More Than Just Prayers

How many members of Congress are there

Who have blood on their hands--

Who receive cash from the NRA

And then obey its demands?

 

Back in the 1990s there was

A study by the CDC*

On what the effect of all our guns

On public health might be.

 

The NRA--objecting, of course,

To any regulations--

Sent lobbyists to legislators

To have some "conversations."
 

What a surprise! The CDC's

Budget was suddenly slashed

By a few million, and consequently,

The research program was trashed.

 

When dealing with special interest groups,

We've been too Pollyannish.

Challenge the NRA and then

Watch your funding vanish.

 

These "compassionate" members of Congress

Want to honor the dead

And NOT pass pertinent laws that might

Save some lives instead.

 

They want us to PRAY for victims of violence;

That's their insidious distraction.

Solving the problem of gun violence

Requires not prayers, but action!

 

(7-3-16) By Bob B

 

The top 20 Congressional lifetime recipients of cash from the NRA (1998 to 2016)**:

 

Sen. Roy Blunt (R) MO

Rep. Don Young (R) AK

Rep. Steve Chabot (R) OH

Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R) VA

Rep. Pete Sessions (R) TX

Sen. John Thune (R) SD

Rep. Mike Simpson (R) ID

Rep. Robert Aderholt (R) AL

Rep. Hal Rogers (R) KY

Rep. John Kline (R) MN

Rep. Sanford Bishop (D) GA

Rep. Ken Calvert (R) CA

Rep. Greg Walden (R) OR

Rep. Sam Graves (R) MO

Rep. Paul Ryan (R) WI

Sen. Richard Burr (R) NC

Sen. David Vitter (R) LA

Rep. Ed Whitfield (R) KY

Rep. Tim Murphy (R) PA

Rep. Joe Barton (R) TX

 

*Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

**From THE NATION, Vol. 303, Numbers 1&2, July 4/11, 2016