More Mass Shootings Than Days: Right Now Is Exactly The Time To Politicize Gun Violence

Don’t listen to a single word from the NRA, its supporters, or the pro-gun crowd. When there have been more mass shootings than days this year, the “now is not the time to talk about gun control” means we will never talk about gun control.

Something very big happened yesterday. 

Amid the carnage, amid the horrific San Bernardino mass shooting – the worst since the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre that left 26 dead – people said, “enough!”

During every mass shooting, as the nation is glued to out TV screens and Twitter feeds, we gun control supporters wonder if it’s “OK” to express our outrage that Congress has refused to do its job, and to do what at least 8 out of 10 Americans want: close background check loopholes, and strengthen gun laws.

Something very big happened yesterday. 

Gun control advocates, in a crescendo of anger, began telling their pro-gun Congressmen – who were busily tweeting their “thoughts and prayers” tweets – your thoughts and prayers have not translated into action, and time’s up. As NCRM wrote last night, “Twitter Explodes Against Pro-Gun Politicians Offering ‘Thoughts And Prayers’ On Shooting.”

It wasn’t an organized movement, it just happened. And the more people saw those tweets, the more comfortable they felt joining in.

This was mine:

Perhaps those people who took action yesterday were motivated by the fact that we just had a very public mass shooting at Planned Parenthood. 

Perhaps they were motivated by Senator Chris Murphy’s tweet, now favorited over 11,000 times:

Or perhaps thy were motivated by ThinkProgress’ Igor Volsky, who sent dozens and dozens of tweets responding to politicians offering prayers. Volsky’s tweets included the amount of cash the NRA had donated to each lawmaker’s campaign. A sampling, including some from today:

Volsky later appeared on MSNBC, explaining to Chris Hayes the thought process behind his tweets:

Pro-gun conservatives immediately pushed back, labeling the tweets demanding more than thoughts and prayers, “prayer shaming,” which is absurd, as some on the left are pointing out:

Make no mistake. America is sick to death of gun violence, and America is sick to death of Congress doing nothing.

LOOK: San Bernardino Shooting: NY Daily News Slams GOP ‘Cowards’ Who ‘Hide Behind Meaningless Platitudes’

I don’t know about you, but I can feel it. 

“We do not have to tolerate the intolerable,” the Rude Pundit wrote yesterday during the San Bernardino shooting. “We have chosen to tolerate it. We have chosen to pretend as if the extremists who demand no regulation of guns have a valid point of view. We should be politicizing every shooting even more. We should be asking our politicians how they can dare not do something to help a nation afflicted with bullets.”

Now is exactly the time to politicize gun violence. Because it’s only getting worse.

We have momentum, but we all need to take action.

Call your Congressman and call your Senators and tell them you’ve had enough. Explain to them, if you’re like me, that you’re afraid for your family’s lives. You’re tired of your children seeing another mass shooting on the news. You’re tired of senseless murders. 

Now is the time for action.

Call the Capitol Hill switchboard and tell them where you live. They’ll connect you with your Congressman and Senators: (202) 224-3121.

Politicize a mass shooting, when we have at least one every day?

Damn right I will.

 

Image via Twitter