Susan Orfanos

I don’t want prayers.
I don’t want thoughts.
I want gun control.
– Susan Orfanos

When I heard this grief-stricken plea from the mother of Telemachus Orfanos on the news yesterday, I had an epiphany about what politicians really mean when they blather about “thoughts and prayers” following shooting rampages.

Mr. Orfanos survived the rampage in Las Vegas, but he didn’t survive the rampage at the Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks, California.

Politician’s thought:  His mother’s going to become a fierce gun control advocate.

Politician’s prayer:  She won’t be successful or effective.

If politicians’ offers of sympathy and support were sincere, they would have passed meaningful gun control legislation after Sandy Hook.

But, they didn’t.

Here in Washington State, 60% of the voters approved Initiative 594 in 2014 requiring background checks on all gun sales ~ including at gun shows and on the Internet ~ after Sandy Hook.  We’d had our own shooting rampage at Marysville-Pilchuck High School on October 24, 2014.

On Tuesday, 60% of Washington voters approved Initiative 1639 which places restrictions on semi-automatic weapons like the one used in a shooting rampage in Mukilteo, Washington on July 30, 2016.

Clearly, when citizens rather than politicians control the process, We the People vote for gun control.