England is a cup of tea,
France, a wheel of ripened brie,
Greece, a short, squat olive tree.
America is a gun.
Brazil is football on the sand,
Argentina, Maradona’s hand,
Germany, an oompah band.
America is a gun.
Holland is a wooden shoe,
Hungary, a goulash stew,
Australia, a kangaroo.
America is a gun.
Japan is a thermal spring,
Scotland is a highland fling,
Oh, better to be anything
Than America as a gun.
Brian Bilston
Viral Facebook post
Yet again. Yet again. Yet again. Yet again. Yet again …
Killing our kids in school? No problem. That happened yet again, this time in Georgia. And it will continue happening until Americans stiffen their spines and vote out the mass-murder enablers, the politicians who, after each and every unconscionable event, stand before the cameras and microphones, bristling with feigned fury and say, like Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia did last week with the straightest of faces, “Gun safety legislation is the last thing we should be talking about on a day like this. Think about the victims and their families!” Or words to that effect.
I’m sure that talking, or even thinking, about gun safety legislation is the last thing Gov. Kemp wants to do on a day like this. But he would also say that the next day and the next and the next. Every day, in fact, gun safety is the last thing a spineless politician like Brian Kemp wants to think about, much less talk about. He craves those NRA donations too much and is beholden to his real constituents, the ones with the money, not to the victims of the latest mass murder and their families and friends. So he hides behind the victims for political cover, like the craven coward he is.
We know he’s a coward because just recently Weakling Trump humiliated him at one of his rallies — in Georgia! — and within a couple of weeks, Kemp came crawling back and endorsed him anyway.
But he stands as straight as a spineless politician can on this day and says to the cameras that the survivors don’t want to think about common-sense gun legislation that might protect their children and everyone else’s child.
Really, Gov. Kemp? Did you ask them? Yes, even on this day, the worst day of their lives. I’d be willing to bet that every single one of them is thinking about gun legislation that might have protected their children’s lives. Legislation banning assault weapons, for instance, the ban your party, the Republican Party, allowed to expire 20 years ago this week and refuses to reinstate.
Or if today isn’t a good day, why not ask them tomorrow, or the next day, or the day after their kids’ funerals? I’m willing to bet it’s on their minds. I’m pretty sure they will all say they’re in favor of gun legislation that protects everyone’s children — today and every day for the rest of their lives.
I’ll bet they’ll say that an assault weapons ban sounds pretty good right now. Also a ban on high-capacity ammunition magazines. I’ll bet they’re in full favor of Universal Background Checks, and red flag laws, and mandating secure storage of firearms in the home, and a host of other measures that would in no way violate Second Amendment rights but would protect us from rampant gun rampages. Enforceable, consistent, nationwide laws with real consequences for those who violate them. In fact, polls show that ranks really high for most Americans.
And I’ll bet they’re in favor of you not being a hypocritical weasel who only stands behind the victims for political cover and not to support them. Because if you supported them you would ask what should be done to protect kids from gun violence. And then you’d goddamn do something about it.
Here’s one thing I’m pretty sure they won’t say: “Your thoughts and prayers are all we need.”
But you won’t ask them, will you? You’d rather grovel at the feet of Weakling Trump and the NRA, who believe gun rights are far more important than gun responsibilities and far more sacred than the lives of our kids.
But spineless politicians like you, Brian Kemp, aren’t really the main problem. The NRA isn’t even the main problem.
The real problem is American citizens who keep voting people like you into office — and who won’t vote cowards like you out of office when it’s obvious you won’t lift a finger, or even your voice, to protect your constituents — those would be the ones whose fists aren’t full of money.
Which is why yet again, yet again, and yet again, the satirical publication The Onion runs the same damning headline after each fresh massacre of the innocent:
“‘No Way To Prevent This,’ Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens.”