Great column, love your thinking. It would be interesting to see a public discussion about the legal status of the NRA as a tax-exempt social welfare organization under section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. The NRA does not pay taxes on any of its net income.
Source: https://www.csgv.org/nra-tax-exempt-loaded-private-interest/
The NRA also doesn’t have to reveal their donors. Obviously their 5 million members can't contribute the hundreds of millions the NRA is able to spend.
The simple question with wide political implications is, if an organization promoting „guns for everybody“ provides a social welfare service? If the answer is no, why should they get a tax exempt status? Am curious to see your opinion on this issue.
68
The NRA has plenty of influence, but if you think it's their money, you don't understand it. Take a look at the NRA and any of your favorite special interests: AFSCME, Planned Parenthood, AFL-CIO. OpenSecrets.org lets you see the total contributions very easily:
NRA: https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/totals.php?id=D000000082
AFSCME: https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/totals.php?id=D000000061
Planned Parenthood: https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/totals.php?id=D000000591
The punchline is: NRA wields influence because it has very active one-issue voters. If they deliver their payoffs to politicians with sacks of money, AFSCME, Planned Parenthood, ALF-CIO, NEA, etc deliver theirs with dump trucks.
9
Advocates for common-sense gun control measures must support these teens as they prepare to navigate the minefield of gun control territory. It's a land of patronizing remarks, demeaning hateful criticism, threats, and conspiracy theories.
Here is but one cautionary tale that elucidates what they are up against. It's the story of a Republican state representative in Louisiana, Dodie Horton. a gun-toting, pro-life, proud NRA member and Trump supporter. Yet she failed to get a bill introduced into the state legislature that would ban imitation guns in or near schools to prevent accidental shooting of kids. The bill was supported by the Louisiana Sheriffs Assn. Horton was vilified for her efforts, ostracized, called a RINO (Republican in name only) and much worse by Republican colleagues,conservative media and the public, that is to say her friends and political allies. Here's a link to the story in the online version of The Advocate, a Louisiana newspaper.
https://tinyurl.com/y7w27z6f
The story captures the complexity of the issue these students are facing the power of fear, ignorance and of the NRA. They will need principled, clear-eyed realism, stamina and confidence when engaging on the gun control issue. God bless them.
9
Thank God Tom Friedman is back!!
What a fresh breath of air again in NYTimes...
11
Unlikely those GOP politicians spend any time thinking about gunned down kids or their parents - they go into automatic denial and think happier thoughts - like how much money they get from the NRA
16
hi Tom: I usually skip your columns in favor of Paul Krugman. However, your last two on "Code Red" and the "NRA" combined uncharacteristic passion with your usual insight. As long as you leaven the intellect of your mind with the fire in your belly, your editorials will continue to attract my attention and serve the greater good.
Thanks.
8
Excellent piece, Mr. Friedman
7
Lies as he breathes. Mister Friedman, you did a great job hitting the nail on the head and driving it right through the board!
8
Facebook is merely a comfort zone for Russian trolls.
8
Smack dab on the button, Mr. Friedman. Good job. My only question: Why was the word “cowards” used only once—and only in conjunction with Democrats?
2
Remember the three Rs:
Repeal
and
Replace
all
Republicans
Dave
22
$174,000, free parking ar RNA AND great medical coverage!
12
The NRA convention is appropriately in Dallas on May 3 through 6. I strongly encourage organizers to begin planning massive protests in the city. Here is the perfect opportunity to get in their face....at least as close as you can before they wave their AR15s in your face.
17
Amen, Mr. Friedman.
6
If you love guns so much, join the military. I hear Uncle Sam needs a lot of good men and women. For those who want to keep the military killing machines in the military, vote. It's that simple. Vote for those who truly value life. Call your legislator and threaten him/her with your vote. If enough people did that, NRA won't have a death grip on these spineless politicians.
18
The real economic payoff to members of Congress is not the things Mr. Friedman pointed out (salary and free airport parking). It's what comes after their time in congress when they get voted out or resign. Then they qualify for being a lobbyist - a person funded with very deep pockets who knows how congress works through experience and can therefor deliver the goods for their new employer. Yummy.
My thesis is that the gun problem is merely but one example of how things can go wrong for We the People when we don't go after the root cause: campaign financing. Further, I fear a grass-roots effort to focus on gun control and not campaign financing will turn gun control into whack-a-mole. Fixing financing will destroy the whack-a-mole game entirely, allowing some common sense back into the discussion.
As for the kids acting up about this, shame on all of us adult voters who, through out complacency, have allowed this to happen. We all deserve a good spanking, with a bull-whip to immorally selfish gun hoarders. No, I mean it about the bull whip. We've tried it your way for a very long time with disastrous results. Now it's time for you to take your punishment: people have died. Can I say this isn't kid stuff any more? Unfortunately, I guess it is.
11
gun control
4
Tom, the NY TImes and its readership are your Facebook.
What are YOU doing to get out of Facebook and in the face of the NRA?
1
I've always thought: Thomas Friedman for President. Wouldn't the US be a better, saner place with him at our helm!
6
It is time for all out nonstop fight against the stands of NRA, which has done more harm to this nation than the foreign terrorists whom Trump loathes.
11
Secondary boycotts of Red States to inflict economic pain on all residents of those States until gun control is enacted. Think twice about traveling to Florida or Texas. Go to California or New York. Legislators must get calls from angry constituents who are losing business because of their misguided policies. At the end of the day only money will make the difference.
11
It has been widely pointed out that the involved students can't vote. They need to remind their legislators that they soon will be able to vote, and that they certainly either have older siblings or older friends who can vote. Hopefully suburban moms together with young voters can turn the tide in the next election and get us started on reasonable gun control.
11
What to do about the zillions of guns of all types that are already out there without background checks or traceable sales records or belonging to someone other than the person doing the shooting?
3
Does a NARA (National Anti Rifle Association) exist? When I search online for it nothing but NRA links appear...or maybe NAAWA (National Anti Automatic Weapons Association) should exist?
I’m sure it would have an enthusiastic membership. I feel like it’s time for a solid, clear and plain stance/organization on automatic weapons available to the general public-something with an even more straightforward and specific message than the CSGV.
8
America's Gun problem has deeper and way more complex than we imagine.
Why?
I do not believe what Aussie's did in 1990's, we can achieve something remotely resembles that.
Why again?
We are a democratic nation and leveraging 2nd amendment, there is gazillion way to derail any effective gun control legislation.
Then
worse
We have almost 300 million guns out there in the country, I can't see a solution how we are taking back let say 100 million semi-automatic guns.
While we are talking this issues and beating the bush, NRA is digging deeper and deeper our grave. NRA literally taking maximum advantage of the free pass which is given by legislators ( in turn feeding them with money). But we long passed the point of no return.
Folks To be honest just be ready for your turn of mass shooting, I am not seeing any solution here.
We are digging deeper this hole every single day.
1
Thank you Thomas. You forgot to mention the health benefits that come with congressmen's $174,000 jobs and free parking at Reagan. They'd have a hard time paying for them if they were not on the dole.
4
let me say this, again: TERM LIMIT FOR CONGRESS !
8
As someone who was a teenager 50 years ago, in 1968, this feels like deja vu. Having to live through it again is painful.
We had 3 different American History classes in high school. Plus civics AND government classes. We had debates. We talked about issues. In many ways these things are as important as STEM classes.
Learn who was in the majority when laws were passed that helped people. Then learn who was in the majority when those things were taken away or restricted.
And........VOTE. VOTE. VOTE. VOTE. Locally, state-wide and federal elections.
14
I listened to a video, where the students described what happened during the shooting. One girl described seeing her friend's face shot off, and another survived, while someone died and bled on top of her. The media conveniently blocked out these comments. Why? They are censoring for the NRA. The public needs to see photos of what is happening. We have violence everywhere in American culture. But when teenagers or children die, it is hidden by the media. If they show the country, the bloodshed, the tragic loss of lives, not in words, but photos, there might be more outrage against the NRA.
16
Hopefully, as there are new, young voters aware of the horrible massacres guns can create, the old politicians, prostitutes of the NRA, who believe a fetus life is worth more than the mother's, will be phased out.
Let's also,for a moment, think about street drugs, such as heroine, like guns; both kill people. The NRA and many of our so called representatives claim that it is the people, not the guns, that is the problem; mental health and so on.
So, why does the United States spend so much money fighting drugs? Fighting to prevent drugs from entering the Country. Jailing people found to have or sell drugs? Why?
Drugs only kill the people choosing to use drugs. You might call it "freedom of choice". Why do people care about what people do to themselves, more than what a person with a gun, any gun, can do to harm and kill other people?
It just does not make any sense.
4
Bravo and bravo again! It’s ALL about the elected officials jobs...AND perks and money from lobbyists that provide them all the perks they BUY. It’s ALL about the money. The NRA is a cartel. It’s ruining our Democracy. It’s strangling our values and cultures. Wayne LaPierre is a dangerous, miserable human being. NO American wants to change the 2nd amendment in its entirety. Just background checks, banning semi-automatic weapons! The Constitution never referred to these assault weapons in 1776!! They were talking about small rifles to protect ones home! Everyone in the govt has sold their souls, yes! What a tragedy.
4
Right now, we need to resist the temptation to make this more complicated than it needs to be.
This year, this decade, it's not about whether we should limit ammo cartridges to 10 bullets or 50, or the precise definition of a semi-automatic weapon, or the exact rules on background checks.
No, right now it's very simple: If the NRA has funded a politician, VOTE THEM OUT.
6
The WSJ claims the gun manufactures are funders of the NRA.
I am sure gun owners do too.
By Nov political election, gun reform will be an issue but probably
an issue among issues.
Perhaps Democrats can win both Senate & House, if young people again remind us to not give up hope.
Prediction: I am too cynical to think optimistically, because the momentum of now cannot continue, and a percentage of crucial,
eligible voters will have curbed their righteous anger.
2
It is time for kids from other high schools to stand and protest in solidarity. And how about colleges? A thousand high school students the republicans can pooh, pooh. A million, not a chance.
6
yes Cameron I hope you ignite a movement by the youth of America. As usual Thomas Friedman puts this in perspective in language that is easily understood by all. AR 15 have to go. What is the argument here. It doesn't make logical sense to keep them in the market. Are we all crazy?
2
The NRA holds a lot of sway for an average of $10m a year in campaign money. Shouldn't we be able to afford to buy back our Congress?
2
I see the point of the article but I feel it treats Democrats with kid gloves. The Democrats controlled every Branch of the Government less than a decade ago: why didn't they tackle Gun control & Immigration when they were in power. The issues were similar then!?
1
Keep it coming! One brilliant essay after another!
Sensible gun control is a paramount public health issue and a referendum on mental health. That is, the mental health of the NRA acolytes who feel that, to embolden their apparent manhood insecurities, they have to accumulate massive arsenals which clearly fly in the face of the intent of the 2nd Amendment, when what they are really doing is the bidding of the gun manufacturers. There is no solution yet for gun addiction, but one suspects the acolytes can do fine without their AR 15’s, and not go into withdrawal.
3
Hurrah, Mr. Friedman. You hit it right on the nail.
1
Because most of the G.O.P. members of Congress who do the N.R.A.’s bidding care about only one thing: their jobs. The pay of a typical congressman is $174,000 — and free parking at Reagan National Airport — and they will sell themselves to whoever can generate the votes to enable them to keep both
Absolutely better than the Emperor and his clothes. Great column. We need to all follow the kids in Fl. on this diligently.
1
It's far worse. The perks are unending. Family members get high paying jobs. Many go in without much money and retire as multi-millionaires. They have sold their soul for power. The irony of course is they have no power because they're owned and told what to do by lobbyists.
2
Well said. In addition to the $174,000 and the free parking, they get top-of-the-line healthcare paid for by taxpayers. Most of the rest of us pay a huge portion of our income toward healthcare. And they get way more time off than most of us. And probably a hundred other perks. Free travel? Free meals?
So why are they making $174,00? Because they vote themselves pay increases? At a time when ordinary Americans are having a harder and harder time getting by, why are these supposed public-servants bleeding the system? Take $100,000 off the salary, and that would still be higher than the average American income.
1
Cameron and Friedman have hit some pretty big nails on the head. Kudos to both! I wish that somehow we could pass a law that the congress and executive wing, in the event of gun violence involving more that two people, would be forced by law to do completely without ANY security measures for one month. I suspect that there might be a significant change in the attitudes of many of them. Failing that, just about any measure to control guns is a plus. But I would like to add another approach to the pile of suggestions. Last year (If I remember correctly. It may have been the year before.) Congress put a restriction of the CDC's budget that prevented them from studying the horrible gun violence in this country. I suggest that we should pressure the congress to fund such a study. It might take a year, or more, but the result would be data that would be useful in making social as well as legal change to help ameliorate the problem. Mass killings are very complex and involve the availability of guns, social issues, political issues, mental health issues, and probably others that I have not thought of. Most of the proposed solutions deal only with one or perhaps two of the problems origins. A study by the CDC might shed some light on a bit more rational set of solutions to the problem. I am guessing it would cost less that a wall,
1
Claiming that those who support second amendment rights somehow are in favor of school shootings is a false dichotomy, and only drives a wedge between both sides when trying to come up with solutions.
1
Great article. Well said. The heart of the matter, it seems to me, is not that the NRA contributes so much to a given race, but that it "turns on" any sitting house or senate member who has the temerity to advocate for tougher gun laws by financially supporting someone to run against that house or senate member. Of course, the NRA would also divert its funding away from the miscreant and toward a "more-loyal" candidate. Imagine if the tobacco industry did the same thing if an incumbent member of the House or the Senate failed to vote to remove the now-existing health warning on a pack of cigarettes.
1
If the NRA is smart it will realize that keeping guns out of the hands of potentially dangerous people is in its own best interest.
"the N.R.A. energizes their base and funds their campaigns and ensures their $174,000-a-year jobs and free parking at Reagan National Airport."
This says it all.
Tom, you are batting 1000 this week. I think you should have been doing opinion pieces LONG before now.
Your simple eloquence to the students tells it like it is. And they will undoubtedly run with it. Hopefully for office in a few years.
1
The NRA's unknown sources of funds in recent years was $175 million. Known funds from Russia was at least $7 million whIch is funding an effort by the NRA to sow discord in our democracy. Shame every politician who takes a dime from what was was a small-time gun club for hunters and is now a money-laundering fountain for criminals. Shame them without pity and demand they refund every cent of this dirty money.
3
It’s not so simple as stopping mentally unstable people from buying guns. According to schoolteacher friends in a small town in Texas, guns are being used by drug addicts for robberies to get items to sell quickly to pay for drugs. The woods of eastern Texas stink with moving meth labs, all of which are heavily protected by guns-bearing cookers and cocaine has resurfaced as a teenager drug of choice.
As a country, we have been bought and sold on so many levels because we have become cowards. We refuse to address the gun issue. We refuse to consider the legalization and control of all drugs. And we elect an unformed person like Donald Trump as our leader while our children pay the price for our cowardice.
Follow the money.
3
We're just dealing the remnants of the Slave States and the Confederacy, full stop. Until people recognize that the Confederacy never gave up, and that after the end of Reconstruction they simply changed tactics, we will labor under an illusion that the United States have moved in.
We have not.
Southern Conservatives from ANY of the Confederate States need to be called out.
1
I will do what you say that will help--to vote, help someone vote, contribute to candidates who promise to work for common sense gun laws, etc. What I plead is for wealthy people to fund (and bigly) those candidates. Since money talks, we need our 1% who believe that gun law change must happen open their wallets. Please.
1
I'm astonished and somewhat distraught after watching live on CNN the President's meeting with parents and victims of last week's school massacre in Florida. There was much expression of grief, pleasanteries, talk about need for "coming together, "unity" "finding solutions" "mental health" blah, blahm, blah, as well as "FBI missing red flags:, demands for more money for "lock down training", more money for police, security guards; advocating for "concealed carry" of weapons by designated teachers or administrators at each school, (and the President bemoaning the closure of so many mental hospital over the past 40 years leaving authorities with no place to send the villains)!. all missing the obvious and most significant way of stopping the carnage. Not a word about the obvious elephant in the room: the NRA choke hold on our politicians with no spine ; not one questioned the easy availability of semi automatic weapons, implementation of stronger background checks, ways of combatting America's love for and obsession with firearms, etc Where were the fiery, defiant and articulate voices like Eva Gonzalez's that we watched on TV in the last few days? What happened? Where only people too easily cowered and confused chosen to sit in that room with the president, the VP and Betsy De Vos? What a great and shameful wasted opportunity this was!
1
Is there any list online which congress members has received NRA contribution, so we can dismiss them in future election cycles.
That can be done even on social media.
2
Guns of all types should be banned.
1
The NRA says the answer is "good guys with guns". "Good guys with guns" are killed by the "bad guys". Just look at the number of policemen shot and killed.
Congress expects our teachers and staff to be heroes while they, Congress, are cowards.
1
A politician's "A" rating from the NRA should be considered a badge of shame.
2
$174,000.00 that are not deserved. Plus, pay for every committee upon which they serve. Oh, and the best health care insurance that money can buy and a real pension and 401K. Let's see, free hair cuts, gym, travel ( the California delegation leaves every Thursday and can't be bothered to stay to vote)and well on and on.
Would someone in HR please total the real package? I know a US Rep who was provided a car until the Boston Globe dug it up. Wives worth millions. Come on voters, let's get with it!
1
Keep it up, Cameron, and be strong - this may be a problem your generation can solve. Many of your elders will follow but we may need you to lead.
2
"Are some Democratic lawmakers cowards, too? You bet. But I can show you plenty who have bucked their party’s orthodoxies on education and trade and who insisted that their much-admired colleague Senator Al Franken had to resign over sexual harassment allegations. "
Huh? Forcing Franken to resign over "allegations" was an act of cowardice not strength. An ethics investigation would have been a good first step towards making government work as it should and would have been the courageous thing to do.
2
I hope people like Cameron continue to speak out and take your advice about running for office when they are old enough to do so. And while staying off of Facebook sounds like the right priority, why not use it to organize a massive rally; a march on Washington that includes the survivors, family members and friends of victims from school shootings over the last 10 years or more? Congress might be persuaded to take some partial measures when they can see future voters that might deprive of their lucrative jobs.
The major progressive and strictly Democratic Party political action groups FAR exceed whatever the NRA donates to politicians.
What sets progressives' hair on fire is the devotion of NRA members. They VOTE and they get out in the public sphere and express themselves.
This level of involvement is far ahead of most progressives, largely because you can't be infuriated and do it at all well. The well-funded Left is great at drilling the under-read and ignorant into hating their chosen list of things or people -
- but to actually TALK to voters or leaders, you blow up your message by starting with anger. NRA members have seen enough of real life to avoid operating only on emotion.
And, YES, this is one more reason Trump won - and will win again.
We are no longer a representative democracy. The only thing that matters to legislators is where their next campaign contribution comes from and thanks to citizens united those contributions are coming from ever smaller ratified pools of extremely wealthy people who wish to steer our government and its policies. The only way gun control can happen is if an anti gun lobby PAC is formed and everyone who is for the regulation of guns in this country donates to it.
2
Which would be easier: term limits for Congress or sensible gun control? Seems like they might be one and the same.
Thank you for speaking out. For speaking the truth. For stating the beliefs of everyone I speak with. For providing a little hope that I'm not alone.
a question for all candidates of elected office: Have you and will you accept campaign $$s from the NRA or any other organization oppose to changing current gun laws at a national, state, or local level?
Something's working when the gun lobby stops arguinng about gun restrictions and starts lying about who these kids are and what their motivations are. Lying is the last resort of weak individuals who know their arguments don't hold up. These folks will even block the study of gun violence because the conclusions will undercut the lies they tell.
Slogan here: Stop gun violence. Put people FIRST. FIRST stands for the Firearms Insurance, Responsibility, Safety and Transfer law. I have details on how this law would work. But for now we/they need a slogan, and they need a law with an apt and easy to remember acronym. As for going after NRA-supported Congressmen, that's easy: Run ads showing them literally with blood on their hands and turn those words into a viral hashtag. It's all about messaging. The GOP and NRA get that. The rest of us have to catch up.
At the end of the day, the first step in bringing the rule of law back to the people would be campaign finance reform, getting rid of lobbyists and corporate money that influences policy. Likely never to happen here, and I expect that would always be part of the process, above or below the table, but we are at a crisis point where the gun industry (for one example) is promoting legislative policy that harms American people. I get that many people want the right to carry guns, but that doesn't mean there can't be compromise on age limits, background checks, training, automatic rifle bans, whatever. The second amendment was designed to allow citizens to form militias against a hostile government, not to allow emotionally disturbed people to pick up an automatic weapon and kill scores of innocent people. The larger problem as I see it is that industry has too much control over issues that affect human lives. It's the end game of capitalism run amok, without the checks needed to maintain a healthy society.
Tom, Aptly said. I hope this article gets printed in all major news papers across the land. Another thing, I’m so very proud of the students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School! #KeepUpThePressure You are the future.
1
The NRA does a few good things, gun handling classes for kids and lip service to gun safety. The education it provides is negated by its lobbing efforts at demolishing any type of common sense restrictions on what type of guns can be owned and by whom.
Unconstitutionally Restricted second amendment rights"... really, if you're on the terror watch list you wouldn't want your right to bear arms infringed on, right? If you're known to be a violent felon or mentally unbalanced, you wouldn't want your rights infringed on. Aren't convicted felons deprived of the right to vote?
" gun control won't stop criminals from getting guns". Probably not; a determined person wanting to get a gun will always be able to obtain one, legally or not. Why make it easy?
Does the rest of the population have to risk life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness at the risk of everyone, regardless of emotional fitness level and criminal background, having the right to bear arms?
I have several guns, high caliber hunting rifles and a handgun I carry sometimes when I hike in bear country.
I also have the AR's cousin the ruger mini 14. I bought it from a guy I met thru an online gun sale site, and met him in the parking lot of a local gun shop.....
The high schoolers are about to get "learned" on the power of money and greed. The NRA (thank you SCOTUS) has a choke hold on members of congress both sides. I applaud the effort, but save your bus money. Shoe leather towards getting folks out to vote is the only way to beat back the NRA and its stooges. You want change - November! Get every high school and college kid out in streets to convince everyone who listen to throw them all out and start over.
Thank you, Tom. You shame the lot of us by reminding us of our complacency. If the Founding Fathers were as complacent and in denial about King George and taxes as we are about weapons of mass destruction in the hands of anybody, there'd never be a USA. And if the NRA keeps succeeding, there won't be one.
1
Wouldn't it be helpful if we could know how much support each member of Congress received directly or indirectly from the NRA? Under current law, we have no right to that information.
Why is it so difficult to get around SEC disclosure requirements and so easy to legally hide and avoid disclosure to the FEC of campaign contribution sources?
A more transparent election funding system would be a great start toward holding members of Congress accountable to the public for the real funders of their elections. Then many of us could and would agree to never vote for a candidate who accepts even a penny of support from the NRA.
1
Yes, and not to forget the gun manufacturers, whose vehicle and shield is the NRA. We need to expose the faces behind this evil and shame them. Rally at their headquarters and planets as well. Maybe wave and point some AR-15's at them as they come out of work..
1
Freidman sounds as angry as I feel. I lost all hope after Sandy Hook and nothing was done. We made it clear that we value our guns over our children's lives. I hope I stay angry this time and support all the kid's that will turn 18 soon and be able to vote out all the Republicans as well as Trump. They are a lying breed and have been since after Teddy Roosevelt, I don't count Eisenhower as a true Republican. All the rest have been horrible for anyone other than rich people and the NRA. I hope their party is crushed to dust and we have another 20+ year span when no Congress or president is Republican. I was not this virulant about this until I read history and the treasonous actions the Republican party has engaged in througout the World Wars fought by Democratic administrations and Korea, and then their back-dealing in the Vietnam war to the lies that got us to attack Iraq. Despicable.
