Why the NRA & Extreme Republicans Are Propegating Violence in the USA

Out of respect for the victims, I chose not to put up a pic of their greiving, 

opting instead for this picture of a father comforting his son

While I am sure I will get quite a few angry replies to my general thoughts on this subject, unlike some people who just react, please make sure you read the whole thing before you judge where I am going with this Blog post. The tragedy we saw yesterday is yet another symptom of a system in the US that hasn't changed much since the wild, wild west. Cowboy mentality and the need to stock pile weapons was the right way to think of things back in the 19th century. Last time I checked we are in the 21st century and the time has come for the US and many of it's backward citizens to catch up with the rest of the world in regards to this particular issue.

The violence we saw yesterday in Newtown, Connecticut (and again today in Alabama as a lone gunman killed 3 people in a hospital today) can be directly correlated to the way that the NRA (the National Rifle Association) has been fighting against any and all measures any US government over the last 50 plus years has even considered when it comes to imposing stricter gun controls across the country. Shockingly, for an organization as brazen as the NRA, they have remained quiet in the hours after these senseless and insane killings. Maybe the will of the people and the realization that people have had enough of their antics has finally put a muzzle on this idiotic group of people.

This single-minded and reckless organization has fought for decades to, as they see it, protect their "God given right" to bear arms that is enshrined in the 2nd amendment of the US constitution. The line that always gets me about this organization was issued by former NRA President Charlton Heston (yes, THAT Charlton Heston), who was issuing a speech in Colorado maybe 2 weeks after the Columbine shooting and basically stated that the only way the Government would take his rights away from him in this area was to rip his guns out of his "COLD, DEAD HANDS!!!"

These people don't seem to realize that we are not living in the 1800's anymore....

This kind of fundamentalist mentality is the biggest problem facing America and Americans when it comes to this and many other issues. It has permeated many areas of American society and has even started to destroy their democratic institutions in that over the last 5 years, more and more political extremists are being not only supported by the Republican party, but are in fact at the forefront and LEADING the party by being elected into the senate and house and as Governors of States. It has gotten so bad that some of these people are literally coming into their new found offices with pledges to ensure that there is political gridlock in Washington unless they get things done the way they and their supporters want. They are so extreme that you could make the case that they are no longer governing in the best interest of the country but rather their specific extreme minded supporters.

I know it may sound like I am just bashing the Republicans and the NRA but lets look at this more directly. It's ironic that on this day in 1791, the founding father of the US created the 2nd amendment for which the NRA and Republicans continue to throw back at anyone who even breathes the words "gun control" towards them. But what these people seem to be oblivious to in regards to this "sacred" amendment they keep repeating ad nauseum is that the environment of America in 1791 was vastly different then the current climate and stage of evolution of American society as a whole. These people may not realize but that was 221 years ago. Its time to evolve.

That seems to be the biggest issue with the "Right" side o American politics in the last 5-10 years; They can't seem to evolve their positions to the new reality of what American society is becoming. In Canada we have Liberals and Conservatives as well but their positions are not NEARLY as diametrically opposed as the Democrats and Republicans are currently in the US. We have been a nation for about 100 years less then they have and yet we HAVE tight gun control laws. We have a MUCH safer society then they do. We have (statistically speaking) lower gun violence per capita then they do and we live, the majority of us for the most part, roughly 50-100 km north of the US border. Guns seem to be part of the American DNA so to speak but that can change if Americans wake up to the reality of their world today.

 This kind of nonsensical drivel is common among the most extreme members of the Republican base

How he hasn't snapped and called them all racist I will never know

Some will argue that they will never accept changes like that to their nation. Well, lets see what else people use to say they could never accept as part of their nation over the last 160 plus years. President Lincoln fought and fought until he ended Slavery with the Emancipation Proclamation. It took a Civil War but eventually, the slaves were freed. Women were not allowed to vote until the suffrage movement in the 1920's. Now, the US is one of the top proponents of Women's rights around the world.

Despite ending slavery, African Americans had to fight for equal rights and it wasn't until the late 1960's and the murders of JFK, RFK and Martin Luther King Jr. that they were given rights that they deserved. Most recently, look at the fight that Gays and Lesbians have been having trying to ensure that they too have the same rights as everyone else. For all of these groups, there were people who stood up and had the EXACT opposite view of them and did everything in their power to demonize them, attacking them, even killing them in an attempt to suppress their voices. While I am NOT saying that the NRA is doing anything of the sort, their form of extremism in the face of the sad facts surrounding gun violence in the US makes you question the level of sophistication of their membership as well as the IQ level of people who can't seem to move forward into the present, opting instead to live in the past.

Here is a perfect example of how idiotic NRA members and Republicans can be. 18 hours before the tragic events of Newtown, the State of Michigan, now under the control of Republicans who owe much of their campaign funding to the NRA, rammed through a Bill into law which makes it LEGAL to have a gun in a school or daycare as long as it is for "self-defense" purposes and in the possession of an adult with a permit. Permit or not, why on earth would you legalize guns in schools? Do these people actually think it would have been BETTER if there was a gun fight in the school in Newtown? The possibility of more casualties is more appealing to them? Just pathetic.

No good can EVER come from what happened yesterday and today. The only thing we can do is hope that the anger and sadness that it has caused will spur debate and action on the part of the President and Congress to get tough on the Gun lobby and enact much more stringent gun control laws. Think about this; it is easier right now to buy a gun then to adopt a pet. It is easier right now to buy an assault rifle then it is to get a mental health assessment in the US. It is legal to posses a .223 calibre, semi-automatic assault rifle with a sniper scope, that carries up to 50 rounds of  ammunition in all 50 states but only a handful have made it legal for anyone, regardless of sexual orientation, to marry each other if they so choose.

There is no moral justification for a school teacher to need to have 5 guns in her home. The NRA has been the biggest opponent of limiting what kind of guns each person can own. To me, their 50 year fight has a direct link to this and every other shooting that has happened in the last 30 years. Why isn't there a check done to see if the person buying a gun has been through a mental health screening or lives in a home with someone who may have mental health issues? Because the NRA opposed it, that's why.

Kind of speaks for itself doesn't it....

American's will only wake up from the nightmare of this kind of gun violence when they grow up and realize that their precious 2nd Amendment is as outdated and antiquated as the majority of the people who still have power within the Republican party and NRA.Maybe then, maybe once these people are pushed to the fringes of their own party by moderates, maybe then will we see some semblance of change in the DNA of cowboy America. Then and only then, when the NRA are turned into a minor political annoyance and the Republican Party moves into the 21st Century, will we begin to see the democratic process for which the US praises itself for, take center stage once again.