Candidate posting about Mass Shootings on my campaign website. Please circulate if you agree

[AZLD4Candidate]

https://katzforhouse.org/2021/05/23/2-warfare-on-american-streets-nra-style/
Title of posting:#2: Warfare on American streets; NRA style

As I write this, there have been six mass shootings over the weekend of May 22nd and May 23rd of 2021. Six. Mass. Shootings. Six of them. And where is Joel John when it comes to this issue of guns and their mass-proliferation of them on our streets? Silent as always, because, according to his own website, “As responsible gun owners in District 4, we value our right to defend ourselves and our families. As a Lifetime Member of the NRA, and someone who continues his family hunting tradition, Joel will protect your Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. Joel is strongly pro-life, believing that every human life has value and should be protected. “

Before we logically dissect his drivel, let’s just point out there have been mass shootings, according to CNN, in (1) New Jersey, (2) South Carolina, (3) Georgia, (4) Youngstown, Ohio, (5) Columbus, Ohio, and (6) Minnesota. Six in one weekend. I would say “thoughts and prayers,” but all the thoughts and all the prayers aren’t doing anything. Action is what is needed, but NRA-for-life apologist Joel John has been bought and paid for by the gun lobby and as such, he will remain bought and paid for, so he will do nothing.

Now, let’s look at his drivel. ” As responsible gun owners in District 4, we value our right to defend ourselves and our families. As a Lifetime Member of the NRA, and someone who continues his family hunting tradition, Joel will protect your Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.” We are not talking about the right to defend yourself, Mr. John. We’re talking about mass shootings. Try to not muddy the waters please. I grew up in gun control in the Catskill Mountains of Upstate NY. I was a Boy Scout and earned my rifle shooting merit badge. I grew up around guns in the 1980s and 1990s. My own high school in NY actually made the first day of hunting season a day off from school so those that hunted could do it, teacher and student. We’re not talking about guns like my army veteran brother’s side arm. We’re not talking with my 30-06 hunting rifle when I grew up, or my pump action shotgun, or my .22 rifle. We’re talking AR15s and military grade weaponry, things that have only one purpose: Killing people.

Yes, Mr. John. I know. Don’t blame the tool, blame the person with the tool. A knife is a tool and it can be used to kill. Ban that, Mr. Katz. That is an interesting take, Mr. John. Allow me to address the talking point.

1) No one HAS EVER COME for your guns! See, there is this thing in the US Constitution saying retro-active laws are unconstitutional. Passing any gun regulation is not “coming from your guns” because, and listen closely Mr. Bought by the NRA, that would amount to an ex-post facto law. That’s in Article One, Section Nine, Clause Three of the US Constitution. Buybacks and people given incentives to turn them in are not unconstitutional. If gun control is passed, all before it are “grandfathered.” It will apply to the future, not the past. Your fearmongering scare tactic is as hollow as your position.

2) The primary purpose of a knife is to cut things, and has been since it’s invention back at the dawn of human civilization. The primary purpose of a car is to get from point A to point B. The primary purpose of dynamite, as stated by inventor Alfred Nobel, was to assist in mining and building. However, when he witnessed people misuse his creation with the intention to kill, he regretted inventing it. The primary purpose of a hammer is the bang in a nail. When you use your gun to cut something, drive somewhere, build something, help in mining, or bang in a nail, a thinking person will accept this drivel of an argument.

3) Have you ever read the part of the Second Amendment before the comma? Do you even understand it? Do you even know what it means? When you read it, we can debate it. To help you, sir, here it is: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State,.” What well-regulated militia are you a part of, sir?

Finally, Mr. John comes back and says ”Joel is strongly pro-life, believing that every human life has value and should be protected. “ Except when a gun in involved. Then forget the death and protect and shield the gun. Or pretty much any place else when it comes to a person living. I will guarantee Mr. Pro-Life supports capital punishment and against all reasonable gun control laws. Preborn gets all his attention and will dictate to a woman what she can do with her body. Pre-school needs to fend for themselves, especially, God Forbid, it someone with a gun goes onto a school here in Arizona and tries to re-create what happened in Colorado, Florida, Connecticut, or, most recently, Idaho.

Guns are irreplaceable, according to Mr. John, and your truncated right to own one is sacrosanct. Your right to life before birth is also sacrosanct. Your right to live after and not be shot is up for debate. He will hide behind that it is not in the Bill of Rights, but it is. It’s called the Ninth Amendment: “The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.“ This is called the “including, but not limited to” amendment.

Maybe you should read the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights before mentioning it on your platform, sir. It would make you more credible and less of a hypocrite. Just remember that NRA lifelong membership when, God forbid, another mass shooting happens, only it happens in your backyard. But according to the NRA, sir, people shot to death seem to only be collateral damage.

(1)https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/23/us/new-jersey-house-shooting/index.html

(2)https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/23/us/north-charleston-shooting-concert/index.html

(3)https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/23/us/south-fulton-shooting-three-dead/index.html

(4)https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/23/us/youngstown-ohio-shooting-sunday/index.html

(5)https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/23/us/columbus-ohio-bicentennial-park-shooting/index.html

(6)https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/22/us/minneapolis-shooting-2-killed/index.html