I can’t forget the deadly popping sounds of the assault weapon that the killer used to slay 20 people and injure 27 others in mere seconds at an El Paso, Texas Walmart on Aug. 3.
Are we going to continue to allow more children more loved ones to be murdered by assault weapons in this country?
As if El Paso wasn’t bad enough, another 10 died in another mass shooting mere hours later in Dayton, Ohio. I watched the coverage of both incidents, spellbound and horrified by these acts of violence — both of which didn’t have to happen.
During CBS News’ Sunday Morning program, I was impressed with an interview of a group of doctors who called the gun violence a nationwide epidemic that must be addressed in the same manner we would treat a contagion. In fact, lawmakers proposed funding for the Centers for Disease Control to study the impact of gun violence in America — but recently, such funding had been blocked.
Medical groups have, in the past, successfully raised public awareness of issues such as deaths from car accidents. Their pressure and research forced the auto industry to redesign vehicles to increase safety.
Airbags, for example, are now a common feature in automobiles because doctors had raised the issue of the frequency of deaths from drivers who struck the steering wheel during car crashes.
While watching the Sunday political talk shows, I was reminded that the federal ban on assault weapons had been lifted years ago, and that the House of Representatives recently passed a new bill outlawing these weapons of mass destruction.
The bill, however, must be passed in the Senate and signed by the President to become law. So far, it hasn’t even come up for a vote in the Senate chamber.
To make matters worse, the mass shooter in El Paso, much like the gunman behind the Tree of Life Synagogue massacre in Pittsburgh last year, seems to have been motivated by hate.
They are white supremacist terrorists who took advantage of our lax gun laws to get their hands on assault weapons to murder innocent people and advance their hateful agenda.
Every informed person knows assault weapons are for war, not for sport or anything else.
It’s time for all of us to put pressure on our lawmakers, and our president, to finally do something to stop gun violence and get these assault weapons out of the hands of evildoers.
We must all call our Senators, Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, and President Trump and demand that they do something now to stop the bloodshed. Call the numbers below today.
None of us can afford to be passive. We must act now! The next shooting victim could be my children, or yours.
Enough is enough!
Call…
Senator Charles Schumer 202-224-6542
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand 202-224-4451
President Donald Trump 202-456-1414
