(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . House Republicans sport AR-15 lapel pins as mass murders become daily American occurrence [1] ['Daily Kos Staff', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-02-16 As of Tuesday, the archives and ABC News report there have been 67 mass shootings in 2023, up from 49 in the same period last year. This counts only incidents in which four or more people were injured or killed. That's the United States of 2023, then; a spike in gun violence that leaves, on average, at least one new mass shooting for the media to report on every single day of the week. And that's the new backdrop for Republicans, like conspiracy-peddling Rep. Anna Paulina Luna and con artist Rep. George Santos, to sport new AR-15 lapel pins that members claim are meant to represent anything from a new supposed Republican gun bill to an abstract endorsement of the Second Amendment. The House Republican handing out the pins is Rep. Andrew Clyde, famous for claiming the insurrectionist attack that sent a joint session of Congress fleeing for their lives was an "ordinary tourist visit" and for being so memorably photographed screaming in panic as security officers attempted to protect him and other members of Congress from the "ordinary tourists" attempting to break through barricaded doors. One of numerous pictures of Clyde, far left, sheltering from the ‘tourists.’ When he's not being a House Republican, Clyde acts as the owner of his own gun shop. That may explain the AR-15 pins more than anything else. There is no real chance that House Republicans, many of them backers of an attempted coup, will be doing anything about gun violence other than passing new bills to encourage it. There will be no progress in the next two years, and that's entirely because Republican voters are putting conspiracy cranks, coup supporters, liars, and promoters of "good" murder in public office. But we should still be fighting to do something for the victims of gun violence, if only to force Republicans to oppose them. Can we not promote bills ordering that all funeral costs for gun violence victims be covered by the federal government? When children are gunned down in a Texas school, it is repulsive to ask grieving parents to beg for money to cover the financial costs of their child's death. Can we not promote bills expanding Medicaid so that medical costs for gun violence victims are covered by the government that refused to prevent their injuries? Why should victims be held responsible for participating, unwillingly, in the freedom that gun seller Andrew Clyde believes to be necessary to protect our "liberties"? Why are we naming government buildings after politicians, rather than shooting victims? What have politicians sacrificed that should count for more? Republicans and conservatives are adamant in believing that mass shootings represent the American way of life, and few have enough restraint at this point to not just tell you so outright. The preferred solution to mass shootings, according to gun advocates, is to arm more Americans so that American shooters have the ability to shoot other American shooters before the other shooters can shoot first, and ... that's it. That's the only solution offered. If the victims of gun violence are truly patriots who are protecting our "liberties" by dying in the random acts of violence for the sake of the rest of us, though, we don't seem to be treating them as such. Where are the parades? Why are victims of gun violence paying for their own medical care, after they get shot for the sake of Andrew Clyde's liberties? Why isn't Andrew Clyde paying those bills himself? RELATED STORIES: House Republicans spotted wearing AR-15 lapel pins despite 39 mass shootings in 2023 Armed watchers at Arizona drop boxes are just another escalation in the right's strategy of violence Gun group raises money to build 'firepower' to 'unload' on Democratic Senate candidates A ‘Woke Army’? Republicans turn final House hearing on far-right violence into a clown show [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/2/16/2153328/-The-first-weeks-of-2023-have-seen-more-than-one-mass-shooting-per-day Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/