Behind Closed Doors
April 5, 2023
Gov. Ron & Smiling White Men Out of the Sunshine
In a private ceremony in Tallahassee on April 3, 2023, this small group of villainous reprobates gathered in private to celebrate the signing of a new law which allows permitless concealed carry of firearms in Florida.
Some have said this new law will enable more Florida residents to carry their hidden weapons into schools, grocery stores, office buildings, libraries, shopping malls, houses of worship, and on the streets and parking lots in your town, in your neighborhood, wherever people gather.
One Florida lawmaker said,
“In the State of Florida, government bureaucracy will no longer stand between law-abiding Floridians and their freedom to exercise their 2nd amendment rights.
This bill recognizes that while the government has a duty to protect its citizens, its citizens have a right to protect themselves.”
Although many gun rights advocates are ready, willing and able to interpret and quote the 2nd amendment, they seem to have lost their ability to recall the Gospel of John:
“Dear children, don’t let anyone deceive you about this: When people do what is right, it shows that they are righteous, even as Christ is righteous. But when people keep on sinning, it shows that they belong to the devil, who has been sinning since the beginning. The Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil. Those who have been born into God’s family do not make a practice of sinning, because God’s life is in them. So they can’t keep on sinning, because they are children of God. So now we can tell who are children of God and who are children of the devil. Anyone who does not live righteously and does not love other believers does not belong to God.” [1 John 3: 7-10]
I am a strong believer of separation of Church and State, so I quote the Christian Bible just for reference.
My limited research led me to believe each of the major religions of our world generally takes a dim view of people bearing arms in a civilized society.
Based on survey data obtained from 60,000 respondents in 2018, researchers at Eastern Illinois University determined that 87% of American adults with an identified religious affiliation favor more restrictive gun control laws, led by Hindu (96%); Buddhist (96%); Atheist (94%); Jewish (94%); Agnostic (94%); Catholic (91%); Mainline Protestant (90%); Muslim (87%); and Mormon (86%)[i].
Of course, there are some outliers[ii].
[i] Data from the 2018 Cooperative Congressional Election Study (CCES), a national survey with 60,000 respondents. Analysis led by Dr. Ryan Burge, an assistant professor of political science at Eastern Illinois University.
[ii] Dr. Jenny Wiley Legath, the Associate Director of the Center for Culture, Society and Religion at Princeton University, has developed some research pertaining to carrying concealed weapons as a “religious practice” for some Americans, particularly white evangelical and Pentecostal Christians.
Remember Al Capone?
March 31, 2023
When I read about Donald Trump, I can’t help but think about Al Capone, possibly one of Trump’s heroes, inspirations and virtual mentors.
Capone was born in Brooklyn, just around the corner from Trump’s home turf of Queens.
Despite a carefully disguised criminal career including bootlegging, prostitution, gambling, extortion, murder — and then, the infamous St. Valentine’s Day Massacre (1929) where 7 members of a rival gang were assassinated — Capone seemed invincible, virtually always a few steps ahead of both the G-men and his political enemies.
Capone himself attracted and accumulated a rather robust fan club, members of which seemed to vicariously enjoy his knack for ‘sticking it to the Man.’
Capone’s downfall began with his arrest and conviction for possession of a concealed handgun in 1929, for which he served less than a year in a Pennsylvania prison. [Note that the Florida Legislature has finally addressed this horrible situation by passing Concealed Carry Legislation. Will they name it the “Al Capone Law”?]
That minor conviction slowed Mr. Capone down just enough so that some other ongoing investigations could catch up.
In June 1931, Capone was indicted for 22 counts of federal income-tax evasion; and for conspiracy to violate Prohibition laws over a 10 year period. Later that year, Capone was tried, found guilty on three of the 23 counts, and sentenced to 11 years in prison plus fines and court costs.
Although he was never held accountable for the most egregious crimes he committed, he was put behind bars, removed from civil society. He was released from prison in 1939, virtually incapacitated by the end stages of syphilis. Ultimately, he retired to his mansion in Miami Beach as a powerless recluse, where he died in 1947.
Apparently, Donald Trump doesn’t directly own any properties in Miami Beach, but he does list his primary address to be 1100 S. Ocean Blvd, Palm Beach, FL 33480 — not too far from Miami Beach.
