Mr. Trump said we can no longer afford to be politically correct. And he is right, dead right. While he kisses the ring of the NRA, speaking of how proud he is to have gained their seal of approval, nearly one hundred of our men, women and children have their lives come to a violent conclusion each and every day. Guns do kill, over and over and over.
We are coming to take your weapons, or at least we should be. Even the most fervent advocate of gun control, has neither the courage or the political will to speak an answer begging for a question. Yes, we live in a country where there is mass destruction being permitted, more than that, condoned, by our infatuation with guns.
We have virtually as many in our homes as we have people in this country. They come in all shapes and sizes and colors. The real diversity in our nation lies not in our people but in our choice of instruments of death. We no longer dream of a chicken in every pot but an AK 15 in our bed.
The dark, dark images that were the centerpiece of Mr. Trump's acceptance speech warned us repeatedly that there is much to fear. The real truth unspoken is when we no longer have any reign on our weapons, when we have open carry of our guns into our parks, our playgrounds, our schools, our houses of worship, we give open invitation to danger and death. When police must wonder if the next car they approach will be their last, when arguments between neighbors, drivers, spouses are settled not with words or even fists but with bullets, we give open invitation to danger and death. When it is easier to obtain an instrument of intended harm then it is to obtain the right to vote, we give open invitation to danger and death.
We can no longer afford to be politically correct, not on this issue. We can no longer tolerate the insanity that is our convoluted misreading of the Second Amendment. We were not intended to be a fully armed nation. We were not intended to be an uncivil population masquerading as our own well regulated militia. We were not intended to overthrow a tyrannical government by armed insurrection.
Take our guns away. Have the fortitude to utter those words. Don't speak of terrorist watch lists, of those who are mentally unstable, of those with a history of domestic violence. Speak larger, think larger, of a population armed to the teeth, a trigger finger away from ending the existence of you or me. That person resides in your city, your town, on your street and maybe even in your home. He or she, or maybe even you, have the capacity to pull that trigger, after a bad day at work or maybe too many days unemployed, after an argument that would otherwise end with slamming doors or tears.
Mr. Trump, let me congratulate you on your message that we must tell the hard truths, the ones we don't have the will or fortitude to reveal. In your universe, you have addressed our bigotry and our hatreds. However you have not given warning, but rather acted as accelerator, giving those on your side unfettered right to bring into the light of day their anger, their hostility, their prejudice and their ugliness. You have not healed us, but opened a gaping wound.
But if we are to be constructive in the truths we tell, if we are not to exacerbate our problems, but diminish them, if we are to heal rather than hurt, then we must stop being politically correct on the issue of gun control.
The NRA must be silenced. Those who shout that they are coming to take our guns must be silenced. The legislators whose words foster the epidemic of blood in our homes, in our houses of worship, in our cars and on our streets must be silenced.
The voices of courage and conviction must instead drown out the cacophony. There must be an end to our national nightmare. There must be one goal and one only. Not to work around the periphery, not to seek the small victory, not to accept the status quo as an inevitability. We must rid ourselves of this disease, attack it at its heart, treat is as virulent as any other cancer that has to be eradicated.
Yes, Mr. Trump, we must end our political correctness. We must enact laws that do come and take your guns away. We must make your home your streets, your town and city, your country, and mine, safer.
Take the trigger out of our hands.
This post is cross-posted from my blog, Too Early To Call.
