Now Is the Time. Actually, It's
Past Time, Speaker Boehner
By Colin Goddard
Trayvon Martin,
Gabrielle Giffords, The Virginia Tech 32, The Columbine 13. Reagan, JFK. All
shot by people who shouldn't have had access to guns.
After each of these tragedies,
leading politicians have said, basically, "Now is not the time to talk
about gun policy."
Last year, House
Speaker John Boehner said it a nanosecond
after the attack on Congresswoman Giffords and the others in
Arizona.
The fact is, the
tragedies that make national headlines represent only a small fraction of the
thousands of deaths that occur every year at hands of people who never should
have had guns. It is easier to take home a gun in our country than an adopted
dog from a shelter.
Convicted felons,
domestic abusers, the dangerously mentally ill, even terrorists, can buy guns
in most states through gun shows or private sales over the internet with no
background check whatsoever.
If Speaker Boehner
knew firsthand what it was like to lose a loved one because of one of these
people who never should have had a gun, would he think differently? Would it
then be time to talk about gun policy?
On Monday, I'm going to try to meet
with Speaker Boehner, and as many Members of Congress as I can. I
want to ask simple questions like, "Do you think a convicted felon should
be able to buy, carry or use a gun anywhere in our nation?"
I'll be joined by 31
of my friends, friends who I probably wouldn't have ever met except that they,
too, were victims of guns in the hands of dangerous people who never should
have had them. I've written to the Speaker (and other Congressional leaders)
asking to meet. As of this point I've heard he's too busy.
I was shot four times
at Virginia Tech -- five years ago this coming Monday, April 16. It's a
sickening and surreal feeling, to be lying on the floor, hearing a constant
BANG! BANG! BANG!, feeling the warmth your own blood, smelling what smells like
fireworks on the 4th of July. It's absolutely terrifying, and it's nothing like
you see glorified in movies.
I talk about it at
length in a documentary about the shooting
called Living for 32 that is going to be watched at more than
32 colleges and universities Monday evening, and I'll be discussing my
experience after the movie in a livestreamed Q and A with NBC News' Luke Russert.
After the fourth shot,
the shooter must have thought he got me, so he moved on. Seconds later, he shot
himself, but I didn't learn that until the SWAT team stormed the room.
What does it say about
Mr. Boehner if he, as the Speaker of "The People's House" will not
meet with me and 31 other victims of gun violence to discuss how our tragedies
might have been prevented?
I know the Speaker has
met with people from the gun industry and their lobbyists at the NRA -- the
House recently passed a bill to force every state to allow in people carrying
loaded, concealed guns from every other state -- your own state requirements be
damned.
Is Mr. Boehner scared
to face the consequences of his actions, or complete lack thereof, as he has
done the bidding of the gun lobby? Does he just want to sweep us under the
carpet? We know he is an emotional guy. Might facing the real human toll of his
political expediency force him to rethink his actions? Or might it just be
embarrassing?
We must demand change
now. We can't wait for another mass-shooting -- another "Breaking
News" banner with people crying, ambulances screaming, flowers piling,
then candles lighting. And, given the reaction of Congress I wouldn't count on
them to do anything no matter how horrific the next tragedy might be.
That's why we need to
take matters into our own hands. We can't hope for something to change anymore.
We have to make it change. We have to put the realities of what happens when
dangerous people have easy access to guns right in their face.
Every day in America, 32
people are murdered by guns.
That's a "Virginia Tech" happening in our nation every single day.
That's why there will be 32 of us walking the halls of Congress next week. But
we will not just be there speaking for ourselves and our lost loved ones. We
will be speaking for all of the 30,000 Americans who are lost to guns every
year -- all of their families loved ones and communities -- all Americans who
are sick and tired of living with the preventable tragedy of gun violence in
our nation and who demand accountability from our elected leaders to end it.
Mr. Speaker, we're
coming over to your office this week, and the offices of many of your
colleagues. If you think it's not "appropriate" to talk about gun
violence during the week that marks both Virginia Tech and Columbine -- the
worst shootings in our country's history -- then when would it be for you?
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