You must be 21 years of age to buy tobacco products in the United States.
You cannot rent a car or condo if you are not 25.
You are unable to buy a beer (or any other alcoholic beverage) in America unless you are 21.
A license is required of all of us in order to hunt, fish, or drive a car.
YET. YET!!!! In Texas, an 18 year old can purchase an AR-15 with no waiting. And though you must be 21 to purchase a handgun and a permit was required until September of 2021, that ceased when Gov. Greg Abbott signed legislation allowing permitless carry. In the state of TN, you may purchase and own a gun (including an AR-15) if you are 18 with no waiting period, licensure, permit or registration. In Georgia, you need only be 18 to purchase a handgun or long gun and no registration or permit is required for either. I could go on...
Do these laws reflect the "right to bear arms" that the fathers' of our country and the Second Amendment sought to put in place????? Do these laws reflect what the majority of Americans think is best today????
The data says NO!!!!!!!!!!!
New poll shows huge support for gun restrictions -
New polling after the murder of 19 babies and 2 of their teachers with 17 others injured in Uvalde, TX - not to mention after 10 lives were extinguished (including an armed retired police officer who stood guard at the door) in Buffalo, NY while shopping for groceries - all by 18 year old males in body armor while wielding semi-automatic AR-15 style rifles - shows the following:
- Requiring background checks on all gun sales - 88% of Americans strongly or somewhat support. 8% strongly or somewhat oppose. Net approval = 80%.
- Creating national database on all gun sales - 75% strongly or somewhat support. 18% strongly or somewhat oppose. Net approval = 57%.
- Banning assault style weapons - 67% strongly or somewhat support. 25% strongly or somewhat oppose. Net approval = 42%.
- Prevent the sell of all firearms to people reported as dangerous - 84% strongly or somewhat support. 9% strongly or somewhat oppose. Net approval = 75%.
- Making private gun sales and sales at gun shows subject to background checks - 81% strongly or somewhat support. 11% strongly or somewhat oppose. Net approval = 70%.
- Requiring safe storage by all gun owners - 77% strongly or somewhat support. 15% strongly or somewhat oppose. Net approval = 62%.
DO WE LIVE IN A DEMOCRACY???????? Should majority rule? Cause I may not be that good at math, but it seems to me the majority of Americans - INCLUDING GUN OWNERS!!!!!!!! - want reasonable gun laws.
Though I wish I had, I did not write the following. Nor, unfortunately, do I know the author I should credit. As someone who took a friend to an abortion clinic for a necessary medical procedure when I was in my early 20's - I know EXACTLY - what this scene looks like....
"How about we treat every young man who wants to buy a gun like every woman who wants to get an abortion - mandatory 48 hour waiting period, parental permission, a note from his doctor proving he understands what he's about to do, a video he has to watch about the effects of gun violence, and an ultrasound up the ass (just because). Let's close down all but one gun shop in every state and make him travel hundreds of miles, take time off work, and stay overnight in a strange town to get a gun. Make him walk through a gauntlet of people holding phots of loved ones who were shot to death, people who call him a murderer and beg him not to buy a gun.
It makes more sense to do this with young men and guns than with women and health care, right? I mean no woman getting an abortion has killed a room full of people in seconds, right?"
You'd think there would be nothing more to add to that, wouldn't you? But, no. These points barely scratch the surface of the devastation firearms cause....
Do the citizens of this country care about children killed by firearms? I say yes. Every poll says so. BUT! Do we care enough to force our politicians to enact legislation that does what we want? Many like to talk about the value of the Second Amendment. I implore all Americans - for our dear babies who deserve to be educated and play in safety, so every person making a grocery run comes home safely - to embrace this -
"It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." ~ Abraham Lincoln
VOTE your heart! FEEL the horror (as close as we who have not suffered so can) of what it would be like if YOUR baby was killed in their classroom, if YOUR grandmother was gunned down while picking up a few things for dinner. Speak loud and strong. We need reasonable gun safety legislation. There are 19 babies in Uvalde, TX who will never laugh and play with their families again. For them, we must ensure that no others suffer such a violent and senseless end. - les
