Lamb of God frontman Randy Blythe has made an urgent plea for "reasonable, common-sense" gun control in the wake of last week's mass shooting at a Florida high school, in which a former student took the lives of 17 people on February 14th. Via a February 16th Instagram post, the rocker says "the time for 'thoughts and prayers' is long past" and going on to suggest more proactive measures to ensure that assault weapons stay off the streets.
"Instead of 'thinking & praying,' here's a concrete action you can take," writes Blythe, "you can contact your legislators & DEMAND that there be some reasonable, common-sense gun law changes. demand it, & keep demanding it."
"Most of the American people, including a lot of gun owners, want this," he continues. "Why isn't this happening? How many more kids have to die until we the people get fed up enough to force the government to do something? The time for 'thoughts & prayers' is long past — it's a slap in the face of people who continue to die as a result of crazy people armed with legally obtained high-powered semiautomatic weapons, weapons that are designed for just one thing — killing human beings."
Later, Blythe lambasted the implications of a society that enabled the 19-year-old shooter to purchase a "deadly weapon of war" — but not alcohol — given his age. "The lunatic shooter in Florida is 19 years old & can't buy a six pack of beer by law because our society doesn't believe he is mature enough to handle it, but he legally obtained a deadly weapon of war designed to inflict as many casualties as possible from a single person wielding it, & he used it to wage war on children," he seethed. "What does this tell you about American society?"
Find Blythe's entire post below.