Texas school shooting shows pro-gun GOP turning America into a 'killing field,' claims NYT columnist

New York Times opinion columnist Charles Blow blamed Republican lawmakers for the mass shootings that have ravaged the country recently, claiming the party's protection of gun rights has turned the country into a "killing field."

Blow’s Wednesday column opened with the declaration, "The Republican Party has turned America into a killing field." Describing how this happened, he wrote, "Republicans have allowed guns to proliferate while weakening barriers to ownership, lowering the age at which one can purchase a weapon and eliminating laws governing how, when and where guns can be carried."

He claimed the Supreme Court has aided in this project and "upheld a corrupt and bastardized interpretation of the Second Amendment."

In addition to all that, Blow wrote that the GOP has cynically stirred up fear in its voters to keep people buying guns. 

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"But Republicans have also done so by promoting fear and paranoia. They tell people that criminals are coming to menace you, immigrants are coming to menace you, a race war (or racial replacement) is coming to menace you and the government itself may one day come to menace you," Blow stated. 

"The propaganda has been incredibly, insidiously persuasive. As Vox pointed out last year, ‘Americans make up less than 5 percent of the world’s population, yet they own roughly 45 percent of all the world’s privately held firearms,’ according to 2018 data" he added. 

He argued even more cynically, stating, "But once you accept the dogma that a personal arsenal is your last line of defense against an advancing threat, no amount of tragedy can persuade you to relinquish that idea, not even the slaughter of children and their teachers in their classrooms."

And then there’s the ability for Americans to separate themselves from the lunatic killers. The columnist explained, "Even if you think that shootings like the one in Texas are horrendous, you see yourself and your interests as detached from them. You didn’t do the killing. Your guns are kept safe and secure, possibly even under lock and key. You are a responsible gun owner. The person who did the killing is a lunatic."'

Blow described this as a dangerous mindset. "Republicans carry this logic in Congress. They offer thoughts and prayers but resist reforms. They offer the same asinine advice: To counter bad guys with guns, we need more good guys with guns," he stated.

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As such, "Republicans keep the country trapped in a state of intransigence, ricocheting from one tragedy to another. This is not normal, nor is it necessary and inevitable," Blow surmised. 

He continued, slamming the GOP: "Republicans agree to no new restrictions. This is not a both-sides-equally issue. The lion’s share of the resistance to passing federal gun safety laws falls squarely on Republican shoulders." 

Blow insisted, "Beginning to pass gun safety wouldn’t immediately end all gun violence in this country, but it could begin to lower the body count, to lessen the amount of blood flowing in the streets," but pointed out that "Republicans have no intention of helping in that regard."

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"We are not addressing our insane gun culture and the havoc it is wreaking because the Republican Party refuses to cooperate," Blow added, before concluding, "There is death all around us, but for too many Republicans, it is a sad inconvenience rather than impetus for action."