To Our National and State Level Republican Elected Officials,

I am a lifelong gun owner. I enjoy hunting, shooting skeet and target practice at the gun range. I am licensed to carry a concealed firearm. I am not afraid of guns.

I share the above to strengthen my case when I say the ongoing social experiment (of your making) to essentially arm everyone and anyone, indiscriminately, to enhance personal and community safety has failed, with increasingly deadly consequences.

Over and over again, the dubious “… a good guy with a gun,” argument is rendered ridiculous. You continue to present the problem of our national mass shooting epidemic as complex. It is not. The solution to this epidemic is simple and straight forward.

Make it more difficult for the untrained, unvetted general public to purchase powerful, high capacity firearms.

Currently in the United States, we are averaging more than one mass shooting event per day.

This is happening on your watch. This is a direct result of Republican led gun deregulation and purposeful inaction.

If this was your intent, be honest and own it.

If this was not your intent, do something, anything, in an attempt to rectify the situation.

But, going forward, please keep your “thoughts and prayers” to yourself. Based on objective evidence, not only are they ineffective in protecting our fellow citizens, at this point the platitudes are empty.

S. Cain