Commentary
The inane comments by three GOP Congressmen this week don’t bode well for progress on gun control, or anything else for that matter
Just when I thought the GOP solutions to gun violence in schools including, arming teachers (because armed trained police professionals at schools has worked out so well), limiting access doors and locking them (of course, that’s if you can find the key in an emergency) and surrounding school campuses with stronger, taller fences, perhaps with razor wire on the top (I guess these GOP lawmakers aren’t as concerned about solutions for gun violence at supermarkets), were incomprehensible and insulting, it’s gotten worse.
First, a Republican congressman used a House hearing on gun control in the aftermath of multiple mass shootings in the U.S. to show off his own collection of guns and brandish them via remote video link. Greg Steube, a representative from Florida, displayed a succession of firearms he says would be banned under a bill being debated in response to the shootings. ‘Here’s a gun I carry every single day to protect myself, my family, my wife, my home,’ he said while holding a firearm. When Sheila Jackson Lee, a Democrat from Texas, interjected and said she hoped the gun was not loaded, Steube replied: ‘I’m in my house, I can do whatever I want with my guns’.
Then two Republican congressmen went on record saying that it wasn’t guns that caused these massacres but liberal policies.
First, Rep. Mo Brooks, Republican from Alabama who, by the way, was at the January 6 rally in DC prior to the assault on the Capitol whipping up the crowd.
Then, Rep. Billy Long, Republican from Missouri squarely put the blame on abortion!
You might have noticed that Congressman Long began his indictment of abortion as the root cause of gun violence with this. “To my knowledge, none of those shootings were done with any kind of a ArmaLite rifle or an AK or anything like that…” For clarification this is an ArmaLite rifle:
In both the Buffalo and Uvalde mass shootings, the gunmen used similar assault-style rifles. Clearly, Congressman Long’s “knowledge” has some gaps in it.
So let’s sum up. The Republican solution to end the epidemic of gun violence in America, violence that is happening almost nowhere else in the world, is to arm more people while turning our schools into fortresses. The root cause of the epidemic is “immoral” liberal values. And the Second Amendment means “you can’t take my gun away…any kind of gun.”
Based on all this, how do you feel about the prospects of any progress on gun control?
How do you feel about our great country when your fellow citizens continue to elect people like Steube, Brooks and Long, not to mention Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, Greg Abbot and Ted Cruz, among many, many others?
And how do you feel about that wonderful, patriotic song, “This is My Country,” the lyrics of which rang true when it was written in 1940. Do those lyrics ring true in 2022?
Around the Block 
Unbelievable – there is not going to be any movement toward control – just like after Sandy Hook – until Mitch McConnell says something to that affect. Listen to Supreme curt Justice Brennan – stating that the way the 2nd amendment is handled now is a bog hoax.
Do hope the rains are not flooding your area. Looks horrible from here.
Sue
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