1
$174,000, free parking, and you didn't mention that great retirement plan and healthcare for life, lusting after what they deny those who pay their way.
Remind me again, who are the takers? So glad to have them as public servants.
1
this article reminds me of what M Scott Peck said in his book "People of the lie" (do we have a new name for Republicans?) evil only responds to raw power, you can't shame it or reason with it. You have to Vote it out of office!
A great American poet once wrote:
"Come Senators and Congressmen, please heed the call.
Don't stand in the doorways. Don't block up the hall.....
The battle outside it is ragin" ".
Time to stop loose cannons from obtaining loose cannons.
Who are the "NRA"? The acronym remains a nebulous term to most Americans. Who are the people running the NRA and profiting with every shooting nightmare? They need to have their names plastered over the internet and billboards.
1
Shame on the media for politicizing these young kids who haven't had a chance to process what JUST happened last week. These are kids. KIDS! Changing legislation based on emotion has never worked. The NRA is NOT the problem here. For those of you that think the NRA is at fault, you are spitting in the face of millions of law-abiding citizens that fund the organization with membership/renewal fees. It is a member-funded organization! Attacking the NRA does not remove stop evil people from doing evil things.
The ONLY way to even the playing field with evil-intentioned is to meet them with force. Remove gun free zones. They clearly don't work. Secure schools with armed security and empower willing teachers to get CCW permits and active shooter training.
We protect banks, jewelry stores, politicians, sporting events, concerts and buildings with guns, why not our irreplaceable children?
1
Things will never change as long as we encourage the ignorant and uneducated to vote.
David Brooks had opinion piece the other day regarding the need for compromising with gun-loving trump supporters.
Then today we see on the Times how loony conspiracy theories are growing on the right regarding the kids who are protesting.
My comment to Mr. Brooks was that no compromising is possible with these people.
The only solution is to take back power in Washington so that sensible laws can be passed.
I totally agree with you. I pray these kids, some who will be able to vote in a year or two, will channel their efforts to voter registration and then getting people out to vote.
Can you imagine anything more impressive than seeing these kids march into their voting precinct to vote. Not that they aren’t already impressive, but that sight should make some professional politicians quake in their boots.
8
Yes. Thomas Friedman nailed it, but it's important to note that if we enacted true campaign finance reform then perhaps all of our elected officials would listen to their constituents rather than their large political donors like the NRA.
8
I totally agree. It is time for voters to raise sensible gun control to a critical marker in voting for our representatives, both federal and state. When representatives who oppose those measure start losing elections the power of the NRA will evaporate. We need to support by vote, activism and contributions representatives who will oppose the NRA and who will support sensible gun control legislation.
11
I greatly doubt that the NRA would notice you or others "getting into their face". How about supporting some improvements in the review process? States input mentally defective people, the various lists of potential threats as well. And how about law enforcement doing their jobs in arresting folks who are known to be dangerous. Not to mention the much bigger issue of criminal activities with guns. Chicago has many murders, some of children on their porches.
1
Florida has no background checks. They can start with those.
8
We could completely train and then arm a small share of adults in the school buildings - MORE than one man for 3500 students, by the way - and the comfort these murderers feel in attacking unprotected buildings will vanish.
Then the question becomes, Are progressives interested in solving the problem, or only want to keep mouthing the mantra that has failed for decades already?
IKt is a huge mistake for these high-schoolers to be indoctrinated with only one side's approach. This is why they will always fail.
Read up on Nik Cruz - and you'll know he would have murdered with whatever he had if no gun was available.
There are federal background checks to puchase. The killer passed those.
In America, you are required to have a license for fishing, driving, cutting hair, but not to own a firearm--simply because it is "covered by the 2nd Amendment to the US Constitution". If my history is correct, the 2nd Amendment was actually added, in its place in the Bill of Rights, as a political accommodation to States' Rights arguments, so that there could be a unanimous 13 States' agreement to ratify the new US Constitution; the important element was that States could maintain a Militia and, unfortunately, one needed to own a firearm to do that. Time passes, and change evolves. The UNITED STATES is the ONLY developed country with such a law--and we regularly suffer the consequences for it.
IT IS NOW TIME TO BEGIN A REPEAL OF THE 2ND AMENDMENT.
Owning any firearm should NOT be a RIGHT, it is a responsible privilege.
35
Agree! Agree! Change one word in the second amendment and everything changes. Change “right” to “privilege” and a gun owner will no longer fear as did Charlton Heston that the government will pry his gun from his cold dead hand.
There's no need to repeal the second amendment; we just lack the ability to interpret it correctly. The Parkland shooter wasn't a "well regulated militia" and nothing in that text forbids, condones, or even imagines an electronic registration (the thing we have for cars, barbers, fisherman, but not gun sales)
I am so very grateful for your voice. With this piece and the one from the 18th, you have crystallized so many things and give us something to refer to when we cannot find the words ourselves.
A thousand thanks.
20
Thank you for this column!!!
16
"Trying to embarrass them to act on principle is wasted breath. I suspect they’re already embarrassed. "
I do not agree. Few in the GOP are embarrassed over supporting the gun deaths of over 1.1 million US civilians since 1983. More US deaths than in all the wars that the USA has fought since the war of independence. Are these deaths justified by the misinterpretation of the Founders idea of a well armed Militia using muskets and having the muskets stored in an armory ??
America is unique/special/Exceptional as it has 300 million guns in the hands of it`s civilians. Guns kill people when people possess them and can use them.
The answer is not background checks (the Florida teen passed the check). The answer is limiting the ownership of guns by civilians. Ie. Bring the ratio of guns/civilian down to that of other developed nations which do not experience the weekly carnage that the USA .
America you are sick and now you have a mentally ill conman as your POTUS who is being abetted by the vile GOP to take support away from the poorest via tax cuts for the 1%.
Nothing will change until the election campaign funding laws are changed to prevent lobbies such as AIPAC from gaming the system and thereby controlling Congress.
18
“Are some Democratic lawmakers cowards, too? You bet.” I’m not hearing too much from the Dems in the aftermath of the Florida carnage. They take money from the NRA too (although not as much), and they have gun owners in their districts. I expect that, like Republicans, their main concern is keeping their jobs and not offending their donors. The Dems lost their spines when they abandoned the working class Americans. And now their silence on gun control thunders above their shameful heads.
The gun crisis is a moral issue, plain and simple. My expectation is that the Democrats will make a Faustian bargain in which they sell their souls in exchange for their jobs and a chance to stay in bed with Wall Street.
6
Let's interrupt this false equivalence with some actual data.
NRA contributions by party, 2016 cycle:
Republicans: $5,900,000 (98.2%) to 232 GOP Representatives
Democrats: $106,000 (1.8%) to 9 Democratic Representatives
Top 25 recipients of NRA contributions in Congress since 1990:
Paul Ryan $336,597 Republican
John Boehner $231,265 Republican
Don Young $195,272 Republican
John Thune $181,215 Republican
Pat Toomey $167,051 Republican
Ken Calvert $144,466 Republican
Roy Blunt $143,543 Republican
Denny Rehberg $138,959 Republican
Steve Pearce $129,250 Republican
Saxby Chambliss $128,950 Republican
George Allen $127,556 Republican
Richard Burr $124,550 Republican
Richard Pombo $122,694 Republican
Pete Sessions $121,776 Republican
Jim Inhofe $121,100 Republican
John Kline $119,887 Republican
Rick Santorum $115,942 Republican
John Doolittle $111,193 Republican
Ed Royce $111,120 Republican
Dean Heller $108,515 Republican
Ron Paul $108,453 Republican
Michele Bachmann $108,218 Republican
Rob Portman $107,727 Republican
Bob Goodlatte $104,900 Republican
Martha McSally $104,445 Republican
Mike Coffman $101,693 Republican
There's a difference between politicians who consistently support evil and politicians who aren't quite courageous enough to be perfect. If you refuse to see the difference, you help make things worse. If the 2016 Presidential election didn't teach us that, nothing will.
2
The Democrats did not abandon working class Americans, as anyone who can read a Platform knows. And the great majority of Democrats have an “F” from the NRA, whereas the great majority of Republicans have an “A”, or sometimes a “B”. Furthermore, they may have connections with Wall Street, but not with Russian mobster oligarchs and autocratic undemocratic arch conservative billionnaires like Mercer and the Kochs. So please spare me the false equivalency!
2
Yep - keep doling out the fake news that NRA does its bidding by funding. If that was the case and money could buy elections, Jeb Bush or Hillary Clinton would have been the President.
NRA fights for one goal only - the absolute protection of the 2nd amendment, which majority of Americans support. As long as that unequivocal support remains, the right of citizens to keep their government in check will hold. NYT knows this is a political belief and they can't win this argument. That's why they are trying to change the goal posts. Again, the heartland is watching.
4
Which well regulated militia did the gunman in Florida belong to?
15
If it weren’t about profits for gun manufacturers, the NRA wouldn’t stand against law enforcement when it comes to cop killer bullets, they would be against restricting gun access to people known to be ISIS supporters nor to people with a history of domestic violence as documented by law enforcement nor to people with serious mental illnesses who have been psychiatrically hospitalized. They have blood on their hands pure and simple.
1
97% of Americans just said they want background checks on all gun sales (no private sale exception) 3% is not a majority.
2
The salary means nothing to republicans in congress, they have so many other places to steal from—I know, I worked there. No, it's power, and the horrendous ideology of "Me, I'm right, all the time." That is what they feed on. Republicans are horrible people.
23
One might wonder how a Republican congressman would react if his or her 6 year old child was butchered in a school by someone using a military assault weapon. Would it take that to persuade a congressperson to come to their senses?
15
The NRA is doing its job and our legislators are not!
The first three words of the 2nd amendment are: A well regulated militia
Putting aside the idea that the need for a militia has been obviated by our standing military, does anyone think that gun owners are well regulated?
The NRA and the like of course seek to make a mockery of our constitution.
23
If your argument is as convincing as you believe it be, it ought to be child's play to get 2/3 of the House and Senate and 3/4 of the states to change the Constitution to reflect your beliefs. Go for it. The NRA can't stop you.
DO YOU REALY WANT TO DRAIN THE SWAMP
The swamp in Washington can be drained. It’s not easy but possible. It requires a constitutional amendment that changes the term for all of our elected officials to six years one time only.
Can you imagine how well Washington would function if nobody was running for reelection. The members of the House and Senate would have only one ax to grind. What is best for the American people?
The implementation of this concept should establish elections every 3 years. The first election would replace the longest serving 50% of each chamber and the President. Three years later the next election would replace the remaining 50% of each chamber. From that point on any elected official who has served 6 years would be replaced at the next election.
The amendment should also provide for the President to replace the longest serving member of the Supreme Court in the President’s 1st, 3rd and 6th year of service. This would lead to a maximum term of 18 years for the Supreme Court.
All of the power brokers in Washington and the rest of the country would be out of a job and the control of our nation would return to the people.
5
Well done, Mr. Friedman. We the people need to wake up and act and resist the corrupting influence that arises from those who embrace "raw, naked, power." We need to do a better job of helping certain voting blocks to see through the intentionally misleading Republican political and social rhetoric and to get them to recognize their real economic and social interests. Get the people to vote for their real interests and this plutocratic party that now holds so much political power will find itself undone come November. The young men and women currently making political waves in Florida are one example of how we can begin to affect real positive political change. The NRA is a house of cards. It's a fake, or at least it will be once we vote the bums out of Washington.
5
And where is the outrage against the carnage directed at our innocent children from those who are members of the NRA? One would surely hope that a significant number would resign their membership in this "stone-age" institution. What does this say about ones values and regard for human life? Is ones ability to fire a gun more precious than human life?
3
Born in 1950 I’ve always savoured the possibility that my generation played a small part in ending U.S. military involvement in Vietnam. Perhaps gun-control will become this generations’ political rallying cause. If so good luck to ‘em!
13
Amen! I wish people would read the entire second amendment which I interpret as organized and well-regulated groups bearing arms. After over 200 years, we have armed forces, national guards, police departments and modern weaponry. The amendment needs to be amended, and those who care only about their lucrative jobs and airport parking need to be throw out of office.
8
One of the reasons that support for the Vietnam War ended was that it was shocking to see the realities of war on our television sets during the nightly news broadcasts. We saw actual battles, and real-time injuries and deaths, that we really had not seen in sanitized movie broadcasts of previous wars. Last week, we saw snippets of cell phone recordings of the terror, screaming and sounds of the AR-15 being fired. Perhaps we also need to start seeing the bodies, the blood, the trauma from this kind of weapon and the shootings, to finally hit home how insane it is to allow a weapon that is designed to kill as many people as possible on the streets of this country.
6
And never forget that our national legislators have made it ILLEGAL to sue the gun manufacturers. No other manufacturer has the same "right" not to be sued. This must change as well. Vote them OUT!!
18
Not even hospitals , whose usual job is to save lives, have that right! Why are gun manufacturers immune to lawsuits?
2
Readers here, as well as the NYTimes, are forgetting something. The NRA exists because of gun owners. Not the other way around. The NRA isn't an evil entity, it takes an extreme view because of the old adage - give them an inch and they'll take a mile.
The truth is, there is a portion of our society that wants not guns in civilian hands. None. That is a losing argument, even in the face of these shootings. How a disafected man who had the world (with some tragedies in his life) and lost it over getting expelled for bad behavior is NOT the focus here astounds me.
I don't own a gun, don't want one. Don't believe that AR 14, AR 15 are needed or should be defended. But the attack on the NRA, who has every right to their opinion and lobby efforts, is unfounded. I'd agree to make illegal all lobbyists, but not cherry pick. All or nothing.
1
At one time, the NRA was mainly a gun owners' club and was mainly funded by its members. But that was a long time ago. These days the NRA gets the bulk of its funding from contributions, grants, royalty income, and advertising, much of it originating from gun industry sources. So it has become a group that advocates for the gun industry.
3
Recent history tells me it's a good thing that Trump and the GOP have embraced each other. TRump's embrace increasingly looks like a kiss of the Mafia. Sooner or later the recipient ends up in a ditch, or under a cement block or as the Godfather movie said, to sleep with the fishes.
Look what happened to General Michael Flynn, Trump's first National Security Advisor. Or to the handpicked chairman of his campaign, Manafort. Or to the press secretary Sean Spicer, or the Mooch, or to Corolla, spokesman of his legal team, or more recently to the White House staff secretary Porter (?). Or to Gates, the dependable man for all seasons, he borrowed from Manafort to stay with him during the transition and in running the administration afterward.
.
General Kelly, another of his handpicked chief of staff, of course, is still there but with the reputation totally in tatters. The word on the street is he, too, may soon be out on the street. Even if he lingers on, look what's left of him or with him now? A nominal title and a weekly paycheck. All else is gone - name, fame, self-esteem. Poof; flew away like that in the Trumpian duststorm.
Call it Karma or Providential, but, for sure, a mysterious hand is at work that has brought Trump, a former NY Democrat, to the GOP fold. The Republican bucket of sins is almost full - as is Trump's. Could it be that in its frugal ways, Mother Nature is getting ready to kill two dodos with one stone?
5
NYT please follow these kids, please give them a voice. Hope they will succeed.
11
It should be the first question at any Town Hall meeting: "How much funding has your campaign received from the NRA?", or in the next letter you write to your Congressman, or phone call you make to Capitol Hill. Better yet, make it a question asked loudly and often!
7
Thank you, Mr. Friedman! The free press (at least for now) is keeping this country together!
And I'm so thankful that you and others are FINALLY pointing out the hypocrisy of the "values voters" for caring so much about the unborn and caring so little about the living (including helping those in need)!
All for their salary and free parking!
And let's not forget their platinum health insurance coverage, their "government business" trips overseas, and all of their other benefits!
10
Maybe if there’s a nationwide strike by high school kids not to return until there is action to ban AR-15 sales, require vigorous background checks, and—- nah, the G.O.P. depends on a poorly educated base.
7
"never underestimate what some people will do for a $174,000 job and free parking at Reagan National Airport."
Do not forget the other perks and kick-backs. Look at p. ryan, $500, 000 contribution for passing the tax cut, and most likely millions in a secret offshore tax sheltered bank account.
Poor p. ryan suffered so during the poor old days of drinking cheap $200 bottles of wine, now he can appreciate $2,000 or more bottles of wine like Chateau Petrus at $2,600. And who cares if he gets re-elected since "a $174,000 job and free parking at Reagan National Airport." is now merely a pittance.
5
A modest proposal: If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. What if millions of us join the NRA (only $30 per year with free magazine subscription!) and show up at the annual meeting to demand a shift in the organization's priorities? There was a time (pre 1980s) when the NRA was a responsible service organization concerned with promoting training and safety for gun owners, not a crazy political agenda. There must be a way to oust the current leaders and turn the organization in a more positive direction. Crazy idea?
10
"They know full well that they’re in the grip of an N.R.A. cult, whose heart is so frozen, it’s content to watch innocent children and adults get gunned down weekly — rather than impose common-sense gun limits."
GOP congresspeople have often cried, after these mass-murders, "Its a mental health problem," while doing nothing in the way of legislation to combat it; the first bill signed by Trump gave the mentally ill an easier path to gun ownership.
10
$174,000, free airport parking, free healthcare, lobbyists wining and dining, and more. Don't forget their stipends/retainers/bribes/comparing contributions from the NRA.
3
Exactly right Mr. Friedman.
3
Excellent diatribe. So true.
2
the purpose of the 2nd amendment was to allow slavers to put down slave uprisings.
The Idiots who believe it's there to allow them to commit treason, are just that, idiots.
Since we no longer have slaves- it seems reasonable - we no longer have to put down slave uprisings.
6
If that were the case the 2nd Amendment would have been gotten rid of during Reconstruction. But it wasn't. That suggests that your history and interpretation are a little off.
Absolutely boycott NRA memberships, cancel, do not renew, don't vote for legislators gifted with NRA blood money. FOCUS NRA! They own the Congress folks.
5
Why so few with integrity and a moral intellect choose to run for public office? Why and how is it that this job tends to attract the lowest common denominator? What does this say about the prestige, status and value placed on such position?
1
Good afternoon everyone,
Such sad news and I feel for the families affected by this tragedy.
I feel inspired to write on the topic "Gun Control" and hope to get threw to many minds about this. Gun control and the issue at hand are a debate for many many years. If one was to take guns from law abiding citizens who would be left with the guns? Do criminals go to gun stores to buy guns? To me this is funny. If one was to ban the sell of legal guns, criminals will know this, and you will have no protection. How fast will the cops come when your being killed? How fast do they respond now with guns being around? Is every person going to have a body guard? The cops have a long time before they can reach a victim and when its life If I was protected, Id want that option. To listen to this kids speech was like listening to some child who has no clue to what he is saying. Does any one understand what it means to take our legal guns away? If people at the school had protection he wouldn't even would have made it in, if the community had done their part this wouldn't have happen. Where was the community? Where were the cops before this happened. Probably harassing non criminals, asking for IDS and doing safety checks, lol,,, Better have them papers. All the same set up as Nazi Germany... Fear-mongering the public, creating divide, administering a slow roll over and enslaving us even more. To me this is a different problem, not guns, more of social issues and community issues.
Read the column again. No one is asking for all guns to be taken away. We.re just asking for common-sense laws such as banning assault rifles, background checks and keeping guns out of the hands of people who shouldn't have them. Did you know assault weapons were banned from 1994-2004? And the world did not fall apart.
9
Finally a voice of reason. Nothing changes by watching CNN or MSNBC. Or reposting your favorite anti-Trump anti Republican memes. We are in the midst of a cultural civil war. The bullets are votes and elections. Dems and progressives spend too much time haggling over who has the higher moral ground while the president was having affairs with porn stars and playboy models while his wife is at home nursing a new baby, and his very trusted advisor is beating up his wives . If you don't like the status quo vote, campaign, give money, run for office. It's called democracy. You shouldn't need high schoolers to show you the way but I sure admire them!!!!!,
8
Finally someone from the NYT gets it: the root of the problem is the NRA and its purchased politicians who are never going to vote themselves off their gravy train.
7
Preach it, brother! Preach it!
6
These kids should all show up at the next NRA convention and ask why they can't attend with an AR-15.
4
The Second Amendment to the Constitution sought to provide a means of protection to the citizens of a small group of colonies, soon to be called states, threatened by major European military powers across the Atlantic Ocean; the right to raise militias was necessary to protect their unprotected new country. The Second Amendment is now interpreted as a means to support the activities of hunters, sportsmen and those who use guns for "recreation." Compared to the rest of America's population of over 300 million, how many people hunt, use guns for sport (what kind), or recreation (what games are played or pursued)? And, of course, the law also allows any one at all to buy and use guns to kill tens of thousands of their fellow citizens every year; those who use guns depend on the Federal Government to defend the states against Foreign Powers with armaments bigger than guns. Scrap the Second Amendment, and to hell with those who think they must use them to have fun; their fun is built on a foundation of innocent blood.
7
Sure, all very fine, but Mr. Friedman, you have to take on the whole big money corporate sponsorship of our elections. Sure that's unfashionable, but admit that the media avoids this truth.
The US turns over it’s elections to corporate sponsorship as a norm. So should we just fight NRA money, leaving all the other mega donors to direct our laws on health care, taxes, regulations, climate, jobs, unions, pay, you name it? The NRA will scream 'discrimination!'.
Easy to write outraged columns after more kids are mowed down by bullets. And be sure you show your outrage over our worst president to show you are a rational humanitarian. OK, Tom we get it.
No, let’s not REDUCE school shootings, let’s PREVENT them, like most democracies do.
Let’s repeal or rewrite the 2nd amendment---if millions disagree, millions also agree. ‘Decent’ Americans should own guns, you say? But our guns for all credo only normalizes weapons, and keeps turning troubled, mentally unstable people into killers. Abroad they have mentally ill too, but not our gun deaths---all due to laws on guns. They don’t have to fight against an irrational 2nd Amendment in their Constitutions.
The media must now expand the use of the word ‘COLLUSION’ to more than Russia/Trump. Like our shooters are domestic terrorists, our lawmakers/corporations are our domestic colluders.
They conspire & collaborate to write laws for weak regulations, low taxes, rising profits and guns. The public safety and well being be damned.
2
I find it unbelievably pompous and tone-deaf for Mr. Friedman to think it is his place to tell these students how best to proceed at this point. Did he walk out of his job today and march to the capitol? Did he give an impassioned speech in which he stood up to the powers that be? Did he lose a loved one at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High? These kids are doing a hell of a lot right now and they don't need a dad-lecture from Friedman on how to handle something that affects them far more than it affects him. Ironically, Friedman is the one who needs to get out and do something other than pontificate.
32
Just wondering - did you happen to follow your own advice today? Tom Friedman is offering sound advice, and most of us don't actually have to lose someone to this evil scourge to have a strong, well-informed opinion and compassion for the families that have had their child's life ripped away because the N.R.A. and its adherents are utterly amoral.
9
As someone who has often voted GOP in the past, I am ashamed. Until they actually start putting America First -- over Trump, the Russians, even more tax cuts for the already too-damn rich, and the NRA -- I can't imagine every considering anyone with (R) after his or her name.
127
"...National Rifle Association, which, according to PolitiFact, spent $203.2 million between 1998 and 2017 funding its candidates".
