TWEET TAKES ATLANTA
Lifting both arms and clenching his fists, Tweet addressed the NRA National Convention in Atlanta last evening. His commitment was unequivocal: “The eight year assault on your Second Amendment freedoms has come to a crashing end. You have a true friend in the White House….The assault on gun rights is over.”
Tweet’s version of “pay for play” was on full display when he said, “You came through for me, and I am going to come through for you.”
Meanwhile, more than 90 Americans are shot and killed and hundreds more are injured each day. Meanwhile, 33,000 die of gun violence each year in the USA. Meanwhile, cases of road rage involving a firearm, where someone brandished a gun or fired one at a driver or passenger, more than doubled to 620 in 2016 from 247 in 2014. Meanwhile, “…states with large numbers of concealed-carry permit holders and relaxed gun laws-such as Florida and Texas-had a higher number of [road rage] cases.” (NYT-25 April) Meanwhile, the states with the highest murder rates for women don’t require universal background checks. In states with fewer background check loopholes 38% fewer women are killed by intimate partners. If a domestic abuser has access to a gun, chance of homicide increases 500%. (www.bit.ly/DVand gun violence) Meanwhile in Minnesota, over 80% of gun deaths are suicides where 90% are committed by Whites.
Words like “freedom” and “rights” mean nothing to the dead. They are obscene insults to the spouses, friends and relatives who look at the victim in the coffin. Reasonable, common sense gun violence prevention laws will save thousands of lives without violating Second Amendment privilege. The gun lobby reigns as blood splatters our lives.
Yes, Tweet “took” Atlanta all right, taking them and all of us to turn our heads from grief towards the glory of unabashed firepower in the names of freedom and rights. Hail Gun! Weep Death! Resist!
“Do not stand idly by while your neighbor’s blood is shed.” Leviticus 19:16
Peace!
Rev. Dr. Ron Letnes