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Tens of thousands of American innocents die each year of a cause we know we can control. But our politicians do nothing because they take money from those who make the deaths possible. That’s not corruption. It is a crime.
It is aiding and abetting mass murder. No other country on earth permits this. No other country on earth suffers as we do. Every other country on earth makes such a never ending tidal wave of blood impossible.
The NRA, the paid representatives of the gun manufacturers who have make these losses possible, who promote the gun culture that leads to them, is riven with other forms of corruption and beholden to foreign enemies.
The GOP and our president actively do the bidding for these merchants of death in exchange for cash payments. They have twisted the meaning of our Constitution to support their decades long conspiracy.
They speak of rights. But there is no inherent right to modern weapons written into our basic laws nor should their be. The only right they truly care about is their own right to enrich themselves. Even as they snuff out all the rights and hopes and dreams of their victims.
This is an American pathology. It is a disease. And every American who supports politicians who are part of this blood soaked conspiracy is themself part of it. And, we must admit, so to are those of us who do nothing to stop it.
If any other such crime were afoot—if terrorists were to kill a fraction of this many people—we would mobilize to stop them. But that is just what happened. 9/11 claimed one tenth the lives preventable gun violence claims annually.
But we do nothing. We watch the victims weep. We count the body bags. We traffic in thoughts and prayers. And we let the criminals bask in their wealth and we allow our government to be party to their crimes.
When will it stop? Not after Sandy Hook. Not after Parkland. Not after Las Vegas. Not after the mass shootings that occur daily. Not after headlines. Not after rallies.
It is time. I will support all Democratic candidates for president—unless they do not support sweeping, effective gun reform. This must be a centerpiece of the mandate for the next president.
Not just the lives of future victims depend on it. Our ability to call ourselves a civilized society depends on it. Our national soul depends on it. And on you...to stand up...to be heard...to demand action and to reject more fatal compromises.
(This makes it essential to also defeat Mitch McConnell and to take back the Senate. But a president can and should do much with executive action. We Dems must elect a candidate who pledges to do so. And we must reject candidates who would maintain the status quo on guns.
That does not mean I don't think it is essential to get rid of Trump. But it is also essential we do not perpetuate the status quo in our gun culture. A position of compromising on guns is disqualifying. We must reject those candidates...or we will perpetuate these murders.
This is one of those areas where past compromises were themselves crimes and we get a vote, we have a choice, and the Democratic Party must be the party that brings an end to this ugly chapter in American history. #NoMoreStatusQuoonGuns)