Can we please put that "big" number in perspective... are we really saying that spending $10M per year over many many candidates is such an insurmountable force? Surely we don't mean that the 4 million NRA members are pivotal to elections either?
We have turned the NRA into a force it is not. If sensible moderate people get together and agree that they don't want to live in a country where this violence is a routine part of life then this issue will be solved quickly. I suspect these students could raise more than $10M each year and neutralize NRA political contributions by matching a dollar for stinking dollar to every one of their opponents.
The NRA is like the sad little wizard of oz hiding behind a smoke screen to pretend it is more than the fringe cult that it is. That is the one thing they do not want you to publish - NRA is weak and, if enough of us give a damn, can easily be relegated to the realm of complete insignificance.
3
The way we move this forward isn't just asking for "gun safety" laws (federal, state, or otherwise) but demanding a well-written Second Amendment, delineating the types of arms allowed and the types not allowed that private citizens can bear. Most Americans would say "Amen" to that and I'm sure law enforcement would too.
Let me take a stab at a first draft:
A well regulated populace who cannot own assault rifles, semi-automatic weapons, or any artillery used by law enforcement or US military forces, but who can, with proper training and licensing after a thorough background check, own hunting rifles, shotguns, revolvers, and pistols.
It ain't perfect but it's better than the one we have!!
8
1) Virtually all modern weapons are semi-automatic (one pull of the trigger produces one bullet). Semi-automatic technology is over 100 years old.
2) There is no reason to trust police, who have killed more citizens than have died in mass shootings, to have semi-automatic weapons and not allow citizens to have the same. I don't trust the Mark Furhrmans and Betty Jo Shelbys of the world to have guns if I don't.
Ban assault rifles, establish a mandatory buy-back program to rid this country of assault rifles.
9
Go Vote. Guns kill people. Assault guns kill lots of people fast. And that’s all they we’re designed to do.
9
Maybe the kids, keeping the pressure, can accomplish what their elders have not been able to do.
Meanwhile, the knowledge that toxicology reports showed that the Las Vegas shooter had benzodiazapine markers in his urine is swept under the rug as inconsequential...the side effects of benzo use include paranoia and rage. The effects that a range of drugs can have on behavior are not being seriously taken into account as a factor in the mass shootings. Why would this be?
2
Vote.. Help others Vote. Contribute money and time. Stand up.
5
Just as the NRA grades elected legislators on support of gun rights, we should create a mechanism that will grade them on how much they value children's lives more than guns.
8
Please don’t consider the 2nd Amendment a sacret cow. It should be repealed and replaced with something that cannot be so obscenely misinterpreted by the “Originalists” on the SCOTUS.
3
You bet!
Just remember; the NRA has roughly 4.5 million dues-paying members. Divide that by 360 million Americans and you arrive at a paltry 2.7% of us they “represent.” Put another way, the Republican Party has placed primacy on that measly number over the 97.5% of us who find the NRA, Republican leaders, and their minions despicable.
COUNTRY OVER PARTY
6
Let's get Real, we are fighting the Slave States, and the Confederacy. Untill that fact is established everyone is having the wrong argument.
6
I completely agree with Tom Friedman. It's going to take more than a level headed discussion with the NRA to turn the Gutless Republican Party from a bunch of money-grubbing cretins to a responsible political organization concerned with the welfare of the citizens of the USA. It's going to take RAGE. The kind of rage I saw from the woman who just made her daughter's funeral arrangements. The kind a rage expressed by the young woman, screaming at a bank of microphones, demanding to know how this tragedy was allowed to occur. Please -- no more mental health "smoke screens." Tell the Chuck Grassley's and the Marko Rubio's to take a chance at hurting the feelings of the NRA and the Koch brothers. Tell them to try acting like Men. They may enjoy how the fresh air feels when they take their heads out of the gutter.
2
Know what the most sickening aspect of this scenario is?
The images of these kids mobilizing against the Gun lobby - opening the possibility for actual reform - will mean a surge in gun purchases.
School massacres are good for business.
That, at the end of the day, is who we are - we are a Nation that protects people who are profiteers of death.
5
but never underestimate what some people will do for a $174,000 job and free parking at Reagan National Airport." And that does not include all of the perks, like free insurance and lots of $$ for expense and more$$ from contributions to get re-elected, ectcetra, ectcetra..
It is not really a "job". Its more like being a product that gets paid to sell stuff.
How to get individuals to become members of the governing body of the United States who are interested in the Common Good, the General Welfare and the principles of the constitution rather than how much $$ they have or can get?
Its a matter of Service, Service to the common good or service to the selfish few who already own some 70-80% of everything.
1
The NRA is a terrorist organisation. Until it's called what it is, we have to confront them.marching at their central offices and Colts offices in Hartford. We cannot be intimidated. We must be fearless. HOuston is where the next NRA convention is. Texas schools ought to protest.
5
How about the equivalent of the Norquist pledge for NRA and gun manufacturers campaign donations. Real simple, "I promise not to take any future donations from the NRA, manufacturers of guns or their agents. I will vote for the best interests and safety of the public."
2
Thomas Friedman's use of the phrase, "and free parking at Reagan National Airport," brought to mind Mark Antony's similarly directed phrase, they are "all, all honorable men." Declaimed over the body of Caesar, Antony's funeral oration provoked riot. Friedman's use of irony, let us hope, will encourage a peaceful, but no less spirited, call to stand with the student protestors to reign in the NRA and their cohorts in Congress.
2
Outspend the NRA. That has always been the answer. The old off-color joke applies as well to Republican politicians: "We've established that. Now we're just haggling over the price."
1
I cannot thank you enough for this timely article...
In India, the labor unions call a strike and the entire state comes to a stand still. No one goes to work. Voices are heard, demands are met. A win win situation reached.
The USA doesn’t have unions... making oneself heard without mass mobilization is difficult, if I don’t go to work in protest and my colleague does, I will be fired...
What do we do then?
1
While I appreciate Friedman's prescription, I would propose another; gut the NRA from the inside-out using a computer malware strategy. If you are a parent / voter / citizen who is tired of the NRA's tactics, then join the NRA. Seriously. People should join the NRA, get on local and regional advisory boards, and start pushing an agenda of common sense regulations. I'm sure the current executive leadership of the NRA would fight, but like most organizations, the rules will favor the majority over time. Using a medical analogy, introduce a virus, and weaken the NRA until it can no longer threaten the salary (and parking space) of every congressman, let alone state legislators. Forming gun control groups is taking the NRA head on, and it has not proven effective. Perhaps an asymmetrical approach would yield better results? Given the carnage that occurs every day, no option should be off the table.
3
The people with the know-how are out there. Time to get some social media bots up and running that put forth the messages that need to be heard. If Facebook and Twitter are more concerned with their advertising dollars than policing their platforms, we should absolutely exploit those platforms for the common good.
1
So if I read this right the NRA spent about $11M at year? $203M/19=$10.7M.
$11M a year, are you kidding? The adult population of the US is approx. 300m. iIf only 50% are for firearms control, that is 150M. At a dollar a head, we could spend the NRA into oblivion every year, forever. What going on?
2
Well said, Thomas. As always!
Aim higher. How about voting out the leadership of the NRA? All gun control proposals are shot on sight by the current NRA leaders, but it's doubtful that most rank and file NRA members are so unreasonable. A "Join the NRA" movement to further increase the ranks of reasonable NRA members and change the NRA leadership is another strategy for beating NRA as we currently know it.
The power of gun lobbyists will never be thwarted until a politician either in office or seeking office can say "I do not accept money from the NRA".
5
it is time for the gun industry to be main extemely uncomfortable, as well as pro=gun politicians. stigmatizing gun dealing and keeping the streets outside pol's home crowded with protestors "carrying" would at least get the messge across more clearly. surround evangelical trump/gun churches with "carrying" protestors!
Well said!
I would also add, it would not be unfair or outrageous to suggest we think of the NRA as being a domestic terrorism threat for all the carnage it empowers upon our nation's most vulnerable citizens.
2
Tom, the domestic gun violence 'issue' is a critically important domestic issue, but only one of the hundreds of very serious 'issues', larger global (but still subordinate) 'symptom problems, and our entire "ailing social order" [Zygmunt Bauman] --- none of which our current frustrating, entrenched, manipulative 'system' does anything except profit off and fail to resposiblely or representatively solve for 'we the people' of America.
Until people in positions of fourth estate power start asking, "What is this 'system' that doesn't work and frustrates all efforts by the people?" --- the best thing to do is get out of the way, or bring investigative journalism to shine on 'exposing' this awful system for what it is --- a disguised global capitalist EMPIRE merely 'posing' as our formerly promising and sometimes improving democracy by "consent of the governed".
2
I was a member of the NRA 33 years ago. I quit when they opposed banning assault rifles. Every member should reflect on the NRA's position on common sense gun control. Every member with children that's God fearing should think about the right thing to do today.
2
Kudos to you Tom for speaking the truth. And to those cowardly unethical unprincipled
public servants who place political contributions before ethics, how do you sleep at night? Or face your family every morning? What is the matter with you?
Thank you for articulating what so many of us see. I am praying for America.
2
In her book, "Go Went Gone," Jenny Eppenbeck writes this: "there's no better way to make history disappear than to unleash money, money roaming free has a worse bite than an attack dog, it can effortlessly bite an entire building out of existence." If the Citizens of the USA do not see the complete undoing of 250 years of our republic by complete co-opting of every issue to money, we are doomed much sooner than we think. Power, possessions, prestige, privilege, and free parking at Reagan I guess is what we've come to. Shame on us.
3
The NRA phoned my house prior to the last election to encourage us to vote for Trump. When the person was done speaking I asked if I could share my thoughts too. I told the phone caller that as far as I'm concerned the NRA is a terrorist organization, that they do not endorse values that contribute to the well being of the country, and that they are perverting politics with their money.
The caller hung on me and never called back. Guess they don't like dialogue.
4
I am so proud of these kids. "And the child shall lead them." We Baby Boomers didn't have the guts to really do something....and I mean really do something.....we squawked, we argued, after every massacre..... and the massacres keep coming. These kids are leaders. They will get it done. Our generation produced a Trump, a Bush, oblivious to gun control and oblivious to human need.........creating and keeping us in a war and expanding the military to probably produce more horrific guns than the AK 15......God bless these kids, and God protect them.
56
Excuse me. Boomers started the environmental movement and ended the Vietnam War. The Gen Xers did...what? I can't remember, don't recall, gee did they do anything except have the babies that are being slaughtered in our schools? The Boomers are their grandparents, honey.
And I'm proud of them, too. Perhaps at long last, something positive can come out of this never-ending horror show sponsored by the NRA and their masters, the gun industry, made possible by funding for a politician near you.
2
Let's start by calling it what it is.
This not about GUN RIGHTS, it's about GUN PROFITS
People are dying so a handful of already rich people can make a few extra bucks
God bless America
99
Following the mass shooting in Parkland Florida, “Health Affairs” ranked the United States the most dangerous wealthy nation in the world for children. Shooting deaths are 49 times higher than other rich countries. The teenagers slaughtered in Florida had the gross misfortune of growing up in a society that cares more about gun owners’ rights than their safety. The pro-life Republicans are fond of declaring the sanctity of the unborn child but withdraw such concerns once they are born.
The NRA has a chokehold on US lawmakers silencing them with large donations. President Trump is a prime example, providing cover for the crimes of the NRA by falsely conflating the Florida and other massacres with mental illness and not the proliferation of guns. A report by McClatchy revealed that the FBI is looking into whether Russian bankers with Kremlin ties funneled money through the NRA during the 2016 election. The NRA is complicit in all mass killings.
What a grotesque legacy to bestow on future generations of our children. We don’t love them enough to effectively protect them. It is time to open the windows of our souls and scream loudly so that our voices reverberate across the land and reach our stone- hearted lawmakers who have sold their souls to the devil incarnate – the NRA and their enablers.
The AR15 is the weapon of choice for all mass killings. It must be banned immediately. The Second Amendment should be dumped into the trashcan of history.
4
Thank you Mr Friedman for telling it like it is. The only things missing are the salaries and perks of the leadership of the NRA and the salaries and bonuses of the gun manufacturing executives . There must be a special circle of Dante's Inferno dedicated to all of these cowardly murderers of American's children.
3
What another great column, this one putting the battle over gun control in stark relief and exposing the gut issue driving the NRA toadies on the Hill. The mastery of Mr. Friedman's writings reminds me of the younger Tom Friedman who educated and inspired me in the pages of "From Beirut to Jerusalem" nearly three decades ago. Time and again I have rediscovered his reporting and storytelling in the intervening years, but his last two columns, written with clarity of thought, emotion and outrage, have been exceptional. Thank you for leading the charge Mr. Friedman.
1
Dallas mayor tells NRA convention to go elsewhere.
Excellent article Thomas.
3
Tom Friedman is talking around the central issue, which is that elected office has become a career path, a job, and, as is human nature, office holders will do many things they wouldn't otherwise to stay in the job. This worked for generations to promote accountability, but now, with gerrymandered districts, extreme political polarization, unfettered bribes disguised as "campaign contributions," independent political action committees, and extremist organizations like the NRA wielding outsized power, it's time to re-think elected office. To stay in office, politicians must please interest groups or donors, not the great mass of voters. The majority no longer rules. The fundamental question, then, is how do we end this and return elected office to public service? Term limits? Stop paying members of Congress? Replace Congress with a national policy-setting jury of citizens chosen at random? Or more modest steps, like at-large state House delegations, not chosen by gerrymandered districts, or proportional or instant-runoff voting? And of course, replacing the Electoral College with a direct vote or proportional elector allocation by each state? I would like to see opinion makers like Mr. Friedman take the lead on this. It's time to talk about fundamental, structural reform. These are long shots now, but the discussion has to start somewhere.
4
Dead children vs money. Who wants to believe our public servants would close their hearts and minds to slaughter while seeing so clearly that bag of campaign cash at their feet. And they stoop to pick it up, not just NRA bribery, but fossil fuel money that's killing our planet along with all the other special interest 'free speech' money serving profit over the common good. I can't reconcile that I know these legislators and lobbyists to be human, when their actions strike down life, democracy.
3
Really? Are you NOT paying attention to what these young activists are doing? Your "get off my lawn" old-man style finger wagging on what they "need to do" is so tired. These bright, articulate, heartbroken, devastasted and angry students are activated. They won't do things "the way" you and others think it should be done. They are DOING. And you need to put your wagging finger back up your, I mean, in your pocket.
1
Abolish the NRA. Don't just get in to the face, break the face. One person/ one weapon. There should be no need at all for military weapons in a civilian population.
The Second Amendment hasn't protected anyone much against anything. It sure doesn't protect the massive death toll, and the injured, who are rarely mentioned. It definitely hasn't protected anyone against the gun lobby, or its shills. It isn't protecting anyone against an actually oppressive, anti-rights, anti-poor, anti-black, government in any shape or form.
Guns do kill people, intentionally and unintentionally. People can't kill people if they don't have the means. And at Dummies level - Explain that the $174,000 and free parking won't be there if Congress doesn't act.
4
Good article from Mr. Friedman. Another point - we do not allow people to own anti-aircraft guns or grenades or bazooka guns. Why is it okay for people to own assault weapons that fall into the same category - all military style weapons .
4
So "the National Rifle Association... according to PolitiFact, spent $203.2 million between 1998 and 2017 funding its candidates." My God! Don't pro-gunners, politicians, and people in general wonder why SO MUCH MONEY (presumable, from NRA dues) is spent on what we know to be a CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT? This question should be posed to every incumbent and to every candidate running for any elected office. America: Truly, we get what we pay for.
4
So the common denominator in all this is the NRA funding all these Republicans at the state and federal levels who then do the policy bidding of the NRA. Therefore, shouldn't the attack be on campaign contributions? If, as some propose, campaign contributions should be greatly curtailed to say a maximum of $50 dollars per individual or organization, would that end the NRA's (and big oil etc.) influence?
2
What is needed, for more effective action at a national level, is the names of GOP elected representatives who are vulnerable to losing in 2018.
1
Mr. Kasky needs to Organize, Organize and Organize. Get people to register and Vote. Get people to take to the Streets. In the Late 60's it was the Thousands in the Streets. All ages all backgrounds. When elected officials see that, they see Voters. I'm sorry to say but too many Law Makers are more concerned about reelection than the Issues. Mr. Kasky has to make them change the position. Organize build it and the people will come. When you become as powerfull as the NRA you will see their Positons Flip.
1
The irony is that these same lawmakers who oppose gun controls of any kind usually work in secure environments with metal detectors and security guards.
2
Honestly the gun manufacturers are hoping gun-control advocates continue to focus on the NRA, because there are so many passionate gun owners who gladly go to battle against gun-control advocates. Meanwhile gun manufacturers just get richer. I believe the NRA draws less than half of its money from its members and the rest from gun manufacturers who want to be able to sell whatever they want, whenever they want, to whomever they want. We are being distracted. We need to pressure gun manufacturers who sell bump stocks and semi-automatic weapons to civilians like we pressured executives of tobacco companies.
3
You say that "most voters are not asking to scrap the Second Amendment," but that is exactly what should be done. Scrapping the Second Amendment doesn't mean that guns are totally outlawed. It is just means that Congress isn't constitutionally prohibited from doing ANYTHIING about guns. If we don't scrap the Second Amendment, we could at least bring back the Amendment's "well-regulated militias" and insist that everyone who has a gun be a full-fledged and well-regulated member of their local miitia.
2
Yes, GET OUT OF FACEBOOK! Couldn't agree more, but have you tried to do that yourself? Over the last 72 hours I have tried, and it will not let me go!
Every time I try, I'm told that my code or e-mail isn't correct. Then Face Book suggests using a password already in their system, and that one is from a completely different application! And that's the sort of creeping take over of my inter-net life I am trying to avoid or minimize.
So, one thing at a time; some advice from Thomas Freeman (and colleagues in the media world) on this would be appreciated. Oh, and yes, i plan to join with neighbors, high school students and the #Never Again movement in front of our own state capitol. 'In person' support is what this moment calls for.
This movement bids fare to become a new, if not THE new, Civil Rights crusade of 2018!
1
The idea that the NRA and the GOP are the problems and that solving them can reduce gun violence in schools is short sighted, disengenuous and simply incorrect. If you ban assault weapons today, there will be zero reduction in gun deaths. And anyone that knows anything at all about guns knows that to be true. The gun industry made your basic perfectly legal hunting rifle into a rifle that looks like a military weapon when in fact it does exactly the same thing. It uses the same ammunition. They are both semi-automatic - you pull the trigger one time and one bullet is expelled. They do not shoot faster, they do not shoot longer, they are not more powerful and they are exactly as deadly. Most states, even liberal states like New York do not even require a license to own a rifle, only handguns are so regulated. My point is that the focus on the assault rifle is a straw man (person). The vast majority of modern rifles and shotguns will do the same. When 9 - 11 occurred, strict security was put in place at the airports and that has not reoccured even once. Maybe its time to spend some money and put security detectors at our schools. Then we can argue the poltics of guns.
1
Most of my adult life has been in and around Chicago, the site of the "Original St. Valentine's Day Massacre". Photos of the victims of Al Capone's handiwork were shown in newspapers and are still available today. It would be valuable to label last week's shooting in Florida as "The Real St. Valentine's Day Massacre" and provide photos of the murdered children to all members of Congress and our state legislators with the title, "You can prevent this from happening again!".
But I don't really expect our national or state legislators to take meaningful action on restricting firearms. With that as my expectation, let's lobby Congress to create a new agency. Just as the TSA was created after 9/11, have Congress create a "PSSA", Public School Safety Agency, with the charter to protect all public schools by requiring and funding the following: limited access to school buildings, metal detectors at all entrances, bullet proof glass on all windows, ways to automatically lock all classroom doors when any threat is detected, etc., etc. In other words, turn public school buildings into "temporary prisons" to repel armed invaders rather than address the fundamental causes of the problem: too easy access to military style weapons.
One final thought (or vent). Members of our Supreme Court believe in "Originalism" as a Constitutional philosophy. Interpret the Second Amendment in the context of the era when it was written and define arms as "single shot, muzzle loading firearms".
1
Agreed and then some. Let's not forget senators and congress get 24k health insurance coverage either free or at costs way less than the rest of us (while republicans do as much as possible to ruin Obamacare etc.).
Furthermore they are allowed to keep,campaign funds upon retiring.
Trump has deepened the sewer with the least qualified administration ever and staffed departments with lobbyists. So much for "draining the swamp".
Lies as he breathes certainly is an accurate description of the tweeting golfer in chief.
1
Well said Tom. One can feel the momentum building and a shift happening and these kids are leading the way. I pray they succeed in enacting change where the politicians have failed us. Perhaps they will because the NRA holds no sway over them and they are not threatened with the loss of campaign contributions, a $174,000 job and free airport parking. The time is now and all sensible Americans who want change will take to the streets and march beside them and our battle cry will be, "Break the Back and Take Away the Power of the NRA."
1
A battle cannot be won on Facebook? Mr. Putin might beg to differ. These kids should battle where they live, and where their peers and young potential voters live. If millions of minds can be changed on Facebook and Twitter, then do that. The goal must be to win hearts and minds and to bring out the vote.
2
Use every platform available.
Millennials have less than a 30% voting rate. Not optimistic.
1
Then the publicity must note that. The 70% of Millennials who don't vote need to step up to the ballot boxes.
As I've been telling my wife the past week, until we as a society decide Parkland, Sandy Hook, Pulse, Las Vegas and all the others really are unacceptable losses, nothing will change. As incredible as it sounds, and in spite of the stories we tell ourselves and all of our 'thoughts and prayers', we as a society have determined that dismembering a class of first graders with an assault weapon is an acceptable loss. As terrible as this sounds, it's not "bad enough". Until we decide to stop accepting the losses caused by these ridiculous weapons the NRA has decided the rest of us all have to live with, we need to steel ourselves to more carnage.
46
In order to have sensible laws enacted and military=type guns restricted, it will be necessary to reign in the NRA. Young people have the key to the success of future action. As you become 18 and a registered voter, vote down every one that takes money from the NRA in order to hold a political office. Vote the rascals out. We, the present responsible adult population, are aiming our votes in just that manner. We are already having some good results. Do not let any senator or representative, who is guilty of enabling killers, retain his/her job.
1
If the NRA were totally shutdown it wouldn’t change a thing. It wouldn’t reduce shootings, it wouldn’t reduce the murder rate and it wouldn’t protect any school or campus. The backers and members of the NRA are deep rooted American patriots who are owners of all sorts of lethal weapons. Even far more guns and weapons than the government or others estimate. People would be amazed at the number of privately owned guns in the USA, at least twice as the highest estimate. Hounding the NRA, their supporters and other gun owners is NOT going to produce results the left and anti-gun people are seeking. Remember, you’re preaching to people with guns who don’t want to give up their guns AND have a constitutional right to own those guns. Nothing short of a repeal of the 2nd Amendment is going to change that fact. But don’t get too excited because repealing the 2A will never happen in your lifetime. Just look at what it takes and you’ll see why.
Instead why not concentrate on what you CAN change? Things like putting armed security guards in schools; train and arm faculty and staff; increase funding for better security systems to prevent unauthorized entries. These are just a few workable solutions and I’m sure you can think of more. Back off attacking the guns and all things related. It hasn’t worked and it won’t work. Try something that will work. To repeat an old phrase, “you’re barking up the wrong tree.”
1
Thomas Friedman nails the issue. " But, ultimately, nothing will change unless young and old who oppose the N.R.A. run for office, vote, help someone vote, register someone to vote or help fund someone’s campaign " It is going to take a wave of children and adults from all backgrounds or political sides to come together and say no to the NRA, no to Fake News, and support Robert Mueller's line of work.
