Montini: 30 million reasons Florida shooting won't impact gun laws
EJ Montini: The National Rifle Association helps get people elected. They get a good return on their investment.
EJ Montini
There will be no movement or even any serious discussion about gun regulation after the mass killing at a Florida high school because of this:
Money.
Blood money, some might call it.
The National Rifle Association spent $10 million dollars to support the campaign of then-candidate Donald Trump.
The NRA spent another roughly $20 million on attack ads against Democrat Hillary Clinton.
The president repays NRA debt
After Trump became president he told the NRA at its annual meeting, “You came through for me, and I am going to come through for you. The eight-year assault on your Second Amendment freedoms has come to a crashing end. You have a true friend and champion in the White House.”
Then, there was the nearly $6 million the NRA handed out to Republican candidates during that same election cycle.
Universal background checks on every gun sale?
No.
Improvements to the current background system?
No.
Trump budget would cut funds
Trump’s budget proposal actually suggests cuts for in funding for background checks.
Not only that.
Trump signed a bill revoking a regulation imposed by President Barack Obama that was designed to make it more difficult for people with mental illness (as is suspected of the Florida shooter) to obtain weapons.
H.J. Res 40 revoked a regulation that added to the national background check database the names of individuals receiving Social Security checks for mental illnesses and those who have been declared unfit to handle their own financial affairs.
Trump didn’t invite photographs into the room when he signed that bill, as he almost always does.
Weird, right?
No. Because that bill signing wasn’t for us. It was for the gun lobby.
Restrictions on certain kinds of ammunition, or magazines, or weapons?
No. No. And no.
A comprehensive and thorough way of vetting mental health issues with regard to firearms ownership.
No.
Not with Trump as president and Republicans in control of the House and Senate.
It's not simply 'evil.' It's money
It's difficult for regular citizens to overcome big money. Voting does so. But it also helps to let politicians know how you feel. Send an email. And if you need help finding who your elected representative is the Democracy.io site makes it easy.
According to authorities, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz brought an AR-15 assault rifle to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., and opened fire, killing at least 17.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott, in an emotional press conference, called the attack “pure evil.”
Scott said, “How could this ever happen in this country? How could this happen in this state?”
I figure there are between 30 and 36 million reasons.
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