When you could care less about human suffering, you're a gun nut

NATIONAL HARBOR, Maryland — An NRA panel at the Conservative Political Action Conference this past weekend mocked a congresswoman whose husband was murdered in a 1993 mass-shooting, claiming she has “no idea what [she’s] talking about” when it comes to gun control laws. Twenty years ago, McCarthy’s husband Dennis was one of the six people who died in a shooting rampage on a Long Island Rail Road commuter train. The shooter, Colin Ferguson, targeted people at random, carrying a handgun and high-capacity magazines. McCarthy’s son Kevin was also shot and severely injured in the spree. The tragedy prompted McCarthy to become an outspoken advocate for stronger gun laws and eventually win a seat in Congress three years later. Yet McCarthy’s personal experience with the horrors of gun violence did not stop the NRA from disparaging her understanding of the issues surrounding firearms. NRA Organizer Colton Kerrigan played a video of the New York congresswoman and made fun of her for not knowing what a barrel shroud is, using the episode to dismiss her entire push for stronger gun laws. She has “no idea what [she’s] writing, never shot a gun before, and yet [she’s] going to tell you what you should and should not own to make everybody else safer.”

No reasonable person would deny or belittle the horrible loss suffered by Rep. Carolyn McCarthy. Her husband was randomly and senselessly gunned down for merely being in the wrong place at the wrong time. No one should have to lose a loved one in such a manner, and anyone with even the barest shred of humanity wouldn’t think twice about sympathizing with and offering condolences to McCarthy, who’s turned her loss into a Congressional career. McCarthy has turned tragedy into positive action, which is more than Colton Kerrigan can say. Kerrigan, like the other thugs in the employ of the NRA, knows only personal destruction and, like his colleagues, is a miserable excuse for a human being.

The idea that one must be able to identify the components parts of a firearm in order to credibly have a voice in the debate over gun control is absurd. Rep. McCarthy may not be schooled in or able to identify the parts of a gun, but few are more qualified to speak to the need for gun control. She lost a husband and almost lost a son to a seriously disturbed person with a gun; that should trump every other “requirement” for being allowed to speak about gun control.

The NRA, of course, has since the Sandy Hook massacre established its bona fides as an organization thoroughly devoid of anything resembling humanity or decency. They’ve made it clear they won’t tolerate anything they construe as reducing gun “rights” even one iota. The deaths of children are evidently merely a cost of doing business when it comes to defending the Second Amendment, which they define as absolute, immutable, inviolable, and immune to any alteration for any reason whatsoever. Guns uber Alles, even the lives and well-being of innocent human beings.

Colton Kerrigan is just another NRA zealot and ideologue committed first and foremost to the advancement and protection of the interests of the gun industry. He should be ashamed of himself for making light of the tragic loss McCarthy suffered…but that would presume he actually understands and recognizes the concept of shame. It also presumes that he possesses something resembling empathy and human decency, which are qualities he appears to be devoid of.

There really should be a reserved parking place in Hell for people like Kerrigan. If you’re so wedded to your agenda that you’re willing to trample on the suffering of another human being, you’re an egregious waste of humanity. I only hope that Kerrigan is fortunate enough to never suffer a loss similar to McCarthy’s. No one should have to endure something so painful…even a sorry excuse for a human being like Colton Kerrigan.