Ahead of Mark Robinson Headlining NRA Convention in Texas, North Carolina Parents Demand To Know Why Robinson Is More Beholden to the NRA Than to Protecting Our Children
Today, ahead of Mark Robinson’s speech at the NRA convention in Texas, 760 parents across North Carolina released a letter addressed to North Carolina’s highest ranking Republican, Mark Robinson, to demand answers on why he and the North Carolina Republican Party are beholden to the NRA instead of protecting our children and call on him to withdraw from the event. Robinson is joining Donald Trump and Republican leaders at the NRA’s convention in Texas just days after a mass shooting in the state killed 19 children and two adults.
“Thoughts and prayers are not enough. That’s why more than 760 parents are demanding to know why Mark Robinson and the North Carolina Republican Party have made the choice to put the NRA’s interests ahead of their children’s safety,” said North Carolina Democratic Party Spokesperson Ellie Dougherty.
Excerpts of the letter read:
As parents across North Carolina, we are laser-focused on doing everything in our power to protect our kids. One of the hardest things we do as parents is drop our kids off at school each day knowing that we won’t be there to protect them. Whether they will scrape their knee on the playground or if they will stand up to a bully – these things already keep us up at night worrying.
On Tuesday, May 24th, a mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas killed 19 children and two adults – yet another horrifying and uniquely American tragedy. Families like ours dropped their kids off for the second to last day of school not knowing it would be for the last time. Now, just days after this horrific event, Donald Trump and Republican leaders, including yourself, are still scheduled to speak at the NRA’s convention in Texas this week.
We demand to know – how many children do you need to see gunned down, communities torn apart, and lives upended, before you’ll finally decide to put lives ahead of the gun lobby and actually do something to stop this senseless violence? Republican leaders like yourself continue to make it clear they callously care more about keeping money in the pockets of gun manufacturers and the gun lobby than dead children. When will it end?
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Your thoughts and prayers are not enough. Unless proven otherwise, your attendance at the NRA convention in Texas this week makes it clear: you, and the North Carolina Republican Party, are beholden to the NRA instead of protecting North Carolina children.
If you have any decency or respect for parents across North Carolina and this nation who are fielding questions from scared and confused kids, parents who are trying to overcome the overwhelming fear that their child is not safe at school, and parents who are at this very moment living out the nightmare of losing a child – withdraw from this conference and get to work for the people of North Carolina.