Open Letter to Senator Mitch McConnell:

First, I decline to use the respectful address of Honorable in your salutation because in my heart, I do not believe you have earned that honorific. However, I wanted you to know it was an intentional not uninformed choice of words.

Though I am not a constituent, I am an American citizen, and I have an opinion to share with you as the Majority Leader of the United States Senate. Under former President Bill Clinton, the House and Senate, of which you were a part, passed a ban on automatic assault weapons and high capacity ammunition magazines. However, rather than renew it in 2004, you and your gun-sponsored Republican colleagues refused in favor of unleashing them on the streets without nary a background check. As you well know, deadly mass shootings have increased steadily since then.

How dare you utter the words “sickening” when describing the massacre of 19 students and 2 of their teachers? The only “sickening, sickening” (in your punctuated voice) thing you can claim is your very own behavior relative to any sensible gun safety regulation that the House of Representatives have sent your way. You have not been willing to consider mandatory background checks for anyone buying any gun; mandatory training on how to safely use and maintain a weapon in the home; and a total ban and buyback of all assault weapons and high capacity magazines (by a date certain).

Until you do, your bloody hands are on display every time you take the podium and we are watching. This is your legacy, a servant of merchants of death.

Most emphatically, I remain a voting citizen of these United States.

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