Have you heard the news today? Fran Millar and other GOP legislators are considering voting down a tax break for Delta because Delta doesn’t want to offer discounted fares to NRA members. Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, chief among the conservatives in national news today, made his position very clear: if you “attack conservatives,” you should expect them to “fight back.”
When I read that, I thought of the children in Parkland, Florida who were returning to school this week. I got angry. Georgia’s GOP isn’t fighting to protect our children from gun violence. Republican legislators here are fighting to protect the NRA.
And at what cost?
Here, in Georgia, you can carry a gun almost anywhere – onto a college campus, at a public concert, at a nightclub, into a school. We know from Virginia Tech, Las Vegas, Orlando, and Sandy Hook, that more guns in more places result in more loss of life.
Last week, I rallied with Moms Demand Action at the Gold Dome (video). Few Republican legislators would listen to our calls for common sense gun laws.
Instead, these same representatives are now seeking to punish one of our state’s largest corporations for terminating a relationship with the NRA.
What does that mean for other international companies, including Amazon, who are considering establishing headquarters offices here or bringing more jobs to our state? Will the Gold Dome next require CEOs to get NRA approval before companies can relocate to Georgia?
Our state government should be in the business of creating infrastructure, boosting our economy, and helping Georgians build more secure futures – not fighting for the rights to carry weapons of war. We shouldn’t be worrying about whether our children will return home from school alive each day.
Our representatives are so focused on the interests of one organization, the NRA, that they have forgotten their sworn duty to support the interests and priorities of their own constituents. It’s time for new leadership.
—Sally