1
Re what GOP harvesters of NRA campaign funds want, besides the pay and the parking:
Not to forget that they and their families enjoy the best health insurance program in the country - thanks to us taxpayers whose own insurance they are trying in every conceivable way to undermine. Our insurance is the only way most of us could afford extensive treatment for a gunshot injury, assuming we survive, or what could be years of followup treatment.
I suspect that most Congressfolk are trying very hard to make it to a certain number of years in office, at which point they and their spouses get that first class insurance we give them for life.
2
The only thing that I disagree with in this piece is that members of the GOP are already embarrassed. I don’t believe that most of them are capable of being embarrassed. For a person to be embarrassed, he/she must have a conscience. In a normal person, the conscience is an effective guide to basic morality.
Most members of the GOP Congress, however, long ago compromised their consciences in favor of money and power. A person with a compromised conscience is a singularly untrustworthy human. So, I have to ask, why are there so many in our Government?
19
As much as it would be poor taste to say the least, and revolting beyond belief, perhaps the families of the victims of these mass shootings would allow photos of their children's mutilated corpses to be shown side by side with the children of the legislators who are in thrall to the NRA and misrepresentations of what gun ownership does ... and ask how we CANNOT DO something now to prevent this happening in the future.
There are MORE GUNS in the hands of private citizens THAN PEOPLE in our country. But the pro-gun and NRA lobby insists that it is marching under the umbrella of the Constitution in "protecting" the Second Amendment. It is not just the NRA...it is the legislators, it is the people who voted for them, it is the gun industry that is focused on profit, it is the mentality of our nation that is slipping closer and closer to becoming a third world country.
The saddest thing that personally happened to me this year was when my daughter had to explain to her 4-1/2 year old child why there was an army of policemen at her school the day after the most recent mass shooting.
We need to look at other countries whose incidence of death by gun violence and ask ourselves how defending an Amendment that was written to guarantee that the COLONIES would be safe with a militia to defend us from Britain should be used today to amass weapons of mass destruction by private citizens.
11
Want to be efficient? Get your message to those that need to hear it.
Cut and paste your comment -- especially if you live in a Republican district -- with a link to this article and send it to your Congressional representatives. I am a citizen lobbyist for another issue but I tell people who post on Facebook, bulletin boards, Twitter about my issue that to make this more than a feel-good/ ego-gratifying exercise, send it to your politicians.
Better yet, if you have time and inclination, collect the comments online from people who live in your Congressional district and send them as a packet to your member of Congress. I and a friend once did this: culled 2,000 comments from a national e-forum dedicated to our issue (posters often had their town listed; if it's online in a open forum, it's legal to publicly share it), cut-and-pasted them, brought them in to our politician to show how much interest there was about our issue. That got a response.
5
If working to bring the US back to the days before assault weapons were so easily accessible, is considered a "liberal agenda" then I proudly hail that I am a liberal.
12
Thank you Mr. Friedman.
I see many people posting things on Facebook and even attending rallies here in New York with clever artsy signs railing against Trump and the NRA.
But how many of those people actually vote? I guarantee it’s not 100%.
While I enjoy seeing your signs on Instagram, I’d much rather see everyone vote.
5
I could not be more in agreement with Friedman's points. I think, however, he has missed the mark on the motivation of elected officials. Yes, their biggest fear is of not getting or staying in office. But it's not for the "$174,000 salary and free parking at Reagan airport." That is chump change for these folks, most of whom were very well off before their election. No, their position is not about drawing a paycheck; it's about positioning themselves in a thousand ways to feather their nests by being on the inside of everything that happens. And don't forget the lifetime gold-plated health care plans for them and their families, or the pension that gives them a nice secure financial cushion. Finally, there is a big ego component, the idea of being a big shot in Washington, that is a big driving force for somebody who already enjoys being wealthy. So yes, make them afraid of losing it all. It's all they care about.
13
Raw power is indeed a big piece of GOP motivation. But there is a more insidious and, I think dangerous to democracy, motivation for GOP legislators: their belief that "government is the problem," as President Reagan intoned in his first inaugural speech. The legislative corollary for this "1st Law of Conservative Ideology" is that passing effective legislation to address social problems is antithetical to their most fundamental belief. To approach a problem like guns in schools or tax reform with sincere intent to make effective fair laws is counterproductive, any well-crafted law would undermine the foundation of their ideology.
The recent conservative tax reform bill is a perfect example of this corollary. With complete disregard for any of the reasonable benchmarks for economic or legislative success, legislators cobbled together a set of politically motivated giveaways and takeaways that reward their benefactors and leaves the federal government carrying a new deficit load of a trillion plus dollars and a tax law that is by design, opaque and careless and hard to implement. And best of all, their legislative carelessness actually makes the government look bad, while they scream from the sidelines about how bad the government is.
Imagine how this attitude will effect any legislation Republicans might bring to address the gun problem. Conservatives are ideologically incapable of crafting laws that sincerely address access to guns.
4
In the US the citizens are the govt. the fact that the GOP has targeted citizens for annihilation isn't surprising
1
GOP support for the NRA is one of the more obvious reasons why every wise American should do everything possible to vote Republicans out of office. A great case for this is in the recent Atlantic article advocating for voting non-Republican. (Full disclosure: I'm a registered Democrat, not an activist.)
6
Yes, keep speaking out and holding the NRA-tethered representatives accountable for non-action and vote them out. Also there should be liability insurance and taxation on gun and weapon owners. The laws and the whole mass weapon complex needs to change.
3
Mr. Friedan, I so admire your work, but in this case, you have missed the point or simply not been specific. It is not $174K and that free airport parking. It is the perceived sense of power and importance that is driving our elected officials to protect their positions at such a terrible cost.
1
Thank you Mr. Friedman. In this article we learn that legislators' annual salaries average $174,000. In an October 4, 2017 Times article, we learned that NRA payments to many US legislators far exceed their salaries. Senators McCain, Burr, Blunt, Tillis, Gardner and Rubio were shown as the top beneficiaries of NRA money. Each had received respectively $7.7, $6.9, $4.5, $4.4, $3.8 and $3.3 millions of dollars.
This kind of money does not come free. Firing these guys should be our first order of business.
4
In an educated, fact based, rational, informed society, Facebook would be a useful networking tool. As it exists in today's America, it was a useful tool for hooking up in college, and that's it!
3
Thomas, just thought you should know. I have 18 & 15 year old sons. Neither they nor their friends, according to them, use Facebook. They mainly use Snapchat, as social media, which is still to your point that they to get out and about, organizing, marching, demonstrating together, for more effective activism. But, unfortunately for Facebook, the social media choice for that teenager cohort, may not really be Facebook.
1
An awesome and timely article. Thank you. Kids, keep it up. Register, vote. Shun any candidate - new or incumbent - who accepts contributions from the NRA, or from firearms manufacturers or purveyors. They of course will come up with new ways to get funds to politicians - newly named PAC's etc. - but do your homework.
This article fits hand in glove with a new book that all should read. A tough read, but well worth while. Author (Patrick J. Charles) is a historian and is meticulous in his research and writing. Titled "Armed in America - A History of Gun Rights from Colonial Militias to Concealed Carry". I have hunted for years, even shifted to bow hunting recently. But, have shunned the NRA because of there leadership. They long ago lost their way from their original stated purpose - now they make my stomach churn and turn.
3
Finally, an oped that gets to the heart of it: ain't no way these Congress people will give up their cushy jobs! Where else can you basically work part time for that salary, with premium health and pension benefits! They don't give a hoot about anything other than that and keeping their donors (who keep them in their jobs) happy. Not the economy, not the average American, not our kids. I can't wait for these teens to reach voting age and vote them all out.
2
It's great to see these kids taking a stand to protect themselves, because their Republican parents keep voting for Republican politicians that put them at risk both physically and economically.
One would think a politician who says, "Now isn't the time to talk about gun violence" despite a relentless stream of mass killings would get thrown out of office. Instead, they get big campaign contributions from the NRA.
One would think that a politician who says, "Tax cuts pay for themselves" so they can pass a tax cut primarily for the 1% would immediately be laughed out of office. Instead, they get big campaign contributions from Koch Industries.
But ultimately, it's the individuals voting for these politicians that are accountable, and kids, that's your Republican parents.
1
It's funny how the 2nd Amendment has turned into holy script, while, incidentally, creating money and power for its supporters. It's even more funny because Trump is trying to reign in freedom of speech and freedom of religion guaranteed by our first amendment--seeking an identical goal: destroying the first amendment to create money and power for its destroyers.
The true American tragedy is that there is that no level of wealth is too obscene ,even when this wealth impoverishes masses of people; even when life, liberty and happiness for the masses is destroyed.
3
Add a tax to these weapons and make a mental health assessment a requirement of ownership. Make them cost $10,000 a piece and use the money for mental health services. Stop making them cheap and easy to get.
2
Cameron will soon be able to vote as will the other kids , the indelible images of that day will always be with them. I disagree with you Mr. Friedman , up to a certain point (and this coming from someone who does not have Facebook , twitter , etc) that these young people do need to stay on Facebook , that is how they organize and get the rest of the young people to attend marches and rallies . These young people are articulate and tired of being victimized , if the deaths of babies at Sandy Hook whose voices cry out from their graves , did not chip at those cold hearts (bought by the NRA) in Washington , well then these teenagers' voices will . Bravo Cameron , Emma , and all these brave kids who are taking Washington on and putting them on notice ! Thank you.
2
It never ceases to amaze me at the left's frequent and passionate Don Quixote approach to gun control...and many other issues.
It's always either the NRA or Fox News to whom the cede so much power and against whom the never seem to get past the blades.
Why?
Neither the NRA or Fox News, or the Republican Party for that matter, are monolithic. Neither are capable wielding the power that is ascribed to them.
When is the left going to understand that issues like these are won at the ballot box not from the milk carton at Speakers' Corner.
The NRA has but 4.25 million members out of the 325+ million in our nation.
Fox News reaches but 1.4 million out of that same 325 million with their message.
And with all the caterwauling, you can't get a bill past, let alone a bill will pass Constitutional muster or actually accomplish what the statute intends?
Look a the messages that you are sending and the bills that are being offered before you scream about your inabilities to achieve that which you wish.
I am all for reasonable and responsible laws to control guns. I am fully supportive of making sure that gun purchasers are properly vetted
We have strong laws on the books that address the vetting.
But, why haven't they worked? Can anyone pushing for more tell me why what we have hasn't met the intended purpose? Can anyone tell me that any new proposal will do the job?
Let's think about raising the age for possession. It might just actually help.
1
Owl , you missed what is in front of your beak , the answer is not the millions of viewers or members but BIG MONEY!
I don't think the issue is 174K a year job, a lot more money is to be made when the lawmakers and those close to them become lobbyists or a paid by them directly and indirectly. Not a coincidence that there are many millionaires among the lawmakers and many corruption cases uncovered (many more still remain). The "consumer" part of gun manufacturing is a niche business and very profitable in the US, they will fight for their survival, no matter dead children or even if they themselves get shot, greed is way stronger. No point hoping for them changing their position. Also, for politicians in "red" states and rural areas the gun issues have strong emotional appeal and help them to get votes easily, in addition to money. I hope current protests change something, but I'm not optimistic. The only hope (though long term) is that US governance system becomes more balanced and urban voters have equal rights and their vote is equal to that of the rural voters. Right now we are unfairly governed by a minority, hence disproportionate importance of gun issue. I personally live in NYC and don't know a single person, who is against gun control. Also NYC has comparatively strict gun lows. If it were decided by true majority vote, we would have much stricter gun control.
2
How about a general strike on March 24th when the students walk out? I was in college in 1965 when every campus in America held teach-ins. No one went to class and something changed as a result, but much more would've changed if those in the working world had done the same. Sending a message to our elected representatives that they will lose their free parking at Reagan National Airport if they fail to obey the will of the vast majority of citizens about this issue just may be the only power we have.
1
Thanks for writing this. I understand we need to do more, but I would like an article on how...
How do I make a difference? I live in CA - and my reps are already pro gun control. Writing my reps a letter or calling them doesn't help. Like most people I work full time and have a family....what can I/we do?
7
1. Let them know you support their efforts.
2. Send money to Democratic candidates in close races throughout the nation.
3. Encourage all our like-minded friends to VOTE!
I find it incomprehensible that the Founders would ever contemplate the utter disregard for human life and dignity that has become the 2nd Amendment. That a congress made up of a majority of conservative original intent practitioners would pervert the meaning of our founding document.
8
the 2nd amend exists to put down slave revolts and was put in place due to the demands of slavers in order to get them to sign on to the const.
the 2nd amend has always been an amendment of oppression and violence against black people.
Now that we no longer have slaves - we no longer need the 2nd amend
3
Florida handed a big pile of electoral votes to Trump and has a Trumpian governor. I wonder how many of the parents of Douglas High School students voted the GOP ticket? How many of the slain students' parents voted the GOP ticket, thinking, well, it can't happen here; some teacher with a gun will shoot
any "bad guy" who wanders into my kid's school. I want to ask those parents how would they vote now? And if they say they would still vote the same, there is no hope, and I mourn the dissolution of my country.
8
Friedman is spot on here. We can only hope that this friendly virus spreads like wildfire up the ladder to each successive generation. Would only college students get behind this and walk out of their classrooms. College professors. Corporations. MOTHERS. FATHERS. GRANDPARENTS. We need an organizing website to coalesce around - if anyone is aware of one please advertise.
2
Really well stated-we really have to take the initiative and energize the elections.
The only way to change a politician's mind is to change that politician's voters' minds. Connect to their voters. Convince their voters. Show their voters that they should ignore NRA-paid TV and radio commercials telling them what to think and how to think. Show their voters that they can think for themselves.
Show everyone that the most convincing argument wins the marathon!
5
Tell it, Tom Friedman, tell it. And forgive me, but I'm about to post a link to this column on my Facebook page in case even one of my FB friends missed it. We've had some school shootings here, the worst of them by a deranged adolescent who shot his parents first, then shot up his school. We made a start on sensible gun control laws yesterday when a bill was passed in the legislature, supported by Governor Kate Brown, that is intended to keep guns out of the hands of men with a history of domestic abuse, whether they are married to their partners or not. There are so many layers to this hideous problem, but your column lays it out clearly and for that I am extremely grateful.
7
Keep speaking out Cameron, vote, run for office, protest. We did it in the 60's and it stopped the Viet Nam War, let's see you stop the NRA!
10
Not good enough Mr Friedman. Write a detailed analysis explaining how the NRA, a mob with just on 6 million members, can perennially hold a nation of more than 320 million to ransom about gun ownership. Who gives the NRA the RIGHT to extort such total acquiescence from the US Congress without Congress demanding, in the name of the people it is supposed to serve, that this minority take RESPONSIBILITY for its actions.
5
Thomas, you hit the nail halfway on its head.
“When these G.O.P. lawmakers are alone at home contemplating the pictures of all these kids gunned down...”
I say halfway because a smiling yearbook picture of a slain teen just doesn’t work. Frankly after Sandy Hook, just over five AR-15s ago, I thought that the vying for best Regan National parking spots was up for grabs. Like then, this outrage too shall pass and Wayne LaPierre knows it.
But like I said, you hit the nail half on its head when you suggested lawmakers are “contemplating pictures” of the massacred. I just think you weren’t taking the “picture” thing far enough.
Photographs of live, happy, groomed, and well dressed children don’t portray the horror they endured and certainly aren’t the best generator of the sense of “regret” you imagine GOP Congresspersons reflect upon while sipping their fireside brandy.
But a picture showing the shattered, blood soaked, lifeless body of a five year old or the empty eyes of a sixteen year old still lying in their own chalk mark - these are the pictures that will most swiftly abolish the AR-15ish murder weapons, high capacity clips and cop killer munitions. It’s time we bear witness to the carnage and not just the lovelies lost.
And just so you know, in talking with friends who own and love their AR-15, they admit they don’t really use them for hunting. They just like to go out into the woods and blow stuff up. It’s all about an adrenaline rush, one we could do without.
10
Why should one person's right to own a gun supersede someone else's right to remain alive? Which should we value more highly?
16
Friedman states, "..plenty of them probably feel filthy for doing the N.R.A.’s bidding."
Quit giving the repubs the benefit of ANY doubt, Mr. Friedman. Perhaps your long habit of protecting the repubs has become difficult to break. If they hate it so much, perhaps they should quit doing it. It ain't happening yet.
Start breaking things, Mr. Friedman, before the repubs break US(A).
4
Dear Freidman. "Your generation and mine"? These young people have turned their back on your generation (my generation - the baby boomers) who created this mess. They aren't waiting for the entitled boomer generation to get off their behinds and do something any longer. They are going it alone. Stop having to make everything you write about, even the mass slaughter of school children, about "your" generation, without ever accepting responsibility for creating this national travesty.
2
The hatred this writer has for the sacred 2nd Amendment is palpable. The ignorance of Friedman and his ilk is breath taking. Take a moment and read the Helle v DC r decision. It is a master piece of the law, a pillar of our society. The right of the people to keep and bear arms is fundamental to liberty.
3
You ought to remember that when the Second Amendment was written in the late 18th century, America was a new, rural, agrarian and lightly populated country. We were too poor to afford a standing army. Hence the Minute Men approach to defense which is what the 2nd is supporting. Remember Paul Revere's ride through every "Middlesex village and farm?" He was calling his fellow citizens to defend against the British as we would have to do in the future against Indians, the French and once again, the British. Now we have the army, the navy, marines, air force, national guard and a police station in every town. We don't need citizens armed for war and to pretend otherwise is duplicitous. And obviously, very dangerous. No one needs automatic weaponry unless he is in the military or police force. We don't practice 18th century medicine so why should we have gun laws that haven't kept up with the enormous change in killing technology?
7
“We also recognize another important limitation on the right to keep and carry arms. ‘Miller’ said, as we have explained, that the sorts of weapons protected were those ‘in common use at the time.’ 307 U.S., at 179, 59 S.Ct. 816. We think that limitation is fairly supported by the historical tradition of prohibiting the carrying of ‘dangerous and unusual weapons.’”
— Justice Antonin Scalia
You could walk into a well equipped gun shop, remove every assault rifle, bump stock, trigger crank, and jumbo clip, and you would still have HUNDREDS of guns and accessories to chose from: rifles, shotguns, and pistols. Very few people are advocating the complete elimination of the 2nd Amendment, just common sense regulation. I was a precision target shooter, taking Handloader magazine from issue #1. It wouldn’t bother me one bit to see every assault rifle, and their lethal accessories, disappear. A machine gun in the hands of a deranged person falls under Scalia’s prohibition of “dangerous and unusual weapons”.
4
Only scripture is sacred. Keep your pistols, rifles and shotguns so you feel safe. But these weapons of war (like AR 15s) don’t belong in your Home or anyone else’s. And I have read the case you refer too, including the part where Judge Scalia said individuals don’t have the right to own any weapon whatsoever.
1
Well written article. It cannot be said enough that people are willing to sell their souls to the N.R.A. It's beyond embarrassing: this is endemic to the United States, and we have no excuse for our stupidity.
3
Bryan is a close friend and shooting companion.
I am one of the millions of shooting sports enthusiasts that strongly believe that the measures described in Bryans comments are long over due.
I
1
The senators who are are wholly owned subsidiaries of the NRA do not sit at home feeling filthy about the 17 students recently slaughtered.These are all Senators who only care about what's going into their bank accounts. They are failed human beings, just like the one currently occupying the White House. They all need to be voted out and sent packing in November. Mid Terms 2018.
4
If the Russians could influence our elections so easily, think about how trivial it would be for the Russians to fund and influence the NRA to promote killings and discord amongst Americans.
We need a special task force to probe the NRA leaders and their connections to other countries.
Ruth
4
Spread the word far and wide: Our greatest terrorist group is the NRA. There is no other group that has caused more deaths and expense.
7
Another brilliant article by Thomas Friedman! Thank you! In addition, to protests we must educate ourselves! First of all, the NRA's memberships are about seven million! We have over four hundred million Americans, we are the majority! Secondly, the Republicans are cowards, they have lied to Americans and their voters believe them! Democrats must attack with the truth! Every political ad must be a comparison between what Donald and his Trumpists say and what is ...truth!
Finally, PLEASE register to vote and vote! The only way to change the trajectory of our nation is for our citizens to be informed and VOTE!
Let's fire every single NRA-owned politician!
3
Let's get down to basics---- We need to get big money out of politics..... that means making it illegal for the NRA, the Koch Brothers, unions, and all other wealthy donors and interest groups to spend big sums of money to influence elections. MONEY IS NOT SPEECH.
How do we accomplish this? Well one way is to start limiting campaign donations like we have done in Montana with an Initiative that was approved by 75% of voters. We should eliminate PACs, and we should consider supplementing small individual contributions with public funding in some appropriate ratio.
Friedman put his finger on the problem. The NRA spends money to buy congressmen and women that will do their bidding----- let's make it impossible for the NRA (and all other special interest groups) to do so in the future. Then, and only then, will our politicians pay attention to the will of We, the People.
So, if student activists (who I fully encourage and support) want an effective way to fight the NRA and initiate meaningful gun reform they need to get behind efforts to overturn Citizens United.
4
How do I get in the NRA's face?
3
See who they are endorsing in any given race, then contribute to and vote for the opponent.
1
I get the impression while reading many of the comments that people expect these young people's efforts to go no where, that their marches will run out of steam. That will certainly be the case if the rest of us sit on our backsides and watch. Everyone from my own Silent Generation through the Boomers is responsible for the gun problem and the least we can do is follow the leaders here and make it happen.
9
I would like to suggest a class project to the students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Get a list of those 71 FL legislators who refused to even allow a debate on those instruments of mass murder. Find out what district they are in, find out when they are up for reelection. Find out who is running against them and their position on assault weapons. Give the american people a place to send those people a check and publish that list through social media. Publish it often. The vast majority of Americans want these things out of our schools, out of our cities and towns and out of our country. They only way to do that is to fund the opposition. Florida Democratic Party, please take notice.
12
Just where is the NRA getting all this money from to feed the GOP? Is there a connection between the Russian collusion of sowing discord and the NRA coffers? Has Mueller done any investigating on this? What better way to stir up discord between the Right and the Left than over a gun control debate. Russia has better gun control laws than the U.S. I'm sure they are enjoying this...
5
What if all hunters, who know about guns and their proper use, canceled their NRA membership immediately and started their own club that would do one thing: support their interest in gun ownership for their sports? This would expose the NRA as the arms' dealing, for-profit company that it really is. This country is probably the biggest arms dealer in the world. We all should be ashamed of that.
7
Also demand that your pension funds, 401ks, and 403bs do not include gun stocks.
Funds must divest in gun stocks!
2
We will have sensible gun control when we outspend the NRA, and buy our own Congress.
3
The adults in your country must feel a mixture of pride and shame. Pride in the students finding their voice and loudly and intelligently speaking out on the realities of the issue. Shame because currently they had to shame the adults into doing something and the craven conduct of the Florida legislature on Tuesday. The longer the adults take to rise up to the occasion, finally, the more shame will be heaped on them.
2
Thank you. Great article!
1
If gun control advocates are able to get laws passed does that mean they will be able to enforce them?
Marijuana use and cultivation has been illegal under federal law for decades? How is that ‘war on drugs” working out?
What about enforcement of existing immigration laws? My state has declared itself a “sanctuary” as have many many cities around the country. Here an employer can be fined $10,000 for allowing federal enforcement agents to inspect their compliance records (I-9) without a warrant.
