Every time there’s a mass shooting in America, conservatives immediately tell those of us who dream of a safer world that it’s too soon to act on this latest tragedy. That’s exactly backward: It’s too late—too late for us to do anything for the victims of Mandalay Bay. Of Pulse. Of Virginia Tech. Of San Bernardino. Of Aurora. Of Columbine. Of Sandy Hook.
But we can do something to protect the future, and it starts with a head-on challenge to the National Rifle Association, a slick cabal of gun industry shills who deliberately inflame the worst paranoias of their members to keep firearm sales booming. Indeed, in one of the most sickening side-notes of Monday’s nightmare in Las Vegas, the stocks of gun makers soared that very same day, all based on the cynical expectation that gun sales would surge because those susceptible to the NRA’s messaging would fear new restrictions on their ability to buy more weaponry and rush to the nearest gun shop.
Of course, the NRA will do everything in its immense power to prevent any such restrictions from becoming law, precisely because it can rely on the same bloody-minded intensity of its most fervent supporters to cow Republican elected officials, no matter the public outcry. That’s exactly why, even after Adam Lanza murdered 20 children in Newtown, Connecticut, Congress failed to pass new gun safety regulations that were (and still are) supported by 80 percent of the country.
Republicans are simply terrified of that 20 percent who oppose background checks for gun buyers because those folks will summon Hulk-like rage to overcome the will of the huge majority that, the NRA has rightly concluded, simply doesn’t care as much. Defy that minority, GOP politicians know, and you’ll be replaced by someone more to the gun lobby’s liking.
But how about we replace these Republicans with someone less to the gun lobby’s liking—a lot less? How about we show that hell, yes, we care about saving precious lives even more than the worst gun fanatic cares about preserving his right to wield deadly firepower at all costs?
It starts with electing Democrats. We have a real chance to take back the House next year, so just imagine if we were to do so by proclaiming unequivocally that America’s gun insanity has to stop. It would only be the first step—Senate Republicans and Donald Trump would never agree to new gun laws—but it would be a critical one.
The NRA will go berserk fighting us, but that’s why we have to channel our own anger and make Republicans pay the ultimate political price for their slavish obedience to the gun industry. The battlefield is still coalescing, but 23 House Republicans currently sit in blue districts, one shy of the number we need to win back the chamber. That’s where we begin.
Show the NRA why they should fear our fury. Please give $1 to help elect a Democrat in each targeted House district today.