I went to the gun control forum held last night (1.10.2013) at the county administrative building. I waited almost 3 hours to speak. My turn FINALLY came and I had a chance to express my opinion to my representatives.
I got up to the microphone and said, "Hi, my name is Edward Mendoza. I am a resident of Santa Rosa. I would like to ask you, please, to support:
Thank you."
- Criminal background checks for ALL gun sales, including private sales.
- Ban ALL assault weapons, including high-capacity magazines.
- And to make gun trafficking a federal crime.
As I left the crowded forum, at least 3 people enthusiastically shook my hand and said thank you. There were other verbal thank you's as I exited.
There were so many people who attended that there was hardly any standing room outside the forum, anywhere in the large, crowded hallway. There was even an auxiliary room where people could sit and watch the forum take place via CCTV, and that room was also crowded. The forum room itself was a huge can of sardines and many people were standing all along the walls. The hallway had about 30 or 40 seats, all full.
The great majority of this audience, however, unlike myself and a few others, were overwhelmingly an NRA audience. There were some very astonishing things said, including one man who spoke into the mic and accused the public leaders there of preparing a war against American citizens because the federal government had purchased several million rounds of ammunition recently. Needless to say, Ron Paul's name was invoked several times throughout the evening as the many pro-gun speakers got their turn.
Mind you, among the public leaders present, there was also a high-ranking, local police official, a man who has dedicated his life to protecting the public; he was at the receiving end of that accusation of "...preparing to declare war on American citizens." Shocking and pathetic.
I know for a fact that there are police, around the country as well as in Sonoma County, that have committed grave errors in carrying out their duties, and some of those errors have resulted in unwarranted deaths. Those issues need to be dealt with. And in quite a few cases police have even committed horrible crimes themselves. These issues need to be dealt with also.
However, it is a scandalous stretch to accuse our public leaders of wanting to systematically slaughter American citizens like Hitler and Stalin did, which is the accusation that flew around the forum many, many times for almost 3 hours last night. I feel sorry for our public leaders who had to sit through these outrageous insults. Mike Thompson is a decorated combat veteran. He has a Purple Heart. And for someone like him to have to listen, again and again and again, of wanting to subvert his country's democracy and mass murder his own citizens is truly sad and shameful.
There were A LOT of extremist, kooky statements made and I seriously question the mental state of a significant number of people who are AGAINST gun control, especially my having endured the flood of quasi-schizophrenic diatribe last night.
Furthermore, one of the most common red-herrings tossed around by the anti-gun control crowd was that mental health services were lacking. I couldn't agree more, especially with the number of obviously delusional people who spoke. But adequate mental health services are NOT the reason why we have gun violence in the United States. The reason we have so many dead people every year in the US is because we have too many guns freely available to anyone.
Other red herrings included scapegoating video games, a lack of god and religious faith in the U.S., satanic rock music, and more. All of them nonsense. I'm atheist and I don't need to believe in something that doesn't exist in the first place in order to be a good person or to not go around with a gun shooting people. I don't own a gun.
Additionally, the same conservative sector that was yelling and screaming last night in favor of better mental health services is the same crowd who doesn't want "Obamacare." What gives with this contradiction? The Right Wing always behaves in this same hypocritical fashion.
One speaker stated that the the 2nd Amendment doesn't give us the right to bear arms because it is God who gives us that right. Some people laughed out loud. Many speakers were downright rude and disrespectful with the public officeholders present at the forum, including making false claims and accusations, and taking more time than the stipulated 1.5 minutes. It scares me that these characters all have guns. I feel LESS safe, not more, knowing that all of the NRA radicals are armed to the teeth, right here in Sonoma County, in our neighborhoods.
Another speaker told the public officials at the forum that if they dared enact any gun control laws that they would be responsible when the public rose up against them and put a noose around their necks. This only serves to expose the pro-gun community's attitudes for what they are: extremist, fanatic, and unacceptable; a clear example of what today's society is fighting against and does not want. These unreasonably radical pro-gun positions enable more mass murders like the one in Columbine, Connecticut, etc, etc, etc.
But we will have gun control because the majority of Americans want it. And we will win and we will defeat the NRA and the weapons industry and the gun lobby, and other corporate interests who benefit from the deaths of thousands of Americans every year. We shall overcome, much to their dismay and disbelief.
Edward