On Wednesday, Donald Trump took time out from vilifying Muslims and put some of the blame on gun control.
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In 2014, 33,599 Americans died from a gunshot wound. Whether it’s the daily shootings in Chicago or horrific tragedies, like the shootings in Tucson and Aurora, we must address the deadly violence threatening our neighborhoods.
In combat operations in places like Afghanistan, we often confronted the specter of risky people with powerful weapons who were a threat to their community and to our soldiers. The discussion about whether or not the United States needs stricter gun laws is sending more customers into some local gun stores.
Comacho said he didn’t buy any firearms at the gun show and came just for support.
“I don’t think you should have firearms where people are drinking”, he said.
The latest split comes as Trump has requested a meeting with NRA leaders to discuss banning gun sales to people on the federal terror watch list and no-fly list. “But given the fact that the last two terrorist attacks on our soil – Orlando and San Bernardino – were homegrown, carried out it appears not by external plotters, not by vast networks or sophisticated cells, but by deranged individuals warped by the hateful propaganda that they had seen over the Internet, then we’re going to have to do more to prevent these kinds of events from occurring”, Obama said.
“Because of that situation going on in Washington DC, they are afraid that they’re gonna lose their right or some of their right to own guns”, added Glenn Bowen, owner of Colt’s Guns and Pawn. What we don’t need, however, is inaction … again. It doesn’t much matter: People commit massacres for all sorts of freakish reasons, and it makes no difference to the victims which particular one is driving them. That is both poor logic and poor leadership. “Yes I will get a gun as well as my daughter and yes I will learn how to use it”. I believe it would.
On the other hand, there are reports that he called 911 (the emergency services) to declare his allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) just before he started shooting, and some witnesses say he shouted “Allahu Akbar” (god is great!) as he was killing people. We do not have more violent video games or movies than other countries. We are not unique in facing down the threat of global terrorism and active shooters. Our communities should not feel like war zones.
I’m so sick and exhausted of these cowards who arm themselves with a gun and attack innocent Americans, looking to instill fear in the world.
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Gen. Stanley McChrystal is a former commander of USA and global forces in Afghanistan and of the Joint Special Operations Command, and a member of the Veterans Coalition for Common Sense.
