What’s the Number?


Reading time – 1:52  .  .  .

Click the image to review the complete article in MarketWatch

That’s right – we kill ourselves with shocking regularity, but that really isn’t the most salient point. Rather, it’s that all but the last two were done by red-blooded Americans who were not Islamist extremists. They were Americans who were either mentally impaired or seeking revenge. So much for the hysteria about Muslim terrorists and prohibiting the immigration of Muslims as a safety measure.

And be clear that this savaging, this brutality of innocents, is facilitated by the absurdly easy access to weapons of war. These massacres have nothing to do with the rights of hunters and sportsmen or the appropriate firearms for them.

After Sandy Hook, President Obama shed tears with us over the murders of 20 little kids and 7 teachers, their bodies riddled with bullets from a perfectly legal assault rifle. He pushed for gun safety laws then, but nothing got better. I guess the gun lobby people were proud to have done their jobs so well.

Here’s a simple list of what the overwhelming majority of Americans want. This should be easy.

  • – Universal background checks before the sale of any firearm
  • – A ban on military assault rifles
  • – A ban on large capacity magazines
  • – A ban on automatic weapons
  • – A ban on silencers

Like I said, this should be easy, but it isn’t. It’s yet another example of why we have to get big money out of our politics. Note that Sarah Huckabee Sanders said today that this isn’t the time to politicize “the gun issue.” She’s wrong. Dead wrong. So let’s make our voices heard.

Tonight or in the next few days, show up in your town for the demonstration for sensible gun safety laws – it will be easy to find one nearby. There’s a demonstration in front of the new Dick’s Sporting Goods on Skokie Blvd. in Northbrook, IL at 7:00PM tonight.

Then call (much more powerful than writing or emailing) your Representative and Senators and tell them you want sensible gun safety laws. Links to their phone numbers are in blue – use the search function at the top of the linked page.

And tell your legislators you want them to support the We the People Amendment – H.J.Res 48 –  to get big money out of our politics so that America isn’t run by lobbyists.

How many dead Americans will it take for us to overpower the gun lobby? What’s the number?

Get up and get active right now. Our kids, friends, family and neighbors are counting on us.

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Ed. note: There is much in America that needs fixing and we are on a path to continually fail to make things better. It is my goal to make a difference – perhaps to be a catalyst for things to get better. That is the reason for these posts. To accomplish the goal requires reaching many thousands of people and a robust dialogue.

YOUR ACTION STEPS: Offer your comments below and pass this along to three people, encouraging them to subscribe and engage.  Thanks!  JA

Copyright 2024 by Jack Altschuler
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2 Responses to What’s the Number?

  1. Jim Altschuler October 3, 2017 Reply

    Sadly, in the few hours since this piece was written the terrible total from this insane massacre has increased to 59. THIS HAS TO STOP!

    If the Federal government won’t pass legislation to make the requirements listed above the law of the land (for whatever their reasons), then push your state legislators to pass state laws that mandate the changes that we need to make our country safer for our families, friends and neighbors.

    Our Founding Fathers said that “… all men are created equal”. Apparently that isn’t true, because some of us take their idea of the law into their own hands. NOT the Muslim community, but gangs of all colors and national origins who kill because of “turf” or color or race, and others who kill for revenge or because they’ve lost their tie to decency and/or what is right and/or reality. They can’t do it, or at least not as easily, if they can’t get the WMD’s on the list.

    Please don’t wait for “the other guy” to make the calls, be the first in your neighbor or town to contact your Federal legislators AND your state legislators … NOW.

  2. dominickpalella October 2, 2017 Reply

    Jack, there will be no legal solution for getting money out of politics as long as we continue to elect people without moral character to office. Again, no corporation or wealthy donor is threatening the lives of politicians or murdering their families if they refuse to take their money. Politicians willfully solicit and willingly accept money, and obviously enjoy their privileges to do so. The law is not the problem, but the people we elect to office based on promises we like to hear. Vet before you vote.

    TrueDemocracyNow.org