“If I believed an assault weapons ban would have prevented this from happening, I would have supported it.” Marco Rubio, CNN Town Hall February 21, 2018
We all remember the game we played as children, usually while swimming. Now imagine playing the game, but in a strange twist of fate, all the other children were replaced with doppelgangers who happened to be deaf. You call out “Marco….Marco….MARCO!” Your frustration grows as your playmates remain silent. Finally, unable to take it anymore, you open your eyes to make sure your friends were still in the pool. There they were, just as you remembered before closing your eyes. So were they ignoring you? You call out again, “MARCO!” Still silence. Like any child, you get real close and yell into someone’s ear, “MARCO!” Nothing. Finally, unable to take anymore, you grab a friend by the arm violently, screaming “Marco!” and shaking him or her. He or she responds, “what the hell? Stop grabbing me!” You begin to cry, and get out of the pool.
I am that frustrated kid. I am sure many of you feel similarly. How can these troglodytes live amongst us? Are they kidding? How did this guy get elected? How can this devil woman believe the venom she is spewing? How is this La Derrière character allowed to breathe the same oxygen I am? Can half our country really be this stupid? Why aren’t the more educated among the gun freaks not stepping in to slap some sense into their ignorant brethren? How many children have to die before things finally change? All of them? And if all of them is your answer (and believe me, after the nonsensical answers I have heard from your camp, I wouldn’t put it past you), then what exactly are you protecting with your prized guns?
And down the rabbit hole I go…again.
Look, kudos to Marco Rubio for even having the balls to show up Wednesday night. The governor and our Narcissist-in-Chief were clearly too busy polishing their extended taints (the space their testicles, which were sold to the NRA, once occupied). And good ol’ Rubio even showed sense enough to concede a few points…albeit minor points…on every White Supremacist’s favorite Constitutional Amendment. But look at his quote again (“If I believed an assault weapons ban would have prevented this from happening, I would have supported it.”) This is so insulting. How can you know if such a ban has never been enacted? Who cares what you believe? Facts save lives. Not beliefs. This is the same BS-laden venom anti-vaxxers spew that puts children’s lives at risk. And how dare you look the very children who miraculously survived the Rambo-like blitzkrieg of an assault weapon carrying 19-year old, and spew that garbage. YOU HAVEN’T TRIED EVERYTHING YOU CAN TO SAVE LIVES! And you know how IDROS knows this? BECAUSE YOU HAVEN”T ENACTED A LAW THAT MOST LIKELY WOULD HAVE PREVENTED THAT 19 YEAR OLD D-BAG FROM BUYING THE ASSAULT WEAPON!
In a recent Facebook post, when I called Bullshit on the NRA and their supporter’s entire platform vis-a-vis guns, many of my faithful friends and readers asked me…”So now what do we do?”
Below is IDROS’ playbook (this is not exhaustive):
- KEEP THE PRESSURE ON! Every day that goes by after a mass shooting weakens our leverage. But we can’t take our feet off the gas. Sandy Hook deflated all of us…we all have this horrible aftertaste in our mouths (it is actual throw up…we all threw up in our mouths a little) because “If nothing changed after 6 year olds were massacred, nothing will ever change…” IDROS is still in shock over the inaction. Thousands of young lives have been extinguished far too early since that awful day…and we all know that if even one of those lives could have been saved by common sense gun control measures…So keep writing on social media. Join a march. Call or email or write your Congress people, Governors, Council people, Comptrollers, DAs, ADAs, Attorneys General, Commissioners, Mayors, Sheriffs, Clerks and unwelcome residents of 1600 Pennsylvania. Boycott any company or business that supports the NRA. Write letters to large known NRA donors. Call those supporters out on social media.
- FIND TURNCOAT FORMER GUN NUTS – IDROS is certain there are NRA members who have lost loved ones in one of these senseless mass shootings. We must find these people and tap into the “Come to Jesus” moments. It’s so easy to brainwash the ignorant. But even the most devout cult followers can be easily deprogrammed when traumatized. And these people can expose the weaknesses in the NRArmor. There may be other former NRA members who have seen the light without experiencing trauma…we must utilize these gifts.
