One year ago, on September 21, 2023, I joined this group at the Kentucky Capitol to talk privately with several Republican lawmakers about firearm access, specifically safe storage laws and a crisis aversion bill that would soon be filed by one of their Republican colleagues.
We were there most of the day.
One lawmaker gave us the following speech: He informed us that nothing will happen in Kentucky with regard to gun legislation because there is too much pressure on our politicians from GOP top party organizers (read: the folks with the purse strings) and gun rights organizations like the NRA. Then he said it’s not even about the money, it’s about the pressure and the power. It’s about marketing. That if he were to even broach the possibility of firearm legislation, the NRA would publish negative information about him in their magazines and newsletters, which go to his voters, and which would, in turn, get him primaried and removed from office, and then we would be stuck with a lawmaker even less amenable to this conversation than he was.
Then he told us about the gun he carries to work everyday, bragging like he’s some kind of macho superhero.
Another lawmaker told us that day that there are no guns allowed in the capitol or in the capitol annex where they work, which is why they feel safe there. We told them this was not true. They did not believe us and called security to find out what the law is.
Yes, a Republican lawmaker had to call capitol security to ask what the laws are.
The lesson here is this: Your GOP lawmakers do not care about you, your family, school safety, your kids, teachers, or even the safety of your law enforcement officers. What they care about is keeping their own seat of power.
Remember that.
Vote accordingly.
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