Does popular sentiment dictate how well laws are able to be enforced?
Could gun friendly jurisdictions pass their own laws legalizing guns prohibited by federal law as states have done with marijuana?
This comment isn’t about the validity of drug or immigration laws or enforcement and I think gun control laws are needed.
I’m just wondering with such widespread opposition how they well they can/will be enforced.
Republicans better remember, these High School students were in grammar school when Sandy Hook occurred. They were old to enough to know about it, and old enough to know it could have been them. Their righteous anger has been building for five years and now a shooting DID happen to them. I will be joining whatever political party these kids start -- because we know there will be another massacre- in another school, maybe in another state-, it's only a matter of time.
3
I've heard t rump supporters say that "he's got IS on the run, we are finally winning the war on terrorism that Obama refused to fight".
Well, that's not really the case but lets focus on terrorism and its definition. It's definition was on full display last week in Parkland, FL as our children were scattering in the halls and cowering on the floors. As they watched their friends get mowed down.
Since the attacks on 9/11 there have been approx. 400 Americans killed by foreign "terrorists"; there have been 400,000 Americans killed by fellow Americans. "Thoughts and Prayers" follow each one of these deaths; but no real movement to fight the terrorists at the NRA.
The GOP is selling our Nation and our children down the drain to keep the donors in big oil, big pharma (opioid epidemic), big coal, and big guns happy and willing to send the GOP the 30 pieces of silver they demand for their treason.
We must vote for democrats across the board. It doesn't matter if yours is perfect; vote for them and then go about helping her/him see the light.
The republican traitors and their head need to be shown the darkness of political exile for the foreseeable future if this Nation is to endure.
1
Cameron Kasky and his classmates are an inspiration. I welcome their leadership and am eager to follow them in this great effort. Gun violence is a scourge in our society. People who glorify guns and gun violence are a toxin.
2
Social media is in fact an extremely valuable tool for political organization. It’s not just passive activism.
If you and the media bothered to pay
attention, you would know organizers of the women’s march used social media to organize not just a protest, but voter registration.
The original march in 2017 was in solidarity. But the anniversary women’s march in 2018 was the largest get out the vote effort this country has ever seen. The theme of the March was, “Power To The Polls. “. Yet the media totally missed it. Totally ignored it.
BTW, the only reason you’re even writing this article about the teens’ activism is they successfully created a national movement organizing through social media.
1
I get your drift Friedman, however you just don't understand. Young people do not function without social media period. Just because you and I hate it doesn't mean they are going to listen to our antiquated ideas. Let them do what they will and they will get more done than sitting down and listening to you.
Bravo! My Congressman is Bob Goodlatte, who spends his time avoiding his constituents and carrying Trump’s water. It’s also important to call out the army of people who have sold their souls by working in the White House and for people like Goodlatte. They are the systemic enablers.
1
OK, Kiddies. Let's step back from all the noise and realize for the moment
that nothing will be done because of the NRA. There is a way to reduce
school shootings that the NRA will support. In fact, they will promote it.
I call it Operation Shoot Back. Nothing will stop these loonies unless
they think they will be shot before they will kill a lot of people. You
get school boards to require some Administrators in every school to keep loaded weapons locked in their desks. And the students know it. If
a student comes on campus, with a weapon, concealed or not, they
face a citizen's arrest at gunpoint. If they come on shooting, they
face return fire. Operation Return Fire would need broad imple-
mentation and widespread publicity about the program and the
participating schools. Oh, the parents will scream "You're turning
our schools into armed camps". Would they rather have their
kids dead?
This is such an eloquent condemnation of all the GOP members who have gladly taken the NRA’s money and mutter “now is not the time to act” every time one of these horrific events occurs.
We must all continue to shine a spotlight on their hypocrisy.
3
It is more than their $174,000 job and free parking at the Reagan Airport' Here are some of the privileges Congressmen voted for themselves that ordinary citizens do not have.
1. Full pension for life after serving just a partial term.
2. Their children do not have to repay student loans.
3. They use taxpayer money to pay of sexual harassment suites that remain confidential.
4. They have an office and staff paid for with taxpayer money.
5. Many get campaign money support from the NRA and the Koch brothers
6. Their egos are satisfied by winning elections.
3
And good, affordable healthcare. In spite of being the victim of gun violence, we’ll likely never hear a peep out of Steve Scalise about and sensible gun legislation. He needs the NRA’s money to get re-elected as many times as possible so that he can benefit from the healthcare he’ll need for the rest of his life.
Thomas,
Please write about the Senate race here in Utah. It is a microcosm of what is happening in America. We have a high profile candidate, Mitt Romney, who is Not for gun control, who was supported with millions by the NRA in the past, running for a Senate seat here. Should he win? What message does that send our youth? We need to focus on this because it is so important.
#nomoregrievingmoms
#nomoredeadkids
3
It's sad that when kids grow up they have to see how craven and unjust people in power can become. But it's important to help them know that they can ake a difference in this world, and learning to speak up is part of making that difference.
2
Where can I donate money to support these kids? I want them to have all the resources they need to continue fighting.
5
Guns are useless without ammunition. Let's limit its manufacture and supply, and tax the daylights out of it.
7
It's a mental health problem: Guns are designed specifically to put holes into living things. People who enjoy doing that have mental health problems. People who believe they are safer in their homes with a gun, despite the statistics, have a mental health problem.
3
What we need is a lawsuit aimed directly at the Supreme Court that demands a solid definition for the phrase "A well-armed militia,". If gun owners were required to register their guns, perhaps insure them, and attend a Reserve weekend every six months to acclimate them to their role in defending the nation (rather than just satisfying their own fantasies of self-protection), they might be less inclined to possess and carry. Also, an organized militia could screen people for the type of weapon they possess.
3
Mr. Friedman. You forgot to mention the fantastic health care package (even the basic coverage of which they fought tooth and nail to take away even from their own voters) in addition to their $174,000 salary and the free parking at the airport.
5
They are doing it for more than $174,000. Our congressional representative, Michael McCaul, is worth around $300 million, having married an heiress to the Clear Channel fortune. For him, it's about power: maintaining it, by supporting hard-core Republican gerrymandering (and catering to the NRA), both of which keep him in his seat; and getting more of it, by stretching his tentacles into every corner of the military-industrial complex.
This power allows him to ignore his actual constituents, 35% of us who are Democrats, and 20% of us who are independents. He can pretend that we do not exist, since he can count on his wealth, his NRA donations, and gerrymandering, which will allow him to continue to amass even more wealth and power. Because is inextricably tied up with big business interests, he believes that his only obligation is to serve them. So Texans get the shaft: we have the highest maternal death rate in the country, one of the largest uninsured populations in the country, and we are now struggling with the consequences of unimpeded, unplanned growth, such as unaffordable housing, massive traffic congestion, no public transportation, and underfunded public institutions, from schools to hospitals.
This is what McCaul and his buddies want, because they now no longer even have to pay their fair share in taxes any more - and it's no skin off their noses if everyone else suffers because of it. He's embraced "greed is good" with every fiber of his being.
3
Thomas, this column is right on. It's all about money for Congressmen, and it's all about money for gun manufacturers. Cameron and his peers, with help from writers like you who have a pulpit, can be the catalyst for change, and all of the rest of us sane and concerned people must join you with our votes and our donations to anti-NRA candidates. The NRA is a pox on civilized society and must be destroyed, crushed, and eliminated. It is anti-American, anti-life, anti-progress, anti-human.
3
We have to counter NRA money. This piece is spot-on. Marches and rallies need to energize people to vote out NRA pawns and DONATE to their opposition and PACs devoted to funding gun change.
2
Thank you, Mr. Friedman. I am with you. In response to a recent message I received from our Senator Dean Heller focused on abortion, I responded to advise him that I am much more concerned with the lives of fully developed adults and that all women deserve the right to make their own very personal decisions about their health and life choices. Our safety and democracy today is threatened more by mass shootings and cyber-attacks from Russia. I also told my Senator what he needs to hear - that I will not support anyone running for office which accepts donations from or supports the NRA. They need to know that they shall pay a price for their culpability and inaction.
5
Although Mr. Friedman states, correctly, that the NRA problem is primarily a GOP problem, In Ohio the front-runner for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination recently issued a "gun safety" platform that neither bans assault weapons nor varies considerably from the bump stock and background check positions of Donald Trump. Richard Cordray, who resigned as chief federal consumer financial protection advocate and is now running for governor, successfully litigated in opposition to local assault weapons bans while Ohio Attorney General. His fulsome defense of the Second Amendment earned him an A rating from the NRA. We may have no choice, come November, in whether the incumbent governor - Democrat or Republican - is an NRA supporter. Gun rights financiers and the rural right have co-opted our choices.
7
Thomas Friedman misses an important point in blaming the failure to adopt gun control legislation solely on Republicans. Many Democrats, including leading figures in the party, have been very lax in support of effective gun control or, in some cases, have openly opposed it. For example, when Senator Dianne Feinstein - to her credit - proposed an assault weapons ban in the aftermath of the horrible shooting at Sandy Hook, 15 Democrats in the Senate voted against the bill. In addition, while right after Sandy Hook President Obama supported an assault weapons ban, he soon dropped the issue and went back to playing frequent rounds of golf instead of traveling through the country for as long as it takes to rally support for gun control. If we are ever going to have effective gun control legislation (a ban on the sale or possession of assault weapons and high capacity ammunition magazines), we need to replace Democratic politicians who don't work hard for gun control with those like Senator Feinstein who will.
1
Seems to me from up north of you, that unless you can stop the NRA from buying lawmakers with money for re-election campaigns, you are not going to be able to get lawmakers to support gun control/gun safety. You could start by publicizing the names of every politician of whatever stripe that takes money from the NRA.
3
Also: the redistricting of states by the GOP over the last has ensured that even if sane people run for office, and even if other sane people support and campaign for them, they won't win. The GOP has stacked all the cards against sanity and for far-right lunacy. Let's look at redlining, at re-redistricting and at the fact that state legislatures have been packed with extremists and courts with extremist judges who will all vote down the sane gun laws that most of us want. These students have a long fight ahead of them but they are going to make their future - and everyone else's - safer. I was a few years out of college when Columbine happened. It was unfathomable then and look at us now. Students' concerns should be about college, friends, parents, tests, getting our driver's licenses. But there is nothing - nothing - surprising about these students showing and making real their passionate, intelligent reactions to this and DOING SOMETHING. Because something needs to be done. And it will involve undoing the insidiousness of the GOP agenda. by voting out the extremists and returning state districts and state legislatures to ones that represent all of us, not just the minority of us who think kids getting gunned down in their schools is an OK trade for the ability to have an arsenal of guns to play with.
10
I completely agree, but I want to ask the simple question from my position:
How?
How do I enact these measures, in myself? I'm 27, living on barely $20K/year, fighting off mental illness, and working just to survive. I can't afford to put out the kind of money to support politicians to fight the NRA and other causes. In my area, Republican candidates are so entrenched, so sold out, that our hopes are stymied quick. Trying to use my little shout box and going to the polls when they open, making sure those around me are registered and educated is all I can afford on my pay and my mental stress.
If someone can point me in the direction of what I can do with what I have, I want to fight. I'm sick of our situation, and I want to do more than just live in my echo chamber and suffer. We can make America better by standing up to these bullies, but those of us in my position need help remembering how.
6
We all do what we can. Keep this in mind: Small measures can yield big results. Those kids that just raised over one million dollars in one day, for the March 24 rally in DC? When I looked at their fundraising site, it was primarily from many, many people donating about $20 or $30 each. And if you can't afford that right now? Perfectly ok! You perform some other action that doesn't involve a donation right now, that is within your means. Maybe it is voting and helping registering others to vote, which puts you ahead of people who don't even do that. All these small things add up!
2
Write letters to your lawmakers. Write letters to newspapers. Post as you just did. Think about finding a politician who supports gun control and stuff envelopes, put up signs, make coffee, answer the phone. Find something simple and helpful and work from there. Your voice, and vote, and passion and conviction all matter. It is what a living democracy is made of.
2
Talk to your friends and vote. Help register voters. And breathe. That is enough to do- and know that if we vote in force, millennials and Gen X outnumber the boomers for the first time in 2018- we can achieve some economic justice at long last if we all vote. Be well.❤️
1
I couldn't agree more. Yesterday I joined and donated to Everytown / Mom Demand Action for Gun Safety. I will be attending a local chapter meeting in 2 weeks and am heading to our state capitol tomorrow for a meeting. It's very close to becoming a "single issue" topic for me -- support sensible gun control or we will find someone who does. Small steps are insufficient, and all the reasons we hear why we can't do anything about this issue simply fuel my anger. Why not? We let the cat out of the bag when we let the ban on assault weapons expire. Let's fix it, now.
13
Thank you Mr. Friedman. However, I disagree with your premise that embarrassing those who allow this to continue is wasted breath. It is the one thing we have not done, at least not with a loud, unified & consistent voice. We must make it totally unacceptable (and public) for any politician who receives money and high marks from the NRA. Republicans have refused to listen to reason and will not until their failure to act becomes what will push them out of office. The NRA and gun lobby groups advocate for insidious laws that have gotten us to the point we are at now.
According to an article written by Michael Hiltzik of the LA Times on
Oct 03, 2017 the NRA gave to both parties. The Republicans received approximately $52,000,000. The Democrats (and this is NOT a misprint) $265. This is not direct gifts to the candidates but "independent expenditures" which means all money spent either for a candidate or a trying to defeat a candidate. The larger numbers are from research by The Center for Responsive Politics who compiled figures on the NRA's election spending for its Open Secrets website.
http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-nra-money-20171003...
It is time for Republicans to be held accountable.
8
The keys to the country lie in campaign finance reform, beginning with the reversal of Citizens United. At the moment, our cries fall on deaf ears simply because our representatives are being paid to ignore us over the needs of their donors.
Sure, the Democrats seem awesome right now, because they're the adversarial party, but they have their corporate donors, too. We have to elect representatives who will get in there and work to release Congress from the clutches of Corporate America so that the country belongs to the People in more than name only.
11
You really nailed it in this piece. This is really a David and Goliath fight, and it's going to take millions of Davids together to fight the NRA's money and political influence to change the laws. Do you know the NRA through their minions in Congress worked on legislation to make silencers legal? That was their response to the mass killings in Las Vegas.
4
Yes, and we need to up the rhetoric--
Nikolas Cruz is a soldier of the NRA and the Republican Party.
Stephan Paddock was a soldier of the NRA and the Republican Party.
Omar Mateen was a soldier of the NRA and the Republican Party.
Seung-Hui Cho was a soldier of the NRA and the Republican Party.
Adam Lanza was a soldier of the NRA and the Republican Party.
Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik were soldiers of the NRA and the Republican Party.
Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were soldiers of the NRA and the Republican Party.
James Eagan Holmes is a soldier of the NRA and the Republican Party.
Devin Patrick Kelley was a soldier of the NRA and the Republican Party.
Dylann Roof is a soldier of the NRA and the Republican Party.
And on and on...
7
Thomas observes: “And [ the NRA ] is there with bags of money and votes it uses to reward lawmakers who do its bidding and hurt those who don’t.”
So, yes the craven politicians could be voted out. But who chooses the candidates up for election? What are the choosers’ objectives?
There’s the rub. Trump’s opposition during the primaries were Carson, Cruz, Rubio etc, an uninspiring lot Trump trounced simply by sneering at them.
Billionaires chose buyable weak candidates: the voters play eenie -meenie-miney-moh.
3
Now we have Trump offering crumbs to the kids to shut them up - it has to go through Congress to change and the NRA has a stranglehold on those folks. Donald will continue to let the NRA do whatever it wants - remember it's all about the $30 MILLION the NRA gave Donnie for the election. Remember Donnie's own sons want silencers to be LEGAL. Why do we need silent guns? Aren't they bad enough as is?
4
Republicans have not "sold their soul to the NRA." Congressional Republicans and a smaller number of Democrats take NRA money because they actually believe-in and support the organization's libertarian gun ideology. The proof is in the pudding: show me a congressional NRA patsy that hasn't cheerfully demagogued gun rights among his or her constituents.
Liberals have difficulty believing that seemingly sane people like Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell can believe all the gun fetishist absurdities. But indeed they do. Paul Ryan said as much only a few days ago warning that he would oppose any measure that would infringe on "individual rights." NRA ideology is simply a species of a right-wing, populist libertarianism that dominates the Republican Party and most affluent white communities.
So don't knock Facebook. Republican pols aren't representing the NRA - they're representing the opinion of their constituents. Directly confronting the cancer of libertarian ideology among your friends and associates is an important way we can begin changing those opinions.
3
Facts: NRA has approximately seven million members, there are over four hundred million American; approximately 3% of Americans own the majority of guns. See? They are not the majority, they are well organized and have the backing of right wing fringe groups and now also, they have Russian Bots as comrades!
2
Ryan? McConnell? All the rest of you? Any temptation toward actual leadership yet?
5
100% brass tacks. Thank you Mr. Friedman.
3
Just one very wealthy person could match NRA spending and influence elections. They could pay candidates the same amount of money the NRA does to vote the opposite of NRA platform. This wouldn’t work in the most gerrymandered states, but it’s worth trying. Bill Gates, you could combine gun safety with your worthy funding of education in our country.
7
You know what would really get in the NRA's face? Photos and video images of those 20 kindergarteners and 14 high schoolers cut to ribbons by those guns. Too much, you say? I think not. Right now, the only images we see on television and other news sources are candlelight vigils, kids streaming out of classrooms with hands in the air, or sobbing parents in the parking lot. It makes the reality of what happened to those children remote, unreal, and hypothetical. Which allows us all to shrug our shoulders and do nothing. Here's what I suggest: for every school shooting that happens from now on, TV, internet, and printed news sources all have a duty to relax their publishing/broadcast standards to show the aftermath. To show the blood spilled and the lives cut short. I guarantee you the visual evidence of the damage will make every politician in America distance themselves from the NRA in a heartbeat.
5
Thank you, Mr. Friedman. You articulated my and my feelings.
3
One of the most productive things that the youth of Florida can do is become more actively involved with the bipartisan efforts of Campaign to Defend Local Solutions ( http://defendlocal.com/about/ ). This effort is "...a non-partisan, grassroots coalition of local mayors, commissioners, community leaders, and people like you. And we’re defending your right to have local solutions to local problems." Protest nationally, protest in Tallahassee, but local policy changes can be most productive, IF you get your rights back by overturning the FL preemption laws.
3
For decades Conservatives have shortchanged living children while vociferously supporting pro-life candidates. Sponsored by big oil and gas and the NRA they spew fake messages of Christianity, morality, family values, patriotism, so effective they rule Congress and most state governments. Public schools have suffered, children's mental health funding has plateaued, and assault weapons, cherished by the Right gun down children in copy cat madness. Time for change.
5
Facebook, like patriotism, is the last vestige of scoundrels. Forget Zukerberg and all other dubious fly-by-night web sites. They are at the very bottom of places one should go to seek out real news.
Go to the tried and true, to prestigious papers like The Times and The Post, to the broadcast networks, including PBS and the BBC. Just because a web site looks professional means nothing. Web sites are designed to deceive.
That is why Facebook is now demanding verification of customers be made by, guess what, good old-fashioned snail mail. You remember that? The United States Postal System. A right which was guaranteed in our Constitution, it's been around since our country's inception. It is the most reliably secure, safe system we have. It is subject to government regulation. And yes, it has been under attack by Republicans who think because it's bleeding money, it should be abandoned to private enterprises. This is typical Republican nonsense. Be assured, the USPS is the most trusted depository for mail we have.
DD
Manhattan
3
FBI agents (and IRS investigators) get a salary bump for taking their weapon home. Somewhere around 10 percent.
1
Here is a note I just sent to my US Representative. If it's money they want, maybe this could work. We have to outbid the NRA!
Dear Ms. Stefanik,
I see that you have been bought by the NRA for $7,179. As one of your constituents, I would like to inquire whether you might be open to an alternative offer, say, $10,000, in exchange for which you would return the NRA's $7,179 and publicly advocate for the outlawing of assault guns in the hands of the public.
My syndicate might also be interested in whether, for an additional fee, you would denounce President Donald Trump for being the disgraceful embarrassment to our country that he is. I would welcome your proposal.
8
May Cameron and his generation continue to be active at the national, state, and local level. Social media can be a mobilizing force, yet we know it's been compromised, so keep an eye on it, but avoid letting it be your sole window on the world.
Meet the world face-to-face, in real time, by visiting your Congressperson at their local office, by making contributions--whatever the size--to people running for office at all levels. Hop on the word processor and send an elected official a well-composed letter by snail mail (I recall when I got a promotion in my organization and a colleague sent me a hand-written note of congratulations. I still have it) Instead of watching the city commission meeting on an internet video feed, go there in person.
The world functions best in real time with real people, face to face. That can make a mockery of those scurrilous Russian bots and trolls...and members of Congress who take big money from one-issue lobbyists who want them to take intractable positions on their behalf.
3
Thank you, Thomas Friedman, for putting so beautifully into words what everyone should know by now--and giving us the words to use as we speak to our friends and neighbors about gun control and the NRA.
I am printing out your editorial; I am memorizing your phrases; I will not be caught speechless in the face of this evil.
1
The "bad guys" are the 60 million who voted for Trump, most of whom are gun owners and many of whom support the NRA. The belief-based Republican party provides perfect cover for them. They will not listen, don't care and justify everything they do with the ultimate delsuion: religion.
3
I wonder how these "believers" might answer God someday as to what they did to prevent the mass murdering of children. I doubt if God would understand defending their second amendment rights.
I cringe whenever I hear the press refer to this shooter as a "man". He was only 19, and clearly had not matured to a anything that should qualify him as a man. In our society, a person at his age cannot walk into a bar and order a drink, or could not rent a car, because they would be considered too young. But he can buy 10 military-style weapons and as much ammo as he wanted, despite his age and his long documented history with mental illness related trouble. Florida legislators are now considering raising the age to legally buy tobacco products to 21, yet have essentially no limits on mentally ill 19 years who want to buy weapons of mass destruction. Shame on them, and shame on the NRA.
2
There are a number of truly bad actors engaged in corrupting our political system and destroying our democracy, including the members of the Supreme Court who opened the flood gates with Citizens United that allow greedy, self-serving, and unscrupulous entities such as the Koch Brothers and the NRA to despoil everything they touch.
Then, we have the enablers of this entire monstrosity, our feckless and spineless members of Congress. Why would they want to change a system from which they benefit financially and otherwise? Barring a crisis on the level of the Great Depression, I don't see how there can be any meaningful change to this monstrosity.
2
Two words: Term Limits.
5
If this isn't David and Goliath, what is? Can you young activists try putting the shoe on the other foot and demanding of gun advocates an explicit defense of why anyone in this or any country outside the military should own an assault weapon? The Florida shooter was a trained shooting member of ROTC, as was one of those students killed. That bare fact and the lack of any effective gun control epitomizes the insanity of our current situation. I wish you good luck against the huge moneyed forces of the NRA and the politicians they own.
3
Grassroots activism leading to ballot measures, taking a play from the marriage equality playbook, is the way to go here, as well as voting the NRA thugs out of office and replacing them. Going State by State with ballot measures and then taking challengers to state supreme courts and/ or Federal Supreme Court will get us out of the realm of arguing about terms and waiting for congress to act. Let’s collectively take our power back and ban automatic weapons outright.
