The proliferation of guns and the explosion of gun violence in this country has been created and fed by three long-term trends in our society. Those are :

1. Hatred, fear, and demonization of the “other” – Blacks, Hispanics, Jews, Muslims, etc. The fires of racism and ethnocentrism have stoked this trend for far too damned long.

2. The use o these truly base and evil emotions by the NRA to promote the arming of our culture – pure greed and malevolence by the NRA and the gun industry.

3. De facto segregation in our cities into pockets of ongoing poverty. That creates a climate of despair in which “anything goes.”

To bring an end to gun violence, we must call out and deal with all three. To make that possible, we must drive the Republican party out of power and make real progress possible.