It is one of those weeks when I am glad I am a Mexican
resident. The United States is no longer
the country I know. The tragedy in
Boston on Monday; the irresponsible reporting on the investigation Wednesday by
CNN, Fox News, and the AP. Then there
was the senate vote on gun legislation.
This may offend some but the senate vote is actually the
most troubling of all three. That is not
to diminish the severity or impact of the bombings in Boston. The carnage was horrific, the loss
unimaginable, and while the investigation is still underway, right now there is
no indication that it was carried out by a group or organization, but rather
one individual hell bent on creating chaos.
While the scenario and method was different, the Boston attack
was really quite similar in many ways to the Sandy Hook School shooting, the
Aurora movie theater massacre, the Tucson Safeway shooting (though in each of
those incidents, the death toll was much higher than the Boston attack). It was random, senseless, and meant to hurt or kill innocent victims the perpetrator did not know. And that’s why the senate vote was more
troubling than the Boston bombings.
In Boston, there was one individual (perhaps more) who we do
not know who knowingly carried out a mission to kill. In Washington, there were 46 individuals,
people we do know, people we elected, who (despite the desires of the vast
majority of Americans) voted to, in essence, enable those who want to wage mass
killings to continue to do so. There is more to it, though. The people in
Washington who voted against the wishes of 90% of Americans did so because they
are afraid … afraid of the repercussions of the National Rifle
Association. They are afraid of losing
the graft they receive from the NRA.
Afraid that the NRA will spend vast sums of money in the next election
to support a challenger to those who voted for background checks.
The President was angry, the parents and family of the 20 children
and six adults murdered at Sandy Hook were upset. Rep. Gabby Giffords, one of those critically
injured at the Tucson shooting, is outraged and has penned a compelling op-ed
piece for Thursday’s New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/18/opinion/a-senate-in-the-gun-lobbys-grip.html?_r=0). Likewise America should be angry and
outraged.
Our elected leaders had an opportunity to better protect us,
put in place reasonable safeguards that had been advocated by even the most
conservative past Presidents. Instead, 46
senators proved they are nothing more than corrupt marionettes, whose every
movement is controlled by Wayne LaPierre and the other top brass at the NRA. Before Wednesday, they feared the repercussion
of the NRA. Now, it is time for America
to let them know they should fear the repercussions at the ballot box. The President called it "A shameful day for Washington." Really, it was a shameful day for America.
