On February 14, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz slaughtered two faculty members and 15 students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

His weapon of choice: An AR-15 assault rifle, often favored by gun massacre killers. 

Since then, the National Rifle Association (NRA), President Donald Trump and their shills (paid and unpaid) have sought to distract attention from the reason for the massacre: Easy access to military assault weaponry by virtually anyone. 

Among those they have blamed:

• “The elites” (who, says Wayne LaPierre, the NRA’s executive vice president, “don’t care about America’s schoolchildren”);
• Unarmed school teachers (who should have been armed);
• Cruz’ neighbors and classmates (who didn’t report his obsession with violence to police);
• The media (who “love mass shootings,” according to Dana Loesch, the NRA’s spokeswoman);
• The FBI (which fumbled tips that Cruz was a live grenade waiting to go off). 
• Scot Peterson (the armed school resource officer who stayed outside the school as the shooting unfolded).

According to a series of police reports, Cruz suffered from mental illness and was on behavioral medication. The records described fights at home—and his mother’s fear that Cruz was out of control even as an adolescent.

Nikolas Cruz

Even so, it was not mental illness that made it possible for Cruz to slaughter 17 innocent students and faculty.  

It was his access to military-style firepower.

Without that, all he could have done was fantasize about inflicting torment on others. Having access to that firepower allowed him to make his fantasies come true.

And who made it possible for Cruz to obtain that firepower? Those Republicans who are literally on the payroll of the NRA. 

To start at the top: President Donald Trump. In 2016, the NRA spent more than $30 million to support him and defeat his opponent, Hillary Clinton.

Donald Trump

And that investment has already paid off: In February, 2017, Trump signed a bill making it easier for the mentally ill to buy guns. This repealed an Obama-era regulation that restricted the rights of seriously incapacitated people to own death-dealing firepower.

In fact, during the 2016 election, the NRA and its affiliate, the NRA Institute for Legislative Action, spent a total of $54 million. The vast majority of these monies went to support Republicans or oppose Democrats.

Even so, the NRA has been willing to open its pocketbook to Democrats willing to toe the organization’s line. Rep. Sanford Bishop, of Georgia, has received about $47,000 during his tenure in Congress. 

From January 1 to mid-February, 2018, the NRA has spent absolutely nothing to support Democrats, and $337,000 to oppose them.

Then there are Florida’s Republican legislators. All of the following received contributions from the NRA during the 2016 election cycle: 

• Rep. Gus M. Bilirakis: $2,000 
• Rep. Carlos Curbelo: $2,500 
• Rep. Ted Yoho: $1,000 
• Rep. Daniel Webster: $1,000
• Rep. John Rutherford: $1,000 
• Sen. Marco Rubio: $9,900 
• Rep. Dennis Ross: $2,000 
• Rep. Tom Rooney: $2,000 
• Rep. Bill Posey: $2,000 
• Rep. Brian Mast: $4,950 
• Rep. Matt Gaetz: $1,000 
• Rep. Neal Dunn: $1,000 
• Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart: $2,000 Rep.
• Ron DeSantis: $1,000 

Then there is Florida Governor Rick Scott. 

In 2014, Scott won the praise of the NRA’s Political Victory Fund: “Rick has signed more pro-gun bills into law in one term than any other governor in Florida history.”  All of this resulted in his getting an “A+” rating from the organization. 

Rick Scott

And what has all this highly-paid political influence bought? 

• An AR-15 rifle—designed to kill the maximum number of people—is legally easier to obtain than a handgun. 
• Federal law requires gun buyers to be 21 before buying a handgun. But in Florida, an AR-15 can be purchased at age 18.
• Residents aren’t required to register their gun.
• But Floridians must be 21 to buy an alcoholic beverage.
• No permit or license is needed to buy a gun.
• No permit is needed to conceal carry a rifle or shotgun; one is required to conceal carry a handgun.
• The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services is required to issue a concealed carry permit to anyone who desires one, as long as: S/he is an American citizen; 21 or older; without a felony conviction; and can prove that s/he is competent with a firearm.
• Floridians can buy as many guns as they want at one time.
• Florida does not regulate assault weapons, .50-caliber rifles and large capacity ammunition magazines.  
• Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law allows for the use of deadly force without any obligation to try to avoid violence.  

And when criminals and/or the criminally insane turn the weaponry they have legally purchased onto scores of defenseless men, women and children, the NRA again benefits. 

For example: One week after the mass slaughter at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Florida legislators voted 71-36 against a measure to consider a ban on semi-automatic weapons. 

Yet they declared pornography a public health risk. The bill “recognizes public health risk created by pornography & acknowledges need for education, prevention, research, & policy change to protect citizens of this state.”

Almost all the lawmakers who voted against an assault rifle ban have an “A” rating from the NRA.

Watching in stunned disbelief and outrage were 100 Marjory Stoneman High School students. They had traveled 400 miles from Parkland to the state capital in Tallahassee, hoping to speak with legislators and Governor Scott.