Time to Stand Up!

There is a sickness in this world. How much more blood . . . childrens' blood . . . will it take for you people to wise up? I don’t care what anyone says, I hold the National Rifle Association [NRA] responsible for the cruel, wanton and sadistic murder of over two dozen innocent people, most of them elementary school students, in Sandy Hook [Newtown], Connecticut this morning.  “I want to say those fighting words for everyone within the sound of my voice to hear,” former NRA President Charleton Heston stated proudly in May 2000 claiming Americans should not surrender their right to bear arms.  “From my cold, dead hands!  Out of your cold, dead hands?”   Mr. Heston is no longer with us, but many who believe what he said twelve years ago are.  Last year 48 people were killed by handguns in Japan.  Eight in Great Bitain, 34 in Switzerland, 52 in Canada, 58 in Israel, 21 in Sweden, 42 in Germany . . . and 10,728 in the United States!!  The murder and mayhem in this country continues unabated and it will eventually catch up with even the NRA.  What if it were their children who were slaughtered in their classrooms this morning?

I am pointing the finger at the NRA for not supporting reasonable gun control and registration in this country. I am not against guns per se. I believe people should be able to own them, and I support hunting and those who hunt. But you don't need to have a machine gun to hunt. You don't need cop killer bullets to hunt.  There are those who own guns responsibly and know how to store and use them properly.  But there are many out there who should not have guns, and the NRA knows this and does nothing about it.  Yes, the NRA protects the right of those who own guns legally.  But it also protects those who go out on a nice sunny New England morning and murder innocent children.

See this gun?  It is legal in the USA.  And this morning it was used to kill lots of little kids.  Does anyone really need to have one of these? I mean, really?  This weapon was designed to kill people. If you don't plan to kill people, you really don't need to have one. I think that is reasonable.

Unfortunately, when it comes to the issue of gun control and registration, it is the unreasonable on both ends of the spectrum that seem to win the day while the moderates, those of us who try to see the issue from both sides, who seem to get lost in the fray. But on days like today, it is often hard to seem reasonable when all reason has gone out the window.

We need to stop mourning the victims of gun violence and start doing something that will reduce . . . nay prevent more victims of gun violence. I'm getting tired of seeing the flag at half staff. That does nothing. It is time to get serious folks, and not just wait for it to happen again. And sadly, it will happen again . . . and again . . . until we wake up and stand up. If a politician won't stand up to the NRA, go out and find one who will.  It is the only way this madness, this senseless murder, will stop.