The NRA has paid a total of $61 million dollars in campaign contributions to the Senate Republicans. That kind of money buys serious loyalty, much on display at the annual NRA meeting last week, just days after Uvalde and less than two weeks after Buffalo.
Speaker after speaker parroted the usual talking points. This isn’t the right time to act. In fact, it’s too soon to even talk about changing any laws. We need to tighten security and work on mental health. No matter what, this is what they always say.
And they kept saying it, even as we learned more - the Uvalde gunman had no history of mental illness. The grocery store in Buffalo had a security guard who was killed. The elementary school had a whole team and a plan, none of which worked.
But one clear truth? The killers were both 18 and had legal access to weapons with horrible destructive power. It is impossible to imagine that this is what the authors of the second amendment had in mind.
Those 50 Republican senators represent 41.5 million fewer people than the 50 Democratic senators. And the filibuster gives the Republicans even more power not backed by voters.
This does not happen in other countries. A clear majority of Americans want this insanity to stop. There are proven fixes, but they are hard and will take time. The majority who want change have a voice in the growing power of gun safety groups - and in the vote.
I’m Deborah Booth and that’s my perspective.
