O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
“I’ve always thought if more good people had concealed-carry permits, then we could end those Muslims before they walk in and kill,” Liberty University president Jerry Falwell Jr., in a Dec. 4 speech before thousands of students gathered for the Christian university’s weekly convocation.
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
Two people in California are preparing to launch the country’s first all-gun home shopping television channel, according to a Crooks and Liars news report.
O beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose stern impassioned stress
A thoroughfare of freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
GunTV, also known as GTV Live Shopping, is scheduled to launch on January 20, 2016 during the gun industry’s annual multi-day SHOT Show in Las Vegas, according to a Digby blog report.
America! America!
God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!
GunTV will go live via national satellite and cable TV providers and eventually air 24 hours a day. It will broadcast gun-related programming and sell firearms, ammunition, and accessories.
O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife.
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life!
“The ease and convenience of purchasing firearms will be as simple as consumers calling a toll-free number and placing their order.”
America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness
And every gain divine!
“This week a 2-year-old in South Carolina found a gun in the back seat of the car he was riding in and accidentally shot his grandmother, who was sitting in the passenger seat.” – People are getting shot by toddlers on a weekly basis this year, Washington Post (Oct. 14, 2015)
O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
“I never saw a body with bullet holes that was more devastating than taking away the right to arm ourselves.” – Dr. Ben Carson
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
In August, a 21-month-old in the St. Louis area found a loaded handgun at his grandmother’s house and shot himself in the torso. His mother took him to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
O beautiful for halcyon skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the enameled plain!
As of Oct. 14, 2015, at least 13 toddlers have inadvertently killed themselves with firearms this year. Eighteen more injured themselves, 10 injured other people, and two killed their fathers in Alabama and Ohio.
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till souls wax fair as earth and air
And music-hearted sea!
“In blue states, gun laws are getting stricter. And in red states, in some cases, the gun laws are getting looser.” – Kristin Goss, author of The Gun Debate: What Everyone Needs to Know
O beautiful for pilgrims feet,
Whose stem impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
Shootings by toddlers have happened in 24 states so far this year. Missouri has seen the most, with five separate incidents. Florida has had four. Texas, three.
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till paths be wrought through
wilds of thought
By pilgrim foot and knee!
Overall, about a third of all Americans with children under 18 at home have a gun in their household, including 34 percent of families with children younger than 12.
O beautiful for glory-tale
Of liberating strife
When once and twice,
for man’s avail
Men lavished precious life!
“[Guns] are absolutely essential to living the way God intended for us to live.” – California Assemblyman Tim Donnelly on the Christian talk radio show, The Bottom Line (Jan. 7, 2013)
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till selfish gain no longer stain
The banner of the free!
The San Bernardino shooting on Dec. 2, 2015 is the 355th mass shooting this year, according to a mass shooting tracker maintained by the Guns Are Cool subreddit.
O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
Across high-income nations, more guns = more homicide. – Harvard Injury Control Research Center
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till nobler men keep once again
Thy whiter jubilee!
“Guns are part of the American identity.” – Henry Rollins
Words by Katharine Lee Bates
Melody by Samuel Ward
Cover photo: violence by jadawin42
Tweet: Erick Erickson
Christmas card photo: Nevada Assemblywoman Michele Fiore
