Against all odds the surviving victims of the Douglas Parkland High School shooting massacre, have provoked a national discussion on guns which includes challenging the all powerful and seemingly invincible National Rifle Association, (NRA), and its stranglehold over the ruling Republican Party. While it is still very early days their hash tag “Never Again” shows promise of emulating the other social revolutionary movement - the “Me Too” - wave. Within two weeks they have dominated the traditional and social medias. Their activism has resulted in the escalation of support of their cause rather than it fading away as so often has happened after each one of these tragedies. It has become the issue du jour. For the moment political relief is not on the cards as the Republicans have not cut the placental cord with the NRA who are turning the fight into a cultural war. The President has sent mixed messages agreeing with the last group he has spoken to. The NRA leader harangued that the assault on gun rights was anti American and was being lead by individuals, who all happened to be Jews, ranging from Karl Marx to Chuck Schumer. The latter demagoguery was regarded as anti - semitic and The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported that, “It freaked out Jews and heartened anti -semites”.
POLITICAL CHANGE IS A LONG WAY OFF.
The “#never again” phenomenon has a long long way to go before their organization, exuberance, passion and commitment results in meaningful change. David Hogg who has emerged as the de facto leader recognizes that consequential results will only be presaged by the removal of those supporting the NRA’s position at the ballot box. While claiming that the whole issue is non political he is mobilizing support to “throw the bums out”, who for practical purposes are the Republican Party. Bearing in mind that high school Juniors and Seniors are at the age where they may well be able to vote in 2018 this omen bodes badly for the current GOP who are on track to lose the House anyway. What is even more significant is the impact that this will have on the Republican Party in the future. Analysis has shown that the widespread success of the Democratic Party in the forty odd elections since 2016 was in no small part due to the millennial vote. Now what is referred to as Generation Y are poised to weigh in against the GOP. Reince Priebus’s fear, following the second Obama victory that the Republican Party would become an unsustainable whites only party is in danger of becoming reduced to an elderly white male party.
The “#never again” operation has created even more pressure on the rudderless Congress Republican majorities. They are in such disarray that the chance of an overall fix is non existent. Currently they are veering away from the principal demands to get shot of semi automatic guns and magazines with more than ten rounds. Their fearless leader Trump's main thrust is arming teachers which has virtually no support in the States. Everyone is in on jacking up of background checks without providing details of how they will include all gun sales and who will pay for them. Trump the cheerleader for this approach has to date worsened the situation by decreasing background checks with his war on the regulatory process.
The practicality of mental health assessments, not to forget that the schools need workers to help identify and counsel disturbed youngsters, has not been addressed. There are those like Governor Scott of Florida who concentrate on school safety. He has proposed a security officer for every thousand students. Florida has approximately two million seven hundred thousand hundred students who should need two thousand seven hundred security officers. Then all the training, paraphernalia and equipment that would be needed to put this into action has to make it a non starter. Most States will need Federal money and Trump has cut the amount of money for school security in his budget.
Key to any progress would mean taking the NRA head on - a recurring theme in the “#never again” and #boycott NRA” campaigns. This is a conflict that the GOP legislators could not possibly contemplate. The best a few can effect is increase the age from eighteen to twenty - one that Americans can purchase the semi automatic that was used in Parkland. Banning bump stocks which turn semi automatics into automatic weapons seems to have the most consensus which begs the question why legislation wasn’t introduced to ban them after the Vegas shootings were they were used. Trump who was gung ho for age change is faltering after discussions with the NRA.
Finally, just in case anyone still is optimistic about progressive legislation they need to be reminded that The Republicans have banned the National Institute of Health and the Centre for Disease Control from doing any research on gun violence. No one in this current rethink has even mentioned reversing this policy. Without proper data how can there be worthwhile action? The American Medical Association has policy that it announced in 2016 that defined gun violence as a “Public Health Crisis” and has called for Congress to reverse their policy forbidding the Center for Disease Control to research this phenomenon.
The ruling Republican legislative response was summed up by Speaker Paul Ryan who claimed that there was no need for depriving citizens the right to purchase semi automatics as Parklands was a systems failure.
THE #NEVER AGAIN MOVEMENT
The panache, dignity, peacefulness, and clarity which the leaders and the movement have handled this devastating event has been exemplary. Take one second to empathize with their situation. They escaped with their lives while their friends and colleagues were slaughtered in front of their eyes. They now face a situation where they perceive the politicians are doing nothing consequential to avoid a recurrence of this trauma. In addition there are the those on the internet who claim that the mass murder was staged and the leadership are nothing but crisis actors. Their response remains dignified and respectful even reflecting that this hateful garbage allows them further opportunity to put their point of view.
The articulate young leaders have provoked responses from politicians including the Governor of Florida and the President of the United States as well putting the NRA on the defensive. Their sincerity, directness, obvious lack of a hidden agenda, rational anger and pain has culminated in a coalition of nation wide constituencies to help change the status quo. But their most significant inroads have occurred outside the political arena. They have received substantial financial support, $500,000 each from Oprah, Steven Spielberg, Film Producer Jeffery Katzenberg and George Clooney. Justin Bieber, Cher, Amy Schumer and Lady Gaga have tweeted their backing. There is massive public support for progress. Seventy percent of the population want tougher gun laws including banning semi automatics and nearly a hundred percent want real background checks.
