Sometimes, people respond just as you expect them to — especially when your expectations are so low.
Hundreds of thousands of students, parents, and people with souls flooded the streets across the country on Saturday to demand drastic changes to gun laws that have turned the United States into a war zone. The March For Our Lives was a rousing, emotional, powerful success in that it focused so much attention on the desperate need for the government to pass serious gun control reforms.
And if lawmakers were interested in listening to their constituents, the March For Our Lives would be a clear message to those who have thus far refused to do anything about the scourge of school shootings, mass killings, and everyday gun violence that has drenched the nation in blood.
But of course, that’s not what happened. The NRA insulted the brave kids from Parkland and actually tried to make money off the march.
In a YouTube video, NRA host Colion Noir — aka Collins Iyare Idehen Jr — showed just how rotten this whole gun “rights” movement is down at its core.
“To all the kids from Parkland getting ready to use your First Amendment to attack everyone else’s Second Amendment at your march on Saturday, I wish a hero like Blaine Gaskill had been at Marjory Douglas High School last month because your classmates would still be alive and no one would know your names, because the media would have completely and utterly ignored your story, the way they ignored his,” he said. “I have to ask, what are you really marching for? Because from where I'm standing, it looks like a march to burn the Constitution and rewrite the parts they don't like in crayon.”
This scumbag actually said that about the teenagers who are taking a selfless stand, fighting through incredible pain to try and make the country a better place. Their lives will never be the same; they’ve become targets for hateful, dangerous people. And yet, they push forward, working every moment to save as many lives as they can.
And what is the NRA doing? Calling the whole thing a conspiracy theory and trying to raise money with a membership drive.
"Today's protests aren't spontaneous,” it wrote on Facebook. “Gun-hating billionaires and Hollywood elites are manipulating and exploiting children as part of their plan to DESTROY the Second Amendment and strip us of our right to defend ourselves and our loved ones."
Republicans were just plain silent. And that’s no surprise. There has been hardly any movement toward the slightest of reforms in Congress, because the lives of children don’t factor into an NRA voting record or pay for 30 second TV ads.
Just look at the tweets from the five members of Congress that have taken the most dirty NRA money as of this past fall. You’d have no idea that streets across America were filled with angry voters, demanding change.
In honor of the March For Our Lives, Progressives Everywhere has created a fund devoted specifically to Democratic candidates running against Republicans who serve the NRA, not their constituents. We are calling it — surprise — Progressives Everywhere vs. the NRA. Because just look at what they did yesterday:
Rep. French Hill in Arkansas’s 2nd congressional district. Hill has taken over $1 million from the NRA over the course of his career.
Hill didn’t tweet anything yesterday.
Clarke Tucker is running against him. Tucker, a brilliant young lawmaker who currently serves in the Arkansas legislature, has proposed several gun control laws during his time in Little Rock. They include prohibiting people convicted of domestic battery or stalking from owning guns, as well as making it a misdemeanor offense to negligently allow a child access to a firearm. What’s more, independent polling has put him within single digits of Hill.
Ken Buck represents Colorado’s 4th congressional district. He has taken over $800,00 directly from the NRA to vote against gun laws. He hasn’t tweeted in three days. His opponent is Karen McCormick, who been active in supporting school walkouts and the Parkland teens in their fight for sanity. Buck faces a primary challenge, which could leave him extra vulnerable.
David Young represents Iowa’s 3rd congressional district. Young has taken over $700,000 in the NRA’s blood money over the years. Young did not tweet yesterday. On Friday, he tweeted about open office hours. Let’s hope people go in there and ask him why, exactly, he supports murder weapons.
Cindy Axne is one of several Democrats running in a competitive primary against Young, but has put out the strongest statements in favor of gun control. As a mother of two school-aged kids, she has been vocal in support of the Parkland students, as well. Polling shows Iowans prefer Democrats over Republicans for Congress this year.
Greg Gianforte, the body-slamming, journalist-assaulting Montana congressman who has taken over $300,000 in a very, very short time in office. He hasn’t tweeted in nearly a year. On Facebook, he asked constituents to fill out a survey; again, let’s hope they give him an earful, as there were multiple marches in Montana yesterday.
Kathleen Williams is running against running in a competitive primary race in a rural at-large district, but has come out against the gun lobby, anyway.
Lloyd Smucker, who has taken over $200,000 from the NRA, was with young people yesterday — but it was the Young Republicans, and they were talking about international relations. Nothing about guns. Meanwhile, several thousand people rallied in Lancaster, which is at the heart of his district.
Jess King is running against Smucker in Pennsylvania’s new 11th congressional district. We’ve interviewed her at Progressives Everywhere, and know she’d be a strong voice for gun control.
We need drastic change. We have lawmakers who are either brain dead, or entirely bought by the gun lobby. We need to target each and every one of them. CLICK HERE to donate to the Democratic candidates working to bring these GOP drones down at Progressives Everywhere vs. the NRA!
And if you want to donate to the rest of our slate of progressive, people-funded Democrats running against Republicans, CLICK HERE!