By Lee Williams
SAF Investigative Journalism Project
An estimated 21 veterans kill themselves every day. One would be too many. Twenty-one is cataclysmic.
It is difficult to understand why so many develop thoughts of self-harm, but military life does take a tremendous toll. More than 500,000 veterans have been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and more than 380,000 have suffered traumatic brain injuries. Other unseen wounds abound. I pray regularly that someone will find a solution to stop this daily horror.
As difficult as it is to accept this loss, it is far more difficult to believe anyone would use these deaths to help sell their political agenda, but that is exactly what Joe Biden is doing.
The Biden-Harris administration is using veteran suicides to garner public support for their war on gun dealers, whom they blame for skyrocketing violent crime rates in cities historically controlled by Democrats.
“The Biden administration is rolling out a new initiative aimed at reducing suicides by gun and combating the significant increases in suicides by members of the military and veterans,” the Associated Press reported Wednesday. As part of the plan, Biden will order the ATF to “seek to revoke the licenses of dealers the first time that they violate federal law.”
This is nothing new. Biden first announced he was targeting gun dealers in June. The only difference is now he’s doing it for the veterans.
That’s sick – even for Biden – using the deaths of heroes to sell his gun control plan.
The other team doesn’t care. They love the plan. John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety, told the AP the administration was “blazing a new path to keep guns away from people who could be a danger to themselves.”
To be clear, gun dealers – even the rogue ones – do not contribute to veteran suicides. The Veterans Administration contributes to veteran suicides. If a veteran decides they need help, they’ll spend months fighting to get the VA to accept that their illness is service-related and that they qualify for care. Democrats want to give away universal healthcare. In my humble opinion, it should go to the people who have earned it. All veterans should have access to immediate care.
What troubles me most is that Biden so cavalierly stereotyped us, again.
The vast majority of veterans are well adjusted and more law abiding than the rest of the public. We lead superior lives after separating from the military, and we will continue to do so, despite the blood-dancing by an ungrateful commander-in-chief.
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