by Emmeline Fernandez

WHAT IS THE N.R.A.?

The National Rifle Association is a gun rights advocacy group who is at the core of our current political climate. You may have heard the acronym before but might not know the extent to which they are critical to our daily lives,our communities, and the lives we have lost. We are in a time where being apolitical is no longer an option. Gun control needs to be our top priority and learning about the ethics and core of the N.R.A. as an organization is a step in the right direction.

HOW IS THE N.R.A. TIED TO POLITICS?

The N.R.A. holds a powerful reign over Capitol Hill because of their financial encouragements in various congressional campaigns. Their relationship with our current president is enough reason to shed  light on why their presence should be questioned. This is proven by several elected officials under the current administration, who hold active N.R.A. memberships. Therefore, the outpouring of right-wing support for the gun advocacy group comes as no surprise. With financial support come decisions that are made at the public’s expense for personal gain, and this is what we need to change. 

With every passing day, this conversation is put aside and we normalize the cruelty of tuning in to yet another mass shooting on our screens. 

We need gun control and we need it now. 

WHY DOES THIS MATTER?

As Americans, we should have pride in our country and should look to our congress for change when it is evident that we are at war with one another. Gun violence is the issue. When a gunman willingly and easily purchases a firearm and prepares himself/herself with ammunition and tools created to take lives, action is necessary. We should be for protecting our rights, but the Second Amendment was ratified in 1791 and so much has changed since. We cannot hold ourselves to dated standards when guns have advanced to dangerous proportions. The right to bear arms should be a privilege rather than a right, as proven by the grossly high number of bodies that have been taken to gun-violence. 

It is September of 2019 and there have been over ten thousand (10,000) deaths to gun violence, not to mention the over twenty thousand (20,000) suicide deaths by guns that we reach each year. 

Earlier this month, the San Francisco Council passed a resolution declaring the N.R.A. a ‘Domestic Terrorist Organization.’ The N.R.A responded by suing the city and county of San Francisco, citing a discrimination of political speech for the root of being designated a terrorist organization. 

WHAT IS DOMESTIC TERRORISM?

Domestic terrorism is when victims are targeted by perpretators with the same citizenship as the victims. Therefore, Sandy Hook, was an act of domestic terrorism. This gunman took the innocent lives of twenty six (26) people, twenty (20) of them children. 

The Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, was an act of domestic terrorism. When a gunman took the lives of seventeen (17) people, fourteen (14) of them students. 

Earlier this year in July, a gunman opened fire at the Gilroy Garlic Festival and three (3) lives were taken. One of the victims was a six year old boy. Another,  a thirteen year old girl. The oldest, only twenty-five. These Americans had their whole life ahead of them. 

Not even a week after the Gilroy shooting, a gunman terrorized a Walmart in El Paso, TX and targeted minority groups, in particular, Mexican-Americans. The gunman took the lives of twenty-two people (22). One of them, a first- time mom who gave her life to save her two-month old son. 

If the N.R.A does not agree with being labeled a domestic terrorist organization, they should work toward promoting stricter guidelines for gun access in order to hold themselves accountable. Instead, they have doubled up the promotion of pro-gun propoganda on social media sites like Facebook for three weeks after the El Paso shooting, completley ignoring the lives that were taken by the tools they fiercely protect and promote day in and day out. 

Voices need to be heard and changes need to be made. We will not be silenced. 

For information on gun-control, visit the links below. 

To sign a petition for passing stricter guidelines for gun access: https://petitions.moveon.org/sign/gun-control-now-1For information on what we can do to strengthen gun control:  https://www.preventioninstitute.org/focus-areas/preventing-violence-and-reducing-injury/preventing-violence-advocacy