Ain't that America?
John Mellencamp marked the first day of summer on Tuesday by sharing a strong message about U.S. gun violence.
“Only in America, and I mean only, in America, can 21 people be murdered and a week later be buried and forgotten, with a flimsy little thumbnail, a vague notion of some sort of gun control law laying on the senators’ desks,” wrote the 70-year-old singer.
Mellencamp was referring to a bipartisan bill that, if passed, would boost funding for mental health and school safety and make it harder for someone aged 18 to 21 to legally purchase a firearm. The bill does not ban the automatic weapons commonly used in mass shootings.
“What kind of people are we who claim that we care about pro-life? Just so you know, anyone that’s reading this… politicians don’t give a f**k about you, they don’t give a f**k about me, and they don’t give a f**k about our children,” the “Hurts So Good” singer wrote.
“So, with that cheery thought in mind, have a happy summer, because it will be just a short time before it happens again.”
Last month, Mellencamp tweeted: “Two hundred mass shootings this year alone, 27 of them in our schools. Our loved ones, our neighbours, our children: Slaughtered. We'd like to believe that we live in the land of the free and the home of the brave, but we don't.
“We are a country of cowards who can't find the collective courage to get rid of the politicians who sit on their bloody hands when it comes to gun control, but at the same time call themselves ‘pro life.’ We should all be so ashamed.
A lifetime Democrat, Mellencamp has never shied away from expressing his political views. He banned the use of his songs in several Republican presidential campaigns and, in 2018, called Donald Trump a “madman.”
But, Mellencamp has also taken aim at liberals, calling them “cowards” and “chickens**ts.”