Glen McAdoo: ‘Hearts and prayers’

“My heart and prayers go out to the families of the victims of this mass shooting.”

That is a scripted response which many politicians use in the event of any mass shooting, such as the one at a high school in Broward County, Florida, on Feb. 14. I doubt if the good Lord answers the prayers of anyone so obviously heartless they believe owning an assault rifle is more important than the lives of children.

In President Trump’s response, he implied mass shootings could be prevented if people would report anyone whom they believed might commit such a crime. After the president’s comments, it was revealed that the young man who apparently committed this horrific crime has been reported to the FBI, which did nothing. This prompted Florida Governor Rick Scott to call for the resignation of FBI Director Christopher Wray. Trump’s tweets on this matter are idiotic.

It’s Florida’s laws which enabled this murderer to purchase the AR-15 which enabled him to kill 17 and wound 14 in just a very short time.

Florida laws forbid an 18 year old from purchasing a hand gun but allows them to buy any combat assault weapon. On Feb. 20, the Republican controlled State Legislature looked surviving students in the eye, and shamefully refused to even consider doing a damn thing about assault weapons!

This lunatic was also reported to local community authorities no less than 20 times resulting in a mental examination in 2016 which determined he was in “stable” condition, whatever that means. It doesn’t do much good to report a possible future mass shooter if gun laws allow him/her to purchase any combat assault rifle their evil mind desires.

President Trump and most all Congressional Republicans’ initial response was that the problem was mental illness. The president didn’t mention guns. If they honestly thought that the mentally ill being able to buy a weapon was the problem, then why on earth did the Republicans in Congress pass a law in 2017, signed by President Trump, which eased restriction President Obama put in place making it more difficult for the mentally ill to purchase a firearm? Why indeed? Unbelievably, Trump and the NRA puppets in Congress made it easier for crazy folks to buy guns. This is hypocrisy beyond the pale.

What if no one could buy a combat assault rifle, something 70 percent of Americans support? There are millions already out there, so it’s accurate to suggest that a person could probably buy one on the street. Still, it would make selling one illegal and could make anyone doing so an accessory to murder. It would prevent even more assault weapons getting out there.

House Speaker Paul Ryan irritates me terribly. Ryan said in response to the Florida mass murders, “We don’t just knee-jerk before we have all the facts and data.” What data? There are 17 dead and 14 wounded, isn’t that enough data? This is nothing new to Ryan. After the mass shooting in San Bernardino, Calif., said Ryan, “What we don’t need is to knee-jerk and infringe upon the rights of gun owners.” After the Umpqua Community College shooting in Oregon, Ryan said, “Now is not the time for a knee-jerk response to the Second Amendment.” That’s what he always says. Other than pray, Ryan has never taken any kind of action to deal with mass shootings, knee-jerk or otherwise. Ryan has always shown more concern for gun owners than he has for dead children and their grieving parents.

I doubt if Ryan received a single campaign contribution from the parents of the children killed in Parkland, Fla. It has been reported he did receive $170,000 in contributions from the National Rifle Association during the 2016 election cycle. He’s not alone in that regard. In Ryan’s House of Representatives 189 Republicans and 16 Democrats received money from the NRA. In the Senate, it was 38 Republicans and four Democrats.

The NRA supposedly speaks for gun owners, but they actually speak for gun manufacturers and retailers. They don’t care who buys guns or why they may want them. They just want them to buy baby buy.

It’s been reported the NRA spent a whopping $31 million on Trump’s campaign, $10 million of which they spent on spreading disinformation about Hillary Clinton. It sounds like the NRA might have been in cahoots with the Russians. You reckon?

Led by the students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., many high school students across the country are squaring off against the NRA and its paid politicians. Listen to them, Americans.

Glen McAdoo, a Fallon resident, can be contacted at glynn@phonewave.net.