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"If
only Stephen Paddock had been a Muslim … If only he had shouted 'Allahu akbar' before he opened fire on all those concertgoers in Las Vegas … If only he had
been a member of ISIS … If only we had a picture of him posing with a Quran in
one hand and his semiautomatic rifle in another …
If all
of that had happened, no one would be telling us not to dishonor the victims
and 'politicize' Paddock’s mass murder by talking about preventive remedies.
No,
no, no. Then we know what we’d be doing. We’d be scheduling immediate hearings
in Congress about the worst domestic terrorism event since 9/11. Then Donald
Trump would be tweeting every hour 'I told you so,' as he does minutes after
every terror attack in Europe, precisely to immediately politicize them. Then
there would be immediate calls for a commission of inquiry to see what new laws
we need to put in place to make sure this doesn’t happen again. Then we’d be 'weighing all options' against the country of origin.
"But
what happens when the country of origin is us?
"What
happens when the killer was only a disturbed American armed to the teeth with
military-style weapons that he bought legally or acquired easily because of us
and our crazy lax gun laws?
"Then
we know what happens: The president and the Republican Party go into overdrive
to ensure that nothing happens. Then they insist — unlike with every
ISIS-related terror attack — that the event must not be 'politicized' by asking
anyone, particularly themselves, to look in the mirror and rethink their
opposition to common-sense gun laws. . . .
". . . they will not ask themselves to make even the smallest sacrifice -- one that might risk their seats in Congress -- to stand up for legislation that might make it just a little harder for an American to stockpile an arsenal like Paddock did. . . .
"On crushing ISIS, our president and his party are all in. On asking the N.R.A. for even the tiniest moderation, they are AWOL. No matter how many innocents are fatally shot . . . it's never time to discuss any serious policy measures to mitigate gun violence. . . .
"They know full well most Americans don't want to take away people's right to hunt or defend themselves. All we want to take away is the right of someone to amass a military arsenal . . . and use it on innocent Americans when some crazy rage wells up inside him. But the N.R.A. has these cowardly legislators in a choke hold.
"What to do?
"Forget about persuading these legislators. They are not confused or underinformed. They are either bought or intimidated. Because no honest and decent American lawmaker would look at Las Vegas . . . today and say, 'I think the smartest and most prudent thing to do for our kids is to just do nothing.'
"So there is only one remedy: Get power. If you are as fed up as I am, then register someone to vote or run for office yourself or donate money to someone running to replace these cowardly legislators with a majority for common-sense gun laws.
"This is about raw power, not persuasion. And the first chance we have to change the balance of power is the 2018 midterm elections. Forget about trying to get anything done before then. Don't waste your breath.
"Just get power. Start now."
". . . they will not ask themselves to make even the smallest sacrifice -- one that might risk their seats in Congress -- to stand up for legislation that might make it just a little harder for an American to stockpile an arsenal like Paddock did. . . .
"On crushing ISIS, our president and his party are all in. On asking the N.R.A. for even the tiniest moderation, they are AWOL. No matter how many innocents are fatally shot . . . it's never time to discuss any serious policy measures to mitigate gun violence. . . .
"They know full well most Americans don't want to take away people's right to hunt or defend themselves. All we want to take away is the right of someone to amass a military arsenal . . . and use it on innocent Americans when some crazy rage wells up inside him. But the N.R.A. has these cowardly legislators in a choke hold.
"What to do?
"Forget about persuading these legislators. They are not confused or underinformed. They are either bought or intimidated. Because no honest and decent American lawmaker would look at Las Vegas . . . today and say, 'I think the smartest and most prudent thing to do for our kids is to just do nothing.'
"So there is only one remedy: Get power. If you are as fed up as I am, then register someone to vote or run for office yourself or donate money to someone running to replace these cowardly legislators with a majority for common-sense gun laws.
"This is about raw power, not persuasion. And the first chance we have to change the balance of power is the 2018 midterm elections. Forget about trying to get anything done before then. Don't waste your breath.
"Just get power. Start now."
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