2
its time to start to challenging the embedded myths purported by the NRA. For example can someone shown us pictures of a deer, rabbit or some other poor hunted animal that has been pulverized by an AR. After all isn't the primary argument behind owning an AR all about hunting? So far Ive only seen them used to hunt people particularly school aged people. How about the underlying rational that gun possession is primarily for the protection of families. How is the current legislation to have the right to have a gun strapped to my waist from state to state protecting ones family? If my family lives in New York and Im flying to Texas with my gun strapped strapped to my waist how is this protecting my family? I'm for the second amendment but not the lies, insanity and killings that has become the NRA a once respected organization.
2
Get candidates for congress this year to go on record whether they have accepted NRA funds. If so, don't vote for them. Need to make NRA an albatross for candidates by public shaming.
3
Interesting contrast to David Brook's piece yesterday about respect, and then gun control.
2
You missed a spot. The column is right on, as is all your work, but the perk these guys get that frustrates me the most is what I've understood to be their lifetime pensions: serve just one two-year term in Congress and get full pay for life, thanks, quite literally, to me...and you and every taxpayer. It would be wonderful to throw a bright light on this aspect of their hypocrisy, as they muck around with the pensions--read Social Security and Medicare--of others who have worked a lifetime to deposit part of their earnings into a system these fractional humans want to damage or destroy in the high-sounding name of 'entitlement reform.' Let them start with their own entitlements or else, as you say here, let them feel the electoral pain.
3
Mr. Friedman is right to tell Cameron to vote, not just tweet. He is also right to (finally) declare that it is the Republicans who are responsible for the sad state of affairs we find ourselves in. Perhaps he should communicate this to the editors of the NYTimes the next time they decide to declare that a truth shading Democratic Presidential candidate is equivalent to a pathological liar running as the Republican Presidential candidate.
2
"When these G.O.P. lawmakers are alone at home contemplating the pictures of all these kids gunned down in Florida — thinking about what it’d be like to be one of their parents — plenty of them probably feel filthy for doing the N.R.A.’s bidding."
Well, Tom, the problem is that they don't. They don't look at the pictures. They don't think about the lives ended prematurely or the families torn apart. The victims are someone else's kids. The families are someone else's families. You are entirely correct that they respond to the money, because that's where the votes are. But I think you give them far too much credit when you characterize them as even remotely troubled by the carnage. "Family values," religious probity, fiscal responsibility--those were (and are) simply campaign slogans, not policy considerations. The GOP has about as much genuine allegiance to those ideas as it does to Russia and Russian values.
Oh wait; I got that wrong. It probably doesn't have as much allegiance as it does to the Russian operative who now occupies the White House.
3
The NRA is a 501c3 organization. Its political contributions would suggest a violation of the rules for maintaining that status. Perhaps a way to affect the NRA's bottom line would be for the IRS to rescind its 501c3 status.
3
If the voting public could only see what an AR-15 with a .233 caliber bullet does to human flesh, we would have a ban in a matter of weeks. I know this sounds gruesome, but as the saying goes, " a picture is worth a thousand words".
2
As much as I would like to agree with you I don't think appealing to the hearts and conscience of these people would do any good. People ho use AR15s know exactly what happens when living tissue meets an AR15.
Thomas Friedman... great article, as usual!! PLEASE, though... tell us HOW to "get out of Facebook and into someone’s face: the N.R.A.’s." What suggestions do you have for how we can most effectively launch an arm-chair assault on the NRA? We all know that social media is great for organizing marches and other campaigns, but believe me... we would do MORE if we knew HOW.
I'm sure you've thought this through... point us in the right direction so we can ensure our voices are heard!
3
One of your best in years.
1
Agreed. It can’t be said enough. For all those who spend hours on Facebook, listen to Mr. Friedman. You are living in a virtual world with little or no consequence. Get out, make physical contact, and make your time count.
2
I find it difficult to tolerate the conservative logic that all life is sacred from conception to the grave but yet it supports the availability of assault rifles primarially used to kill innocents. Equally as hard for me to bear is the liberal view that abortion is a woman's right to end life but assault rifles are so abhorrent.
4
" . . . evangelicals have been telling us for decades that life is so sacred the G.O.P. must oppose abortion — even in the case of rape, incest or risk to the mother’s life."
But life isn't so sacred to them that they give a flip for women's lives, especially women who've been raped, subjected to incest, or who might die because of a pregnancy that shouldn't have been allowed to continue. They DON'T care about life. They care only about having power over other people. And the GOP is the same. Vote out all Republicans. Read the article in The Atlantic by two conservatives who are calling on everyone, including other conservatives, to boycott the GOP at every level of government.
2
The Republican Party/Trump/N.R.A. triumvirate are organized, amoral and well armed. Young people must be wary as they proceed. A successful movement will lead to violent resistance from triumvirate followers instructed and energized via the Fox propaganda machine.
2
Mr. Friedman you forgot another major element in the congresspersons perk: free health care.
2
Keep telling the stories of the students fighting back against the NRA. By giving these young people who speak out prominence in the media -- you provide a much needed counter balance to our culture's hyper focus on violence. These students deserve our attention and I couldn't be prouder to see them take the politicians on. The power of words and convictions is amazing.
155
Fear is a powerful weapon; but these brave students are not afraid! They need the support of educated, voting citizens to get into the N.R.A.'s face! The kids know the fear associated with classroom lock-downs, code red drills, hiding in closets, last minute cell-phone texts to parents and loved ones. They are no longer going to put up with these threats because they know they have a right to be educated in a safe, free, and secure environment. As this article explains, if there is anything more aggravating to the N.R.A., it would be opening up a debate, with lots of media attention, about the connection between guns, money and the Second Amendment. There are plenty of us adults willing to help these kids succeed in their mission.
2
So, a relatively small special interest group with access to large sums of cash can use that money to amplify their message and influence lawmakers to support them and legislatively overwhelm an opposing view of the vast majority of citizens in a democracy.
Are you listening SCOTUS? How does that Citizens United decision feel now?
3
Hard to understand how common sense gun safety laws would hurt politicians more than having to defend voting for the right to buy semi automatic assault weapons no background checks etc. If the NRA wants it and the public still votes them into office then I don't have an answer.
1
The NRA is, in reality, a shill for the gun manufacturers. This in no way undercuts Mr. Friedman’s excellent essay. But we should begin to look at the problem from the standpoint of supply—the real bringers of death are the makers, packagers, shippers, and sellers of the engines of death. We circumscribe the activities of other manufacturers. Let us go after the love interest of the NRA.
2
If liability laws changed so that gun and ammo manufacturers and sellers could be held financially accountable for damages, an industry similar to the asbestos litigation industry could start, and this would result in a permanent counter to the NRA. Politicians will always be subject to the influence of lobby money; we need an industry with as much fervor and financial motivation as the gun lobby to level the playing field.
"This is not about persuading people with better ideas. We tried that. It’s about generating raw electoral power and pain."
Amen.
1
Assuming nothing is accomplished in Florida, after Orlando, and still standing ground after this one, these killings might be cataloged and quantified for keeping track of, to measure the degree of carnage. If people approach this problem like the inevitability of earthquakes, then magnitude of the shock will be quantified scientifically. The implication is that it will take a “magnitude 7” on that type of scale to move AR-15 into debate off of its power perch, and into the empowered hands of people tired of being victimized, and then they can finally act like they mean business. Critical mass ratio of public attitude for change on this issue will be horrific if this is the way it evolves.
In short, public opinion can be changed, no question about it-- think Viet Nam war, auto safety, environment, civil rights, cigarettes, LGBT rights, women's rights. If I had a billion or so to invest in our country, I'd hire a large sophisticated advertising firm and consultants in poly sci, socio, psych; involve the major non-profits focused on the issue and plan to spend 5-10 years in order to change attitudes and US laws pertaining to weapons. Maybe the Gates or Warren Buffet might be interested in my plan? Doesn't sound like our govt will do anything voluntarily.
There is a US constitutional right to bear arms? Please provide the list of the "militias" arms bearers belong to. And, the interpretation of the US constitution is a historical anomaly: did the ruling classes in any nation, and at any time in history, want the populace armed? Any more than the plantation owners wanted the slaves armed?
If the US ruling class has been successful in destroying the unions, can they do the same to the NRA? Ban it as a terrorist organization?
Thomas, an improvement over your last column: so the Russians are not the main danger to our democracy, the financing of politics, among other self imposed dangers, is?
Your next columns: (1) in what ways do we remain a democracy, and ways we have destroyed it? (2) The history of US promotion of democracy in the World, successes and failures?
1
Suppose we were living with a 200 year old Constitutional Amendment which read "A well regulated cavalry being vital to the protection of the Nation, the right of the people to keep horses shall not be infringed". Would I be able to have a horse in my backyard in Scarsdale, or my Trump Park Avenue apartment?
4
If your horse killed 17 people and injured 16 others, in a matter of minutes, the answer is no.
Some years ago I heard someone, who may or may not have been affilliated with the NRA (memories fade), that victims of gun violence were "collateral damage" for the protection of the Second Amendment. I was sickened. This is not the NRA my generation grew up with, it is not the GOP I grew up with. I divorced myself from both over a generation ago. I encourage anyone with a soul and a conscience to do the same.
One root of the problem is that in our society - life is cheap, if not valueless. It's in our culture, our entertainment, our government. Gunning down people is somehow seen as okay. Movie stars do it all the time. Shootings are in the news way too often. Guns have a fetish quality to make the owner feel supreme over others who have no apparent value. We need to reverse that attitude.
$174,000 jobs and free parking at Reagan National Airport plus perks. Ryan gets to fly home in private planes at taxpayer expense because of being third in line to the Presidency and he also gets a bonus as Speaker. Soon he will retire and go to work for the Kochs for millions per year, plus his retirement pay from his years in Congress. He won't care about Social Security because he has never paid into it as someone who has only had government jobs all his life. Then there are probably lots of invitations to stay at expensive resorts paid for by American oligarchs for "conferences." Remember all those trips taken by Scalia and Thomas to stay at private estates to be wined and dined? Never underestimate what these government officials will do to keep their expensive privileges. And I haven't even mentioned the Donald's three million dollar weekends at Mar-a-Lago.
1
The NRA will not change. What must change are the representatives of the people. The republican party has done as much as it can to suppress the voters in many states, including Florida. Their gerrymandering has made districts that encourage extremism, and the NRA are the vanguard of extremism.
The congressmen and women who come from these districts know that if they fail to toe the NRA line, then the NRA will nominate another republican to defeat them in a primary, a primary where almost half of the voters will not be allowed to vote. Instead a core group of single issue voters will nominate a candidate that represents not even a majority of the republican party, but an extremist minority. And that person will then go on to win the general election because the district is carved out so that almost any republican would win.
The struggle to end the NRA's hold on the republican party is the struggle to return our system to democracy.
1
OK-so we are talking about money and the venality of electoral finance. A Congress Rep, $174K and free parking-silly sounding. Yet it really is if you look at the numbers.
$203 mil over 19 yrs in contributions- about $20 mil a year. What is the total U.S. school student population? I have no idea-but for ease and argument,say 20 mil. So, for a buck a year the students themselves can collectively weigh in to match the NRAs influence. Big money has the loudest voice in the room right now-that is our reality. We can use our superior numbers to work together and simply buy our own Members of Congress. Can you imagine the day when most of the congressional delegation from Texas are jostling before the TV cameras to argue for more gun controls.
To put it another way, if a member of the House of Representatives lost an election he/she would be out on the street looking for a job. Unless he had a law degree, he could very well end up flipping burgers at In & Out. In short, the majority members of congress have very little to fall back on in regard to career. Unlike our senators who for the most part, I believe, are genuinely smart and talented. The world's greatest deliberative body and all. Though, to be honest, I'm starting to have my doubts the way some of them kiss the ring of the NRA and kowtow to Trump. The solution is to get out and VOTE. While we still can.
Well said. Let’s remember, however, that $174,000is a drop in the bucket to what they’re pocketing in perks and power and back-room money. Look at their net worths. This is, and always has been, about money - pots and pots of it.
1
Why don’t we all join the NRA? The NRA claims to have about 5 million members. What would happen to their political power if more than 5 million Americans- who happen to favor firearm regulation – were to join the group? One could make the case that power of the NRA could shift from NO regulation to LOTS of regulation. The annual fee is $30. Could the NRA be turned around for an investment of only 150 million dollars?
1
A better investment will be to donate that $30 per person to candidates who are committed to cleaning up the society from big guns and investigate NRA for its Russian connections. Finally, Make sure to Vote. In the biggest democracy, India, every adult is automatically on the Voter roll and more than 75% people vote in every election.
The richest democracy doesn’t come any where close to it. Political parties should have no say in districting and voter registration issues. It should be the responsibility of non-partisan Election Commissions. If we don’t preserve democracy, it will definitely be taken over by Oligarchs.
I too have been inspired by the reaction of the surviving students in Parkland, and I hope they continue organizing and pressuring elected officials. Based on the previous success of campaigns against smoking and drunk driving, I think their actions need to be supplemented by advertising to keep us all thinking about the horror of American gun violence.
People should consider an economic effect on the states and lawmakers that have shown a lack of commitment to stricter gun restrictions. Boycott travel and vacation, conventions, meetings, business, etc in those areas, and make it known to their economic leaders that we will continue these efforts (and spread this message to others!) until they get this message. Let's not just get in the face of the NRA, let's get in the face of the lawmakers who support them as well.
1
The overwhelming majority of states have more relaxed gun restrictions than Massachusetts. A California, NY, and Massachusetts boycott of the rest of America wouldn't change very much.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2015/10/07/gun_control_laws_by_st...
There's something else the victims of gun tragedy can do to help defeat the NRA: Make their presence known. Every time we walk past the home of someone who lost a loved one to gun violence, we need to see it and know it. Every day on the streets, in cafes and restaurants, in workplaces, we need to see multiple people wearing pins or bracelets or something that we all come to know marks them as personal, direct victims of gun tragedy - people with a loved one killed or permanently disabled. There are millions of such people, probably of the U.S. population. If we saw every day that at least one such person was often within earshot, then for many people NRA membership would be admitted only in hushed tones. For politicians an "A" NRA grade would become a death knell. We need to see the victims around us all the time - which thjey really are - not just images on a screen when a tragedy is in the news. The effect would be profound.
1
A disillusioning lesson that comes with life experience is that change in society has to run through the rapids of politics. It's inevitable. Having said that, I would gently caution Cameron against alienating any segment of society unnecessarily, in this case those who believe that the unborn are also human. The critical issue here is getting the government to ban semi-automatic weapons from sale to civilians and getting as many people as possible on board with that is the way to do it.
Thank you Thomas Friedman for another brilliant, right on target piece of writing.
To those brave, courageous youth who are bringing the fight against the NRA/bought politicians to the forefront know that it was the youth of the 60's who brought down the Viet Nam war and exposed the greed and money being made by continuing the war.
You are the hope and the power for ending the gun insanity in this country.
All true: protests, parades, petitions and polls all pale before electoral results - the only official scorecard of our politics.
But "raw electoral power" - the power of the votes (and the voters) - depends upon those votes being counted as cast. And that - in an age and an arena where ethical standards and bright lines are all but nonexistent (competitors juice and dope to win baseball games or the Tour de France - do you really believe that the likes of Rove and Stone, or even the "Russians," would draw the line at elections?) - means counted observably in public, not in the pitch-dark of partisan and proprietary cyberspace.
So if we want to send the NRA and its shills packing - and rescue our nation more generally - our first and most essential battle must be to restore transparent and honest vote-counting to our elections.
2
The major opinion writers in the media should be talking about repealing the 2nd amendment. It may take 20 years but without repeal we will never be able to talk about firearms and ammo on their own merits since the 2nd will be an argument ender fallback position. Most things in our live: drugs, tobacco, drinking, driving etc... are regulated based on its merits and changes as society changes. In 21st century America we are ruled by a 2nd amendment written in the 18th century when all that existed were muzzel loaders. Did the founders really intend to value weapons of mass destruction over our lives?
2
@Richard, Thomas Jefferson wrote the below words. So yes, at least some founders would have been just fine with citizens having access to military firearms.
"I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical. Unsuccessful rebellions indeed generally establish the encroachments on the rights of the people which have produced them. An observation of this truth should render honest republican governors so mild in their punishment of rebellions, as not to discourage them too much. It is a medicine necessary for the sound health of government."
"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."
There is a scene in the movie The Patriot near the end when Mel Gibson returns to the fight and picks up the flag from a fallen colonial and charges toward the British. As I read Friedman's article about the young and the NRA's guns my thoughts went back to the millennials and generation Z -(who are today's high school studentws.
If those two generations don't pick up the flag, if the millennials don't run for office or at the very least - vote, and if the kids in generation Z don't pick up after the millennials and carry on their efforts then we will be talking about guns and the Second Amendment for another 100 years. It is unfortunate that we have to thrust those two generations into the mix and mess before they are ready, but we adults (that is almost becoming an oxymoron) have forced them to be ready to take charge.
What seems to be missing from the conversation is the "straw purchasing" of guns. In addition to a possible 10-year prison sentence for the dealer, if caught...how about adding..."with no possiblity of parole." In addition, a six-figure fine should also part of the punishment. A dealer could probably antyup a lesser $5,000 or $10,000 fine, but a $100,000+ penalty could possibly make the dealer think twice about breaking the law and opt out of this illegal trade.
2
The AR 15 is a military weapon. Military weapons are designed to efficiently kill enemy soldiers. It breaks my heart to see the photos of the children whose lives have been cut short by these incredibly effective rifles, torn apart in the most appalling manner by these military killing machines. Legislators should be forced to see the crime scene photos of each of these children so they can witness and understand the hideous damage a high velocity military weapon can inflict on the human body, which is the sole purpose of their design. They should be banned, period, but until the public and legislators actually see what they are designed to do--how they kill--no march, no letter, no speech will stop this totally senseless carnage.
What happened at Parkland is NOT going to stay at Parkland. This latest of too many outrageous incidences of slaughter of innocents has sparked a brush fire and ignited the feelings all have had during this long slog from Columbine to the present. These students at Parkland are to be encouraged, applauded and supported as they begin the campaign for immediate and strong actions to the absurdity of our current gun lobby and the part of the NRA in this travesty of so-called support for the 2nd Amendment. Friedman takes it to the heart of the legality and how the NRA has managed it: money to be put in the pockets of legislators with their $174,000 job and free parking at Reagan National Airport.
Only when they fear for their lives, will things change. By they, I mean lawmakers, power brokers, those who hold the reins by virtue of their wealth. That may be literally fearing for their safety or fearing for their jobs, money and financial security.
The NRA is the moneyed mouthpiece of the firearms industry as well as for the dimwit zealots who insist that owning military firearms is the only way to prevent the government from taking their freedom...a superstition devoid of intelligence and fact. What they really mean is that killing children and young adults in schools is the acceptable collateral damage that comes with their superstition ...although they will never own it.
Denial of this is pointless and dishonest. It's not possible for almost anyone to easily obtain military assault weapons and also prevent what is taking place weekly in schools and elsewhere in this declining society. No other democratic modern society allows this insane pretense to exist, and the results in the US are obvious and undeniable. The dimwit zealots say we need more armed citizens, a fact-free assertion that only the truly extreme and superstitious could ever actually say and believe.
Time to push back and make sure any legislator who allows the NRA to prevent sensible gun control will lose their job, their salary and their parking place. The revenge for allowing children to die from assault weapons in schools should be swift and complete. We owe them at least this.
Eclectic Pragmatism — http://eclectic-pragmatist.tumblr.com/
Eclectic Pragmatist — https://medium.com/eclectic-pragmatism
3
wow. what else can we do.
Outstanding.
2
Responsible gun owners need to put their money where their mouth is. Pete Brownell is president of the NRA. He owns a big gun and gun accessory store called Brownells. Responsible gun owners should boycott Brownells until the NRA backs meaningful gun control. And any college, community or non-profit that accepts money from Brownells should be outed for doing so. That money is stained by the blood of school children!
3
Well said.
BRILLIANT!
2
But I am still going to post this article on Facebook...
3
Right on!!! Keep it up kids, Cameron and Thomas Friedman and don't forget to add they all also get the most comprehensive Medical plans on the American Peoples dime................I plan to make it a requisite for my next votes that the candidate does NOT receive money from the NRA!!!!!!
Follow the money.....5 million NRA members, $203M in political contributions.... an average $40M per member. This is about more than gun rights.
1
Vote for candidates who publicly and loudly denounce the NRA and its blood money they use to bribe spineless politicians. Vote for candidates who have never accepted money from the NRA. Vote for candidates who pledge never to touch one thin dime of NRA money.
Vote against any candidate who has ever accepted NRA money with the exception of a politician who gave back the money and publicly and loudly denounces the NRA.
2
We need to run candidates that will oppose them and tell the NRA and their Dark Money to GO HOME! Then vote them OUT!
I see a WAVE and it is the 16-18 year olds (and the generations behind them) ...soon to vote.
Time for the Change and "NEVER AGAIN" movement to pick up speed.
2
Here's to Tom Frriedman, Cameron Kasky, and all those young people. For some time, I've thought that only the young could save America--as the young of the 60s once did. Now, they are awakening. Watch out NRA, DJT, GOP, and any others who put $$$$ and personal power above democracy, community, good lives for all.
4
The NRA is a terrorist organization, pure and simple. With it's false mantra of "freedom" it suppresses common-sense regulations of guns that are killing and maiming our young people and whipping up a frenzy of fear that "they are coming for your guns" They used this against Obama to boost gun sales and it worked beyond anyone's wildest expectations. EXCEPT, he never came after their guns! The cycle of fear and violence is a cancerous tumor that destroys all in it's wake and makes mankind a mockery of it's better self. Australia instituted gun control measures and it's rate of gun deaths has fallen 90% We can buy back weapons of war and give/sell them to the Military, a win-win situation. BUT, do we have the will and common sense to do so or will the gun lobbyists continue to take away OUR rights to freedom and safety in our homes and in our communities?
Vote OUT every politician that has taken blood money from the NRA!
1
Their other God is money/power. They sell their soul for those perks.
$174,000 and free parking! Are you kidding?! They are getting a lot more than that from the NRA and others who gain from the status quo on guns. Our nation has a blind spot when it comes to guns. We are obsessed! I call it the”cowboy” gene. Yes, it allowed us to expand westward- but we never outgrew the mythology and we allow the gene to remain active. I would call it a national psychosis - national mental illness - fueled by $$$$. It’s way past time to get healthy as a nation. We all say as individuals, “if you don’t have your health nothing else matters.” Well, the same applies to our country - and not just on guns - but let’s include health care in general. Our shared identity should be our striving for “cures.” The first step is to be honest about the nature of the “virus.”
1
Friedman is turned on in his last couple of columns. His righteous indignation pours out in this piece against those who protect their jobs--$174,000 in pay and free parking at the airport! Rightly, his anger is directed more at Republicans who owe their political lives to the N.R.A. The fresh energy for change is coming from our young people. May all of us step out of the shadows and join them. The power of the N.R.A. resides in the ballot box. Its power can be broken by voting. Let's cut off the snake's head and the rest will die.
While I still support gun control, I no longer see it as the solution.
After the Vegas incident I realized the obvious— the people doing the mass shootings are not random people. They are predominantly white males —in the past mostly older and now younger (perhaps copying the older). They are not African Americans, Muslims but predominantly white males. So the question is why are white males unraveling— what social/psychological issues are causing them to gravitate to committing these horrific acts. Perhaps the NRA with its mostly white male membership could help tackle this problem—from the psychological perspective. Forgetting gun control for a minute, would the NRA want to help avoid future massacres by studying what drives white men to mass killings.
1
An how much money did the NRA get from Russia? Quite a lot I believe. Wasn’t it $ 30M?
