The National Rifle Association is all excited about this year’s annual convention. The gun owners group will open its meeting on May 19th in the city of Louisville, Kentucky.
The NRA, as you probably know, is a group that advocates for the ownership of guns. Lots of guns. Very big, very powerful guns. One argument that the NRA uses to defend this position focuses a lot on “individual rights.” They claim that the famous Second Amendment gives every individual the right to carry a loaded gun.
But the other main argument that the NRA relies on is the idea that if everyone had a gun, we’d all be a lot safer. You’ve seen the bumper stickers, I’m sure. “If guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns.”
It’s ironic at best, and heartless at worst, then, that the NRA convention will be held in a city that has seen more gun violence in the past year than in the previous thirty. An article on the site TheTrace tells us that in 2015 there were 63 gun deaths in the city. In the first quarter of this year, 100 people have already been shot. This increase in gun crimes costs the city both emotionally and financially. Financially, the city had to hire 8 additional detectives in the homicide unit.
Emotionally, it is the families who live in the high poverty city who are paying the price.
In the poverty stricken neighborhood known as the West End, which is a mere few blocks from the convention, two women were discussing the gun violence. Their conversation went like this:
“It’s not gonna stop.”
“So you think we’re doomed as a people?”
These families experience the sound of gunfire on an almost daily basis. Their children have been taught to stay away from the windows when the gunshots ring out.
The NRA tells us that we will be safer with more guns in civilian hands. The story of one soft spoken 8-year-old boy proves that statement to be a lie.
On Mother’s Day, just a few days ago, little Darrien watched his Mom die from a gunshot, right there on the sidewalk in front of him.
“She was a very good, nice person. Everybody she met, she was nice to. She was never mean.”
She may have been very nice, but she wasn’t safer because so many people in her city own guns. Darrien isn’t safer with more guns. The children who cower on the floor away from the windows are not safer because there are thousands of guns on the streets.
When the NRA gathers in Louisville to congratulate itself on its protection of individual rights, tell them that families and children have rights, too.
If you need to be even more furious to act in protest of this heartless decision to meet in the city of Louisville, you have to watch these two NRA idiots trying to string together some coherent thoughts about the meeting:
Featured image via YouTube screengrab.
