Well lookie here. That’s right….in just two and a half months, our good friends at the National Rifle Association will be gathering in Dallas for their annual Executive Leadership Forum.
Leading the event, of course, will be firebrand Wayne LaPierre, who has taken the NRA over a cliff in terms of absolutist positioning. And also on the program, according to the website for the event, is Florida Governor (and possible candidate for US Senate in the state) Rick Scott.
But given the murders of 17 high school students in Parkland, FL this week by an angry ex student using an absurdly-easy-to-obtain assault rifle (helped in no small part due to Scott and the Florida GOP’s continual work as a paid subsidiary of the NRA), one wonders how eager Scott is going to be to make this appearance.
When a reporter asked Scott right after the shooting, why a 19-year old should be able to own an assault rifle and to get it with essentially no restrictions, licensing, registration, or safety training, and to do so despite the fact that his emotional outbursts had led to his expulsion from school and numerous police calls to his home, Scott launched into one of the most egregious examples yet seen of NOT answering the question. Instead he said time was needed to find out what happened, to examine the facts. Later he promised a “conversation” about guns with Florida citizens.
Scott and GOP FL Senator Marco Rubio are in the crosshairs of adults and students finally totally and completely fed up with meaningless “thought, prayers and condolences,” calls for more time, statements that it is too soon to discuss the subject. THIS time it feels like THIS incident could be the #MeToo moment of the gun debate.
So what to do with that upcoming NRA convention:
1- Start a social media campaign aimed at the politicians already on the agenda including Scott, Republican Attorney General Adam Laxalt of Nevada, TX Senator Ted Cruz, and NC Republican Congressman Richard Hudson. Ask them why, in the wake of massacre after massacre using assault weapons and stemming from incredibly lax gun laws, they are committed to speaking before the NRA and its agenda of death?
(NOTE: Scott is a VERY obvious target for this campaign, but also especially vulnerable are Laxalt because of the concert venue massacre in Las Vegas, and Cruz because of the Texas church shooting. In Laxalt’s case, his state’s GOP senator Dean Heller is already very vulnerable and the GOP’s strong paid for support for the NRA is not going to sit well with Nevadans angry over the shooting. Cruz also is up for re-election this fall in a tough race against a well-funded and organized Democrat, Beto O’Rourke as Texas steadily shifts from red to bluish purple.)
2- How about starting a Go Fund Me page to raise enough money to send EVERY student from Parkland to appear in Dallas at the NRA event. Maybe buy them tickets in other names to make sure they don’t get blocked, and have them stand in silence as LaPierre screams his hate to his membership as silent witness to the ravings of madmen..
3- How about a nationwide March against Guns, to be held in Dallas on May 8th and culminating in front of the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center? Might be as big or bigger than the Womens’ March on Washington...and CERTAINLY bigger than the crowd for Donnie’s lame-a..s inauguration.
You all are creative. Pitch in and add your own ideas. Together we can forcefully confront the NRA, its maniac members AND the politicians who cater to them in return for hefty contributions.
The NRA Forum website touts this event as follows: The Forum is ..a must-stop for candidates seeking the highest levels of elected office – including governor, congressman, Senator, or President of the United States.
Oh yeah….let’s see just how many candidates seeking the highest levels of elected office think appearing before the NRA is going to help drive them to victory this fall, if their put in the glaring spotlight and asked WHY!!!!