With 90% of the American public in favor of background
checks for would-be firearm purchasers, the failure of our government to pass
such a requirement is a betrayal of the public interest and a stain on the
integrity of our representatives.
Since the Newtown
massacre of school children and their teachers there have been more then six
thousand victims of firearm violence in this country. Here in Oregon
we have more deaths from firearms than from automobile accidents. Think about
it.
Though anyone can buy an automobile, in order to drive it
off your own property you must pass a driver’s test and have a license. Yet
without background checks any idiot with the cash can buy a deadly weapon. God
help us.
It may not be obvious to you, but this country is the largest
manufacturer and exporter of weapons in the world. The military-industrial
complex Eisenhower warned us about has taken over. Arms companies sponsor the
NRA. With their contributions to the election campaigns of our representatives
it sure looks like they are owned by the gun makers. They have sold their souls
in order to be reelected. The Senate is so bound up by partisan bickering and
conflict that no one wants to run for office. It reminds me of the last days of
Rome described by Gibbon in his “Decline
and Fall.” In those days it wasn’t the weapons makers who were the cause, but
the fact that people ran for the Roman Senate in order to glean all they could
from the system before they were poisoned. No one worth his salt would run.
It’s time that congress stood up for the safety of Americans
they represent by supporting sensible background checks for firearm
purchasers.
