President Obama should call out the NRA’s Wayne LaPierre in a national televised debate on guns.
Historically, debates have been useful in crystalizing complex issues from the founding of the Republic to the Civil War. In our lifetime, the first televised Kennedy – Nixon debate helped shape the outcome of a presidential election.
Every year in America there are 30,00 deaths attributed to gun violence. One – third of those are murders and two – thirds are suicides. This is clearly a public health issue yet Republicans in Congress refuse to fund needed research to document the root causes of this epidemic.
Status quo, spineless, demagogic politicians who throw up their hands by saying : ” stuff happens ” are todays moral equivalent of the proverbial ostrich sticking its’ head in the sand. Common sense gun safety measures like universal background checks to screen out the mentally ill and criminal domestic violence are supported by 90% of the American people. Yet the money and lobbying power of the NRA paralyzes Congress from passing meaningful corrective legislation.
If the NRA is so confident in their version of the Second Amendment let them put it to the test by proving it in the court of public opinion. I am confident that once the American people understand the arguments they will speak out and force Congress to act.
It is long past time to put an end to this madness once and for all.
Fred Rich LaRiccia
