Enough: Now Is the Time for Gun Control and an End to the Madness

How many deaths will it take before our political leaders do the right thing about gun control?

How many more innocents need to die?

When will our elected officials move to protect the citizens of our great country?

We can’t wait a minute longer.

Enough is enough.

Now is the time for action — to urge our representatives to stand up to the National Rifle Association’s coercion, to put the interests of Americans first, and to enact a sensible gun control law.

With still three weeks to go in 2015, almost 48,610 shooting incidents have been recorded in the U.S., resulting in 12,304 deaths and 24,847 people injured, according to daily reports on GunViolenceArchive.com.

What this means, according to the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, is that every day, 55 people kill themselves with a firearm, and 46 people are shot or killed in an accident with a gun.

In 2012, the U.S. had nearly 30 times more gun murders than the United Kingdom, 15 times more than Germany and six times more than Canada.

Of all the murders in the U.S. in 2012, 60 percent were by firearm compared with 31 percent in Canada, 18.2 percent in Australia, and just 10 percent in the UK.

We Need Gun Control Laws Now!

This year alone, 647 children under 11 years old and 2,446 teenagers have died from gun violence. Where is the common sense? In 2013, more preschoolers (87) were killed by than police officers (27), according to the CDC. This situation is morally outrageous.

It is estimated that medical treatment, criminal justice proceedings and security precautions cost U.S. citizens $100 billion a year. Medical cost for all gun violence victims in the U.S. is estimated at $2.3 billion, with almost half of the costs paid by taxpayers.

Most of this can be prevented.

In an interview, coincidentally on the same day as the mass shooting in San Bernardino, President Barack Obama told CBS, “We have a pattern now of mass shootings in this country that has no parallel anywhere else in the world.”

Yes, the U.S. leads the developed world in gun violence. Over the years, gun violence has become a daily trend in this country and there seems to be no end in sight.

Of the hundreds of lobbyists pushing for more lax gun laws, no organization has been as influential as the NRA which has enormous influence over the members of the House of Representatives who are bought with despicable amounts of money.

Unless the power of the NRA can be curbed, these huge campaign contributions turn our elected officials into political puppets.

The NRA, headed by Wayne LaPierre, who is rightly labeled by the New York Daily News as a “terrorist” and “gun jihadist”, is seemingly single-handedly funding America’s gun violence.

His mission to make it easier for people of all walks of life — criminals, terrorists, the mentally unstable — to get their hands on dangerous, military-style weapons designed to massacre masses on any given day, has crippled this nation.

Early in 2013, the Washington Post reported that 261 congressional candidates received donations from the NRA. Nearly all of those candidates — 236 — were Republican, and 80 percent of the candidates who received money from the NRA went on to win their race.

Sixty percent of congressional candidates have received $4.3 million from the NRA since 1990 according to the same Washington Post finding. Our politicians are bathing in the blood and tears of innocent Americans — victims to their murderous greed.

According to Open Secrets, an organization that tracks money in politics, the NRA spent nearly $1 million on campaign contributions during the 2014 election cycle to fund politicians in order to buy votes and the unfettered liberty to put weapons in every American hand.

After each mass shooting, all that the rotten politicians offer are “thoughts and prayers” while, as they bow their heads and close their eyes, they continue to receive money and work for the largest criminal organization in the country — the NRA.

The fate of these politicians depends on their popularity with the gun lobby without whose influence the politicians might very well not exist.

Scott Bixby, a senior correspondent with Mic.com, described the callous hypocrisy by some of the top recipients from the NRA, including Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) who had received $9,900 in direct contributions and $671,559 in indirect spending for his 2014 reelection bid.

After the San Bernardino shooting, the seasoned phony McConnell tweeted, “the senseless loss of innocent life in San Bernardino defies explanation. Our thoughts are [with] the victims [and] their families.” Other hypocritical NRA puppets followed suit.

What “thoughts and prayers”? Maybe “prayers” for those 101 Americans who will die or be injured by a gun today, and tomorrow and the next day. More than thoughts and prayers, America needs courageous politicians and leaders who have the will to defy powerful lobbies and put the country’s safety first.

We have had enough of this corrupt political business. Congress is selling away the lives of American people by easing restrictions on preventable deaths.

We must stand up to gun violence in America by exposing its donors — the people who fund this madness.

We demand thorough background checks. We demand full transparency. We demand absolute accountability.

We refuse to stand by while our families, friends, neighbors, classmates and leaders continue to die because those we chose to represent us refuse to save the lives of innocent Americans.

We all need to act, and there’s no better time to start than right now.