Why What's Happening in Charlottesville TERRIFIES Me...

Photo via Getty Images.

I'll be honest.  I hadn't heard of Charlottesville, before this morning.  The small college city had never entered my radar; I'm thousands of miles away, down in Cornwall, England, after all.

But by now, it's becoming a name that many recognise.  They recognise it from the news.  From the horrific photos of so-called "alt-right" activists, beating those who don't share their twisted views, with the torches they carried as they marched.  From the images of these racist thugs (many of whom claim to balk at being called Nazis) performing Nazi salutes.

So, why were so many "disaffected young white men" marching through Charlottesville, last night?  

Well, it was all part of something called Unite The Right.  This is a gathering of groups whose members all claim that white history is being erased in the United States and that they are persecuted simply for the colour of their skin.

Yes.  America, which has become disturbingly notorious for police killings of black people, is apparently persecuting its white folk.

Now, I'm a white person (1/4 Greek Cypriot, 3/4 very pale white British).  I can tell you, with my hand on my heart, that I have never, ever thought: "Good God, I am so persecuted.  I have no rights.  I have no voice.  And it's all because I'm white."

That's because I know history.  It's because I experience white privilege enough to realise that my skin colour, more often than not, protects me rather than leaves me at risk of persecution.  The need for "White Lives Matter" (as these goons in Charlottesville were chanting) is akin to "Straight Pride," in as much as history has given us a whole heap of reasons why it's just not necessary, whereas the reverse very much is.

But since when have racists listened to reason?

White men, in their 20s and 30s (and some who onlookers suggested may have only been in their teens), therefore swarmed through the University of Virginia campus last night, chanting slogans such as "jews will never replace us!" and claiming to be standing up for the poor, voiceless white man.

Because, you know, white men are the least privileged in society.  They get paid less, they never get top jobs, predominantly white neighbourhoods are often referred to as "no-go areas" and woe betide a white man if he's stopped by the police...

Oh, wait.

Now, don't get me wrong.  I'm sure there are people in America who feel they've never been listened to, just as there are plenty of folk here in the UK who say their voices aren't heard.  And when they're talking about important social issues, such as crime, housing or welfare etc, they have just as much right to be listened to as you or I.  That's what a democracy is; everyone is supposed to be able to have their say.

The trouble is, what a lot of these people want to say, are things that we literally fought two wars against.  It's inciting hatred against a race or religion.  It's claiming white superiority and treating anyone of any other ethnicity as somehow "other" or wrong.  It's talking about those important social issues, but pinning the blame for all social problems on immigration, or "political correctness gone mad."

But here's the thing: political correctness and humanity are two different things.  Over the last few years in particular, the lines between the two have become blurred so that they bleed into one another.  For example, if you say "hang on, don't call all Mexicans rapists," you're told by these alt-right morons that you're "being politically correct,"whilst they praise Donald Trump for "telling it like it is," as though he's being somehow brave by inaccurately labelling every single Mexican a sexual abuser (which is rich coming from him, let's face it).  It's not political correctness to say "no, that's not true," it's simply stating a fact, whilst respecting our fellow humans enough to understand that judging an entire group based on the actions of a few is just as unhelpful as wielding torches and claiming that white people are somehow the ones who are being maligned.  

And I'm not going to sit here and say there aren't problems when people move too far to the political left, either.  Because of course any form of extremism - whatever side you lean towards - causes problems.  But far-right extremism has a long and dangerous history and as I watched the news flooding onto Twitter this morning - far-right, torch-wielding racists, encircling protestors against their hateful rhetoric and using those torches as weapons - I realised why this feels so frightening.

Because it's so brazen, now.  Because these people, who once hid beneath ridiculous white hoods, now show their faces quite happily.  Because their abhorrent views are becoming so commonplace, they no longer feel they have to whisper them, but instead flood social media with them, yell them at rallies and take pride in their hatred.

The use of the Internet and social media has no doubt helped these formerly underground, almost cultish groups to come out into the open.  And, as they reach a wider audience, their language and imagery has been emboldened.  A recent Daily Stormer (an alt-right website) article, even ended with the sickening words:

"We will eventually win this struggle and secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.   It is our destiny.   Next stop: Charlottesville.  Final stop: Auschwitz."

Auschwitz.

