I recently contacted both of the Senators from Missouri and my Congresswoman, Ann Wagner.
The reason for my contact was to support President Obama in his push to institute some sanity in gun regulation and control by executive action. This dysfunctional Congress is unable and unwilling to address this important issue. Meanwhile 30,000 Americans a year continue to die as the result of gun violence. I also addressed to them my concern over accepting NRA money.
I choose not to use the honorific representative with Ms. Wagner because the woman absolutely does not represent me or my positions. Her positions are generally the antithesis of sanity and science. Sadly, they get her elected in the conservative district that I live in. Ms. Wagner does accept NRA “contributions. I can never in my mind square the logic of accepting funding from this source and professing Christian beliefs.
Claire McCaskill in earlier times would have been considered a Republican with many of her positions. However, she is about the closest thing to a Democrat that can win a state wide election in Missouri. On social issues I generally concur with her. She did sadden me with her stance on the Keystone Pipeline. Where I really admire Ms. McCaskill is that she does not take any money from the NRA. God bless her.
Roy Blunt on the other hand is the prized hog feeding on the trough of what can only be described as blood money. He consistently comes near the top of lists of politicians being bought by the NRA and other gun lobby groups. I will have to admire Mr. Blunt as apparently when he is bought he stays bought. He is one of the strongest opponents blocking any gun regulation in Congress.
Below is Mr. Blunt’s response to my contact email. As always it is a form response probably auto-generated by software. What really disturbed me about his response was the following section.
“That’s why I am a cosponsor of S. 2434, the Separation of Powers Restoration and Second Amendment Protection Act. The bill would void and prohibit funding for any of President Obama’s executive actions on gun control that undermines the powers reserved for Congress under the Constitution.”
No doubt this plays well at NRA headquarters. When I read the statistics of where Americans are on gun control I find it hard to believe that it plays well to the majority of voters in Missouri. But it might. Missouri is essentially a rural and a conservative state.
What is the old saying, “if you are not part of the solution, do not be part of the problem?” This man and other cynical politicians are the problem. They are essentially blocking what a consensus of Americans want to happen on gun control. My goal when I discuss issues with folks who do not think and believe like I do is to maintain a civil discourse. I am not 100 percent on target for this goal, but I do try. When I read his response my resolved melted. Somehow I wanted to respond with via blog or letter with a series of expletives. I truly do not know how he looks himself in the mirror. I wish there was some way to routinely send him the police picture of each and every person who died from gun violence in this country. I am betting it would not make him flinch a single millimeter. And how very sad that is.
The other section that bothered me is this one:
“Americans are rightly concerned about incidents of violence across our nation. The president should use this opportunity to get to the root cause of so many of them and join me in my efforts to improve and expand access to mental health care.”
This is the common, cynical, manipulative comment that proponents of “gun rights” use to redirect the discussion. It is a smoke screen. It is an effort to move the discussion away from the real problem of inadequate gun regulation. While I am absolutely behind programs to expand and improve mental health care in our country, it is this same group of politicians that are preventing funding and even actively working to defund most of our social services programs. If they somehow manage to come to agreement for programs to improve mental health treatment, I am sure it will not be near enough and certainly will not be adequately funded. I can only keep repeating, how very sad this man makes me.
Below is the full text of Mr. Blunt’s response:
Dear David:
Thank you for contacting me regarding President Obama’s executive action on gun control.
I am a strong defender of our Second Amendment rights. The right of law-abiding citizens to own firearms is an individual right guaranteed by the Second Amendment of the Constitution and broadly interpreted by the U.S. Supreme Court. Our Founders clearly understood that one of the most basic rights of Americans is the ability to defend ourselves and our families.
That’s why I am a cosponsor of S. 2434, the Separation of Powers Restoration and Second Amendment Protection Act. The bill would void and prohibit funding for any of President Obama’s executive actions on gun control that undermines the powers reserved for Congress under the Constitution.
Americans are rightly concerned about incidents of violence across our nation. The president should use this opportunity to get to the root cause of so many of them and join me in my efforts to improve and expand access to mental health care. I urge the president to reconsider any attempt to roll back our Constitutional rights unilaterally, and ask him instead to work with Congress to enact measures that will improve our mental health care system and help keep Americans safe.
I appreciate your thoughts and will continue to support legislation that keeps our homes and families protected, safeguards our Second Amendment rights, and encourages safe and responsible gun ownership.
Again, thank you for contacting me. I look forward to continuing our conversation on Facebook and Twitter about the important issues facing Missouri and the country. I also encourage you to visit my website to learn more about where I stand on the issues and sign-up for my e-newsletter.
Sincere regards,
Roy Blunt
United States Senator
This is a link detailing how much blood money Mr. Blunt has taken: The NRA Gave These 9 Senators Over $22 Million To Vote Down Gun Laws (CHART)