Though many said that it was too soon to talk about changing gun laws on the same day that at least 27 people were killed at a school in Newtown, Conn., Cenk Uygur points out that it’s been 147 days since the shooting in Aurora, Colo., that killed 12 people. “When do we get to talk about gun control? Is it too soon to talk about that? Are you guys going to put a date on it? All the people who try to shut you up and say, “Don’t talk about it” – don’t talk about it when it is the most important issue in the country?! When everyone is paying attention, don’t talk about it?! … The most important thing after a tragedy is fixing it.”
And at 706 days after former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was shot in the head at a constituent meeting, Cenk says, “They told us, ‘Too soon, don’t talk about it.’ Can I talk about it now? Can we all as a country talk about it now? We’re murdering each other mercilessly, day after day. If al-Qaida did this, we would be on red alert for years on end. If Iran had done this, these shootings, we would be in Tehran right now. … But we do it to ourselves, and every time somebody says, ‘Hey, can we please for the love of God fix it?’ They say, ‘Too soon, don’t talk about it.’”
It’s 2,069 days since 56 were killed at Virginia Tech University, and 4,987 days since 13 were killed at Columbine High School. Cenk says, “If you’ve got kids, it ripped your heart out today. … One day it’s going to be in your town and you’re going to get the call. Then it’s not going to be too soon. It’s going to be too late. We have to do something now. … I don’t need your goddamn thoughts and prayers and sympathy. I need your action. I need your legislation. And I don’t need it tomorrow. And I don’t need it a week from now or a month from now or a decade from now. I need it today. It’s already way too goddamned late.”
