Authored by Emily Hall via CampusReform.org,
A Harvard University professor called the National Rifle Association a “domestic terrorist organization” Tuesday morning, adding that “Congress must act” on gun control.
“We have to have the courage to call the NRA exactly what it has become - a domestic terrorist organization that places profit above the lives of the American people,” Dr. Jonathan Walton declared during Morning Prayers, according to a blog post by The Memorial Church at Harvard.
Anticipating that “gun rights defenders will accuse me of politicizing this tragedy,” he proceeds to substantiate the accusation, speculating that mass murder “is what the NRA, weapons makers, and all who financially profit from this country's pain desire” because “weapons sales increase and gun stocks rise following each mass shooting.”
“This nation is sick. Our cultural anxiety, toxic masculinity, and racial, religious, and ethnic bigotries are eating away at the soul of this nation,” Walton said later in the sermon.
“It even caused us to elect a madman to the presidency that embodies the worst aspects of our country’s cultural disease.”
He then decried the fact that Congress has not enacted further gun control measures, proclaiming that “if Congress is unwilling to act, then this nation should just own [its] sick and twisted reality,” rather than continuing to publicly mourn the victims.
“Mass shootings will just become a part of the quotidian fabric of American life - a sad, but an unsurprising event,” he continued.
“Thus, don’t ask me to pray. Don’t ask me to hold a vigil for victims. Nor will I light any more candles.”
Walton is the Plummer Professor of Christian Morals and Pusey Minister of the Memorial Church, as well as a tenured Harvard Divinity School Professor of Religion and Society.
He was arrested in September, along with a group of other professors, for protesting President Trump’s decision to repeal DACA by blocking the flow of traffic through Harvard Square.
The “Morning Prayers” page on the Memorial Church’s website notes that “a daily service of Morning Prayers has been kept at Harvard since its founding in 1636. Held Monday through Friday during term, the service consists of music, prayer, and a brief address given by a member or friend of the University.”
Campus Reform reached out to Walton for elaboration on his remarks, but did not receive a response in time for publication.
And then Nancy Sinatra piped in helpfully...
The murderous members of the NRA should face a firing squad. https://t.co/5ceuMvk5Tl
— Nancy Sinatra (@NancySinatra) October 3, 2017