President Trump
Donald Trump: you are the President of a nation where white supremacists walk into Wal-Mart and community festivals and murder innocents. If you think Elijah Cummings is somehow responsible for Baltimore’s poverty, than you are most certainly responsible for this.
Donald Trump: What have you done to protect our nation from mass shooters? You haven’t improved background checks, you haven’t banned assault weapons, you haven’t supported “red flag” laws, you haven’t done anything more than send your “thoughts and prayers” to El Paso. Soon you will add Dayton to that list.
Donald Trump: the Bible says “as you sow, so shall you reap.” You have sown hate in our country. While you may not be directly responsible for these killings, you have created an environment where those on the fringes feel enabled to act. This is an outgrowth of the hate and fear you have engendered for migrants, and for those who are not white, or otherwise “different.”
Donald Trump: like it or not, and I don’t; you are the President of the United States. You were chosen by a minority of voters to lead us. None-the-less, it is your task. This is the real test of your Presidency. You have so far failed.
The Republican Choice
Governor Abbott of Texas: you so forcefully pushed away all questions about controlling gun violence. “Bodies haven’t even been recovered,” you said, “it’s not time for politics.” Governor, you already have dozens killed in the past couple of years in mass shootings. You spoke of the courageous the actions of the heroes who saved lives under fire. Where is your courage to make the changes required to protect your citizens?
Former Republican Congressman David Jolly said:
“For my Second Amendment Friends, “well regulated” were the first words written by the same guys who wrote the rest of the sentence. It all goes together.”
Jolly has the luxury of not running for office as a Republican anymore. The Party has abandoned all pretense of protecting citizens from the threat of mass shootings. They have fallen back to the National Rifle Association slogan: “A bad man with a gun can only be stopped by a good man with a gun.”
But the reality is that the “bad man” can really only be stopped by McConnell and Trump. They have multiple options to try to change the equation of mass shootings. It can start with background checks for every weapons purchased, even those at gun shows. It can continue with Red Flag laws and mental health checks. And it can culminate with banning weapons designed for modern war from the United States.
Good Men with Guns
We already depend on “good men” with guns. Some are my friends, and I know they would lay down their lives to protect others. Those police officers will do what needs to be done if the time comes. They are trained, they are armed, and they are prepared.
But they can only act when there is action. In Dayton, nine died before the police could put the shooter “down.” In California, three died before they stopped him. They are doing all they can to keep people safe. But they need help.
Last week, friends of mine who coach high school went to a normal “start of the year” meeting. The first hour was forms, procedures and goals. The second hour: training from a former Afghanistan veteran turned athletic trainer on how to treat traumatic injuries caused by gunshots; how to pack wounds and place tourniquets. For the coaches, it was a scary, but seemed like something they might have to use someday.
America’s Choice
In 2012 a gunman went into an elementary school and killed 20 little children and six adults at Sandy Hook. Then President Obama proposed legislation, but Congress was unable to act. It was said at the time, if we couldn’t begin to contain our national addiction to weapons of war after Sandy Hook, nothing would ever change. Now, seven years later, that’s true: nothing has changed.
We are at war. Here are the statistics since Sandy Hook (Vox):
- 2189 mass shootings
- 2475 killed
- 9137 wounded.
I have been writing “Trump World” essays for two and a half years, 540 so far. I’ve written dozens about mass shootings, guns, and our choice to accept this violence. There is little new to say, but it must be shouted loudly, over and over again. This is our America today and Americans are choosing to let this happen. We could choose differently. We look to our leaders to make changes, to lead us to a safer place. Their answer has got to be better than just sending “thoughts and prayers.”