After Tallahassee a march on the NRA headquarters might be necessary.
Many Americans would join the students on their campaigns if our added numbers would be helpful.
1
It's amazing how effective $10,695,00 spent a year by the NRA has been. How cheaply the people's representatives are bought.
1
Tom
It’s not about the $174k job and free airport parking. It’s about the $1 million plus job AFTER Congress when you do the bidding of the NRA, the Koch Brothers, the Mercers and Sheldon Adelson.
Please. Bribery is rampant.
1
The solution is to Repeal the Second. Get used to it. LIve it.
$174,000, the parking space, and the and the ego stroke of naked power.
Another rant by Tom. Tom, the Dems were in power for 8 years. What did they do to try to deal with guns? Nothing. Zero. Obama gave up. There's plenty of blame to go around. Blaming the GOP isn't going to solve the problem.
1
Drain the Treasury of the NRA by compelling this Organization to pay for
transporting, treating, hospitalizations, rehabilitations and counselings
for the damages done to surviving assault weapons victims.
1
In an episode of the "The West Wing" a character asks of another "Why don't five million gun control advocates join the NRA, and then shut it down..." No answer was forthcoming. It's time to ask that question again. Imagine all the living victims of gun violence sending Wayne LaPierre packing, and putting the gun lobbyists of K street out of a job.
Just imagine.
Remembering the Civil Rights Movement was mainly a movement of young people who ended American apartheid, these committed young people can change the world, and we elders have got to help in any way possible.
Do not vote for any candidate who takes NRA money.
3
Vote like your life depends on it - because it does.
1
In the 60's we were into the face of our government on its Viet Nam policy by burning "draft cards". Is it possible in today's enviroment, that just maybe "thinking" members of the NRA would stage a similar demonstration denouncing the NRA by publicly burning their "NRA membership cards".
Tom, keep talking about these things. In fact suggest to papers that carry your columns to display them in more conspicuous spaces, oft times on the front page whenever they find it timely and compelling, like your last op-ed piece was, too.
Good for Tom Friedman.
He has finally recovered his moral compass from the dark days when he said he didn't care whether Saddam Husein had WMD or not.
Keep up the good work, Tom!
Bravo Bravo, well said-this gun cult in America is unheard of in every other country in the world-we are spoiled.
Quit talking about the NRA. They're just the tools of the gun manufacturers who care about profit before all else! Citizens are just fodder to them. Politians just someone to payoff as a cost of doing business. Remington, Colt, Ruger, Smith and Wesson, Sig Sauer, Savage and on and on. Green money soaked in red blood.
No sane, reasonable person needs an AR 15 in their home. Why should we let the unreasonable ones in our society continue to threaten the rest of us?
Linda Selvia
It's time for a national moratorium similar to the Vietnam protests, in which students and teachers walk out, and are joined in massive marches across the country to make it clear that this is no longer tolerable. Instead of flaunting an A plus from the NRA, let's make our representatives ashamed of it-- a badge of craven cowardice, greed, and opportunism. Name and shame them!
1
I’m doing just that. Headed to Washington DC on the 24th to March with these kids. I think there’s a fire here that they have lit and I want to watch it burn down the ties the NRA has in our government.
To my mind the NRA should be treated no differently from a criminal syndicate, which promotes violence and uses standover tactics to intimidate politicians who oppose its political agenda. It may have been tried before but how about naming and shaming the key figures in the NRA itself; expose their lifestyles; their sources of income and their political links – such as those established with the Russian gun activist and deputy governor of the Russian Central Bank, Alexander Torshin in 2016. How much Russian money is flowing into the coffers of the NRA?
Maybe Everytown and other gun safety advocates should start openly outbidding the NRA for the souls (I mean votes) of representatives. Even though they are technically “our” representatives, elected to protect and primote “our” health, safety, and welfare,” every politician who takes NRA money is violating our sacred trust.
We should start asking, before every vote, if the wannabe politician will “Take The Pledge” to accept NO NRA money. If not, if they so admit that their oath of office is open for bids, safety advocates should just outbid the NRA. “What’s the price of your vote, Marco Rubio?”
Another effective strategy would be to loudly publicize, for each politician, the dollar amount of the value of the lives of its constituents: the total NRA contribution accepted divided by the number of gun victims in that voting district. “What are children worth to you, Marco Rubio?”
1
Brilliantly said. Right on...
Why just the NRA? Why not gun the manufacturers themselves? Like cigarette companies
NRA spent $203 million over 19 years? Tech companies and others spent as much in 2016!
What if all of us who are for common sense gun legislation joined the NRA? Could we then change their course?
Republican Laundry List of Hypocrisy
Guns in the classroom? Yes!
Guns in the Capital? Not on your life!
Abortion? No!
Death penalty? Yes!
Taxes on the poor? Yes!
Taxes on the rich? No!
Investigations into Democrats? Yes!
Punish the Russians for election interference? No!
Citizenship for dreamers? No!
Citizenship for Melania Trump? Yes!
Lock her up? Yes!
Lock him up? No!
Gerrymandering when it’s bad for the poor and liberal districts? Yes!
Gerrymandering when it’s bad for Republicans? No!
Deficits during Democratic administrations? No!
Deficits during Republican administrations? Yes!
Please feel free to add to the list.
3
Well.....we know it's about more than $174,000 and a parking spot. It's about millions in back channel money. These guys don't come to Washington for chicken feed. They come to get rich, rich, rich and if that comes with a cost of dead children on a weekly basis, well then, so be it.
VOTE THEM OUT IN NOVEMBER. EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. VOTE ONLY for the D's!!
1
Sorry kids (and gun control advocates), you are about to be played by the GOP, Trump and the NRA. Here’s how the con will go down.
First there will be the “we’re listening” hearings.
Then there will be the “Keeping Our Schools Safe” bill that includes a few obvious and throw-away provisions agreeable to the NRA - a ban on bump stocks, a requirement for more sharing of mental health info, standards for “hardening” school facilities (but probably no money to do so), etc. The Democrats will have no choice but to vote for it.
Next, our ConMan-der In Chief will sign it with great fanfare, calling it the greatest and reminding everyone that Obama did nothing.
Then, the GOP will run as the party of “sensible gun control”, and the “I’s” (Independent, low Interest, and low Information voters) will eat it up.
And, the average of 93 American gun deaths per day will continue.
2
The pictures of Emmett Till changed the civil rights movement. The anti-abortion movement uses pictures of aborted fetuses to disgust. Why do we not publish the results of gun violence, the real “American Carnage” that has to stop? I understand and respect the rights of families who have lost loved ones. But, with permission, why can’t force gun advocates to deal with the imagery of their choices at every gun show, conference and political rally.
1
Is NRA a legal,humane,caring American organization?
Yes, the terrorists have won. These terrorists are home-grown and armed by the NRA and the very profitable gun & ammo industry. We dreadfully fear random acts of violence in our most intimate spaces. The NRA is responsible for many thousands more American deaths than Al Queda or ISIS could ever have hoped to accomplish. Insanity reigns supreme.
2
Until Speaker Ryan & Leader McConnell allow AR-15s into the House & Senate galleries, we must cry Hypocrites! Shame! upon them. No sane civilian needs a slaughter-gun AR-15.
What bell does "well-regulated" not ring?
2
Mr Friedman, I think you have earned an "F" rating from the NRA for todays Op-Ed. Wear it proudly! I always have thought poorly of single issue voters, until I became one on Valentine's Day, 2018. Enough.
1
We can also take the protest directly to the gun manufacturers themselves and stop letting the NRA take their proverbial bullets for them.
NRA is nothing more than the National Association of Manufacturers and Distributors of Firearms and Ammunition. Call it NAMDFA. It's a gazillion dollar business, and the folks who feed at the trough won't give it up without a fight. We'll just have to fight them, and we'll have to win.
Russian trolls spent $100,000 on Facebook and managed to reach 150 million Americans during the 2016 American Presidential campaign.
Getting" into the N.R.A.'s face" is a waste of time and money. The N.R.A. is meaningfully and effectively in the face, heart and mind of legislative, executive and judicial political candidates during primary and general elections by finance and mass media ads.
Most of the dead and wounded at this school shooting were not old enough to vote nor are their living survivors. But they are very adept at social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube etc.
1
The GOP will not act on gun control until the day they park their car for free at Reagan National Airport and hop on a plane to visit the morgue to identify one or more of their own children. Sad to say, but if they can't respond to the incident in Florida or the one at Sandy Hook, Columbine or a whole host of other mortified and dumbfounded schools across the country, that may be the only way.
The solution is so simple. Vote Republicans out of office.
Looking at this report and today's report in the Times by Michael Grymbaum, CNN and others, it looks like the right-wing news sources and Rush Limba are very adept in using FACEBOOK to propagate invented lies and do so with speed before the regular media can come up with the real facts. Accusing regular students of high school in parkland, as plants by anti-trump groups etc. are ridiculous inventions by these organized criminal sources. FACEBOOK should be made to manage their pages better. This abuse will destroy this nation. Someone should come up with a solution to these abuses by and of FACEBOOK.
Please read: MAKING A KILLING: The business and politics of selling guns.
New Yorker Magazine, June 27, 2016, by Evan Osnos
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/06/27/after-orlando-examining-th...
Just as with Watergate and any other organized criminal activity, it is about the MONEY.
Will Cameron vote in 2018? Doubt it.
1
So powerfully stated, Mr Friedman!
This is the time to mobilize the american people to vote against these cowardly congressmen/women who look the other way as they hold out their hands to collect their bribe from this killing machine, called the NRA.
Get behind these kids and help get out the vote.
"Trying to embarrass them to act on principle is wasted breath. I suspect they’re already embarrassed. When these G.O.P. lawmakers are alone at home ... plenty of them probably feel filthy for doing the N.R.A.’s bidding."
You give them too much credit. I think the vast majority of them are very practiced at the mental gymnastics necessary to justify their (in)actions, to the point where they've convinced themselves they're doing the right thing.
The root of the problem lies deeper than the NRA and a craven Congress. It is cultural. Guns are more important than Jesus to the "religious" right. Why? Because if you feel "less than" nothing can make you feel "more than" than a gun. Those who feel displaced, left out and aggrieved love their guns and Mr Trump more than the Bible. Mr Trump knows this very well. That's why nothing will be done to stop this reign of domestic terror. As the Beatles so succinctly expressed it way back in my youth, "Happiness is a warm gun! Bang, bang! Shoot, shoot!".
Its all about that parking space.
Tom mentions all those $Millions the NRA gives to politicians. He could do us all a favor by detailing where the NRA gets those $Millions. Surely, it does not come from membership fees?
You failed to blame the members of the gang. In the movie Three Billboards in Epping Montana the mother talks about culpability. She talks about how members of the gang are held, under the law, responsible for what other gang members do even if they aren't present when it happens. The NRA members are members of the gang. They too are culpable for what happened in FL. They need to turn in their cards and quit the gang. It is a non-profit gang, not a social club. Friends don't let friends join the NRA. Defang the bloody, bloody NRA.
Just wonderin!
How come it's always men who go on a shooting rampage?
Ban men from buying guns and the entire universe will attain infinite peace and wisdom!
The NRA and those who serve them have perpetuated the myth that any gun control effort is a slippery slope towards seizure of all guns.. they're gonna come to break down your door and take your guns away!!
For too long, Americans have been ruled by the fear mongering tactics of those whose interests are purely financial. Democracy is ceding it's last vestiges to Plutocracy.
They have been able to stoke fear, prejudice, racism, sexism, homophobia, and xenophobia (to name a few) and support for a wanna-be dictator in order to diverte attention from their actions by substituting lies and a facade of morality... oh hey! look at the shiny object over here! The same tactic works on cranky infants.
There are so many who have participated for so long now it is going to be no easy task to remove this cancerous growth that has metastasized the soul of this country. Banding together and voting these people out is the only way to start to cure this patient.
Register your car, tax your car, tax your gas, get a license to drive your car, patrol roads for poor behavior and rule violations, lose your privilege when you misbehave or can no longer operate a vehicle safely.......
But your gun? No registration. No tax. No ammo tax. No license. No monitoring.....
No sense.
"...nothing will change unless young and old who oppose the N.R.A. run for office, vote, help someone vote, register someone to vote or help fund someone’s campaign — so we can threaten the same electoral pain as the National Rifle Association"
Right on, Tom.
there 174,000 parking and their health insurance
Wow, another great column! Two in a row. You are on a roll so keep it up. I think your right! It’s about raw, naked, power! We need to do everything we can to save our lives. Get off Facebook and get into the streets and polling places.
Every word written here is true.
Our Congressmen and women have to lead. If they are cowards, if they don't lead we have the responsibility to push them to do the right thing. To their offices! To their homes! In their faces! They can't hide from us! We will not sit around waiting to be slaughtered by military style guns. These weapons are designed to kill people. No more, The change begins now! We will not be denied our right to life, liberty and happiness.
Money talks. $$$$ is what politicians understand.
A NATIONWIDE ECONOMIC BOYCOTT of states with bad and dangerous gun laws (Giffords Law Center score worse than “C”) could focus the minds of state legislators and get them to pass good gun control legislation at the STATE LEVEL.
The US Congress, to its shame, will do nothing in the face of this student anguish and activism.
We adults in the room can help by putting our $$$ where our mouths are, and by keeping it out of gun-source states:
Don’t vacation there (skip Florida DISNEY this year. Tell them why.)
Don’t hold conferences in these states (tell ARIZONA’s Governor that bad gun laws are like that bad LGBT legislation she decided not to sign: there are consequences).
Don’t invest there.
And
DON’T HOLD SUPER BOWL 2020 in FLORIDA unless they remore their terrible gun laws that are endangering the kids of their state.
NRA has only power if the reps cater to them for dollars. I do remember a time when the NRA was for sportsmen and gun safety unfortunately they have morphed into this blood thirsty monster who only represents the gun industry, so when we have a massacre their answer is naturally "to buy more guns and guns will make you safe"
We need to see a list of congresspeople who haven't sold their souls and have refused NRA money.
1
Keep speaking out Cameron and recognize who the NRA members are.....they are chumps. They pay dues to lobby for gun manufactures. They believe they are protecting a right that has never been threatened. Worst of all they pay to keep the suits, who shamefully vote no every time to any common sense solution, in office. I'm with Cameron.
Is the definition of an honest politician is that he stay bought? Then I guess we can call the GOP in Washington honest for they have been bought body and soul by the NRA
1
And speaking of conspiracy theories, Cameron Kasky, a 17-year-old student, believes that there is a national right-wing conspiracy to kill high school students: “Do not let these people exploit you. All they want is for you to say something to bring us down so they can shoot more of us.”
Does Mr. Kasky believe his own rhetoric? That the ultimate goal of the supporters of the Second Amendment is to murder high school students? Is that what readers of the Times believe? If so, he and they are no more credible than Alex Jones and all the other right-wing propagandists.
You're on fire today, Mr. Friedman!
I disagree, though that Republicans are embarrassed. They don't have it in them to be so. I truly believe that the GOP is a collective group of sociopaths - they're anti-social, and lack empathy and conscience. They fit the definition perfectly.
1
We need a list of every single person who is a member of the NRA, names, numbers, tel numbers, emails, addresses, jobs and positions, and to chase up every single one of them personally, to humiliate them. Especially those who are running the NRA
Rush Limbaugh and his fellow commentators are the most despicable Americans - it’s astonishing that any civilized person can listen to their hate. Today’s young people are far more articulate and intelligent than Rush and his Fox fellows. I have nothing but admiration for the students. Unlike Rush and Friends and the NRA stooges they are not for sale. Yes - let’s ask where the NRA gets its money - and who and what they are supporting. Youth opposed the Vietnam War - let’s support youth in this battle.
That's what gets me about those decent evangelicals. They love the precious unborn but, exiting the womb, each baby is tied to the fortune of their parents.
And guns? These same evangelicals like their guns. We have rootin-tootin Roy Moore to prove that.
Creationists reject Darwin's conclusions but readily endorse "Survival of the fittest," and are so quick to toss their's and other's kids bones into the charnel house by denying healthcare for all and make sacred a perverted rendering of the 2nd amendment.
To the politicians who are in bed with the NRA: if you really do feel "filthy for doing the NRA's bidding", think about cleaning yourself up by "coming out" for some sort of gun control. You may find an increase in self-worth, self-discovery, and self-preservation in the moral sense! If you lose your job, you've at least restored your conscience. And you'll have no problem finding another job, one where you don't have to sell your soul.
Numbe 1. The NRA needs to read the entire second amendment. In what scenario do they honestly believe you will need assault rifles to protect home & life? Zombie Apocalypse??
The NRA years ago was much more level headed & safety conscious. They taught gun safety & responsibility. They were not dominated by kooks who just had to show off by wearing their guns in public.
Mental illness is not well defined in the case of gun owners or pursurers of guns. I, personally, think the guy with the AR-15 standing in a line in Walmart, with the attitude of “it’s my second amendment right to have this gun here so try to say anything & I’ll show you”, is just a mentally compromsed as the kid who has been bullied by this same guy’s kid & gets hold of a gun.
The Lie In was great! Too bad all our sorry politicians & the other guy were all out of town. I think more peaceful demonstrations of that type are needed. Once aweek a group should do a VERY public Lie In a state capital or town hall meeting or campaign event. Be out there in their face all the time.
One last comment. The EX-Gop lawmaker who said the kids were being coached by Democrats needs a reality check. Talk to these kids they are intelligent young adults who are educated & acting more adult than the present government. Yeah, Republicans, blame the Democrats when you are called out for who you really are!!
"I tweeted about it..." What a great encapsulation of the mindset of these times. It reminds me of a remark thrown in my face by someone who was losing an argument about the war in Iraq. "We support the troops," he snarled. There is nothing new under the sun.
From a different NYTimes piece: In Israel the age to own a gun is 27 or 21 with military service. We need Israeli style gun control.
Why think small?
Scrap the Second Amendment.
1
Tom, you failed to mention all the perks, and bribes they take while in office.
THAT amounts to a truly big haul.
1
Join the NRA - become members! There are only 5 million of them - outvote them!
Or better - donate to "D's", politicians that rate a D or F from the NRA.
Every chapter of #MarchForOurLives should march on & picket every local NRA-A-rated politician.
Even better yet - go park in Republicans' free parking spaces at Reagan National Airport and get in their faces (or just slash their tires - I'm so bad).
We did it in the sixties, and I was there. This young generation can do it again. Gun control, rape of our environment, corrupt and self-serving "leaders". These are this generation's VietNam.
Listen to John Lennon. Power to the People!
Imagine.
1
The NRA purposefully and systematically uses its resources to legalize, promote and sustain the use of weapons designed to kill Americans.
Doesn't that fit the essential definition of a terrorist organization?
2
The NRA's influence over politicians and the political debate over firearms laws is not through campaign contributions. It consistently ranks fairly low among large organizational donors. The NRA's influence stems from its membership. It has approximately 5 million current members and millions of former members who tend to share similar and frequently strident views on firearm ownership rights. More importantly, they vote. It's these votes that the $174,000 Congressmen and women fear losing, not NRA campaign contributions. So, getting "in the face" of the NRA may be an effective rallying cry, but convincing firearms owners that that their rights will be protected even with the passage of new laws, is the more important task.
4
Hooray for you, Friedman. A fine must-read column. A nearby full page ad in the Times shows that the NRA has financed Tom Cotton to the level of $2 million, and over a million each to several other GOP Senators. Nothing can change their minds, given financing like that. The only solution is to get rid of them.
17
I’m glad Thomas Friedman is ready to go into mano-a-mano battle with the NRA for his (and my) ideals. In the past he was a bit of an armchair warrior himself, particularly cheering on the Gulf War. But let’s bygone be bygone. He is right, activism cannot be in petitions and tweets alone.
5
I've often wondered why no competing gun-owners' organization has sprung up to compete with the NRA. I have to believe that a healthy percentage of gun-owners - maybe most - disagree with the extreme positions of the NRA. Just as the country's Republicans have done, gun owners have allowed an active and vocal minority to hijack their organization. And its brand is now so tarnished that it cannot be salvaged, it must be wholly replaced.
But CHANGE will not happen by itself. People who are currently on the sidelines have to get involved. Complacency must be thrown out of our vocabulary!
8
There are competing gun owners organizations. Most of them are much further to the right than the NRA.
Actually, there IS a competing organization, Gun Owners of America. It thinks the NRA is too willing to compromise.
Guns are a plague that America had supported for decades now, spoilt a minority to support and creat illusions of power at the NRA and are now regretting that but unable to control!
A few politicians will make no difference and NRA will find ways and means to buy them off.
What is needed is a firm irrevocable Presiential /Congressional decision to outlaw guns and all residents in that domain!
What is needed is a political/Congressional that cannot remain to fester lives. Exactly like the thing America did to conquer then destroy Iraq!
2
Unlike say, Jordan, American Presidents can't just outlaw things and suspend rights by fiat. Outlawing guns would be a terrible policy decision for many reasons. However as a matter of process it would require a Constitutional Amendment.
There is not the political support required to make such a move. Nor will there be anytime soon.
it would be a supreme public service by the NYT to publicize the contributions received from the NRA by all candidates for state and federal offices. Make it a running daily feature from now until Election Day.
12
Good job (or rather, career!), Mr. Friedman!
Perhaps you and other influencers like you will be able to directly support all these amazing young leaders who are Parkland students by physically attending their rallies.
7
Pro life should be anti weapons of mass slaughter. Conservatives used to be pro law and order and supporttive of law enforcement. Any police officer will tell you his pistol is no match for an assault weapon. Any society that cannot or will not protect it’s children has failed its most basic duty. Yes most of our congressman are weak and corruptible but the situation is not hopeless. The young have led us to accept gay marriage, marijuana, and the end of the Vietnam War. All of these issues could not be diminished by a black vs white , or a red vs blue position. Guns kill people who are rich or poor, black or white,
Mulims or Jews, and so forth. I sense the start of a movement where our youth will galvanize our society to demand common sense gun restrictions. Please support our kids right to live in safety.
9
I don't think gun control is feasible or effective simply because (a) the alienated dysfunctional killers are seeking infamy and we give them the headlines they desire, (b) there are lots of ways to kill, and (c) there are 300+ million guns in circulation.
Historically the killers (1) buy guns legally, (2) ask friends to buy, or (3) steal them.
If you look at the Natl Acad of Science study, improving emergency response systems and providing first aid training could save tens of thousands of lives every year. http://nationalacademies.org/hmd/Activities/HealthServices/LearningTraum...
Congress could easily propose the following plan:
1. Develop and fund national school safety standards
2. Fund school security guards
3. Fund emergency planning & response systems. There are some brilliant automated systems that could be developed.
4. Fund universal period 8 first aid training
5. Fund regional emergency exercises
6. Develop & fund emergency planning training programs, perhaps within Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers (FLETC).
What it important is that 148,000 die every year from trauma. 20% of those can be saved. Focusing on the attack method de jour ignores the fact that the 'enemy' will change tactics to accomplish their goals.
1
I could swear I recall something about an ounce of prevention being worth a pound of cure.
So what do YOU get for trying to tangle the ideas up? $174, 000 a year, and free parking at Reagan?
You are way off base to suggest that except for a better trauma response system and a lack of a single out of shape guard in the school, fewer of these kids and school officials would have died.
Prevention is way better than any response system. BTW have you calculated the costs of what you suggest. Tax payers seemingly only want tax cuts, they don’t want to pay for any public good.
Can a school shooting legitimely be named "terrorism"? "Domestic terrorism" if you prefer. I am pretty sure the kids at Parkland would see what happened at their school as terrorism. They looked terrified coming out of that place.
