BLUF:
\nNobody\u2019s trying to save Ukraine by taking their guns away. Quite the opposite, in fact. No one is trying to stop Russian aggression by trying to ban tanks and bombs. And to be honest, Ukraine\u2019s allies haven\u2019t been able to actually stop the atrocities being committed by Russian forces, even with the images of dead and wounded children on our smartphones and computer screens, which makes Graham\u2019s idea even more disturbingly awful.<\/p>\n
If Graham actually meant what she said, she wouldn\u2019t be directing her ire and outrage at guns, gun makers, or gun owners. She\u2019d be demanding sanctions and consequences for those responsible for atrocities on American streets; the ones who are actually pulling the trigger.<\/p>\n
Columnist compares U.S. guns to Putin<\/a><\/p>\n Gun control activists are desperate to find some way to use Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine to bolster their attacks on our Second Amendment rights, but Boston Globe columnist Renee Graham\u2019s\u00a0latest column<\/a>\u00a0is a bizarre new low. Her contribution to the gun control debate? The media should start showing more dead bodies, because\u00a0that\u00a0<\/em>will convince politicians to take action, just as they\u2019ve done since the images of slain Ukrainians and dead Russian soldiers have started appearing on our social media feeds.<\/p>\n Disclaimers about graphic or disturbing content are standard, but many Ukrainians have been adamant \u2014 they do not want journalists to shield what Putin\u2019s war is inflicting on their sovereign nation and its residents.<\/p>\n \u201cWe know the enemy. In the end, the world must see and hear this,\u201d\u00a0a Ukrainian soldier<\/a>\u00a0told a CNN reporter after he was injured when his\u00a0barracks were struck by a Russian missile<\/a>. \u201cI don\u2019t know. How many deaths will it take for everyone to see?\u201d<\/p>\n In his lament, I heard the echo of so many in this nation tired of relentless gun violence and elected officials unwilling to do anything about it. Would their collective hand finally be forced to action if the media were flooded with graphic images of the toll of America\u2019s addiction to guns?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Here\u2019s the first problem with Graham\u2019s argument: that Ukrainian soldier isn\u2019t blaming the deaths of his countrymen on arms makers or equipment used by the invading Russian army. He\u2019s blaming the\u00a0individual\u00a0<\/em>responsible for sending Russian troops across the border in an attempt to turn Ukraine into a vassal state of a reconstituted Russian empire.<\/p>\n Graham, on the other hand, never once mentions the people who are perpetrating violent crime in Boston or any other American city. Her focus is entirely and exclusively on guns.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Perhaps what was needed after Sandy Hook was graphic evidence of America\u2019s murderous firearms folly. Every lawmaker who literally closed their office door to avoid meeting with Sandy Hook parents in 2013 should have had to view crime scene photos of those children, their principal, and their teachers. That is what legislators, with their useless supply of thoughts and prayers, should have to witness before defending their decisions to do absolutely nothing.<\/p>\n Well, not nothing. Several states are currently trying to pass laws that would allow citizens to\u00a0legally carry concealed guns in public without a permit<\/a>. Though the Supreme Court is currently discussing a\u00a0concealed carry case<\/a>\u00a0brought by the NRA and two individuals challenging a New York gun law, the state bills aren\u2019t receiving attention commensurate with their frightening implications. And silence only benefits perpetrators.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n This is grotesque on a couple of different levels. I personally know people who lost family members in the cowardly attack on the Connecticut elementary school, and whose children were murdered at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida; parents and siblings who have felt pain and heartache that none of us could ever know, even by looking at crime scene photos, but who haven not embraced Graham\u2019s calls for more gun control as a result.<\/p>\n Do these individuals care less than Graham does about \u201cgun violence\u201d? Of course not. They simply don\u2019t buy into the lie that gun control will save us or make us any safer, but in Graham\u2019s world these people are actually \u201cperpetrators\u201d of violence because they\u2019re not demanding or supportive of more gun laws aimed at legal gun owners. She\u2019s willing to dehumanize and depersonalize all those who disagree with her stance on gun control, even as she advocates using pictures of their murdered children to advance her anti-gun agenda.<\/p>\n As I said; grotesque. And honestly, I think Graham is well aware of what she\u2019s doing, especially when she continually compares inanimate objects like firearms to a guy like Vladimir Putin.<\/p>\n Every image of broken bodies or faces smeared with blood and tears is an indictment of the Russian president\u2019s barbarism. If Ukrainians must endure this, then we can bear witness and push for action. We should do as much for Americans being sacrificed daily to feed this nation\u2019s Second Amendment fix and say out loud what that wounded Ukrainian solider asked of the world: \u201cHow many deaths will it take for everyone to see?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Nobody\u2019s trying to save Ukraine by taking their guns away. Quite\u00a0the opposite<\/a>, in fact. No one is trying to stop Russian aggression by trying to ban tanks and bombs. And to be honest, Ukraine\u2019s allies haven\u2019t been able to actually stop the atrocities being committed by Russian forces, even with the images of dead and wounded children on our smartphones and computer screens, which makes Graham\u2019s idea even more disturbingly awful.<\/p>\n “>If Graham actually meant what she said, she wouldn\u2019t be directing her ire and outrage at guns, gun makers, or gun owners. She\u2019d be demanding sanctions and consequences for those responsible for atrocities on American streets; the ones who are actually pulling the trigger.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" BLUF: Nobody\u2019s trying to save Ukraine by taking their guns away. Quite the opposite, in fact. No one is trying to stop Russian aggression by trying to ban tanks and bombs. And to be honest, Ukraine\u2019s allies haven\u2019t been able to actually stop the atrocities being committed by Russian forces, even with the images of … Continue reading “”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,75],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-79052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-crap-for-brains","category-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=79052"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79052\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79058,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79052\/revisions\/79058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=79052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=79052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=79052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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