Hypocrisy: The practice of professing beliefs, feelings, or virtues that one does not hold or possess; falseness.
Beyoncé, Jennifer Aniston and Gwyneth Paltrow ‘demand a plan’ from lawmakers in gun violence PSA
The stars feature in a new public service announcement against gun violence for Demand a Plan after 20-year-old Adam Lanza shot and killed 20 children and six adults before turning the gun on himself at the Connecticut school last Friday.
The one-and-a-half minute clip features the celebrity activists asking: ‘How many more colleges? How many more classrooms? How many more movie theatres? How many more houses of faith?’ before lawmakers tighten regulations.A cast of artists and entertainers, including Michelle Williams, Reese Witherspoon, Kate Hudson, Cameron Diaz, Ellen DeGeneres, Julianne Moore, Chris Rock, Jamie Foxx, Olivia Munn, Selena Gomez, Paul Rudd, Jon Hamm, Jennifer Westfeldt, Will Ferrell, Sarah Silverman, Amy Poehler, Adam Scott, Rashida Jones, John Slattery, Jeremy Renner, Conan O’Brien, and others, have feature in the PSA released Friday on DemandaPlan.org.The effort, a campaign from Mayors Against Illegal Guns, comes a week after the horrific massacre in Newtown and amid polarizing debate rippling through the U.S. about gun violence and the Second Amendment.Together, the actors, singers, comedians and activists deliver an emotional plea to viewers to demand action from lawmakers and donate to the cause.
Looking into the camera, they read through a list of some of the 31 similar attacks carried out in the US since Columbine in 1999. ‘Virginia Tech. Tucson. Aurora. Fort Hood. Oak Creek. Newtown. How many more?’ they ask.A statement from Mayors Against Illegal Guns, an organisation of city mayors promoting tougher federal, state and local gun regulation, calls on supporters to demand President Obama and Congress step forward with a plan to end gun violence.‘Our efforts cannot bring back the 20 innocent children murdered in Newtown, CT – or the 34 people murdered with guns every day in America,’ it reads. ‘But we can prevent future tragedies.’
The organization calls on lawmakers to pass ‘common sense’ legislation that will require a criminal background check for every gun sold in America, ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines and make gun trafficking a federal crime.The video was released as cries of outrage and support echoed through school halls and on Capitol Hill following a proposal by the nation’s largest gun-rights lobby to put an armed police officer in every school.
The National Rifle Association called for the armed officers in every American school at a press conference on Friday, breaking its silence on last week’s shooting rampage. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg called the press conference ‘shameful’ in a statement on DemandaPlan.org.
Seven hundred fifty mayors and 750,000 grassroots supporters had signed the campaign’s celebrity-backed petition at press time.
Ah, those who perpetuate the gun violence in movies, have bodyguards, have ultra secured homes, and live in gated communities are telling us to demand more gun regulation? How hypocritical. Bet none of them are even aware of the gun control laws in Connecticut (rated a 28 out of 100 on firearm freedom) – or even the state where they live.
You want to ban “assault” weapons? Guess we’d better get rid of baseball bats, knives, and scissors then too.
I’m all for background checks and ways to prevent the mentally ill from getting a gun. Yet no system is perfect – especially when the government is in charge. And when seconds count, the police are minutes away.
DCG