Editor's Note: The following guest blog was written and submitted by Dr. L. Ronald Durham, senior pastor of Greater Friendship Baptist Church of Daytona Beach. .
By Dr. L. Ronald DurhamDAYTONA BEACH -- On Wednesday April 17, there was a strange odor coming from the floor of the Senate gallery of the United States of America. The odor was eerily reminiscent of what one would smell if standing near any American landfill that had just received a new load of garbage. If then, when you stepped outside your home on Thursday morning and your nostrils were overwhelmed by the stench, you are part of the 90% of our nation who just had a fresh load of garbage dumped on them, by the refusal of a handful of Republican and Democratic senators to pass a gun reform bill in Washington.
Never before in the history of this country have we seen lawmakers blatantly disregard the will of the majority of the American people, who are ready for common sense legislation to close loopholes that would prevent guns to be sold to persons suffering from mental disorders, and criminals who now use gun shows and the internet to bypass background checks which would prevent the kind of gun violence we now see on a far too frequent basis.
It begs the question: “What will it take for Congress to act on behalf of the people who have elected them to office?”
If after Columbine, Virginia Tech, Fort Hood, the Aurora Theater, Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, President John F. Kennedy, his brother Bobby Kennedy, President Ronald Reagan, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and the 20 small elementary school children in Newtown Conn., we still have legislative gridlock, what will it take?
If after Columbine, Virginia Tech, Fort Hood, the Aurora Theater, Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, President John F. Kennedy, his brother Bobby Kennedy, President Ronald Reagan, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and the 20 small elementary school children in Newtown Conn., we still have legislative gridlock, what will it take?
Sitting in the Senate gallery with other survivors of recent mass shootings and their family members was Lori Haas, whose daughter was shot at Virginia Tech, and Patricia Maisch, a survivor of the mass shooting in Arizona, shouted together “Shame on you.” One Republican senator boldly proclaimed this as a “defeat for Obama.”
The reality however is, this is a defeat for the American people.
The National Rifle Association used its vast resources and deep pockets to mobilize its members to blanket the Senate with phone calls, emails and letters. The group spent $500,000 on Wednesday alone, on an advertising campaign criticizing “Obama’s gun ban” and using New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg as a foil.
“Tell your senator to listen to the America’s police instead of listening to Obama and Bloomberg,” the ad said. The NRA and others in the Republican party perpetrated that the gun total measure would be an attempt to create a national gun registry by the federal government, when in fact the bill stated that there would be a 15-year prison sentence imposed upon anyone attempting to create a registry from the any data collected.
With what I believe to be justifiable indignation, President Obama clearly placed the blame where it needed to be, without the usual careful political vocabulary that does not offend anyone.
The NRA and their allies are well organized, and placed fear into those in the Senate who need NRA backing and money to continue their careers as politicians.
It is clear from this vote by some of our elected representatives in Washington, that they no longer represent those who sent them, but they represent the interests of lobbyists hired by groups with their own agenda. They made it abundantly clear by this vote, that the will of the people is of no concern to them.
It is clear from this vote by some of our elected representatives in Washington, that they no longer represent those who sent them, but they represent the interests of lobbyists hired by groups with their own agenda. They made it abundantly clear by this vote, that the will of the people is of no concern to them.
This then may be the dying gasp of a political party that has completely lost touch with reality. Because I have no doubt about the resiliency of the American people to do the right thing. Even if that means replacing, through the only voice many of us have, which is the voice of the ballot, those senators who have lost their minds, and now do the bidding of their NRA masters.
Like the NRA, we must be mobilized to the point where we do not give up because of this one vote. We can make contact with senators who voted against common sense gun legislation today. Text MYVOICE to 877877.