Letter: GOP leaders, NRA show no courage in carnage

Another mass shooting? Let's go down the list. Meaningless tweets of thoughts and prayers from political leaders? Check. Shut down any talk to prevent more mass shootings? Check. Legislation in the works that will only help future shooters? Check.

Sen. Chuck Grassley made his obligatory tweet of thoughts and prayers, which does nothing. The NRA contributed over $9,000 to his last campaign.

Political leaders (and by that, I mean Republicans) say now is not the time to talk about gun control. When is a good time? As long as those NRA contributions keep coming, never.

The House is set to vote on an NRA-backed bill to make silencers legal, which would've made tracking down the Vegas shooter more difficult. (I know, but what about the Second Amendment? You love the Second Amendment? Great, here's your musket; it fires three rounds a minute, and makes a lot of noise. A musket? Yeah, that's the context in which the Second Amendment was conceived.)

The NRA exists to put as many guns in the hands of as many people as possible. Beat your wife? Have a gun. Slap the kids around? Here's another. Mentally ill? No problem. On the No-Fly List? What could go wrong?

The NRA wasn't bothered by the bodies of two dozen children in Sandy Hook and I don't see them getting too worked up over the carnage in Vegas. Their money and influence will continue to normalize mass shootings, and Republicans will let them because they're the party concerned about life.

Wayne Yanda

Anamosa