The New York Times issued a front page editorial for the first time since 1920, responding to the number of mass shootings that continue to climb — and could even outpace the number of days so far in the year.
The Times released the op-ed Saturday with a compelling front-page titled, End the Gun Epidemic in America.
The piece argues that weapons like modified combat rifles (the ones used by the shooters in San Bernardino last week) should be outlawed for civilian ownership. It also points a finger directly at politicians who support lax gun control:
Worse, politicians abet would-be killers by creating gun markets for them, and voters allow those politicians to keep their jobs. It is past time to stop talking about halting the spread of firearms, and instead to reduce their number drastically — eliminating some large categories of weapons and ammunition.
But the most powerful portion of the piece came when the Editorial Board slammed the ease at which disturbed people can purchase weapons designed to kill with speed and efficiency.
It is a moral outrage and a national disgrace that civilians can legally purchase weapons designed specifically to kill people with brutal speed and efficiency. These are weapons of war, barely modified and deliberately marketed as tools of macho vigilantism and even insurrection. America’s elected leaders offer prayers for gun victims and then, callously and without fear of consequence, reject the most basic restrictions on weapons of mass killing, as they did on Thursday. They distract us with arguments about the word terrorism. Let’s be clear: These spree killings are all, in their own ways, acts of terrorism.
Featured image via MadWorldNews
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