Will you join me to hope and pray that the 20th Century Al Capone story gets replicated as closely as possible by the 21st Century Donald J. Trump story?
And let’s not forget to look into this new “Al Capone Law” the Florida Legislature just passed.
Maybe Gov. Ron DeSantis is woke enough to realize that what didn’t make sense in 1929 certainly doesn’t make sense in 2023!
Sending people with no training, no license, no documented reason to carry a concealed weapon out onto formerly civil streets, into formerly civil neighborhoods, armed with handguns? Back where I grew up, they probably would have called anyone who even thought about that idea, “just dumber than a bag of freshly clipped grass.”
I’ve heard the sponsor of the bill, Florida Senator Jay Collins, a Tampa Republican and sponsor of the bill, on the radio explaining that those who are ineligible to carry a firearm, such as ex-felons, would still be banned from carrying a gun.
Good to know, Senator. Will they be wearing a t-shirt saying, “I’m an ex-felon, and I’m not allowed to carry a concealed weapon”?
Thank the Lord: Al Capone is no longer with us.
Unfortunately, Jay Collins, Donald Trump and a few other wingnuts managed to infiltrate modern America. Let’s not allow them to use their perverted powers of persuasion to send us down the wrong road….
Florida: The Gunshine State?
February 8, 2023
Here we are. February 2023. The Florida Legislature is back in session.
Early up? HB 543: Concealed Carry of Weapons and Firearms Without a License
In the midst of a national crisis of murder and mayhem (mostly caused by people with long guns), elected officials in Florida are considering loosening controls over handguns?
Currently, to carry a loaded gun in Florida you need a license, training, and background check. But House Bill 543 would remove these important safeguards, increasing the risks to each and every one of us.
As a person of peace, I much prefer not to carry a firearm; not to take on the responsibility for regular training or proof of competency; not pay an insurance premium for concealed carry; and most important, not to have to wonder every time I leave my house: Is that person over there carrying a weapon, and if so, are they mentally stable? Are they fully competent?
Permit-less carrying goes against the will of law enforcement, Florida voters, and public safety experts who know this bill will only exacerbate gun violence and make it easier for dangerous people to carry a gun in our communities.
I’m an NRA member, and I believe in the 2nd amendment. I have the 2nd amendment posted on the bulletin board by my desk. There is no reference in the 2nd amendment to unfettered concealed carry.
I cannot imagine how or why anyone – particularly those of us who live in a densely populated state like Florida – would need, desire or expect to carry a weapon without a bonafide reason; without a minimum amount of training and proof of competency; without a formal background check; and without current proof of insurance.
I hope the legislative debate on this matter will conclude quickly, and with a commonsense outcome.
Instead of relaxing the requirements for concealed carry in Florida, I hope our legislators will consider adding requirements – such as proof of insurance – to bring the responsibility of firearm possession and ownership on par with that of automobile ownership and operation.
Florida Legislators: Please oppose this very bad bill and focus on legislation that will protect Floridians, not put our lives at risk.
Mitch McConnell is no stranger to massacres involving semi-automatic assault weapons.
In 1989, a workplace massacre in downtown Louisville took the lives of eight and wounded 12 using an AK-47, and it remains the deadliest mass shooting in Kentucky history. McConnell, well into his first term as a U.S. Senator from Kentucky, said he was “deeply disturbed,” declaring, “We must take action to stop such vicious crimes.” And he added: “We need to be careful about legislating in the middle of a crisis.” And in the days and weeks after, he did not join others in calling for a ban on assault weapons like the AK-47 used by the shooter.
Following the Sandy Hook massacre of 2012, the Obama White House embarked on a robust policy response. McConnell — then the Senate minority leader — vigorously downplayed that effort.
Fact is: McConnell has never wavered on his absolute objection to any sort of gun control legislation.
On the day after the Uvalde elementary school massacre, Senate minority leader McConnell took to the Senate floor to declare himself and the nation “sickened and outraged by the senseless evil” that left at least 19 students and two teachers “innocent young lives murdered for no apparent reason at all.”
No mention of guns or any potential legislation, just the statement, ‘Words simply fail.’
After tasking Sen. John Cornyn (R, TX) to negotiate with Democrats on potential legislative actions to stop the epidemic of gun violence in America, McConnell went on the record stating, “Background checks and ‘red flags’ will probably lead the discussion — those are for sure two items that will be front and center.”
