(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Forget your guns, we are coming for you... [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-04-01 It’s Calculated Part of the Republican messaging machine warns that those who look to legislate common sense gun laws, “... are coming for your guns.” We are. We are coming for your AR 15s, your outsized magazines, and your cowardly party. We are coming for you the way those brave officers came for the dastardly shooter who came after children smaller than the assault weapon she carried. And we are coming after the sick and deranged leader of your party who revels in the language of violence and the proliferation of assault weapons even as he bans the same weapons from his own rallies. We are coming. Here’s a quiz for you, who said this: “Or, Mike, take the firearms first and then go to court, because that’s another system. Because a lot of times, by the time you go to court, it takes so long to go to court, to get the due process procedures. I like taking the guns early. Like in this crazy man’s case that just took place in Florida, he had a lot of firearms – they saw everything – to go to court would have taken a long time, so you could do exactly what you’re saying, but take the guns first, go through due process second.” — Donald Trump, 2018 This quote has been erroneously attributed to several speakers, including VP Kamala Harris, but Trump actually said it right after the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, which killed 14 students and three staff members. Trump said it under duress. He had agreed to a meeting to discuss solutions to the violence occurring at our schools and was confronted by a hostile crowd of parents and students who were grieving. His administration never followed up on Trump’s insincere statement meant as a momentary escape from the realities of the moment. The GOP and his administration wouldn’t officially propose any such thing. NRA spokesperson Dana Loesch made headlines with her response to the shootings which reset the GOP talking points on the issue: “I’m going to say something that some people are going to say is ‘controversial,'” she said. “Many in legacy media love mass shootings. You guys love it. I’m not saying you love the tragedy. But I am saying that you love the ratings. Crying white mothers are ratings gold… And notice I said crying white mothers because there are thousands of grieving black mothers in Chicago every weekend and you don’t see town halls for them do you?” — Daily Dot, “The 6 wildest quotes from NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch at CPAC,” by Andrew Wyrich No blood running through those veins— Ms. Loesch managed to insult human decency with sentiments so cold and callous they are usually reserved for fictional she-devils like Lady Macbeth. Meanwhile, hypocritical politicians ban guns from their places of work, the NRA bans them from their conventions, and Trump will have none of that at his rallies. They selfishly guard their own safety— but selfishly ignore the same for children. So yes, we are coming for you and your AR-15s… Guns Sure Do Kill You see, the children in our schools deserve— even more than you— the protections from violence you demand for yourselves. In these times irony and reality collide head-on. Words matter little to ease the loss, even as you offer them in torrents of token thoughts and prayers. Pretending mightily to care, you don’t. Whoever coined the mindless phrase “guns don’t kill...” was obviously one who was spared the devastation of losing a son or daughter in a school shooting. To parents who have suffered the loss of a daughter or son, your linguistic gymnastics creating a phony distinction without a damn difference is insulting. In fact, guns do kill because that was what they were designed to do. In 2018 Donald Trump spoke these words before an adoring and beneficent NRA conference: "There’s no sign more inviting to a mass killer than a sign that declares, 'This school is a gun-free zone. Come in and take us,'" I worked in schools for the better part of my adult life and remember well the reason why those signs were paced within a specified area around schools. Rational legislators knew that guns were dangerous and had no place in or around schools. The first iteration of the Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990 was challenged and parts of it were repealed by the U.S. Supreme Court in an opinion written by Chief Justice William Rehnquist in a 5-4 decision with the concurrence of the court’s conservative majority (Thomas, Kennedy, Day-O’Connor, and Scalia). In his dissent from Rehnquist’s ruling, Justice Stephen Breyer stated the truth that hides behind the political reality: Upholding this legislation would do no more than simply recognize that Congress had a "rational basis" for finding a significant connection between guns in or near schools and (through their effect on education) the interstate and foreign commerce they threaten... Respectfully, I dissent. — from Justice Breyer’s dissent of Rehnquist et.al. The constitutional basis for a repeal of this law rests on the law's impact on commerce. How Republican! The legislation was amended and reinstated by modifying the act to eliminate the court’s objection based on the Commerce Clause in Article 1 that was used to thwart Congress’ initial attempt to protect children in schools from gun violence. Republican disinterest in protecting schools was revisited with a 2007 bill introduced by Ron Paul (R-Texas). It was never enacted and attracted only 1 co-sponsor. H. R. 2424, To repeal the Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990 and amendments to that Act, was an attempt to not simply repeal the amended GFSZA of 1994 but sought to protect the right of students and adults to carry arms within schools. The assaults on our schools and the 375 school mass shootings are the consequence of the Republican Party’s unprincipled support of the NRA and its gun manufacturing backers. A cost-benefit analysis of the gun industry in America reveals a despicable truth, the NRA and the gun owners it represents have determined that the price of human life in this country is negligible— that the swollen bottom line of the industry justified the mayhem unregulated gun sales has visited on us: Every year, the gun industry rakes in approximately $9 billion while gun violence kills more than 40,000 people in America and wounds twice as many. At a moment when gun violence has become the leading cause of death for children and teens in America. The cost of human life is incalculable, but estimates put the economic cost of gun violence at roughly $557 billion each year. — Everytown Research, “The Economic Cost of Gun Violence $557 Billion Annually, Comparable to 2.6 Percent of US Gross Domestic Product” Blood Money Extrapolating the figures, when compared to the profits, the cost incurred is 62 times greater than the annual profits ($557B divided by $9B). Correspondingly, the value of human life calculated by the number of deaths Republicans and their gun-loving backers deem acceptable to amass their profits is $.0000044 (40,000 deaths divided by $557B). This is the calculation driving the deregulation and refusal to allow a rational gun policy. And it is sick. So, again, we are coming for you. There is no cost-benefit analysis needed to determine the loss felt by parents who have lost their children to a school shooter, nor to those who lost loved ones to other mass shootings that are enhanced by the use of assault weapons meant for war. Any human loss is incalculable. I apologize if anyone believes that reducing this issue to dollars and cents and cold hard numbers is somehow insensitive. It was meant to be. The point is not to devalue the lives that are lost to gun violence in America but to expose the greed that allows gun violence to continue unabated. The final calculus to consider, however, is one that shines a light on the price the GOP itself has placed upon its support of contorted second amendment arguments: In the nearly 10 years since the Sandy Hook shooting, the NRA has spent more than $100 million to help elect Republicans who will support their extreme agenda, including Donald Trump. Fortune: “For instance, in 2020, the NRA alone spent over $12 million campaigning against Biden and another $4.5 million in favor of Donald Trump.” Yahoo News: “The gun-rights group spent $54 million during the 2016 election cycle, including $30 million to help Donald Trump get elected president.” The GOP has made its own calculations and has decided to sell its soul on the cheap. The lives of those murdered because of GOP lawmakers’ recalcitrance in passing rational gun laws are not worth their effort. Since Columbine and up to the most recent event in Nashville, 185 children have been slaughtered by assault weapons in the hands of perpetrators, most of whom were mentally ill. For the “guns don’t kill” crowd, the deaths are tragic but unavoidable. They throw their dirtied hands in the air and rely on a mindless cliche. In the backs of their minds they must realize that while guns can be regulated, human behavior cannot. Their excuse is as worthless as their phony prayers and dull-witted thoughts. And so, we look to them for an answer to a conundrum that only they have created. Rarely do we place our trust in such hopeless pursuit. The greed of those who are profiting from the carnage is compounded by the indifference of the voters who place them in positions of trust. Look for us around election time in your communities. We will be there and we will vote both our consciences. We are coming for you, all of you... 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