Syndic Literary Journal

June 2022

Published by LeRoy Chatfield

Gun Violence Bought and Paid For

Written by LeRoy Chatfield

 Jesse Unruh, Speaker of the California State Assembly (1961-1968)  liked to proclaim that “Money was the mother’s milk of politics.” It was true then and now sixty-two years later, it is still true.

But I don’t think that even Big Daddy Unruh would ever believe the Gun Lobby in the U.S. would contribute $56,000,000 to 14 Senate Republicans to prevent gun control legislation from ever coming to a vote in the U.S. Senate in 2022.

Had I not looked it up, I wouldn’t believe it either – stunning!

Mitt Romney ($13.7 million); Richard Burr ($7 million); Roy Blunt ($4.6 million); Thom Tillis ($4.4 million); Marco Rubio ($3.3 million); Joni Ernst ($3.1 million); Rob Portman ($3 million); Tom Cotton ($2 million); (Pat Toomey ($1.5 million); Josh Hawley ($1.4 million); Marsha Blackburn ($1.3 million); Mitch McConnell ($1.8 million); Ron Johnson ($1.7 million); Mike Braun ($1.2 million)

Think about this for a moment: Voters in the U.S. elect Senators to propose, debate and vote on legislation that will promote the welfare of its citizens and our country; or conversely vote down legislation that will prove to be harmful to either citizens or country.

But today we have all the Republican Senators accepting $58,000,000 (and counting)  from the Gun Lobby to do nothing – neither debate gun violence reform legislation passed by the House of Representatives two years ago or even to allow  an “up or down” vote on such legislation.

In fact, for the past decade, Republicans have neither sponsored nor advocated for any gun violence reform. And yet during this period there have been more than 3,621 mass shootings.

Republican Senators have been paid off to do nothing about gun violence and here is what they have accomplished for their Gun Lobby friends.

“A report released last April by SGB Media shows that sales of firearms and guns in the United States have grown by 269% between the years 2008 and 2022, making the once $19.1 billion industry worth more than $70 billion.”

Now, you understand how blocking legislation in the U.S. Senate  that would reform gun violence is so profitable for the gun industry – the more mass shootings there are, the more fearful people become –  who then rush out to purchase even more guns “to protect themselves”!

Sick! I tell you, these U.S. Senators are sick!  In exchange for money, they would allow thousands of innocent Americans – including school children –  to be killed  and maimed by guns.

Yes,  my dear friend – the Ivy League academic,  now a visiting professor at Stanford  -was right to chide me: LeRoy,  why are you surprised that our elected representatives would allow our children to be massacred when the gun lobby they represent is paying them $58,000,000 to allow it?

I am sorry – call me naive or old fashioned –  but I refuse to accept the concept that our nation’s school children must sometimes be sacrificed to enhance corporate profits!

Uvalde is family to me.