What? No mention of high-velocity high-capacity semi-automatic military style weapons? No mention of high-capacity magazines which allow the shooter to mimic a machine gun? No discussion about military style ammunition which launches at 3,000 + feet per second, and has the likelihood to fragment and/or expand to create an exit wound the size of an orange?
What? No mention of studies on human brain development which have proved that female brain development occurs at a more rapid pace than males of a similar age? The frontal cortex — the area of the brain that controls reasoning and helps us think before we act — develops later in males than in females. The majority of research tells us that females tend to reach maturity toward the end of adolescence; where in males, the frontal cortex is still changing and maturing well into adulthood.
We know that: (1) Over 85% of U.S. homicides are committed by males; (2) Male brain development is delayed to early adulthood; and (3) The vast majority of mass homicides in the U.S. over the past decade have been committed by American males under 25 using a military-style assault weapon with high-capacity magazine(s).
Yet, McConnell stays focused. “We have a Second Amendment to the Constitution. We take it seriously. There’s the right to keep and bear arms in this country,” McConnell said. “And so what I’ve done is encourage some bipartisan discussions that are going on. In fact, I just had a call with one of the members of it to see if we can find a way forward consistent with the Second Amendment that targets the problem.”
And another McConnell soundbite: “I am hopeful that we could come up with a bipartisan solution that’s directly related to the facts of this awful massacre. I’m going to keep in touch with them, and hopefully we can get an outcome that can actually pass and become law rather than just scoring points back and forth.”
Translation: McConnell will encourage and support activities related to school security and mental health, but don’t expect him to ever say “gun”. Mitch may be the very best Silver Tongued Orator we will ever encounter live and in person.
Wayne LaPierre carved out a very lucrative career for himself based on a concept that former Chief Justice Warren E. Burger called “one of the greatest pieces of fraud on the American public.”
In 1996, under extraordinary pressure from the NRA and other pro-gun rights factions, Congress essentially shut down support for CDC-supported-research into the causes of gun violence.
Human Brain Development: Despite a paucity of research on gun violence, we can look to dozens of studies on human brain development which have provided a rich array of data strongly supporting the fact that female brain development occurs at a more rapid pace than males of a similar age.
Specifically, the frontal cortex — the area of the brain that controls reasoning and helps us think before we act — develops later in males than in females. The majority of research tells us that females tend to reach maturity toward the end of adolescence; where in males, the frontal cortex is still changing and maturing well into adulthood.
One research paper from an independent private college published in 2015 asserted that, “Men commit over 85% of all homicides, 91% of all same-sex homicides and 97% of all same-sex homicides in which the victim and killer aren’t related to each other.”
The vast majority of mass homicides in the U.S. over the past decade have been committed by American males under 25 using a military-style assault weapon with high-capacity magazine(s).
Although we lack irrefutable proof of causality, it seems reasonable to postulate that eliminating the availability of firearms, accessories and ammunition which are derived from and/or modelled on military grade assault weapons would likely reduce — and eventually eliminate — the opportunity for young American males to obtain and/or use these deadly weapons.
Silver tongued orators: While many of our elected officials in Congress have used their silver tongues to concurrently placate the people and please the NRA, our nation has been violated by domestic terrorists, generally armed with AR15-style weapons.
AR-15: The small-bore, high-velocity AR-15 rifle was originally designed for military use under the mandate: “high-velocity; full and semi auto fire; 20 shot magazine; 6lbs loaded; able to penetrate both sides of a standard Army helmet at 500 meters.” When it entered Army service in the 1960s, it was renamed the M16.
The Federal Assault Weapons Ban (1994) outlawed the manufacture, transfer, or possession of “semiautomatic assault weapons” for civilian use. Unfortunately, that Ban expired in 2004, and since then we have observed the NRA (and some other groups) spending millions of dollars annually on lobbyists to quash any attempts to even discuss rational and reasonable gun control measure.
Example: An Assault Weapons Ban bill introduced by Sen. Dianne Feinstein with 37 co-sponsors (S.736 — 117th Congress) was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary in March 2021 where it has languished ever since.
NRA response to Feinstein’s bill: ‘Outlawing commonly owned semi-automatic rifles every day Americans use for hunting, recreational shooting, and self-defense will not reduce gun crimes or firearm related homicides. The ban she’s currently offering is just one more attack on the rights of law-abiding gun owners that will have zero effect on crime.’
