MAGA Republicans Have Enabled The Slaughter Of Children

The U.S. continues to be plagued by mass gun slaughters. In just the last two weeks, we’ve had horrific gun massacres in Buffalo and Uvalde. Despite the ongoing carnage, the GOP believes the problem is that we don’t have enough guns — they believe we need even MORE guns. If more guns made us safer, the U.S. would be the safest country in the world. Instead, we suffer from gun massacres on a regular basis.

As a member of Congress, Don Bacon has loyally toed the GOP and gun lobby party line. In 2017, Don Bacon voted for a bill that made it easier for the mentally ill to obtain guns. In other words, he voted to allow unsuitable people to buy war weapons. Subsequently, Bacon voted against background checks in 2021.

The second CD incumbent likes to posture as some kind of bi-partisan moderate. However, there is nothing bi-partisan or moderate about bowing to the gun lobby and Donald Trump. It’s craven and dangerous. The NRA is responsible for the deaths of children.

Congressional CD01 hopeful State Senator Mike Flood will do nothing to stop gun slaughters since he has an A rating from the NRA. Flood — like Bacon — will make it easier for unsuitable people to get guns. Flood voted to allow people to conceal carry without the necessity of a background check or training. That’s extreme and dangerous.

Despite the ongoing failure of GOP gun policies, they continue to make their foolish good guy with a gun argument. That theory has been tested for years and has resulted in the deaths of thousands of innocent Americans. There were armed guards at Columbine, Parkland, Buffalo and Uvalde.

Now the GOP is telling us that they want to turn schools into fortresses. Unfortunately, the Uvalde massacre proved that GOP policy is a miserable failure. Uvalde had doubled its spending on school security since 2017. Moreover, Uvalde hardened the school — hiring its own police force, installing fences, and established a reporting system. The slaughter of innocents happened anyway.

Former Obama adviser Axelrod summed it up well: “Surely, the best answer to the siege of gun violence isn’t MORE guns, so teachers can shoot it out with deranged gunmen, clad in body armor, as horrified and vulnerable kids look on.”

Fortunately, Nebraskans don’t have to join Bacon and Flood in doubling down on failed policies. Patty Pansing Brooks and Tony Vargas both support gun safety reform.

In CD01, Patty Pansing Brooks has come out for a new and improved background check system. Patty also supports red flag laws and training requirements for semi-automatic weapons. As a state senator, Patty opposed the reckless bill that would allow people to conceal carry without training and a background check.

As a state senator, Tony Vargas joined Patty in voting against the gun lobby’s concealed carry bill. Vargas said he’d “look to build bridges with Republicans if he was elected because — we have to come together on this issue.”

It took real courage on the part of Pansing Brooks and Vargas to stand up to the bully boys on the radical right. As Senator Adam Morfeld tweeted: “A few observations about advocating for common sense gun policy as a term limited state senator of eight years and a gun owner in Nebraska. It doesn’t matter if there is bi-partisan consensus on the reform that you are trying to achieve whether it be background checks or red flag laws (something Trump recommended), they will go after the policy and you.

Then your governor will send out email blasts saying you are trying to take away folks guns (and lies about there being no due process) and then you will receive death threats for several weeks.

If they can’t eliminate common sense gun laws and training on the state level, they then try to take away your local city council’s power to enact them like in this bill that would have stripped away the ability for cities to enact gun ordinances.

As a gun owner myself, most gun reform laws (background checks, red flag laws, training requirements, etc.) are not only strongly supported by the overwhelming majority of Nebraskans, but by a lot of gun owners themselves.

It is a small vocal minority that uses scare tactics, threats, and political intimidation that influence lawmakers and executives.”

We’ve had years of inaction on gun safety reform in Washington due to the obstruction of the D.C. Republicans. Their inaction has enabled the ongoing massacre of thousands of their fellow citizens. This isn’t “Washington” or “Congress” that’s blocking reform. It’s a radicalized Republican party that is in the thrall of the gun lobby.

The GOP has left it up to the schools, teachers and kids to figure out how to defend themselves against gunmen who may be more heavily armed than local police officers. The GOP has asked nothing from the owners of war weapons. No sacrifices of any kind. Nothing.

If you want different results out of Washington, you have to vote for different people. Vote for Patty Pansing Brooks and Tony Vargas for a change!