Where so many Jews were gassed to death during the Holocaust.  These vultures are taking their "fight" to a place that has come to stand as a permanent reminder that we must never allow fascism or hatred to take us to such a dark place ever again.  And they are going there out of hatred, themselves.  Embodying all that the Nazis stood for, yet speaking as though they are the victims.

What is this world they speak of?  Do you live in it?  Because I sure as hell don't.  I know - because my brain cells function correctly - that white people are not about to be erased from history.  I know that we are not being treated like second class citizens on a global scale, the way that so many other cultures have been.  I can see that we are not being demonised or blanket-labelled terrorists (despite the fact that these white scumbags, who are still parading through Charlottesville spouting their nasty crap as I type this, deserve that label entirely).

These mindless, hateful idiots are fighting a war that does not exist.  White people are not being marginalised, enslaved or persecuted.  We are merely living in a multicultural world and the vast majority of people accept the differences among us.  We do not cast hate at those who don't share our skin colour.   We don't tar every member of a community with the same brush when someone from that community commits an atrocity.  The world has - on the whole - moved forwards.

But these people cannot move forwards, because to do so would be to leave their hateful ideology in the past, where it belongs.  And they are emboldened by a President, whose campaign was run amid racial slurs, misogyny and "anti politically-correct" statements.  A president who, at the time of writing, has yet to condemn the white supremacists and their bullying behaviour.

And why would he, when live footage from Charlottesville just now showed David Duke (notorious white supremacist) saying to the camera: "We're determined to take our country back, to fulfil the promises made by Donald Trump.  That's why we voted for him."

Quick question, David:

WHERE ARE YOU TAKING IT BACK FROM?!  IT DIDN'T GO ANYWHERE, YOU UTTER LOUSE.

It's the bit in red, see??!!

It's always the same script.  We need to "take our country back."  Just as American racists have been buoyed by the success of Donald Trump, so the British far-right, boosted by the Brexit result, have been spouting this nonsense.

Our country is our country.  It's just a more multicultural place than it was thirty, forty years ago.  Same goes for America.  Society is mixed to a greater degree than ever before and we have made enormous strides in the fight for equality for all, regardless of gender, sexuality, race or religion.  That these are good things never seem to enter the heads of these thickies with their banners and torches.  In fact, earlier today, I actually saw some white guy on Twitter (I blocked him, so I can't quote directly)say something along the lines of:

"White culture is being erased, when it's white culture that gave us everything good.  Black culture has given society nothing."

Remember that, next time you're listening to... I don't know, most music ever.  

And it's the brazenness of these trolls (because I refuse to call them anything else, when I encounter them online) that I find so disturbing.  The hoodless racists marching through Charlottesville are just a more visual reminder that these people no longer believe that they have to hide their despicable views from the public gaze.  Islamophobia, racism, anti-Semitism is just casually spoken now, and I find that terrifying.

I also think it is of paramount importance that we, as fellow white people, speak up against this horror.  Lord knows, too many of us (those marching in Charlottesville, for sure) expect Muslims to condemn the actions of terrorists, rather than appreciate that a violent minority group do not represent Islam as a whole.  Just as ISIS falsely claim to be representing Islam, these racism scumbags claim to be defending white people.

Well, I'm white.  And I don't need your defence.  I will never need your defence, because I will never stand alongside you.  I abhor all that you stand for.  You claim to represent me, but I will shout back against you as long as there is still air in my lungs.

We are people.  We are all people, no matter what colour skin we have, or what religion we do or not ascribe to.  Regardless of gender, sexuality or anything else that may separate us, we are all people.  There is no superior race.  How can anyone claim white people are superior, when there's a vile white man in the White House, who openly mocked the disabled and bragged about sexually assaulting women during his presidential campaign?!  Get stuffed.  White people are not superior to anyone.  No race is superior to any other.

Thankfully, if you go onto Twitter and look at the news as it rolls in from Charlottesville right now, the vast majority of people - of all ethnicities - are condemning the racists chanting hateful rhetoric.  But in amongst them, are those who praise their actions.  Those who are proud to describe themselves as "far-right," both in America and over here.  Those who literally carry Swastika flags and wear Adolf Hitler quotes on their clothing.

They are brazen in their hatred.  They no longer need to hide it.

And that should horrify us all enough to ensure that we act to condemn them, once and for all.  To silence them, if possible, or - at the very least - to ensure we push them back into the shadows.  Back into their cowardly hoods.

Because hatred and intolerance have no place in our world.  To see it displayed so brazenly is utterly shameful.

