Editorial slams McConnell: It's time to end the 'national disgrace' of mass shootings
The Washington Post joins mayors, police chiefs, veterans, and many others in calling on Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to act on gun safety bills.
In a Wednesday editorial, the Washington Post wonders how many more people must die before Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will do something — anything — to help prevent gun violence.
“Would any volume of bloodshed convince the Kentucky Republican that Congress faces a moral imperative to act?” the editors asked. Post editors lament those “lost to America’s gun insanity” from the most recent mass shooting to grab national headlines — last weekend’s shooting in Midland and Odessa.
In pushing for a ban, Post editors called military-style assault rifles “Unneeded by civilians” and “a blight on the nation.” Their availability is a “disgrace.”
The editorial went on to list the names of victims killed in 36 separate mass shootings incidents over the past 20 years. Victims ranged from 6-year-old Veronica Moser-Sullivan killed in Aurora, Colorado, in 2012 to Vicente Juarez, age 54, killed in Aurora, Illinois, in 2019.
The ages of the victims listed ranged from 20 children under the age of 8 at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012 to Rose Mallinger, a 97-year-old woman who died in the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh.
Despite the seemingly endless list of names, McConnell has thus far steadfastly refused to address the epidemic of gun violence facing the nation.
The House of Representatives passed two major pieces of gun safety legislation in February, including a universal background check bill that has the support of 90% of Americans. The most recent Texas shooter obtained an assault rifle through a loophole in the background check law which would have been closed by the House-passed background check bill.
But, for 188 days and counting, McConnell has blocked any gun safety legislation to come up for a vote in the Senate.
McConnell received pressure from mayors, police chiefs, and veterans to do something — anything — to help stem the bloodshed caused by guns, but thus far McConnell has ignored all those pleas for help.
After the shooting in Odessa and Midland, Tom Perez, chair of the Democratic National Committee, lamented the ever-expanding list of cities struck by gun violence.
“We reached the point where when we talk about ‘this month’s mass shooting in Texas,’ we have to ask ‘Which one? El Paso or Odessa-Midland?'” Perez asked in a Saturday statement. “When we talk about the ‘mass shooting in Aurora,’ we have to ask ‘Which Aurora? Illinois or Colorado?’ When we talk about the ‘mass shooting in Orlando,’ we have to ask ‘Which time? 2016 or 2017?'”
Now the Washington Post has added their voice to a growing chorus demanding action.
“Thirty-eight people were slain in three such shootings in August — in Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, as well as West Texas — and still Senate Republicans and President Trump refuse to act,” the editors wrote.
Trump, McConnell, and Republicans refuse to take steps to prevent the next mass shooting from taking place.
Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.
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