I Didn't Say It

Eric Swalwell, Democrat Congressman from California, to his GOP counterparts regarding legislation that would raise the age limit for purchasing semi-automatic rifles from 18 to 21:

“Are you here for our kids, or are you here for the killers? Because if you were here for the kids, you would do all you could to protect the next school shooting that’s about to happen, and we know it’s gonna happen in America. You would vote to raise the age on purchasing an assault rifle, you would vote to ban high-capacity magazines, you would vote to require safe storage and you would vote to address ghost guns, which are ravaging communities across America. But if you’re here for the killers, you would do everything to make it easier for the next school shooting to happen.”

Or simply do nothing other than cash those NRA checks while offering meaningless prayers for the dead.

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Louie Gohmert, Texas GOP Congressman, responding to Swalwell:

“I don’t think that it’s very effective for the children to have people on the other side of the aisle come in and accuse Republicans of being complicit in murder. And that we put our right to kill over others’ right to live, to infer by rhetorical supposed questions, who are you here for, we must be here for the gunman, is an outrage. How dare you. You think we don’t have hearts? We care about people. We care about their lives, and lives have been so trivialized. We care deeply. How dare you. How dare you, you arrogant people, attributing murder to those of us that want to do things to stop it. Because we’ve seen what your ideas do, they create more murder.”

Democrats create murder? This from the party that sucks at the teat of the NRA, Loonie Louie, who has taken more than his fair share of blood money. This from Loonie Louie and his party who offer NO response other than arming teachers or doctors or more Americans as a solution to gun violence

The good news is that Loonie Louis Gohmert will be leaving Congress at the end of the year, hopefully to never be heard from again.

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Bill Cassidy, Louisiana GOP Senator, on a proposed ban on assault weapons … he’s against it:

“If you talk to the people that own it, killing feral pigs in the, whatever, the middle of Louisiana. They’ll wonder: ‘Why would you take it away from me?' I’m law abiding, I’ve never done anything, I use it to kill feral pigs. The action of a criminal deprives me of my right.”

What a typical NRA-loving GOP asshat who thinks there an explosion of feral pigs in Louisiana, and that the the only weapon capable of killing feral pigs is an assault weapon.

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Gabe Kapler, manager of the San Francisco Giants, speaking out about the United States of Guns:

“The day 19 children and 2 teachers were murdered, we held a moment of silence at sporting events around the country, then we played the national anthem, and we went on with our lives. Players, staff, and fans stood for the moment of silence, grieving the lives lost, and then we (myself included) continued to stand, proudly proclaiming ourselves the land of the free and the home of the brave. We didn’t stop to reflect on whether we are actually free and brave after this horrific event, we just stood at attention. When I was the same age as the children in Uvalde, my father taught me to stand for the pledge of allegiance when I believed my country was representing its people well or to protest and stay seated when it wasn’t. I don’t believe it is representing us well right now.

This particular time, an 18-year-old walked into a store, bought multiple assault rifles and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, walked into a school with an armed resource officer and its own police district and was able to murder children for nearly an hour. Parents begged and pleaded with police officers to do something, police officers who had weapons and who receive nearly 40% of the city’s funding, as their children were being murdered.

We elect our politicians to represent our interests. Immediately following this shooting, we were told we needed locked doors and armed teachers. We were given thoughts and prayers. We were told it could have been worse, and we just need love.

But we weren’t given bravery, and we aren’t free. The police on the scene put a mother in handcuffs as she begged them to go in and save her children. They blocked parents trying to organize to charge in to stop the shooter, including a father who learned his daughter was murdered while he argued with the cops. We aren’t free when politicians decide that the lobbyist and gun industries are more important than our children’s freedom to go to school without needing bulletproof backpacks and active shooter drills.

I’m often struck before our games by the lack of delivery of the promise of what our national anthem represents. We stand in honor of a country where we elect representatives to serve us, to thoughtfully consider and enact legislation that protects the interests of all the people in this country and to move this country forward towards the vision of the “shining city on the hill.” But instead, we thoughtlessly link our moment of silence and grief with the equally thoughtless display of celebration for a country that refuses to take up the concept of controlling the sale of weapons used nearly exclusively for the mass slaughter of human beings. We have our moment (over and over), and then we move on without demanding real change from the people we empower to make these changes. We stand, we bow our heads, and the people in power leave on recess, celebrating their own patriotism at every turn.

Every time I place my hand over my heart and remove my hat, I’m participating in a self-congratulatory glorification of the ONLY country where these mass shootings take place. On Wednesday, I walked out onto the field, I listened to the announcement as we honored the victims in Uvalde. I bowed my head. I stood for the national anthem. Metallica riffed on City Connect guitars.

My brain said drop to a knee; my body didn’t listen. I wanted to walk back inside; instead, I froze. I felt like a coward. I didn’t want to call attention to myself. I didn’t want to take away from the victims or their families. There was a baseball game, a rock band, the lights, the pageantry. I knew that thousands of people were using this game to escape the horrors of the world for just a little bit. I knew that thousands more wouldn’t understand the gesture and would take it as an offense to the military, to veterans, to themselves.

But I am not okay with the state of this country. I wish I hadn’t let my discomfort compromise my integrity. I wish that I could have demonstrated what I learned from my dad, that when you’re dissatisfied with your country, you let it be known through protest. The home of the brave should encourage this.”

That is everything Americans need to know.

That and registering to vote, and casting a vote against each and every politician who takes blood money from the NRA.

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