"Do You Hear The People Sing?"

There is little to be cheerful about, at the moment.

America has elected a fascist, who is already attempting to implement unconstitutional, racist policy, aimed at demonising a whole community of people.  Men, women and children are being detained at airports, threatened with the prospect of being returned to unsafe homelands.  And the despicable irony is that these people are not only refugees, but, in several cases, American citizens, who have peacefully lived and worked in the US for many years.  Oh, and just in case that's not enough to make you realise that this is a dangerous man for whom ethics and respect are just good Scrabble words, he's also blocked federal funding for any global health organisations that provide - or even discuss - abortion, leaving women with far fewer choices when dealing with a pregnancy that - for any number of reasons - they feel unable to continue with.  This could force women in developing countries into searching for unsafe methods to end their pregnancies, but hey, we're supposed to believe that this is apparently all for the best.  Because dear old President Trump cares deeply about the sanctity of human life.  

Unless you're a Syrian refugee...

Trump's government seems to be filled with white supremacists, misogynists and homophobes.  The "Land of The Free" has never seemed less so.

Here in the UK, we have a Prime Minister who seems barely able (perhaps unwilling?!) to criticise Donald Trump's blatant Islamophobia with any real conviction.  She is, instead, making ludicrous statements about their relationship, such as "opposites attract" and being encouraged by her Brexit-supporting ministers to ensure we make a deal with Trump, seeing as 52% of the UK decided we ought to be pulled out of the European Union and damnit, "Brexit means Brexit."

Oh, and over in Russia, they've decided to de-criminalise domestic violence.

We are living in a world in which it's not a good time to be a Muslim.  Or non-white.  Or a woman.  Or anything but heterosexual.

Things don't look good.  They don't feel good.  And it's okay to be upset, worried or scared about that.  In fact, I question you more than a little if you're not at all concerned.

But there is something to take comfort in.

People - not merely in twos or threes, but in their hundreds of thousands - are saying: "No."

Too often, we hear criticism of musicians, actors and other celebrities, for weighing in on political issues, but it is those people with platforms who are often able to shout the loudest.  And shout they have.

Whether in award acceptance speeches, at rallies or just on Twitter, famous people with enough clout to have their views heard have been saying: "No."

And it's not just celebrities.  The day after Trump's inauguration, millions took to the street in cities across the globe, as part of a march for women's rights, and indeed human rights.  In response to Trump's funding cuts for health organisations and the politicisation of women's reproductive rights (amongst other things, including the new President's blatant misogyny and alarming propensity to brag about sexual assault), millions said: "No."

Now, as officials at American airports detain refugees and citizens alike, based on only their countries of birth (or indeed, their religion), many thousands more people have turned up to loudly protest.  They are saying - they are screaming: "NO."

Todd Maisel/New York Daily News

There will be cynics reading this, who will sigh and shake their heads at the idea of finding hope through noisy Twitter accounts, or protesters who will, eventually, have to go back to their normal, everyday lives.  "What can they achieve?" Those cynics will ask.

Well, firstly, never underestimate people-power.  However much his ego may like to think it, Donald Trump is not America.  The people are.  No matter how little the cynics amongst you might think can be achieved by people all over the world raising their voices, history has shown many times that if you shout loud enough, eventually someone has to listen.  Now is not the time to sit silently on the sidelines.  Now is not the time for glib remarks about it not being our problem, or that it might not be as bad as we think, or that we can't really care about X, because we didn't protest Y.  

Where you see injustice, or inequality, it must be called out.  Anywhere and everywhere.

Only by uniting to speak out against fascism do we ever stand a hope of really challenging it.  Individually, some guy on Twitter may not have much power.  But, combined with thousands of others - writers, politicians, people with platforms that allow the message to travel further - that power becomes immeasurable.

It's also vital to remember that, in a world that now feels isolated to many, purely because of their ethnicity, religion, sexuality or gender, the significance of voices raised in solidarity is enormous.  People whose rights are being systematically removed from them should always have support and to see it being given, via protests, petitions and yes, angry tweets, is a ray of light in a steadily darkening world.

Picture taken from Liberation News.

There is not a lot to be cheerful about, currently.

But as long as people continue to raise their voices against the rising threat of fascism, and as long as their words lead to actions, then there is still some hope to be found.  And I will cling to that hope, because, I too believe that, deep down, people are good.

