Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Where I Stand:

Wanted: An American Moses to break the chains of the gun lobby

When will America find its voice?

This weekend begins the Jewish celebration of Passover. It’s a big deal. It commemorates the freedom from the bondage of Pharaoh in Egypt of the Jewish people.

The Book of Exodus tells this wonderful story about perseverance, religious belief, the birth, life and leadership of Moses, the power of God and the reluctance of the nonbelieving Pharaoh to accept what he could not see or hear.

In the end, the words of Moses spoke loudly to the power of faith as he demanded of Egypt’s ruler to “let my people go.” And, of course, Pharaoh did. And that started the Jewish people on their long road through history.

Where is this country’s Moses? A man or woman who will stand up to all the naysayers and demand that it is time to let the people of the United States go — to the movies, to the grocery store, to a concert, to a spa or to a school — without the fear of being slaughtered by some psycho with an automatic weapon.

In the biblical story of Exodus, those who questioned the power of a Supreme Being intent upon protecting his people were subjected to the suffering of Ten Plagues. The final penalty was the death of the first born. And even Pharaoh learned the pain of that lesson.

But, not us. Gun violence in America has cost too many families not only their first born but far too often many of today’s and tomorrow’s generations whose only crime was trusting society’s leaders to keep them safe. Which we have not!

Where is that voice demanding that Americans must be freed from the bondage of an unrelenting fear that grips every person when their children leave the house or when their neighbors go out on the town?

We don’t hear it on Capitol Hill. Our elected representatives are too busy with their thoughts and prayers to do their jobs and protect the people who elected them.

We don’t hear it in our cities and states. With a few notable exceptions, our local leaders are too busy kowtowing to uninformed voters who think gun safety and common sense laws somehow violate the Second Amendment because automatic rifles and other mass-killing machines are protected by the Constitution. They have bumper stickers to prove their exactitude.

Yes, these people say they are certain — How is that even possible? — that the Founding Fathers were mindful of the need to protect AR-15’s when they wrote the Constitution. In 1787!

And, so far, we don’t hear it enough in the voices of regular moms and dads who know all too well the pain and suffering of losing a loved one to gun violence.

It is not that they aren’t speaking out, it is just that they are muted by the noise on Capitol Hill that only prays to God while killers continue to prey on our innocence.

Instead of gun safety laws, perhaps our elected representatives should pass a law making it mandatory for all Americans to own and carry automatic weapons. That way we can each be prepared to protect one another should the need arise.

On second thought, that’s a really bad idea.

So say the police who will be out-manned and out-gunned and who will not be able to tell the good guys from the bad.

So say law-abiding citizens worried about trigger-happy people unprepared to do battle on a moment’s notice. Can you imagine every man for himself with 100-round ammo clips?

And so says common sense. More guns cannot be the answer to too many guns.

The only folks who would like an idea like that would be the gun manufacturers, the people behind the National Rifle Association and all those efforts to stop Congress from enacting responsible gun laws. They are in it for the money so can you imagine how much money there is in arming the entirety of the United States of America?

As Jews celebrate Passover and the freedom it represents, it would be nice — once and for all — if all of America can celebrate its own freedom from the bondage of the NRA and its minions in Congress.

Let our people go — about their lives without fear of gun-toting sickos — should be America’s rallying cry.

And we should not stop raising our voices until those elected officials who are enslaved to the gun lobby finally act to free our country from gun violence.

That is when America can enjoy the great promise of this land.

Brian Greenspun is editor, publisher and owner of the Sun.