My heart goes out to Richard Martinez and every single parent who has lost a child to a random shooting. I'm not sure what it is about Memorial Day weekend, but to me, it is a violent, cruel weekend and this is yet another violent, cruel outcome.
TPM:
"Have we learned nothing? These things are going to continue until somebody does something," Richard Martinez said in an interview with CNN. "So where the hell is the leadership? Where the hell are these people we elect to congress that we spend so much money on? These people are getting rich sitting in Congress, and what do they do? They don't take care of our kids. My kid died because nobody responded to what happened at Sandy Hook."
Martinez's son, Christopher, was the last of six victims allegedly killed by Elliot Rodger before the suspected shooter took his own life. An emotional Martinez had railed against "craven, irresponsible politicians" and the National Rifle Association for their support of gun rights at a Saturday press conference. He redoubled his criticism of Congress in his interview with CNN, calling lawmakers a "rudderless bunch of idiots."
A visibly angry Martinez expressed dismay that no legislative action has been taken since 20 elementary school students were killed by shooter Adam Lanza in Newtown.
"Those parents lost little kids. I had 20 years with my son. That's all I'll ever have," he said. "But those people lost their children at 6 and 7 years old. How do you think they feel? And who's talking to them now, who's doing anything for them now? Who is standing up for those kids that died back then in an elementary school? Why wasn't something done? It's outrageous."
Will this be another Sandy Hook, where we all get outraged and shake our fists until the NRA serves up another batch of paranoia and Billionaire Bucks to make sure we don't dare do anything to limit who carries guns?
Admittedly, Elliot Rodger's guns were obtained legally, mostly because he was wealthy enough to keep his therapy for his undisclosed mental illness secret. There are a million different ways to second-guess this outcome. But Martinez is right: Congress is a bunch of cowards, and those cowards exist on both sides of the aisle. Everyone swore something would be done after Sandy Hook and nothing was done.
Meanwhile the hate, the paranoia, the ugly rhetoric and the death continues. Blood is all over the NRA's hands (and some others), but they don't care. They like it. They're bloodthirsty lunatics and they long for blood to spill.
May they be sentenced to a life in hell listening to an endless loop of Richard Martinez' pain-filled cries.
