longer. More innocent lives lost. More families plunged into the depths of loss and despair.

The same so-called leaders in Washington who steadfastly refuse to confront the issue have been equally opposed to universal background checks. In 2013, four months after twenty first-graders and six teachers were fatally shot at Sandy Hook Elementary School, the Manchin- Toomey amendment was six votes shy of the sixty needed to overcome a Senate filibuster. It would have required background checks on all commercial gun sales. Almost all of the senators who voted “no” are the recipients of significant campaign contributions (some in the millions) from the NRA and other gun rights groups.

 
Speaking for the forty-six “no” voters, Senator Chuck Grassley (R) gave reporters theSmartass explanation that “Criminals do not submit to background checks.” Which ignores the possibility of preventing angry demented persons from obtaining firearms. A working system that prevents even one massacre is worth whatever it costs, no matter if we may never know what horror we’ve been spared.Some in Congress espouse the NRA fantasy that the best defense against a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. Tell that to the family of Aaron Salter Jr., the security guard who was killed by a crazy firing a semi-automatic weapon in a Buffalo market. Salter actually shot the offender, but a bulletproof vest protected him as he gunned down the retired police officer. And why is body armor readily available to anyone other than police and military personnel?

Some gun lovers in Congress have recently begun a not-too-subtle campaign aimed at directing attention elsewhere. What we need, they say, is a more comprehensive program to deal with mental illness. A worthy issue in its own right, but not a solution to mass murders. Every free world country has its share of mentally disturbed citizens. All but the U.S. have strict gun laws and experience few if any of these tragedies.

At a recent interview, Texas Senator Ted Cruz (R) was asked, “Why do you think…this is an American problem?” A visibly angry Cruz cut short the interview and said, “Stop being a propagandist!” News for Cruz: Telling the truth is not propaganda. Or, as Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy (D) said, “Spare me the bull—t about mental health.”

Our founding fathers could not have imagined the assault weapons that would one day spray terror and tragedy among so many innocent victims. Espousing “the right to bear arms” is a sacrilege in interpreting the Second Amendment.

In the wake of Uvalde and Highland Park, NRA sycophants in Congress grudgingly allowed passage of half-hearted legislation that calls for stricter background checks and improved mental health care. One hopes that will prevent some crazies from obtaining assault weapons. But others will slip through the cracks, and guess what weapons they will choose to purchase.

The slaughters will continue. The cowardly liars in Congress who make excuses for refusing to enact a ban on the sale of assault weapons are accessories before the fact.

As each new mass shooting horror occurs, we hear from numerous prominent sources that their thoughts and prayers are with the families of those who have died. The gun lovers in Congress add their voices to the chorus, but coming from them the words have the ring of a sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. Better they should say a silent prayer for forgiveness, the courage to do the right thing, and to avoid their richly deserved special place in Hell.

Dan McGuire is a senior retiree who is proud to have served in the U.S. Army and thankful that he arrived in Korea after the armistice.

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