What a beautiful winter day, today was — the snow softly falling outside my classroom as my students took their exams. It all seemed serene until the church bells began softly tolling 26 sorrowful times to honor the murdered Newtown children. It’s a tragedy never to be forgotten, covered up, hushed up, or hidden away in a “secure” gun locker. Their senseless deaths must result in banning the Glocks and other semiautomatic weapons used in most of the mass shootings to date.

We hear that America is the “greatest country in the world.” And it’s true: We have the greatest number of gun shootings of any “civilized” (let’s put that in quotes) country in the world. According to the Brady Center on Gun Violence, America has suffered 96,119 shootings this year and today, Friday, 269 people were killed or wounded.

You’ve heard the NRA’s hackneyed argument that guns don’t kill, people do. Can wacky Wayne LaPierre tell us how many Americans kids were killed by fishing rods this year? The NRA’s solution? Hire armed school guards, who can shoot it out with the bad guys. In the great state of Missouri, where something is dreadfully wrong with the water, legislators want teachers to carry concealed weapons. What a great classroom learning environment! But I digress.

What about our great Congressman, Big Bill Owens! If you look at his Bill Owens for Congress homepage, you will find the “Second Amendment.” If you clicked, you will learn Bill is a proud supporter of the Second Amendment — with an A+ rating and endorsement from the NRA in the last election. Well, to get that rating, Bill was more than “proudly supporting the gun rights of north country hunters.” He was one of the NRA’s creatures on Capitol Hill. Oh, what a difference a week makes, doesn’t it! Bill—what do you think about the assault weapons ban now? No longer pushing for a “sportsman’s” right to carry weapons of mass destruction? It’s time to relinquish your embarrassing NRA membership if you want sane constituents in your district to ever vote for you again. Say goodbye to your NRA friends. Pass a Gun Control Bill, Bill, or its bye bye for you in the next election.

Mark MacWilliams

Canton

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