Enough already

Regarding “‘Horrific, horrific day’: 17 slain at Florida school” (Page A1, Feb. 15), the National Rifle Association’s bought-and-paid-for members of Congress, the vast majority of whom are Republicans, need to decide whether they are on the side of the NRA or public safety. This is not about the Second Amendment. This is about the huge campaign contributions the NRA gives to a great number of Republicans to ensure that they adhere to its bottom-line principle of increasing gun sales.

There have been at least 1,600 mass shootings since Sandy Hook in December 2012. Fortynine died at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando in 2016, 58 perished at a country music festival in Las Vegas last October, 26 died in the Sutherland Springs church mass shooting a month later, and last week 17 people were mowed down at a high school in Parkland, Fla.

This country is 4.4 percent of the world’s population but owns 42 percent of guns. Ninety percent of the American people want enhanced background checks, closure of gun-show loopholes, and other common-sense laws enacted.

If Republicans refuse to pass legislation to ban assault rifles, large magazines and bump stocks, they must be voted out of office this November. It is that simple.

We do not need empty “thoughts and prayers.” We need action, and we need it now. Janette Sexton, Pasadena