And if we continue to work together and support one another, now and in the future, goodness will prevail.  However long it takes.  I have to believe that, because the alternative is unthinkable.

So, keep marching, keep tweeting, keep refusing to be quiet and accept the status quo.  Keep speaking up and defending those who need it now more than ever.  

However, you choose to speak out or act against the problems you're seeing, just keep going.  You never know whose life you're bringing hope to, when you do.

We Need To Talk About Donald...

He's a baby.  You know, just in case this image was too subtle.

I feel like 2016 is trolling us.  First, it took Bowie, plus a whole heap of other awesome celebrities (seriously, next year's "in memorium" section at the BAFTAs is going to be about an hour long...).  Then, a Brexit campaign fought using a combination of racist rhetoric, scare-mongering and outright lies (hey, Mr Farage?  How about that £350million for the NHS, now that we're leaving the EU?!) actually won - albeit with a minority so small that, had the result gone the other way, you can bet your backside that Farage and co would be screaming from the rooftops about how unfair it was.  And now, we have an orange, weird haired, misogynistic bigot on his way to the White House.  If it wasn't for the fact that he's dead, I'd be convinced that Jeremy Beadle was about to pop out and tell us that this is all just some hilarious prank that the whole world somehow fell for.

Beadle's About.  He has to be about, right?!

The thing is, if I really force myself to imagine being in the shoes of a Leave voter, I can attempt to work out one or two supposedly sensible reasons for wanting Brexit, beyond mere racism and intolerance.  I don't agree with any of the reasons given for voting Leave, but I can just about understand where people are coming from, even if I will never share their views.  Trying to understand why other people think and feel the way they do is a pretty natural thing for most of us to want to do, because it can help foster better relations on both sides.  

But even if I try really, really hard to abandon all common sense for a while and get into the mindset of someone so fed up with the status quo that they feel that something radical must be done, even if that something means that a total wreck of a human being with all the moral integrity of a genital wart is put in a position of enormous power, I can't understand anyone voting Donald Trump into office.

Regardless of how frustrated you are with the way things are going in your county, it is never okay to decide that only the worst kind of human can fix it.  There is literally no excuse in this day and age (not that there ever truly was) for blatant racism, outright misogyny, homophobia or mocking of the disabled.  And yet these were all facets of Donald Trump's campaign, either from him directly, or as a result of his choice of running-mate, Mike Pence (the kind of charming guy who believes in electro-shock therapy to "cure" gay people).

He looks mad.  He probably has blood coming out of his... wherever.  Or something.

Now, we find ourselves watching in dismay, as Trump picks yet more racists for his cabinet team. In the past couple of days, Neo-Nazi webzine Daily Stormer, referred to Trump's cabinet as being "like Christmas" for those with racist beliefs.  Trump himself was gleefully cheered on by members of the KKK.  This is not a case of the liberals whinging that a crazy guy wants to build a bloody great wall to keep all the Mexican "rapists" out.  This is now actually happening: a man with openly bigoted views is assembling a cabinet of racists.  

His pick for Attorney General is Jeff Sessions, a man who was rejected as a Federal Judge in the 1980s, because of several racist comments he'd made.

His pick for National Security Adviser is Michael Flynn, a man who was unable to say, when pressed, that he outright disagreed with Trump's openness to reinstating extreme interrogation practises, such as waterboarding, nor would he outright deny that he agreed with Trump's threat to kill the entire families of suspected terrorists.

Mike Pompeo is Trump's choice for the chief of the CIA.  This is a man who voted against renewing the Violence Against Women Act, is a hardline anti-abortion campaigner and a lifelong member of the NRA.  He too, has also come under fire for racist comments.  Anyone else seeing a theme developing...?!

And of course, Steve Bannon, who has been handed the role of Trump's Chief Strategist, is the man Neo-Nazis and White Nationalists are cheering about, seemingly loudest of all.

Here's the thing:  It doesn't take much to realise that when the KKK and other such openly racist groups are applauding your new President and his cabinet, you don't cheer with them, unless you are also openly racist.  You've got to have been bashed over the head with the stupid stick if you can't see that connection.

The trouble is, even if not everyone who voted for Trump is a racist, there is a noisy group who very much are.  And those people believed that their grotesque, backwards views had been given legitimacy by his victory (much like the Leave voters here in the UK who did vote out of racist views).  Those same people are watching Trump fill his cabinet with fellow racists and are now, as the Neo-Nazi webzine mentioned earlier put it, feeling like it's Christmas.  If you are a Trump supporter and you're reading this and you are not racist in any way, I've just got to ask: can you not see this connection??!!  Can you really not see how Trump and his fellow cabinet members are giving racists a perceived golden ticket to air their views wherever they like, and to believe that they are now the majority?!  Is this the change you wanted?!

