Editorial
Message to Republicans: Do something
With apologies to Albert Einstein,
there’s a new defi nition
of insanity in America:
Sending thoughts and prayers over and
over again, and expecting the mass
shootings to stop.
This weekend’s bloodshed in El Paso,
Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, reminded us
once again of how broken things are in
America when it comes to gun violence
— and how our government has utterly
failed to stop the carnage.
Following the latest massacres to occur
in America this past weekend, there
have been more than 250 mass shootings
in the United States so far this
year. No other nation in the world had
a number of mass shootings exceeding
single digits.
What are we going to do to stop this?
The obvious answer is greater gun control
— reviving the assault weapons
ban, expanding background checks,
and preventing convicted felons from
owning guns, among other ideas.
No American should own an AR-15,
an AK-47 or any other high-capacity
assault rifl e built specifi cally for the
military to wage war. These weapons
aren’t made for sport; they’re made for
death, in high volumes, in short periods
of time. No American should need one;
no American should want one.
Calls for gun control have been made
over and over and over again, following
one mass shooting after another,
in this country over the last decade. It
should be a bipartisan effort, but it is
not, because one party utterly refuses
to do anything about it other than offer
“thoughts and prayers” after each
tragedy.
Members of the Republican Party offer
every other excuse in the world for
the bloodshed, and for making no concerted
effort to increase public safety.
It’s violent video games, they say.
It’s mental health, they say. It’s broken
homes, they say. It’s the lack of prayer in
public schools, some ignorantly claim.
Other nations have violent video
games, mental health issues, dysfunctional
families and public prayer bans
— yet they do not have the level of gun
violence we experience in our country.
What they do have are strict gun laws
that preserve public safety without
infringing upon one’s right to defend
themselves.
Shouldn’t we, as Americans, deserve
and demand the same? Seems like an
obvious yes to us.
The G.O.P. has run out of excuses and
time — and so has President Trump,
whose own hostile words toward immigrants
were echoed in a manifesto left
by the gunman responsible for the El
Paso massacre.
Since he began his presidential campaign
in 2015, Trump has used his bully
pulpit to say horrifi c, blatantly bigoted
things about people he doesn’t like or
whom he doesn’t agree with politically.
One study after another has found
that the number of hate crimes in
America has soared since Trump took
offi ce. That’s because white nationalists
feel empowered by the president’s
own rhetoric; they feel it justifi es their
own hatred, and spurs them to lash out
on their own.
Radicalized white nationalist terrorists
are getting their hands on weapons
of war and turning them against
ordinary people just living their lives.
The president, of course, didn’t pause
to contemplate his contribution to this.
He blamed everything and everyone
else except himself, and guns.
One prominent Republican in
Queens, Councilmember Eric Ulrich,
shamefully dismissed that notion and
played the “both sides” card by wondering
why the press didn’t blame, in
his eyes, Presidents Clinton and Obama
for mass shootings during their administrations.
We don’t recall President Clinton
calling Mexicans “rapists and drug addicts,”
the way Trump did back in 2015
at his campaign announcement; nor do
we recall President Obama describing
the arrival of migrants on the southern
border as an “invasion” of America, as
Trump has repeatedly said this year.
Republicans may try to wash the
president’s hands of responsibility here,
but the majority of us know better.
Sure, Trump didn’t pull the trigger, but
his past words undoubtedly inspired
the gunman to do so. This country has
a gun problem and a white nationalist
problem — and Republicans must start
working with Democrats to strengthen
gun laws and reject white nationalism.
However, showing the problem is
even more widespread, the Dayton
shooter was an antifa activist and
avowed socialist.
In short, every politician of every
party has a responsibility to solve these
problems. It’s time that they fi nally do
something to protect us all, rather than
just talking about it or ignoring it altogether.
Call President Trump, call Senate
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and
call the New York State Republican
Party and demand that they support
gun control and the fi ght against white
nationalism. President Donald Trump:
202-456-1414; Senator Mitch McConnell:
202-224-2541; NYS Republican
Party: 518-462-2601
MANHATTAN SNAPS
A 1908 photo of Madison Square Park and 23rd St. features part of the
Flatiron Building on the far right, and the second Madison Square
Garden, which stood from 1890 to 1925, in the background at left.
Twenty-third St. had a virtual convoy of trolley cars (talk about a dedicated
“transit corridor”), while many horse-drawn carriages can also be seen on
the streets.
Gabe Herman
Publisher of The Villager, Villager Express, Chelsea Now,
Downtown Express and Manhattan Express
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12 August 8, 2019 TVG Schneps Media
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