The NRA has long taken the position that semi-automatic rifles like the AR-15 are used for “recreational target shooting, hunting, and home defense” and states that ‘law-abiding firearms owners shouldn’t be penalized because of homicidal loners who use semi-automatics like the AR-15 for criminal purposes.’
The vast majority of independent firearm experts don’t support this position.
Recreational target shooting? Sure. Who could refute the adrenaline rush of firing a weapon that is as close to a machine gun in operation as you can legally possess?
Hunting? Not so much. The best practice guideline for hunters incorporates a ‘quick clean kill’ which ideally is a one-shot kill, resulting in an immediate downing of the animal; minimizing suffering; reducing damage to the meat; and making the harvest and field dressing much easier.
The AR-15 variants are often effective due to their ability enable anyone to ‘Spray and Pray’ – not for conformance with the one-shot kill preferred by responsible sport hunters.
Home defense? Not in my home, and hopefully not in my neighborhood. Although the AR-15 is a ‘relatively short’ long-gun, it can be tough to maneuver and aim in tight quarters. With a muzzle velocity in excess of 3,000 fps, it will over-penetrate, sending bullets through the walls of your house, endangering family members and possibly into the walls of your neighbor’s house. When equipped with a quick-change 30 round magazine — and firing at a rate of 45 rounds per minute — it’s not hard to imagine how many rounds can be launched in a very short period of time.
The core solutions to put a halt to senseless massacres — primarily orchestrated by young domestic terrorists — are well-known. Eliminating assault weapons is # 1.
Congressional Focus and Priorities: Instead of working collaboratively to fix a myriad of strategic and critical domestic problems, a rather sizable number of our U.S. elected officials seem to prefer to focus their time and effort on banning books; legislating elementary school curriculum and content; and punishing those who don’t agree with them.
It’s time for our Congress to tell the NRA that they will support rational legislation on 2nd Amendment Rights, with the caveat that in a modern, polite and peaceful society, there is no place for civilian possession and /or use for firearms, accessories and ammunition which are derived from and/or modelled after military- grade assault weapons.
President Biden: You are absolutely on the right track.
Members of Congress: No more groveling; no more boot-licking; no more vacillating at or with the NRA. You still have the time and ability to redeem yourselves as decent human beings. Please don’t squander this opportunity. Support, fast-track and pass S. 736.
Rational & Responsible Gun Reform
June 1, 2022
The causes of gun violence
In 1996, under extraordinary pressure from the NRA and other pro-gun rights factions, Congress essentially shut down support for CDC-supported-research into the causes of gun violence.
Why is this important?
The commonly accepted proactive method to solve difficult problems is known as “Root Cause Analysis”.
It relies on a rigorous independent methodology to identify the Root Cause of an intractable situation, zeroing in on the primary factor which is the foundational cause of the dilemma.
Removing the Root Cause of a problem prevents the problem from recurring. Removing a causal factor (one that may affect an event’s problematic outcome) certainly can improve an outcome, but it does not prevent its recurrence with certainty.
More than 2 decades after the Congressional ban on gun violence research, the paucity of research leaves some of our elected officials and media pundits to conjecture that ‘violent video games’, ‘mental illness and hatred’, ‘soft targets’, ‘multiple doors’, and plenty of other ingredients contribute toward increasing occurrences of domestic gun violence events.
A surprising number of elected officials have emerged and coalesced, seemingly unable or unwilling to consider that access to military-style weapons could be the Root Cause of our gun violence problem.
Instead, we read or hear assertions that… ‘mental illness is the trigger; it’s not the gun’.
Research provides fact-based evidence.
There is no research which supports any notions that video games, mental illness, weak doors or racism play a primary role in domestic gun violence incidents.
Despite the arbitrary Congressional moratorium on public funding toward the causes of gun violence, we have seen some compelling research from small private colleges and universities.
One research paper from an independent private college published in 2015 asserted that, “Men commit over 85% of all homicides, 91% of all same-sex homicides and 97% of all same-sex homicides in which the victim and killer aren’t related to each other.”
Many studies on human brain development have provided a rich array of data which strongly supports the fact that female brain development occurs at a more rapid pace than males of a similar age.