The trouble is, take away all the racism, homophobia and misogyny and what are you left with?  A spoilt, attention-seeking little brat whose moral compass has gone seriously awry.

Seriously, when we're talking about Donald Trump, when you cut away the "MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN" rhetoric, you'll find a guy who lies and lies and lies.  He's a man-child, so emotionally stunted that he cannot accept a single word of criticism, however legitimate.  He will find any excuse to paint himself and those around him as victims, in order to whip up more hate.  This is a man whose victory speech was clearly penned by someone else, in order to have him on record saying that he will heal the divisions across the nation.  Yet, just days later, Trump was back on Twitter, insulting publications that failed to back him, by wrongly insinuating that they are failing.

When Mike Pence attended a performance of Hamilton on Broadway, the cast made an eloquent, heartfelt plea at the end of the performance, for Pence and the rest of the government to act on behalf of all citizens, regardless of ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender.  There was no mud-slinging, no swearing or harsh words.  It was an honest admission that many are afraid of what lies ahead.  It was a request for every American citizen to be considered equal.  There is video footage and a transcript readily available.  And yet Trump's response was to take to Twitter and lie, saying that Pence was "harrassed" and that an apology was due.  This, from the man who insinuated that he would support Hillary Clinton being shot, if she won the election.  This, from the man who claimed that he could sexually assault women and get away with it.  This, from the man who, at one electoral rally, openly mocked a disabled member of his audience.

The ACTUAL President of the ACTUAL United States.  I can't.

People - many of whom are Trump supporters - are insisting that we need to give this guy a chance.  We have to see what he actually does in office, before we judge him.  

NO.  

This is a man whose entire campaign was built on hating his opponent, making Islamophobic and racist remarks, belittling women and mocking the disabled.  We judge people on what they put out into the world and what Trump put out in his entire Presidential campaign was enough to make many people genuinely fearful of what his time in office would mean for them and for the wider world.  He is now the President-Elect and he is still lying and spitting out his dummy on his Twitter account.  He is hiring a cabinet made up of men who've made headlines for their racist views.  He is doing nothing to calm the fears of those who are most at risk from him being given power.  He's said very little against the racial attacks carried out in his name.  He has not made any effort to unify his divided nation.

I may be just one, very small blogger in the UK.  But I am very serious when I say, we need to talk about Donald.  Because there is a real risk that something dreadful could happen - not only to America, but the world - if we stay silent.

An Open Letter To The NRA

An open letter to the NRA...

America has experienced another tragedy.  Another massacre of innocents.  And, as is so often the case, it happened because of a person with a gun.  That person - a man who is now being labelled as an Islamic extremist, despite his family insisting that he wasn't religious and openly admitting that he was deeply homophobic - went into a gay club and took the lives of men and women who were just having a night out, enjoying themselves.  They expected to dance, have a few drinks and enjoy the company of friends.  They didn't go out, expecting to die.

The night before those innocent men and women were needlessly slaughtered, singer Christina Grimmie was shot dead, whilst meeting fans after a show.  

The fact that we could go further, highlighting other fatal shootings in the previous week, let alone over the course of the past year, is, quite frankly, shocking.  America is a great nation, but those statistics are shameful.

Let me tell you a story.  In 1996, a man named Thomas Hamilton burst into a primary school in the small town of Dunblane, Scotland.  Armed with four legally owned handguns, he proceeded to fire rapidly and seemingly randomly.  In the horror that followed, sixteen children were killed, most of them just five years old.  Their teacher was also shot dead.  Hamilton then turned the gun on himself.

The class of Primary 1 at Dunblane, with their teacher, Gwen Mayor.

By 1997, in response to the tragedy, the UK government had banned handguns.  They reasoned that logically, the only response to gun violence was tighter gun control.  It worked.  In the 19 years since handguns were banned in Britain, we've had just one mass shooting, when a licensed firearms holder named Derrick Bird shot and killed 12 people in Cumbria in 2010.  

How many mass shootings have you had since 1997?

