12 AUGUST 8, 2019 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
The responsibility to do something
With apologies to Albert
Einstein, there’s a new
definition 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, 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 aft er
another, in this country over the last
decade. It should be a bipartisan eff ort,
but it is not, because one party utterly
refuses to do anything about it other
than offer “thoughts and prayers”
aft er each tragedy.
Members of the Republican Party
off er 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
ignorantly 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 to us.
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 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 aft er another has found
that the number of hate crimes in
America has soared since Trump
took office. 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.
Even in our backyard, Republicans
are hesitant to suggest that Trump’s
rhetoric is fueling a white nationalist
fi re in this country. One prominent
Republican in Queens, Councilman
Eric Ulrich, shamefully dismissed
that notion and played the “both sides”
card by wondering why the press
didn’t blame, in his eyes, Presidents
Clinton and Obama for mass shootings
during their administrations.
We don’t recall President Clinton
calling Mexicans “rapists and drug
addicts,” the way Trump did back in
2015 at his campaign announcement;
nor do we recall President Obama
describing the arrival of migrants on
the southern border as an “invasion”
of America, as Trump has repeatedly
said this year.
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.
EDITORIAL
ESTABLISHED 1908
Co-Publishers
VICTORIA SCHNEPS-YUNIS
JOSHUA SCHNEPS
Editor-in-Chief
ROBERT POZARYCKI
Classifi ed Manager
DEBORAH CUSICK
Assistant Classifi ed Manager
MARLENE RUIZ
Reporters
EMILY DAVENPORT
MARK HALLUM
CARLOTTA MOHAMED
BILL PARRY
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Bullet holes from a Kalashnikov rifl e in front windshield Photo via Getty Images
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.
President Donald Trump 202-456-1414
Senator Mitch McConnell 202-224-2541
NYS Republican Party 518-462-2601
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