Fred Guttenberg, who lost his fourteen year old daughter Jaime in the horrific Stoneman-Douglas shooting last year, was Nancy Pelosi’s guest at Tuesday’s State of the Union speech and I think it is fair to say he was not impressed by drumpf’s stumbling tap-dance around the real problems that face our country.
I WAS AT TRUMP’S STATE OF THE UNION. I SHOULDN’T HAVE BEEN
“I was honored to be a guest of our Speaker, and the fact that so many victims of gun violence were there too made me feel optimistic that gun safety would be front and center at the State Of the Union. Victims of gun violence from across the country were present. From Parkland alone, in addition to my invitation from the Speaker, Charlie Mirsky of March For Our Lives was also invited by the Speaker, Manny Oliver, whose son Joaquin was killed, was invited by Congressman Deutch, activist and Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School survivor Cameron Kasky was invited by Congressman Swalwell, and Andrew Pollack, whose daughter Meadow was killed, was invited by Senator Scott.
Our president last night hit on several topics, but the one that stood out for me was his made up version of an emergency. His recitation of facts on undocumented immigrants and a crisis on our southern border was simply too much for me to take.
We do have a real crisis in this country, a real emergency. In the United States Of America, almost 40,000 people now die a year from gun violence. That is a higher rate than traffic accidents. The president refused to discuss that reality.
While watching this speech, sadly, I realized that had my daughter’s killer been an illegal immigrant, the president would have mentioned it. He failed to mention it because like so many victims of gun violence, she was killed by an American male. Even when the president mentioned the heroism of the Pittsburgh survivors, he failed to mention the fact that a gun, an AR-15 which made its way into a temple, was used to massacre people. Why doesn’t President Trump consider 40,000 people dying a national emergency?”
The short answer to your question Fred is that the Resident won’t talk about the gun issue because the NRA fill his re-election coffers, and those of the other members of his party, during every election cycle.
To them the real National emergency would be if this flow of blood money stopped.
Thank You, Fred, for all that you do.
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[cross-posted to PolitiZoom]