You see, the response you give to tragedies - and there have been many over the years - is that "the only person who can stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun."  So, tell me: why was the armed officer working security at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando on Saturday night unable to stop the "bad guy with the gun"?  Could it be that your logic is skewed?!  After all, most attackers will aim to neutralise an armed threat before continuing shooting innocents with impunity.  If they're successful in neutralising that threat, how does the "good guy with a gun" save any lives?!  

Your answer to gun violence is, seemingly, more guns.  Shooting at a school?  Arm teachers.  Shooting in a shopping mall?  Arm everyone.  But here's the thing: throwing a grenade at another grenade just makes a bigger bang.  It doesn't stop the destruction.  One gun doesn't magically cancel out another.

It's a cup of tea.  Because I'm British, see?

Every nation, no matter how much we try to avoid it, has a stereotype.  I'm British, therefore you'd probably view me to be someone who enjoys queueing for things, drinks lots of tea and whose upper lip is permanently stiff (I quite like a cuppa and I queue for gigs, but just so we're clear, my upper lip quivers all over the place, particularly when I get emotional about stuff like this).  Were I Dutch, you might imagine me to be wearing clogs.  If I was Italian, perhaps you'd think of me as being passionate and mad-keen on pasta/pizza.  But what about the American stereotype?

That's it.

This is going to sound harsh, NRA, but you need to hear it: THIS IS WHAT YOU LOOK LIKE TO THE REST OF THE WORLD.  You look like a nation who clings so stubbornly to your guns that you refuse to tighten control in order to protect your civilians.  You look like a nation who puts your "constitutional right to bear arms" above the rights of men, women and children to go to school, to the mall, to the cinema, to church or on a night out, without the potential for it to be the last thing they ever do.  In the hours after a mass shooting, there were already comments appearing on Twitter about how wrong it would be to have tighter gun control.  And the rest of the world?  The rest of the world is doing that thing, where they're so horrified by something that they laugh, because they can't believe it could possibly be serious.  The rest of the world is laughing at the NRA.  Except it's not funny.  It's not funny when people are being slaughtered every week, because you'd rather protect the right to have guns than the right to be safe.  And it's not funny when more and more American citizens are expressing their desire to have the issue of gun control looked at seriously.  More and more Americans are calling for action.  You're ignoring them.  You're ignoring them whilst your citizens die.  You're ignoring them whilst mothers grieve in front of TV cameras.  You're ignoring them whilst the rest of the world shows you their statistics on mass shootings and proves time and again that greater control is necessary.

Your advocates trivialise the issue by making statements such as "well, baseball bats can kill people, too.  Want to ban those?!" in the wake of tragedies such as the one in Orlando.  But comparing a blunt, wooden implement to a weapon firing bullets capable of tearing a human body apart is immature at best, deeply disrespectful to the dead, at worst.  You go into a nightclub with a baseball bat and try to kill fifty people before you're stopped.  Do you seriously think you'd succeed?

You claim guns make people safe.  You seem to believe that in an America with gun control, your president wouldn't have armed guards.  Your police wouldn't have the fire power to protect civilians from violent criminals.  I CALL BULLSHIT.  In the UK, where we have strict gun controls, our security forces are armed.  Our politicans are protected by guards with guns.  We have specially trained fire-arm officers in our police force.  Those who require protection are protected.  And you know what?  Mass shootings are so rare in this country that I didn't have to Google the name of Thomas Hamilton and I only had to Google the date of the Cumbrian attacks.  We remember.  We learn.

Nobody is suggesting that you live in an America in which the president isn't protected by armed guards.  If you still want to have your police force carry guns, I'm sure that doesn't have to change, either.  But just who is being protected by having weapons and ammunition on sale in stores where families do their weekly shop?  Who needs the freedom to buy bread, milk and a rifle?  How many incidents can you list in which a family has saved their own lives and the lives of others by having easy access to a gun in their home?  And does that number of incidents even remotely compare to the number of violent shootings your country has had this year alone?

The word "ammendment" refers to a change.  If you want to spare the tears of yet more families torn apart - if you want the world to see America as great again, to quote the man I pray will never be president - then another change is needed.  It's time for the NRA to wake up.  The ridiculous number of shootings in America can be dramatically decreased.  It's just a question of whether you're prepared to put human lives before guns.  

Wake up.  Make a change.

*

As it happened, several hours before the shooting in Orlando, I filmed my latest YouTube video, which just happened to be about respecting one another's differences, rather than hating one another.  Should you wish to see it, it's here: