ENOUGH of gun violence and mass shootings in America! This is the overwhelming sentiment of Americans as revealed in a new Quinnipiac Poll conducted on August 21-26, 2019.
After the mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio — added to the already troubling strings of massacre using guns in the United States —Americans have spoken out loud and clear.
The Quinnipiac Poll asked these questions:
Q: Do you support or oppose stricter gun laws in the United States?
A: Support: 60 percent
Republican support: 30 percent
Democrats support: 89 percent
Independents support: 61 percent
Q: Do you support or oppose requiring background checks for all gun buyers?
A: Support: 93 percent
Republican support: 89 percent
Democrats support: 97 percent
Independents support: 94 percent
Q: Do you support or oppose a nationwide ban on the sale of assault weapons?
A: 60 percent support
THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS have been the response of Republican lawmakers in Congress through decades, who had been blocking attempts by Democrats to enact sensible legislation to end the senseless deaths due to gun violence in the country.
Thoughts and prayers until the heat and opposition against gun violence cool down, a dirty tactic they have used to manipulate the American people.
In fact, a bipartisan comprehensive gun bill has been passed by the Democrat-led House, but Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell would not even debate nor vote on it on the floor. McConnell refused to do so because he said he would not subject a bill to a vote that President Donald Trump would not support and sign into law.
Ayaw kumilos ng matatanda para matigil na ang mass shooting at gun violence, hayaan nating mamuno ang mga kabataan. Ito ang proposal nila sa kanilang “Peace Plan”:
This plan is spearheaded by students and survivors of the mass shooting in February 2018 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. They hope this “Peace Plan” will be considered by President Trump as well as his Democratic presidential rivals.
These young people also aim at making this plan serve as a catalyst for a surge of youth voters in the 2020 presidential elections.
“I think similarly to a lot of the country, I’m in a lot of pain right now,” lamented David Hogg, 19, a co-founder of March for Our Lives and a survivor of the shooting on February 2018.
“You see these shootings on TV every day and very little happening around it. It’s painful to watch. And I think it’s been really hard for me and many of the other students and people that we work with to find hope in this time.”
The youth group March for Our Lives has channeled their grief, frustration and anger to working hard toward a solution to gun violence, focusing on voter registration and outreach across the United States over the past year and a half, building a national infrastructure with more than 100 chapters centered on grass-roots organizing. They hope to turn that into droves of voters at the polls next year.
As the Washington Post reported: “The Peace Plan would create a national licensing and gun registry, long a nonstarter with gun rights advocates; ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines; implement a mandatory gun buyback program; and install a “national director of gun violence prevention” who would report directly to the president and coordinate the federal response to what advocates call a national public health emergency.”
“It would dramatically increase restrictions around owning guns in ways sure to spark fierce blowback, including raising the age to 21 from 18 for those who want to buy guns. It calls for a ‘multi-step’ gun licensing system, overseen by a federal agency, that would include in-person interviews and a 10-day wait before gun purchases are approved. The license would be renewed annually.”
“In the vein of the Green New Deal, the Peace Plan takes a holistic approach to gun violence by also calling for automatic voter registration when those eligible turn 18, along with the creation of a ‘Safety Corps,’ which the authors compare to a Peace Corps for gun violence prevention. The plan also proposes community-based solutions like mental health services, as well as programs to address and prevent suicide, domestic violence and urban violence.”
VOTE OUT people running for office who would not support it. They do not work for the interest of the American people but are paid puppets of the National Rifle Association (NRA), the powerful lobby group who have invested millions of dollars in the campaigns of these Republicans now seating the White House and Congress.
These supposed public servants are the NRA’s co-conspirators in spreading misinformation about proposed gun laws that are already working in other industrialized countries in preventing gun violence. They manipulate the American people by instilling fear that their Second Amendment rights will be violated and that their guns will be taken away from them!
USE THE POWER OF YOUR VOTE! The United States is a government of the people, by the people, for the people.
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Gel Santos Relos is the anchor of TFC’s “Balitang America.” Views and opinions expressed by the author in this column are solely those of the author and not of Asian Journal and ABS-CBN-TFC. For comments, go to www.TheFil-AmPerspective.com, https://www.facebook.com/Gel.Santos.Relos
