The Republicans who control Congress have had all the time in the world to do
something about gun violence in America.
I mean that. If the GOP spent a
teeny, tiny fraction of the time they waste voting again and again to repeal the
Affordable Care Act or defund Planned Parenthood on sensible gun reform, more
mamas and daddies would be tucking in their kids tonight.
But massacre
after massacre, the Republicans have offered thoughts and prayers -- but no
solutions. Every time Democrats have said enough is enough, every time we've
tried to get even the smallest reforms passed, the Republicans flatly refuse.
Nothing. Never. No way.
If the Republican Party would rather work for
the NRA than the American people -- and if they won't do their jobs to keep our
children safe -- then somebody else has to step up.
This is an important move, but I don't kid myself: We're not done here. The President took a good first step, but Congress still needs to take action to ban assault weapons and high capacity magazines. Congress needs to make gun trafficking a serious federal crime . Congress needs to make President Obama's actions permanent so that a future Republican President can't reverse them on Day One.
It won't be easy. The NRA and their Republican friends have fought hard against sensible gun reform -- and they're going to keep fighting us every step of the way. Just look at what the Republican Senators -- three Republicans running for President -- said about President Obama's executive order:
- Senator Rand Paul said: "We should be advocating for more concealed carry
ability for law abiding Americans and an end to unconstitutional gun free zones,
not spending tax dollars on enforcing pointless gun laws that do not improve the
safety of this nation."
- Senator Marco Rubio said: "It undermines the Second Amendment and it will do
nothing to keep people safe...This executive order is just one more way to make
it harder for law-abiding people to buy weapons."
- And Senator Ted Cruz? He responded to the announcement with a contest to win a shotgun engraved with his campaign logo. Seriously.
But President Obama showed us yesterday that change is possible. The majority
of Americans are with us on this. We just have to keep fighting.
I'm
ready to have that fight for gun reform -- right here, right now. Congress owes
it to the people we represent, and we all owe it to our children and
grandchildren.
Thank you for being a part of this...