There was an unbelievable immediate response to their boycott appeal to corporate sponsors of the NRA bearing in mind the latter’s power and numbers. This sparked a new hashtag #Boycott NRA. First out of the gate were six car companies that provided discounts, Enterprise, Alamo and National who were then followed by Hertz, Avis and Budget. The First National Bank of Omaha, the largest private bank and issuers of the NRA Credit card which was loaded with perks terminated their arrangement as from March. Delta and United Airlines are no longer offering discounts and have been joined online buying car company True Car which provided card carrying members up to $3,400 savings. Cybersecurity Syntec and home security Simplisafe have axed their deals as well as has insurer MetLife. Needless to say the remaining companies are under heavy pressure to follow suit. Three key companies, Apple, Amazon and Google are under celebrity pressure to show the NRA the door. They stream the NRA’s television and a move from these companies might infringe First Amendment Rights. One major discounter that if bolted would shake the flappable NRA big chief, Wane Lapierre would be Fedex abandoning ship. This is the only major company left that actually provides benefits for the members directly.
A far reaching outcome was the announcements of Bank of America and Blackstone who declared that they were going to have “discussions” with the gun manufacturers with whom they have extensive financial involvements. Blackstone is a hedge Fund that has massive positions in Gun Manufacturing Companies. Both these financial entities have publicly stated they would be discussing the gun safety situation with their clients as to what they are able to offer in this regard. Pension and retirement funds have starting disinvesting from gun manufacture shares. There is generalized discussion at boycotting that sell semi automatics. Dick’s Sporting Goods a major retailer of guns has voluntarily dropped the sale of these offensive weapons and Walmart have unilaterally raised the age that they will sell guns. The Square a financial services company will not process assault weapon payments.
This disinvestment and boycott is reminiscent of one of the factors that brought about the end of apartheid. It was not the overriding factor nor could it be here but is a signal that the NRA are vulnerable.The ultimate bitter pill to the Republicans, who persist on being on the wrong side of history, is that the Democrats are using their moves for gun control in a financial drive.
The real test of the activist’s political success will be the impact they have on the midterm elections and whether their agenda will be a central theme.
NRA RESPONSE AND HOW IS IT FINANCED?
The NRA went onto the offensive with a bang. Their playbook was the same as their GOP apologists focusing, rather, on the incident and why it shouldn’t have happened than banning war weaponry. The mantra is that the fault lies in the fact that the shooter slipped through the police cracks - a system failure. The fact that he used a semi automatic weapon that with each bullet tears the insides of a victim and has a magazine that can fire fifty bullets is apparently not considered relevant. The doctors at Parkland Hospital, who deal with bullet wounds every day, maintained that a victim with an ordinary bullet fired from an ordinary gun causes a limited amount of damage as opposed to the explosion that the semi automatic generates. Most patients with gun shots are salvageable but children from Parkland School with a direct hit were not.
The system failure defense felt on deaf ears so Plan B was to escalate the dispute to the status of a cultural war. No one is better than the NRA’s executive head, Wayne Lapierre, to launch this blitzkrieg, and there was no more receptive audience to initiate the campaign than at the Conservative Political Action Conference. The latter was hosting Marechal - Le Pen who has not distanced herself from her antisemitic and holocaust denying grandfather who stated that she was his political heir. LaPierre developed this theme by identifying only prominent jews as the main enemies of the NRA and America. Karl Marx, Bernie Sanders, George Soros, Michael Bloomberg, Tom Steyer and Chuck Schumer were the leaders of a European Socialist Style conspiracy which was a political disease where citizens are repressed, freedoms destroyed and their firearms are banned and confiscated. (Jay H. Ell’s emphasis). Needless today it was these “socialists” that had taken over the Democratic Party that were the source of this powerful plot to destroy America.
The NRA has a very distinguished life member, Putin ally, Alexander Torshin, who is wanted as a mobster money launderer in Spain. He is also Lapierre’s chief lobbyist in Russia and has an office in Washington. The McClatchy News Service reported that US Federal Bureau of Investigation was looking into whether Russia had funneled money to Trump’s Presidential campaign through the NRA. The latter spent thirty- one million dollars in the effort and uncharacteristically started by financing him when he was a contender in the Primary. Two - thirds of that fortune was directed at vilifying Hillary Clinton.
AT THE END OF THE DAY
Notwithstanding the wide spread support for the children of the #never again movement, don’t hold your breath waiting for gun reform unless there is a Democratic wave in the 2018 midterm elections. Before that happens it is going to get uglier and uglier the NRA appears to be resorting to the time honored scapegoat - the Jews. The rationale Lapierre could use was that five of the seventeen dead in Parklands were Jews and many who have been prominent in the resulting activism are of Jewish origin including the parents, family and friends of the slain.
But as the President has tweeted: “What many people don’t understand, is that Wayne, Chris and the folks who work so hard at the @NRA are Great People and Great American Patriots. They love our Country and will do the right thing.” The threesome - The NRA, Trump and the GOP legislators - are joined at the hip. Or will Trump sign any consensus gun reform Bill as he intimated with his meeting with lawmakers. If his reversal of the same promise he made on DACA is anything to go by there will be just a few meaningless “reforms”.
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