Some Folks Care...And Some Just Don't
The NRA has blood on their hands, but you'd never know it from their convention
If you’d been expecting/hoping/praying for the NRA to finally display a shred of humanity or compassion and begin to show a willingness to move toward common-sense gun control, I applaud your optimism. If not your grip on reality.
The National Rifle Association’s 2022 convention was held this past weekend in Houston. Yes, deep in the heart of Texas, and a scant three days after the mass shooting a few hours west in Uvalde, the NRA was attempting to reassert its supremacy in the debate over gun control.
Wayne LaPierre, the group’s embattled chief executive, opened the program with remarks bemoaning the “21 beautiful lives ruthlessly and indiscriminately extinguished by a criminal monster.”
Still, he said that “restricting the fundamental human rights of law-abiding Americans to defend themselves is not the answer. It never has been.”
Later, several hundred people in the auditorium stood and bowed their heads in a moment of silence for the victims of the shooting. Several thousand people were inside the auditorium during the speeches, which appeared fewer than the number gathered outside. Many seats were empty.
The irony of LaPierre describing the Uvalde shooter as a “monster” should escape no one. No one in the NRA fits that one-word descriptor better than Wayne LaPierre, who during his tenure has redefined “corrupt,” “venal,” and “monstrous.” To say that LaPierre is without a conscience or a moral center would be to give him too much credit. He couldn’t find either one if you provided him a map, two Sherpas, and a week’s supply of granola bars.
When it comes to criticizing the NRA, I come by my bona fides honestly. I grew up in a house with an NRA sticker on the front door. My father taught me to shoot at an early age. I was a second lieutenant in the Army reserve, and I’ve fired everything from handguns to M-60 machine guns. I’m comfortable around weapons, but I also know what they can do, which is why I won’t allow them in my home.
My father eventually broke with the NRA after the crazies took over in the Cincinnati revolt in 1977. What had been an organization dedicated to promoting gun safety morphed into an organization dominated by Far-Right lunatics. Post-Cincinnati, the NRA was devoted to the idea that the 2nd Amendment guarantees Americans the right to carry anything anywhere and at any time.
Wayne LaPierre’s NRA twisted the 2nd Amendment- the most willfully misinterpreted 27 words in the English Language- into a blank check for those who value their gun rights over life itself.
How very pro-life of them, eh?
Trump accused Democrats of trying to exploit the tragedy and demonizing gun owners.
“When Joe Biden blamed the gun lobby he was talking about Americans like you,” Trump said, referring to the president’s emotional plea in a national address asking, “When in God’s name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby?”
No, President Biden was speaking for the vast majority of Americans- AND THE MAJORITY OF RESPONSIBLE GUN OWNERS- who favor common-sense gun control.
The anguish in the President’s voice was for 19 children and two teachers slaughtered by an 18-year-old wielding a weapon of war. Trump didn’t seem particularly moved by the senseless slaughter, but sociopaths are gonna sociopath.
Trump called for overhauling school security and the nation’s approach to mental health, telling the group every school building should have a single point of entry, strong exterior fencing, metal detectors and hardened classroom doors and every school should have a police officer or armed guard on duty at all times. He also called yet again for trained teachers to be able to carry concealed weapons in the classroom.
He and other speakers overlooked the security upgrades that were already in place at the elementary school and did not stop the gunman, who entered the building through a back door that had been propped open.
Trump either didn’t realize or neglected to mention that Uvalde already had a current security plan in place- ONE THAT WASN’T EXECUTED BY THE POLICE.
As for mental health care, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott cut $211 million from the state’s mental health care budget in April. If the Governor is so convinced that mental illness presents such a grave threat to public safety, why did he cut the budget of the agency charged with providing mental health care?
Single points of entry and exit often aren’t practical, especially if you have a large student body. In the case of an emergency- say, a fire- how do you safely evacuate students and staff quickly and safely? In many cases, it’s not possible with a single point of entry/exit.
Uvalde also showed that armed police officers or armed guards aren’t always the answer. Nor should teachers and staff be expected to carry a weapon. Should we expect Susie the lunch lady to be a reliable last line of defense if she’s never handled a gun before?
Much of what Donald Trump talked about was already in place in Uvalde- but the system failed. Despite that, the NRA insists that the ONLY solution is MORGUNZ!!!! Remember,
Only a good guy with a gun can stop a bad guy with a gun (THAT worked well in Uvalde, didn’t it?)
An armed society is a scared shitless polite society.
And MORGUNZ!!!! only makes us MORSAFER.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who, like Trump, is considered a potential presidential candidate in 2024, railed against Democrats’ calls for universal background checks for gun purchases and bans of assault-style weapons and instead pointed to broken families, declining church attendance, social media bullying and video games as the real problems.
“Tragedies like the event of this week are a mirror forcing us to ask hard questions, demanding that we see where our culture is failing,” he said. “We must not react to evil and tragedy by abandoning the Constitution or infringing on the rights of our law-abiding citizens.”
Conservatives are always quick to look for pat, simple explanations to avoid having to take responsibility for being monsters. But, because the NRA owns them, they can’t stray outside the approved talking points, lest they risk seeing their NRA checks go away.
And so they continue to suck at the teat that continues to fill their campaign war chests.
That said, it’s ridiculous to believe that the causes of mass shootings are things like broken families, declining church attendance, social media bullying, and video games. The problem is not, as Sen. McSmarmy would have us believe, that “our culture is failing.” No, it’s that our gun laws allow anyone over 18 with a pulse to purchase weapons of war and the ammunition to go with them.
The Uvalde shooter walked into Robb Elementary School with 1600 rounds of ammunition. Think about that for a second. He had enough ammo to do even more damage than he did before the police killed him. If he’d been thoughtful and calm enough to plan his attack and not draw attention to himself, the death toll could’ve been significantly higher.
That’s not an indication that “our culture is failing.” It’s an indication that our elected leaders don’t care about the body count their alliance with the NRA is creating. Their proposals DO. NOT. WORK. And their hypocrisy knows no bounds.
The GOP- particularly in Texas- has the blood of 19 children and two teachers on their hands. And it’s not just in Uvalde. Their intransigence and accompanying responsibility go back more than two decades. And it will continue until they decide that enough bloodshed is finally enough.
When will that be? Not anytime soon.
Because if nothing changes, then nothing changes.
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