Thursday, April 18, 2013

In the wake of yesterday's Senate vote...

“We won’t be able to stop every violent act, but if there is even one thing that we can do to prevent any of these events, we have a deep obligation, all of us, to try.” 
- Barack Obama



If you're against gun control, you don't need to keep reading. And let me be clear, I'm not opposed to gun ownership. But I do think we need stronger gun laws. This is my rant on my blog, and if nobody reads it, I don't care.


I don't want to hear that background checks won't do any good. I don't want to hear statistics, because unless your statistics include "100%," then there is room for good to be done. 


I don't want to hear that the Newtown families (and Tucson and Aurora...) are being used as "props" to further the President's agenda or that Obama is using them as "emotional blackmail." If emotions can't be a part of this then neither should the NRA's money or power. I promise you that the Newtown parents would much rather be at home than showing pictures of their now-deceased children to senators to try to get them to have a conscience. Actually, they probably would NOT rather be at home, since that's just a reminder that their children aren't there, and never will be again.



No single law – or even set of laws – can prevent every act of violence in our country. But the fact that this problem is complex can not be an excuse for inaction. 



"Mark my words: if we cannot make our communities safer with the Congress we have now, we will use every means available to make sure we have a different Congress, one that puts communities’ interests ahead of the gun lobby’s. To do nothing while others are in danger is not the American way."
- Gabrielle Giffords, in her op-ed column



I wish I had the answers. I wish the answers were simple. I wish there weren't evil in the world. But I know that good is stronger than evil and that love is louder than hate. And I know that I have a strong voice and it will be heard. And I know that my vote will count in 2016, Senator Portman
.


My friend Candy


Confessions of a Gila Monster

5 comments:

  1. You go, Girl. I'm with you, too.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This was absolutely beautifully written. It is atrocious that the gun lobby has so much power over this issue. I'm not living in the US at the moment (although I'm American) so I don't see everything on the news. But this senate vote, it broke my heart.

    ReplyDelete

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