“Two killed, seven others injured in weekend shooting,” read the headline in papers across the country.
But the articles were not about the same incident. “Two killed, seven others injured,” is a story that took place in three separate cities last weekend.
Two killed, seven others injured in a shooting outside a neighborhood store in northwest
Two killed, seven others injured in a shooting during a wake at a home in southeast
Two killed, seven others injured in a shooting outside a nightclub in
Six of the victims in the
Why do we passively accept such levels of gun violence? Why do we sit back and watch quietly as gun violence prevention measures are struck down in state houses across the country? The National Rifle Association is a big part of the answer.
The NRA is a reactionary, fringe organization. It just ran an unsuccessful campaign against President Obama that FactCheck.org, a nonpartisan project of the
Former NRA lobbyist Richard Feldman has called the NRA a "cynical, mercenary political cult" and admits that the organization "isn't interested in actually solving problems, only in fueling perpetual crisis and controversy."
The NRA survives by selling fear. It profits from polarizing. Legislators that seek and accept the endorsement of the NRA are, in effect, condoning an organization that is fueled by stoking fear in its membership and bullying and threatening legislators who dare to go against it.
We need a new kind of politics. In this new “era of responsibility” we need legislators who want to be cooperative, not those who embrace organizations that incite battle and combat. We need to work together to find ways to end the needless cycle of gun violence in our country.
We should never have to pick up our local paper and read the headline “two killed, seven others injured in weekend shooting.”