Specifically, the frontal cortex — the area of the brain that controls reasoning and helps us think before we act — develops later in males than in females. The majority of research tells us that females tend to reach maturity toward the end of adolescence; where in males, the frontal cortex is still changing and maturing well into adulthood.
We know that:
(1) Over 85% of U.S. homicides are committed by males;
(2) Significant scientific research supports the theory that male brain development is delayed to early adulthood; and
(3) The vast majority of mass homicides in the U.S. over the past decade have been committed by American males under 25 using a military-style assault weapon with high-capacity magazine(s).
Based on what we know, should we conclude that eliminating the availability of firearms, accessories and ammunition which are derived from and/or modelled on military grade assault weapons will reduce — and eventually eliminate — young American males from obtaining and/or using these deadly weapons?
Lacking any specific research, what should we do right now to put a halt to these massacres?
Institute an immediate ban on the production, sale or civilian possession of military-style assault weapons, military-style ammunition and high-capacity magazines in the U.S.
Removing assault weapons from civilian access on a temporary – say 10 year — timeframe will provide a window of opportunity to conduct meaningful contemporary research.
Is there a precedent to this “call to action” at the federal level?
Yes, there is. The Public Safety Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act (1994) prohibited the manufacture, transfer, or possession of “semiautomatic assault weapons” as well as “large capacity ammunition feeding devices” — defined as “any magazine, belt, drum, feed strip, or similar device” which had “the capacity of, or that can be readily restored or converted to accept, more than 10 rounds of ammunition”. That legislation passed in September 1994 with a sunset provision for the assault weapon ban section. The law expired on September 13, 2004, and nothing has occurred at the federal level over the past 2 decades to reign in the proliferation of civilian ownership of assault weapons, military grade ammunition and high-capacity magazines.
And, it seems perfectly clear — even without any research — that AR-15-style weapons have no place in a civil society, except perhaps for military and limited law enforcement use.
Is Marco Rubio an NRA Cyborg?
May 31, 2022
Let me be very clear: I am a gun owner, a member of the N.R.A. and a supporter of the Second Amendment.
I recently wrote an impassioned letter to Senator Marco Rubio imploring him to support a permanent ban on military-style assault weapons, similar to the (now-expired) Federal Assault Weapons Ban which outlawed manufacture of AR-15 and other assault-style weapons for civilian use.
My research confirms a strong and direct correlation which connects a small number of domestic males under age 25 with AR-15-style weapons and military-grade ammunition to mass shootings across the U.S. The massacres in Uvalde; Buffalo; Sandy Hook; Aurora; Boulder; Parkland; Las Vegas; San Bernardino; Sutherland Springs; Nashville; Midland–Odessa; Poway; and the Tree of Life Synagogue each support the hypothesis.
Sen. Marco Rubio holds an A-plus rating from the NRA and has received at least $3.3 Million of NRA campaign money, thus I thought it might be an uphill battle trying to engage Marco Rubio in an honest debate regarding the probability that AR-15 style weapons might be a root cause of the U.S. epidemic of gun violence.
Instead of responding to my observations which are directly and irrefutably confirmed by exhaustive research (including my own), Sen. Rubio went right down the NRA rabbit hole.
Sen. Rubio said to me, “… the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”
His entire reply to me is attached.
I’m not right off the turnip truck, yet I remain flummoxed, baffled and bewildered that we continue to support and elect cyborgs like Marco Rubio hoping for rational and productive governance of our nation.
In addition to having a single point of entry guarded by multiple armed police officers, or if need be, military veterans, and a mandate that schools install bulletproof and locking doors to each classroom, recruiting and training responsible middle and high school students is the next logical step.
Deploying highly trained and armed middle and high school students, fully prepared for combat situations, into every school in America will put an immediate stop to the terrible events we’ve witnessed over the past decade, or so.
Never forget: “A well trained Student Militia, being necessary to the security of our public Schools, the right of the middle and high school students to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
A public service announcement brought to you by The Ted Cruz Academy of School Safety
Flailing at the branches, or striking at the root?
May 25, 2022
Dozens of polls and studies reveal general agreement among American adults which favors sensible gun control reform legislation, incorporating a variety of strategies such as: (a) increased funding for mental health services; (b) universal background checks; (c) a national ‘red flag’ law; (d) training and/or licensing requirements; (e) more consistent rules across state lines.