- GET OUTSIDE YOUR COMFORT ZONE / ECHO CHAMBER – Posting rants, sharing articles and blogs, and voicing disgust solely in our own networks, families and circles of friends is not enough. For the majority of us, most if not all of our outlets have similar political and social ideals. We must take the discussion to those who don’t already share our beliefs. Sure, my parable about the most frustrating game of Marco Polo ever looms large here, but if we can get through to even one or two people, have meaningful discussions and debates, and find some common ground in a forum where others like THEM might be watching/listening/reading, we may actually preach beyond the choir. The recent Townhall aired by CNN was great, but unfortunately, most of the people in our country we want to receive that type of message view CNN as the devil, and would rather have a family of Middle Eastern foreigners move in next door than tune in. So be sure to engage the one or two hard line gun fanatics in your network and/or family. Engage in a Breitbart or NRA message board. Find anything the likes of Tomi Lahren, Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity posts and respond. Sure, for the most part you will feel like you are playing Marco Polo in a school for the deaf. But it is vital to keep the lines of communication open.
- FUND THE ANTI GUN LOBBY – Unfortunately, IDROS does not think there is an equivalent to the NRA in terms of funding and influence that lobbies for sensible gun control. THIS POST is dead-on in much of its logic. It is a much more difficult task to influence a bureaucratic system awash in red tape to create new legislation, than it is to influence the same people to DO NOTHING. And since those who own guns and want to keep owning guns are much more motivated to protect their stance, even on a boring, garden variety Tuesday, than the opposition, who really only ever shows its teeth following a mass catastrophe…well, we get present day America. Michael Bloomberg and his Everytown For Gun Safety seems to be the best we have, and it is fairly new, established in 2014. IDROS would prefer to see money removed from politics altogether, as it is the root of all evil and corruption, but because so much money hangs in the balance of every major election outcome, unfortunately, this is unrealistic. So fund the opposition to the NRA. Solicit outspoken celebrities and wealthy friends and associates to do the same. Everytown is still in its infancy, but as the opposition to the NRA grows, the power of the gun lobby will shift. This article implies that money doesn’t matter. IDROS begs to differ.
- MARCH MADNESS – IDROS loves the idea of March For Our Lives. The surviving MSD students are giving our nation a clinic in how to enact change following a mass tragedy, and all of us who have been clamoring for change dating back to Columbine or any of the hundreds of shootings since owe these brave children a debt of gratitude. So get out there and support them physically, financially and/or any way you can. Colleges are promising not to penalize students who garner any disciplinary fallout relating to protests and marches. Here’s hoping companies will follow suit when hiring time comes. But as much as IDROS supports the student marches and protests, there is another option which may send a more powerful message, and just might get lawmakers to act more expediently. IDROS turned to his wife the evening of the Parkland shooting (IDROS’ wife is a longtime administrator at a school in South Florida) and said, “this has to stop, and I know how to stop it quickly. Unfortunately, it’s up to you. And by you, I mean all school employees, nationwide…pre-school through universities. Teachers, administrators, janitors, cafeteria workers, bus drivers, athletic coaches, counselors, nurses…all of you.” Please know that IDROS does not suggest others risk their financial security, their employment, their job security, their pensions, their futures, lightly…and anything IDROS is recommending, please know IDROS would be willing to do himself, along with his wife. Because it is all of their lives who are at risk every day. Because this is not what any of them signed up for when they made the incredible selfless choice to become educators and champions of our children. And because these are actual, current, registered voters whom the lawmakers actually represent right now, and for us to ask our children to do this alone may just be asking too much. IDROS recommends all school employees across the nation take the calendar at face value, and MARCH, starting in March. March 1, 2018, all employees strike until Congress enacts sensible gun control measures…PERIOD. All moneys forfeited, and jobs lost as a result must be guaranteed and made whole by a fund to be set up, like a GO FUND ME. And the rest of us will back this effort by A) Dealing with the frustrating and difficult repercussions of having our kids at home during this time period; B) Funding the GO FUND ME to make sure no person involved in this effort loses a single paycheck from doing so; and C) Offering support in any other way we can. IDROS believes this will work, and will work more quickly than any other tactic. Why? Because the opposition may have more lobbying money, but when push comes to shove, more than their precious little guns, they need their kids in school…and their politicians would not withstand the avalanche this kind of mass walkout would unleash.
Marjory Stoneman Douglas once said: “Be a nuisance where it counts. Do your part to inform and stimulate the public to join your action. Be depressed, discouraged, and disappointed at failure and the disheartening effects of ignorance, greed, corruption and bad politics—but never give up.”
Let’s honor her, and the brave students and faculty at her namesake school, by doing all we can to move the needle. We must not let these precious lives…any of them, from any of the tragic shootings of our past…be lost in vain.
As always, thanks for reading. Please share, and if you have any clout with the Teachers’ unions, the NEA, the Department of Education, the PTA, etc…let’s make this a MARCH to remember. Our children are counting on you.
Please let IDROS know if you have any other ideas to share that might help save lives.
Best regards,
IDROS
idontrollonshabbas 