In case you haven’t noticed, the pro-gun lobby is continuing to push its extreme agenda.
Let us ask you a handful of questions.
Would you be willing to:
- Sip hot chocolate with your toddler at Starbucks while a fellow patron openly displays a gun at the table next to you?
- Attend a church service with your entire family knowing that the fellow parishioner sitting next to you has a handgun tucked in his belt?
- Stand in line at a bank to make a deposit as two men enter with baseball hats on and what appear to be guns in their pockets?
- Board a crowded bus with your newborn child with upwards of 5 other passengers carrying concealed weapons?
Unbeknownst to most Americans, these scenarios are already perfectly legal in many parts of the United States and are occurring with more frequency and bravado. Next time you take your child on an outing with you, think about how many people within earshot may be carrying a gun as you wait in line at the aquarium, sit in a theater watching a movie, or shop at the local grocery store.
This is exactly the kind of America the gun lobby is pushing for and creating all around us. They won’t be satisfied until every nook and cranny is saturated with Berettas, Colts and Smith & Wessons.
Consider these recent legislative initiatives:
- The Montana House has voted to allow the carrying of concealed guns without a permit–despite strong opposition from law enforcement.
- On January 9th, it became legal to carry loaded weapons into national parks after a more than 20 year ban.
- Bills to allow the open carrying of handguns have been filed in Arkansas and South Carolina–two of only 6 states remaining that do not currently allow open carry in some form.
- Utah allows college students to keep guns in their dorms and carry concealed weapons on campus.
- The New Mexico Senate has passed a measure that would allow concealed weapons in alcohol-serving restaurants.
- A panel in Tennessee has recommended four bills for legislative approval including allowing concealed weapons in playgrounds and bars.
This problem is deadly serious. Guns kill more than 30,000 people in the United States each year. Unless American’s wake up to what is happening all around them and take action to stop it, the seemingly far-fetched examples of every day outings turned into repeated encounters with armed citizens will become all to real.
After all, leaving decision-making about where and when to use a gun to ordinary citizens packing heat in restaurants, theaters and parks is a frightening prospect.
Our nation is being held hostage by the gun lobby’s extremist agenda.
It’s time we turned the clock on this deadly trend before America’s children are sitting in school with armed teachers and abnormal behavior becomes the new norm.
What you can do:
Contact your local, state and federal legislators and ask them to support stronger gun laws to keep guns out of schools, churches, parks to ensure a safe America for all.
