Arguing with Second Amendment fetishists, who have bought so thoroughly into the right-wing propaganda machine that tells them a “well-regulated militia” was intended to be used to overthrow democratic elections, is a tough slog. The logic behind it is wrong on so many levels that it’s hard to list them here. What we can all agree on, one might think, is that the architects of the Constitution and more specifically the Bill of Rights, were interested in was making sure that our country would be able to function in a way where public safety—especially domestically—wasn’t an enormous problem; and yet it is.
Since the mass murder of 19 children and two adults in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24, Texas Republican politicians like Gov. Greg Abbott have been spinning their corrupt blood money propaganda that “moral values,” declining Christian fundamentalism, and anything besides guns and the mass proliferation of lax gun laws, is the reason for gun violence. Most people know this is bullshit. Most people, regardless of their feelings about guns and gun ownership, believe that there are all degrees of gun laws that can and should be enacted federally.
Democratic candidate for Governor, Beto O’Rourke has been an outspoken advocate for more sensible gun safety laws in our country for some time. Right now he happens to be running against Greg Abbott, and Greg Abbott would prefer not to speak about his record atop Texas’ political food chain over the past few years. It’s filled with dead children, dead seniors, and corruption as far as the eye can see. The day after the massacre in Uvalde, Beto confronted Abbott and the Texas law enforcement apparatus that has been impotent to stop gun violence in our country. But Beto wasn’t done with calling Abbott useless to his face.
O’Rourke went outside and continued his mobile press conference, calling on Texans and al Americans to demand their corrupt officials make the changes most Americans want. It is a heavy lift, as the deal with the devil that the GOP has made means literal dancing on the memorial of dead children.
On Friday, hundreds, if not thousands, of people descended on downtown Houston to protest and hold a rally in front of the George R. Brown Convention Center, where the NRA was holding their annual gun-masturbation convention. So while NRA head Wayne LaPierre focused on the “criminal monster” with a gun, and disgraced former president Donald Trump told the “gun lobby” that they weren’t to blame for successfully lobbying for zero gun safety laws—including those that legally allowed an 18-year-old to access an AR-15 and thousands of bullets—Beto was outside giving an inspiring speech about actually doing something to end gun violence.
He called for action. Action that should have happened after the mass shooting in Buffalo, action that should have happened after the mass shooting in Las Vegas, in Columbine, in Parkland, at Sandy Hook Elementary.
“The time to stop the next mass shooting is right now,” Beto said.
He reminded gun advocates that Americans who demand sensible gun safety laws are not the enemy, but that they needed to be part of the solution to mass shootings and dead children, not a hindrance. “We can no longer wait for you,” he spoke to the back of the crowd, facing the George R. Brown Convention Center where cowards like Sen. Ted Cruz told the NRA donors that “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,” while following that up by saying we can’t do anything.
Beto addressed people like Cruz, saying: “To the leaders of the NRA, and to those politicians who you have purchased … to those men and women in positions of power, who care more about your power than using that power to save the lives of those that you are supposed to serve, we will defeat you and we will overcome you.”
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