This month the world witnessed two mass shootings in the United States. A white supremacist attacked shoppers in Buffalo, New York and murdered ten people. His goal was to kill African Americans. In Texas, a disturbed teenager murdered twenty-one people, 19 children ages 10 and under, and two teachers. Both mass murderers were committed using AR-15 type automatic killing machines. Both of the killers purchased their weapons legally. A recent AP-NORC poll found that 51% of U.S. adults favor a nationwide ban on AR-15 rifles and similar semiautomatic weapons, but only 27% of respondents who identify as Republicans agreed.
Days after the Texas mass murders, gun-advocates gathered in Houston, Texas to celebrate gun ownership and their right to own and use any weapons that they choose. Evil stalked the halls at the NRA dressed in Republican clothing. In speech after speech Evil bemoaned the killings but defended the unrestricted right to own military style killing machines.
Former President Donald Trump: “The existence of evil in our world is not a reason to disarm law-abiding citizens. The existence of evil is one of the very best reasons to arm law-abiding citizens," he said.
Wayne LaPierre, NRA CEO: "21 beautiful lives ruthlessly and indiscriminately extinguished by a criminal monster. Restricting the fundamental human rights of law-abiding Americans to defend themselves is not the answer. It never has been.”
Texas Senator Ted Cruz: “Tragedies like the event of this week are a mirror forcing us to ask hard questions, demanding that we see where our culture is failing. We must not react to evil and tragedy by abandoning the Constitution or infringing on the rights of our law-abiding citizens."
South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem: “All about control and it is garbage. I’m not buying it for a second and you shouldn’t, either.”
Texas Governor Greg Abbott via pre-recorded video: “An evil madman took the innocent lives of school children . . . Laws have not stopped madman from carrying out evil acts on innocent people.”
Two days after the Texas mass murders, Senate Republicans blocked discussion of a bill to combat domestic terrorism and control gun violence. The proposed bill, already passed by the House of Representatives, would have set up offices in the FBI and the Homeland Security and Justice departments to focus specifically on domestic terrorism.
At this point in United States history, a vote for any Republican candidate for any elected office in the United States is a vote to empower mass murders.
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