The responsibility to do something
BROOKLYNPAPER.COM
COURIER L 30 IFE, AUG. 9-15, 2019
EDITORIAL
With apologies to Albert
Einstein, there’s a new
defi nition of insanity in
America: Sending thoughts and
prayers over and over again,
and expecting the mass shootings
to stop.
This weekend’s bloodshed
in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton,
Ohio, — as well as recent mass
shootings right here in Brownsville
and Crown Heights, reminded
us once again of how
broken things are in America
when it comes to gun violence
— and how our government has
utterly failed to stop the carnage.
One popular tweet spread on
social media following the latest
massacres to occur in America
this past weekend noted that
there have been more than 250
mass shootings in the United
States so far this year. No other
nation in the world had a number
of mass shootings exceeding
single digits.
What are we going to do to
stop this? The obvious answer
is greater gun control — reviving
the assault weapons ban,
expanding background checks,
preventing convicted felons
from owning guns, among
other ideas.
No American should own
an AR-15, an AK-47 or any other
high-capacity assault rifl e built
specifi cally for the military to
wage war. These weapons aren’t
made for sport; they’re made for
death, in high volumes, in short
periods of time. No American
should need one; no American
should want one.
Calls for gun control have
been made over and over and
over again, following one mass
shooting after another, in this
country over the last decade.
It should be a bipartisan effort,
but it is not, because one
party utterly refuses to do anything
about it other than offer
“thoughts and prayers” after
each tragedy.
Members of the Republican
Party offer every other excuse
in the world for the bloodshed,
and for making no concerted effort
to increase public safety.
It’s violent video games, they
say. It’s mental health, they say.
It’s broken homes, they say.
It’s the lack of prayer in public
schools, some claim.
Other nations have violent
video games, mental health issues,
dysfunctional families
and public prayer bans — yet
they do not have the level of gun
violence we experience in our
country. What they do have are
strict gun laws that preserve
public safety without infringing
upon one’s right to defend
themselves.
Shouldn’t we, as Americans,
deserve and demand the same?
Seems like an obvious yes.
The Republican Party has
run out of excuses and time —
and so has President Trump,
whose own hostile words toward
immigrants were echoed
in a manifesto left by the gunman
allegedly responsible for
the El Paso massacre.
Since he began his presidential
campaign in 2015, Trump
has used his bully pulpit to
say horrifi c, blatantly bigoted
things about people he doesn’t
like or whom he doesn’t agree
with politically.
One study after another has
found that the number of hate
crimes in America has soared
since Trump took offi ce. That’s
because white nationalists feel
empowered by the president’s
own rhetoric; they feel it justifi
es their own hatred, and spurs
them to lash out on their own.
Radicalized white nationalist
terrorists are getting their
hands on weapons of war and
turning them against ordinary
people just living their lives.
The president, of course, didn’t
pause to contemplate his contribution
to this. He blamed everything
and everyone else except
himself, and guns.
Republicans may try to
wash the president’s hands of
responsibility here, but the majority
of us know better. Sure,
Trump didn’t pull the trigger,
but his past words undoubtedly
inspired the gunman to do so.
That Trump doesn’t show an
ounce of remorse is appalling;
that Republicans refuse to condemn
the president for his stubbornness
is disturbing.
The Republican Party must
get their heads out of the sand
and face reality. This country
has a gun problem and a white
nationalist problem — and Republicans
must start working
with Democrats to strengthen
our gun laws and reject white
nationalism.
Every politician of every
party has a responsibility to
solve these problems. It’s time
that they fi nally do something
to protect us all, rather than
just talking about it or ignoring
it altogether.
Call President Trump, call
Senate Majority Leader Mitch
McConnell and call the New
York State Republican Party
and demand that they support
gun control and the fi ght
against white nationalism.
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