Let's Hope Moulton's View on Gun Slaughter Moments of Silence Is Contagious

Seth Moulton has the right idea about those weak and perfunctory and unproductive moments of silence at the Capitol after mass shootings like the one Sunday night in Las Vegas.

“As after #Orlando, I will NOT be joining my colleagues in a moment of silence on the House Floor that just becomes an excuse for inaction.  Now is not the moment for silence; it’s a time for action.” Moulton tweeted earlier today.

The action he referred to is voting on new gun control measures.  I like what Moulton’s doing but have to say good luck with that voting thing.

After more than 20 first graders were mowed down by a deranged young loner in Sandy Hook, Connecticut, in 2012, many thought it would be the atrocity of atrocities that finally spurred Congress to ban the sale of assault weapons.  Of course, we all underestimated the ability of the Republicans running D.C. to take massacres in stride.

Moulton, an Iraq War hero who represents the Sixth Massachusetts District, also tweeted, “Thinking of everyone in #Las Vegas, and praying Congress will have the courage to do more than stand in silence to commemorate them.”

Amen.

Moulton has been a Congressman for only three years, but he has a smitten national following so large and a buzz about him so insistent that many Millenials (Americans born from the mid-1990s to the early-2000s) are talking seriously about him as a Democrat candidate for President of the United States.

In the Sunday New York Times yesterday, Moulton was mentioned in an article in the Opinion section headlined, “Who Can Beat Trump in 2020?”  Here’s what the Times said about him:

“Seth Moulton…is a charismatic, intelligent Iraq war veterans who isn’t afraid to call out party elders like Nancy Pelosi.  He’s only 38, and it’s almost certainly too soon for him to have much of a chance of winning the nomination, but it doesn’t hurt to put his name into the 2020 veepstakes.”

Wouldn’t it be something if this exceptional man from Salem made it to a national political ticket.

FOOTNOTE: The online satirical newspaper "The Onion" had the most apropos headline on the horror in Las Vegas: 'No way to Prevent This,' Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens.