Gun Control: I'm Calling My Congressman and Senators. Will You?

I've already called Congressman Dave Loebsack's office in Iowa City (319-351-0789) and plan to soon call my two U.S. Senators Charles Grassley (R-IA) at his Washington, D.C. office (202-224-0001) and Joni Ernst at her Des Moines office (515-284-4574).

Later. Chuck is either eternally busy or has taken his phone off the hook in D.C. I was able to reach one of his staff at his Cedar Rapids office at 319-363-6832 and give her the message that I know that Sen. Grassley had taken $232, 237 from the NRA as of 2018 after the Parkland shooting, but I expect him to do the right thing and enact universal background checks for gun purchases, a ban on assault weapons, and red flag warning laws. I was able to reach Joni's staffer in Des Moines. I told her that I know Sen. Ernst has taken over $3,124,000 from the NRA, but I expect her to do the right thing about gun control, including banning assault weapons, and so forth.

I have D.C. addresses for all of them, but don't snail-mail your Congressperson and senators in Washington, D.C. It takes two to three weeks to check Congressional mail for anthrax. I have that on good authority from a Congressional or Senate staff person. Pick up the phone and call their offices in D.C. or locally in Iowa.

Tell them you're tired of mass shootings by assault weapons. Tell them semi-automatic weapons should be banned, just like automatic weapons are. Tell them you also want universal background checks by federal mandate. Tell them you want gun control red-flag warning laws enacted.

According to Wikipedia, "A red flag law is a gun violence prevention law that permits police or family members to petition a state court to order the temporary removal of firearms from a person who may present a danger to others or themselves."

The Parkland, Florida shooter who killed teachers and students at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018 and mobilized survivors to tour the country to advocate for gun control had all sorts of life situations and warning signs that he was a possible threat to society. He was cruel to animals, one of the four signs of a serial killer. He brought an assault weapon to the home of a family he stayed with after the death of his grandmother. His host family locked up the weapon in a gun case, but the boy found the key and retrieved the assault weapon. He obviously had trauma and instability in his life. Some people hurt themselves once traumatized. He chose to hurt others.

Of course, gun control won't happen in the Senate because Senate Majority Leader "Moscow Mitch" McConnell (R-KY) makes sure that Democratic bills from the House are dead on arrival in the Senate and won't come up for a floor vote on his watch. That's why an election security bill to keep our elections safe from foreign meddling (from bad actors like Russia, China, and Iran) died on Mitch's watch, which earned him the nickname "Moscow Mitch," coined by Morning Joe Scarborough on MSNBC.

I've got my Moscow Mitch shot glass on order, with all proceeds going to the Kentucky Democratic Party. The site also has Moscow Mitch T-shirts, caps, and other items. I've also contributed to the DitchMitchFund.com. Retired Lt. Col. Amy McGrath, a former Marine fighter pilot and national security advisor, is running against him.

By the way, 77-year-old Mitch McConnell fell on his own patio in Louisville and fractured his shoulder on Sunday, Aug. 4th, when two massacres occurred. After a trip to the hospital, he's now at home resting. But even if he were well, he wouldn't allow gun control bills to see the light of day in the Senate, and the power rests with him.

Why? Because as of 2018 after the Parkland, FL shooting, Mitch had received $1.26 million from the NRA. He'd hate to turn off that spigot of cash.

It's important that Amy McGrath beats Moscow Mitch in Kentucky. He's blocking important legislation that needs to see the light of day and he seems to have no moral compass. According to McGrath, he's cutting and pasting her words in attack ads to make her seem to be an extreme leftist. In fact, she's a registered Independent married to a Republican.

It's not enough to have a Democratic president take over from our morally bankrupt, racist president who incites white nationalists to commit violence on an almost daily basis. We have to defeat his enablers in the Senate. Chief among them is Moscow Mitch.

He used to be called "Cocaine Mitch" and he liked that nickname, bestowed on him by Don Blankenship, one of his coal miner friends, a swell guy who ended up in prison for breaking federal safety laws, a scofflaw whose negligence caused the death of 29 miners.

McConnell doesn't like the moniker Moscow Mitch. Word has it that he's quite upset about his latest nickname. What a shame. He worked so hard to deserve it when he refused to let an election security bill from the House come up for a vote.