If that is true, and I believe it is, then the NRA, by stonewalling any gun reform, might be fairly called a "sponsor of terrorism."
Could then, by taking the NRA money and supporting their goals, the GOP be also named as "sponsors of terrorism."?
8
O.K., but just as surely as Gail Collins used to bring up Romney's trips to Canada with his dog trapped on the roof of his car, I'd like to see you and other NYT columnists regularly supplying links to lists with names of politicians and specific information on how much they received from the NRA. This would help in the fight to throw the bums out! They don't deserve the $174 K salary, the parking privileges, or the honor of representing their districts in Congress.
10
During the Vietnam War era I was in high school and we organized (within an hour) a walk-out and sit-in after news broke that the US was bombing Cambodia. Who says high school children are immature and easily lead? Guys like Jack Kingston and the rest of the right-wingers that accuse these kids of being funded by the likes of George Soros. The year of the walk-out at my high school was 1970. And we didn't need people like George Soros to lead us and tell us when things are just WRONG.
9
We should recognize that the |NRA is not a society for gun owners and gun users. It is a front organization for the gun manufacturers. They have used the NRA as a marketing strategy to first make sure that gun owners are paralyzed with fear that the "gummint|" is coming for their guns, so they better stock up; and second, to greatly expand the possibility for gun ownership to the insane, the criminal and the sociopathic. Their latest ploy is to arm every teacher in America.
One thing would stop these criminal merchants of death--or at least roll them back to manufacturing guns for legitimate background-checked responsible adults. That is lifting the ban on suing them for the deaths created by their weapons--particularly military assault weapons.
Trump has now issued a feckless, stupid memo calling for "study|" of a ban on bump stocks and other things that convert conventional rifles into assault weapons. But this is an utterly cosmetic, utterly ineffectual move. Assault weapons are no longer banned--the ban expired and Congress wouldn't renew it. So why buy a bump stock when one can buy a fully functional assault rifle.
The public supports gun regulations 90%. We are being played for fools. The gun manufacturers are profiting from the deaths of children.
10
NYT has a great opening here that I'm 99% sure they will pass on. Trump, that boob, has made a good decision about guns. Nothing big, but at least common-sense re. bump stocks. Will there be an opinion piece to support that baby step and encourage more of the same, or will it be more disparage-because-Trump? Not much at stake, of course, other than one bump stock not purchased and one person, perhaps, not shot.
1
Yeah, big hero--I have written a memo asking my Justice Department to propose....
Excellent column Mr. F. The power the kids and we are up against is far more naked and cynical than most of us realize.
Suggest these two things for people who want to know more:
Google TEDxMidAtlantic by Larry Lessing: "Our our Democracy no longer represents the people." Good for high school teachers and students because it starts out with an example of an extraordinary protest about an unjust law started by students from high school and college in Hong Kong.
And 2: Read "Fully Loaded: Inside the Shadowy World of America's 10 Biggest Gunmakers." It's a Mother Jones article from July, 2016. This is when power really gets scary - and names are named.
4
Reading Friedman's columns week after week I ask myself: why is it that people like him who demonstrate such clarity about where our democracy is, and where it needs to go, why is it they are not among the leaders who choose to run for office. Think about the contrast between the current resident of the OO and someone like Mr Friedman. The mind boggles.
5
NRA funds a distorted interpretation of an anachronistic 2nd amendment that gives individuals & private militias a right to "bear arms" in public space without the founders intended state regulation. “Instead of hoping that imposing mental health treatment on everyone who shows “red flags” will put an end to mass shootings, we should focus on ways to put some distance between these young men and their guns.” (Chair of community psychiatry at UC Davis)
3
These students need to acknowledge that whenever they say the word "congress" to append "GOP" in front of it.
3
Members of congress are susceptible to social pressure . Every member of congress who receives money from the NRA should have his name displayed in their local newspapers with the amounts for the last ten years and also on the social media.
5
OK, congress is corrupt but the real problem is US. How can the party of Lincoln, Eisenhower, Reagan and Bush 41 embrace such a parody of a man? "Because he talks like us" I heard. So, you think like him too? Bush 43 destroyed the economy and put us in 2 wars, some still love him. The Rug Under Mr Putin is Making America Germany Again. Honest, hard working church going Americans now clearly think like him. THAT is the problem.
3
Well put, but for one problem:
Please don't parrot the meme of "scrapping the Second Amendment;" I think that is bound for failure, and so feeds the terrorist NRA's story that nothing can be done.
The Second Amendment is NOT the problem. The problem is that the persistent campaign to erase from people's minds the topic - the first four words! - of the Second Amendment, has been successful.
"A well regulated militia,..." is the topic. That's what the Second Amendment is about.
The Second Amendment does not apply to me, or to the vast majority of people reading this article. THAT is the truth that must come out, and the best strategy for reducing the number of crowd-slaughtering machines out there in the hands of antisocial people.
5
The GOP and a few Dems have sold their souls to the devil. They will do anything to stay in power. And it's not just the $174,000. It's the power and prestige that comes with the job, the lucrative positions they get after retiring from Congress, the perks their families take advantage of.
This is not the America I grew up in where politicians at least acted like they cared about the average American. Unless you are rich and white, the current set of servants in Washington, doesn't give a hoot.
3
Two words: term limits.
2
Before they 'get in the NRA face', they should make sure they're not in a 'stand your ground' state.
Among the outrage maybe there could be some volunteers found; to accompany the police in sweep of south Chicago. I don't expect such attention paid to that violence. For the city is run by Progressives; and it aint middle class school children dying. Though they were students once, even children. Though they had the unfortunate circumstance of being nurtured by Progressives.
Now how about a primer on how to run for office, mobilize in the streets and activate a get-out-the-vote campaign.
2
We all know money is the sustenance of power, either change this or out spend the NRA.
3
Thomas Friedman's word of advice to Cameron Kasky was a good one. Here is another:
Don't bring "unborn fetuses" into the discussion as rivals. The campaign to bring about gun control will be challenging enough without irrelevant signalling of your attitudes on other issues.
Another time, when you do find an appropriate chance to go into the issue of abortion, please let it be a chance for thought and not attitude. That's all I ask.
Most citizens (as in the "bottom" 98%) cannot afford to financially compete with corporate funded, zealot funded organizations like the NRA. That "bottom" 98% can't trust that some liberal billionaire will bankroll will match, dollar for dollar, the pro-gun lobby. The centrist billionaire Bloomberg has tried but, so far, not shown much success against those advocating unbridled, unlimited access to guns and ammunition... at least for white Americans.
One tactic we can use is to take the NRA list of supported candidates against the NRA. See a name on the NRA list of supported candidates? Vote against that candidate. Get word out of which candidates, per the NRA lists of supported candidates, must be defeated. The good part is...it will cost anti-NRA citizens nothing.
1
I live near the Silicon Valley practically every coffee shop has people hunched over their computers. Instead of being a place to converse with your freinds or meet new people just about everyone is hunched over their devices. It’s particularly annoying to wait behind someone talking or texting while ordering.
I’m starting to hear rumblings from people who are starting to get tired of Facebook. Is it time to have a one day boycott of Facebook?
I’m not the only one to notice that a “cute” cat video get’s a lot more likes than a link to a serious article.
It is fine to propose getting in the N.R.A.s face but it would be better to recall the story of cigarettes . In spite of knowing the heath risks, no legislation was proposed to address the lung cancer it caused. Instead litigation not legislation was put to use. The result has been a significant decrease in cigarette use.
It is time that litigation that addresses the issue of responsibility for the harm that guns do become a norm and not an exception. You cannot drive a car without car insurance and a drivers license. Maybe every gun purchaser should be required to also purchase a gun insurance that protects innocent victims of gun related injury. Maybe the liability of gun sellers should be determined in courts and they too should be required to carry liability insurance. In the end all of this may make gun sellers think twice about who they put a gun in the hands of.
2
Could we please be careful about how we define bravery, courage, or moral stature? Can we please be a bit more careful with trendy cultural memes?Standing up to the NRA requires moral stature. A kangaroo court expelling Al Franken from the Senate without five seconds of due process has no moral stature. It has only craven opportunism and cowardice. Cheap and false moral equivalency here is just as dangerous as it is anywhere else.
1
Last night my son told me he and a classmate (both in graduate school) got into a verbal fight over the NRA. The other young man said the NRA was like any other organization and should be treated as such. He said if you ban the NRA from donating, speaking, etc., then you have to ban everyone. It was, he said, all or nothing. To me, it sounded like he was reciting NRA/FOX talking points.
My son, who is a quiet person and hates confrontation, stood up in class and said that was ridiculous, that the NRA was unique in its awfulness and that it didn't have to be "all or nothing." The NRA could be banned and, as he said, "Keep the club for kittens and puppies or whatever. They are not the same."
After he recounted this story, I told him how proud I was. Then I feared he would be gunned down if that other young man is mentally ill. That's the world we live in, thanks to the NRA and our corrupt, hypocritical politicians.
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Unfortunately, they get way more than a $174,000 job and free parking at Reagan National Airport.
The ability to insider trade, have better healthcare choices, a pension, work negligible hours, the heady feeling of power and ability to force American laws to mirror their beliefs, even though it's contrary to what most Americans want. The best Congress money can buy!
Cameron and friends, we're with you.
1
Well, yes. But who will lead the charge? The dysfunctional, tone-deaf, clubhouse known as the Democratic Party? And who would believe it's competent enough to do so? So far it has not even atoned for braindead administrative procedures that paved the road for Russian hackers.
Mr. Friedman, you wrongly apply a human quality to Republicans when you "suspect they’re already embarrassed," "probably feel filthy for doing the N.R.A.’s bidding." It is inhuman to block commonsense gun laws in the face of an increasing frequency of battlefields of human carnage in schools, churches and nightclubs across America. Everywhere except in Congress.
My advice to Cameron Kasky and all other concerned American humans is to murder the political careers of every congressman, governor, state representative and president who has stood in the way of commonsense gun laws. Don't just pressure them to act like a human, remove them from office, they have the blood of our children on their hands.
As to the Second Amendment: it needs to be revoked. It was at the time of its writing, not just an important right, but an absolute need of a country at the time of its birth. It was the "well regulated militias" that won the war for our independence. Alone, Washington's army would have lost the war. It was the "well regulated militias" which protected Americans in each state and along the wilderness borders.
Today we have a Supreme Court that misinterprets the Second Amendment to mean that every fool has a right to carry a military assault weapon. Hunters and target shooters should have single-shot hunting guns, not weapons of mass human destruction.
3
Mr .Friedman, you forgot to include the free health insurance they receive, courtesy of the American taxpayers, a perk that continues until death.
2
i've been a lawyer for 40 yrs, a former prosecutor....under any reasonable interpretation of US criminal/conspiracy laws...Marco Rubio, by taking donations from the NRA and thus foregoing common-sense gun control laws which have been proven world-wide to prevent killings....Rubio should be prosecuted for conspiracy to murder...he should be in prison.
1
Spot on. The NRA and Republicans aren't part of a broader problem -- they are the problem.
The NRA's power is money and money could be used to counter the NRA as well. What the big-money people like Soros, Bloomberg, Steyer and others need to do is is match the NRA dollar for dollar when the NRA funds a candidate or threatens to primary an incumbent to enforce NRA orthodoxy.
Sadly, I doubt any of the G.O.P. lawmakers are embarrassed...secretly or otherwise.
1
Tom,
Thank you for the change of gears, down into 1st. You are laying it out like never before. Your column on Monday was breathtaking: "This is code red. The biggest threat to the integrity of our democracy today is in the Oval Office."
And now today: ". . . never underestimate what some people will do for a $174,000 job and free parking at Reagan National Airport."
Putting the two columns together, It's code red and we have the best Republican government NRA money can buy.
1
It's more than free parking at Reagan. These swine get incredible pensions even if they serve only a short time, and most of all they get the big hitters in their districts coming to them hat in hand -- where without elected office they'd probably be selling cars or working at a second-tier law office owned by a relative.
We have allowed the privilege and duty of serving one's country as a legislator to turn into a cushy job with perks both tangible and intangible, relished by a certain kind of semi-loser. We need to (not that we will) ramp it back to what the Founding Fathers had in mind -- a dutiful, semi-voluntary service at some inconvenience.
1
Yes Mr. Friedman, we are looking to "scrap" the 2nd amendment.
1
I would like to see the new York Stock Exchange close on April 20 support of our kids and their safety from the terror on guns and the fecklessness of our politicians. Then maybe we will all help our kids.
1
We did land on the moon. 911 was an act of foreign terrorists. Children were killed in American schools. To call any of these hoaxes is what it is, a hoax itself. Here’s the truth. Event debunkers are themselves, a part of an elaborate hoax. That’s right. They don’t believe this stuff. They’re funded by a foreign government whose soul purpose is to see how dupable Americans truly are. It’s a government that’s well situated to pounce on either North America or Europe at a moments notice. It’s not a conspiracy theory, it’s a FACT. And that government is Iceland! Think about it: well situated, in need of natural resources, and motivated to distort and conquer.
See? I can do it, too!
Using murdered and mourning children as a part of hoax theory is a national embarrassment. The first admendment does not allow for speech to cause pain and suffering on others. Especially on individuals. District Attorney’s, can we please see some prosecutions?
2
"Four dead in Ohio" was enough to motivate a generation to protest the Vietnam war. Now, perhaps, after 17 get gunned down by an agent of the NRA, perhaps this next generation is motivated enough to take action. Please post, March, protest and, most of all, vote! And do not vote for any Republican.....ever.
2
To all the students of Stoneman Douglas High School,
Listen to Thomas Friedman and to the millions of Americans who are on your side. The 17 dead fellow students and teachers are on your side. The little children and teachers of Newtown are on your side. Remind the NRA backed politicians that you will be voting very soon.
It's exhausting work but doing the right thing always is.
2
The majority of Americans are with you. Your mission is more important than school right now. Don't let the momentum fade - keep it up. Find anti-NRA elected officials in all branches of government and get them to work with you! You are on the edge of a potential great moment in America's history.
2
We're not just talking about "gun control" or "gun safety". It's about a huge cultural shift...like the Civil Rights Movement was - changing the way Americans think and conduct their lives.
1
Why not turn the GOPNRA complex into a protected industrial complex of regulated gun ranges? We have an endless supply of guns in this country but ammunition could be limited and regulated. AR-15 owners could go to gun ranges to buy and use ammunition to their hearts content. Only let people keep enough ammunition at home for personal protection. Semi automatic weapons could only be played with in secure ranges with oversight. Gun collectors could keep and display their guns at home, but if they want more ammunition they need to buy and use it at a gun range.
Responsible ownership could be taught and promoted at the ranges. Gun buffs could enjoy their hobby at gun clubs with others and the rest of us would be a lot safer. Ammunition and arms manufacturers would be able to make even more money by promoting and monetizing the idea of safe gun clubs were you can store your weapons, modify them, display them to others and test your marksmanship.
1
Ultimately we need a radical change in our society's gun culture, in people's relationship with guns. There should be no place in civilian life for guns, assault weapons, weapons of war and mountains of ammunition that make all these collectors' items deadly beyond measure. Get rid of them all - look at other countries- Japan, Australia, western Europe; learn from them. People can be persuaded to give up their rights claimed from a vaguely worded phrase from a 200 year old amendment, in the interest of keeping our society safe and secure. Living in a society requires that tradeoff. Yes, NRA is despiccable, but I'd hope that millions of sane people are more powerful. My generation will not change its misguided ways. Maybe my son's and his children's generation will, as we are seeing now, in however small a measure. Elect bold leaders, sane legislators.
2
We cling to the belief that voting matters in the post Citizens United age of strategic micro data targeting of low information voters, gerrymandering, voter supression and the purchase of congressional representives by the highest bidder. It is dead end activitism to put faith in the vote. Mass resistance and feet in the streets is the only way civil liberties in this country have ever been defended and extended. If voting mattered, it would be illegal! Voting for change is the generational distractor equivalent to tweeting for social change. We should be exercising our right to assemble and protest while it is still relatively safe to do so.
1
NRA is the American modern version of another nefarious organization whose acronym strted with an, the NSP -from Germany, circa mid-20's, finished by the mid-40's, although some of its nefarious ideas have managed to survive, even thrive in the land from where its rivals came to vanquish it.
To the children and families of the victims of the last shipment of the NRA and its servants in Capitol Hill, the ones who will meet with Der Trumper today: please do not play nice in the name of civility. Hope they are not bought off by the limelight of being with "a "Mister President" that Friedman is right in terming as the least decent folk ever to set foot on Pennsylvania Avenue. The same guy who maneuvered his way to the top job by courting the weapons over lives crowd, the same guy who nakedly delivered a dog whistle in Florida during his nasty campaigning, not so subtly proposing the assasination of whoever came into the way of the Weapons Uber Alles madmen and women.
After Trump was elected I have said this to children I know: Something good can come of this in the end if you and everyone your age remember, from when you become old enough to vote and for the rest of your lives:
Never not vote. Never vote Republican.
1
I think a quote from the column sums it up very nicely - "...force them (politicians) to spend more energy protecting human lives than unborn fetuses".
If children are "our most precious resource", a phrase than has become a stock quote in the stump speeches of nearly every politician, how can they possibly rationalize their inability to comeuppance with any legislation that addresses the problem we have with guns in this country? Second Amendment rights? Sure, but we got rid of the slavery provisions in the Constitution so why can't we adjust the amendment to meet modern life? The ex-colonies needed to own firearms because it was envisioned that there would not be a standing army. If an army were needed, it would be formed from local militias with each member bringing his own weapon. At a time when a skilled gunner could get off three shots per minute with a muzzleloading, smoothbore rifle, assault rifles, high capacity magazines and bump stocks weren't even fantasies.
Duck hunters have thrived for year with semi-automatic guns that have a magazine capacity of three or four rounds and they seem to do OK. Ditto for other restrictions imposed on firearms used for other hunting purposes. We nerd change and we need it now on guns. Perhaps the children will lead us.
Mr. Friedman forgets to speak about the Elephant in the Room, which is using the time-tested strategy and tactic of massive civil disobedience. Sit-ins and Lie-ins and Die-ins which were part of the winning methods of the civil rights movement and the anti-war protests. Running for office is an arduous , long term strategy he recommends, but let's cut to the chase: Thousands of people, every day, sitting in at the offices of all prostitutes in government who have tragically leashed themselves to the NRA. CLOG up the system and bring this to the news every day, all over the country, with NO business-as-usual by the gun lobbies being permitted by mobilized millions !
2
Mr. Friedman, let's not finish the war before it really starts. Let's not let our cynicism get in the way of these determined young people. Yes, many of these tactics have been done before. And while it's easy to resign ourselves to the idea that 20 dead kindergarteners at Sandy Hook wasn't enough to move the cold, NRA-tainted hearts of our politicians, we have to keep trying. From where I sit, these kids are not stopping at Tweets and Snapchats, they are taking the fight to the front. In less than a week there are 3 nationwide marches scheduled, they have gone to the state capitol, they have owned the media, and they have all of their facts straight. These are kids whose most stressful experiences would otherwise be awaiting their college acceptance letters. Instead, they've been attending their dead classmates' funerals, getting over the shock of their horrific experience, and trying to figure out how to grieve. Yes, we all have to do a better job of engaging in real, long-term political ground games. And there's nothing like rage to light a fire in us all.
1
Repeal and replace the 2nd Amendment. If the outlawing of the Tommy-gun does not apply to AK-47 copy-cats, what is next o be protected? Star Wars type of death rays? No joke; it is around the corner, and already with the military. Technology spreads...as the TV show boasted, "like sands through the hourglass". So too will be the days of the lives of many more students and crowds in the near future. congress cannot get real, unless they are threatened with being sent packing; Repeal and Replace the 2nd Amendment can be as effective as repealing and replacing health care, even if it is not overnight. The former sent many to Washington, the latter should send them home.
What Mr. Friedman gets stone cold correct in this column, and which was not emphasized enough in his most recent column (Whatever Trump Is Hiding Is Hurting All of Us Now, NYT 2/18/18) is this: "But G.O.P. lawmakers are mute ..." Trump is not acting alone; not about Russia, not about gun control, not about anything. He is aided and abetted by Republicans. I keep asking, why? I guess the founding principles and great history of this nation are not worth, "a $174,000 job and free parking at Reagan National Airport."
1
AR-15s and other automatic rifles are hobbies. That’s all they are. The NRA has first managed to convince its membership, and then the courts and some of the politicians, that this hobby is a right enshrined in the constitution. It’s a hobby.
2
I agree with all the good sentiments here but surely it's too late, the damage is done. The guns are out there and will function for the next 1000 years.... or are we going to melt them all down?
1
Brilliant column. He's right. I just posted it on Facebook.
Trump and the GOP do not go for compromise, just control. Trump is famous for negotiating win-lose deals, that is the opposite of compromise. The NRA is an evil organization bent on arming all, including small children. They do not compromise. They do corrupt congress, our congress. If they get their way, we will have a 326 million, armed, unregulated militia.
The Bill O'Reilly's of the US are trashing those brave kids. But, if you live daily with the threat of death by AR-15, you have to take a stand, and they are. We should all do the same.
Instead of ranting on about Trump, why not provide some tips about political organizing for our young students and others?
I support the Second Amendment, by why won't people read it? "The right to bear arms, AS PART OF A WELL REGULATED MILITIA, will not be infringed." Where are our well -regulated militias?
1
God I love these Young People! How glorious to be fighting for your own lives and all of our lives. The Religion of Guns is an immature fantasy. Perhaps they will force the Adults to Face this. Im not under the illusion that there is a God guiding any of this.Fear fuels the Illusion. We need to let Adults take responsibility and make sane decisions. Those Adults are inside our children. Release the Krakken of Sanity!
There's got to be more to it than just a nice, cushy job. Even during th Clinton years there was a little common sense regulation that th nra didn't resist.
I do have a theory to this extraordinary subject, even for these times: Now that the American economy and workforce is firmly under th thumb of our sovereign oligarchy and their lobbyists, America now needs to become a "police state!"
Everyone needs to own a cell phone where one can be followed and traced every minute. Satellites and land cameras will cover every square inch of US territories all th time. Schools will now appear as lock-down institutes in order to condition young Americans to our NEW ORDER.
Just a theory? We all see only what we wanna see, right?
Why did this op-ed on an important issue turn into a partisan attack on the Republican party and Trump?
Partisanship discredits your message. Stick to the problem of guns.
Decent column Friedman. The message is get rid of the republican party, because they are the maidservants to the nra and the gun manufacturers. If they had any sense or grains of decency, they would join with the demos to make some basic changes. Instead, they resist and thus when it happens, and eventually it will, it’ll be done to them instead of with them. Remember above all that the purpose of a firearm is to maim and kill.
1
Right on Friedman. How about telling us what we can do to fight the NRA most effectively? We can get off Facebook but what do we do exactly? I'm waiting for an effective answer.
We often hear about changes to Australian gun laws in 1996 which are credited with halting further mass shootings. There is another Australian event which illustrates the benefits of the gun laws.
Three weeks after the Virginia Tech shootings in 2007, mentally ill student Sarah Jean Cheney at La Trobe University in Melbourne acted on an impulse to “go on a killing spree at the university “. Her only accessible weapon was a kitchen knife. She injured one student but killed no-one. Same state of mind as the Virginia Tech shooter but 32 fewer lives lost.
1
Those of us who protested the War in Vietnam in the 1960's and 1970's are the age of the grandparents of these kids, not their parents. We must join them in their marches, send money to support them, and help them learn how, yes, "We shall overcome." Tom is right; get off of Facebook and into the streets.
2