Each and all of these would likely contribute toward reducing senseless gun violence. Yet, the Root Cause of our present dilemma seems to center around one specific type of firearm, often called “AR-15 style”.
These are high-capacity military-style weapons which can be fired semi-automatically and/or have the capability of being easily transformed into a rapid fire weapon. There is no legitimate purpose for these weapons in a civil society, and the ultimate goal to remove this Root Cause from the equation ought to be a total and complete ban on the civilian purchase, sale or possession of such weapons.
The next critical variable is ammunition. There is no logical or defensible reason to support civilian sale, possession or use of military grade ammunition categorized as: hollow point; full metal jacket; armor piercing; green tip; black tip; or any other sort of ammo which is not used by regular gun owners for target shooting or which is appropriate for legitimate hunting purposes.
As painful as it might seem to Wayne LaPierre, Jason Ouimet and others at the NRA, these AR-15 style weapons and military grade ammunition seem to continually and disproportionally fall into the hands of a few people who have really bad agendas.
If we eliminate the very weapons and ammunition which seem to attract the interest of folks with bad agendas, we will be making some real progress.
Please listen carefully, NRA.
The great majority of us don’t want to take guns away from our neighbors; we don’t harbor animosity toward responsible gun owners; and we often are gun owners and NRA members ourselves.
We do believe there is a balance – a sensible equilibrium — which respects, supports and honors the American tradition for people to keep and bear arms in a manner consistent with a civilized 21st century society.
Let’s work together to find that balance.
2nd Amendment Rights & the AR-15
May 24, 2022
A timeless and highly polarized topic….
The AR-15 was designed by ArmaLite in 1957 in response to a request from the U.S. Army to develop a rifle with “high-velocity; full- and semi-auto fire; 20 shot magazine; 6-lbs loaded; able to penetrate both sides of a standard Army helmet at 500 meters”.
When it entered Army service in the 1960s, it was named the “M16”. When the semi-automatic version of the rifle was later introduced by ArmaLite to the civilian market, it was known as the “AR-15”.
From 1994 to 2004, AR-15-style rifles were subject to (the now-expired) Federal Assault Weapons Ban which outlawed manufacture of these and other assault-style weapons for civilian use.
Following the expiration of the Ban, AR-15-style weapons attained great popularity in the U.S. They have been used in countless mass shootings across the U.S. (including: Buffalo; Sandy Hook; Aurora; Boulder; Parkland; Las Vegas; San Bernardino; Sutherland Springs; Nashville; Midland–Odessa; Poway; and the Tree of Life Synagogue.
I wonder if the epidemic of mass shootings in the U.S. could be directly correlated to the extreme popularity of this weapon?
Meanwhile, most independent firearm experts don’t consider the AR-15 (or its clones) to be a good choice for either hunting or home-defense uses.
One reason is that its standard .223 caliber ammunition doesn’t offer much stopping power for anything other than small game. It is a very high velocity cartridge (muzzle velocity > 3,000 fps). When combined with the capacity to fire up to 45 rounds per minute, the AR becomes extremely dangerous to bystanders in home defense situations due to over-penetration and random ‘spray’.
Many hunters find the rifle controversial, arguing that AR-15-style rifles encourage a “spray and pray” technique which is contrary to best practices.
One way to reduce over-penetration and improve stopping power is to use hollow point or soft point ammunition; some opt for the more controversial ‘green tip’ rounds vs. the standard full metal jacket rounds.
One hunter, a former soldier himself, said it well, “I served in the military and the M-16 was the weapon I used. It was designed as an assault weapon, plain and simple. A hunter doesn’t need a semi-automatic rifle to hunt. If he says he does, he sucks as a marksman, and should go play video games. During hunting season, you can see more men running around the bush all cammo’d up with assault vests and face paint with tricked out AR’s. These are not hunters but wannabe weekend warriors.”
The folks in Ukraine are fighting for their very existence against an outside enemy that wants to destroy them and their entire country. Here at home, we experienced another mass shooting at an elementary school, this time in Texas (5/24/22). The solutions to put a halt to these senseless massacres — primarily orchestrated by young domestic terrorists — are well-known.
But, instead of fixing critical domestic problems, a rather sizable number of our U.S. elected officials prefer to focus their time and effort on banning books; legislating elementary school curriculum and content; and punishing those who don’t agree with them.
It’s very sad, indeed.
walrus51 