Do Blue Lives Matter to the GOP?

A Police Chief criticizes the GOP for their support of the National Rifle Association

By TMO Staff

Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo has recently criticized the Republican party, also known as the GOP: Grand Ol’ Party, and the Senate Majority leader, Mitch McConnell, for choosing the NRA, the National Rifle Association, over protecting American lives.

The American lives that Acevedo speaks of are the lives of domestic abuse victims and of police officers that are constantly put in harm’s way. He called out the GOP for not reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act, after one of Houston Police Department’s, Sargent Chris Brewster, answered to a home disturbance where domestic abuse occurred and the Sargent was killed in the line of duty in Houston, Texas.

In a public statement, Acevedo said, “I don’t want to hear about how much they support law enforcement,” Acevedo said. “I don’t want to hear about how much they care about lives and the sanctity of lives yet, we all know in law enforcement that one of the biggest reasons that the Senate and Mitch McConnell and (Texas Sens.) John Cornyn and Ted Cruz and others are not getting into a room and having a conference committee with the House and getting the Violence Against Women’s Act (passed) is because the NRA doesn’t like the fact that we want to take firearms out of the hands of boyfriends that abuse their girlfriends. And who killed our sergeant? A boyfriend abusing his girlfriend. So you’re either here for women and children and our daughters and our sisters and our aunts, or you’re here for the (National Rifle Association).”

Acevedo’s words have caught the nation’s attention because he is calling on the GOP and all of Congress to take action to protect all Americans, whether they be children, women, or police officers.

The Republican party has notoriously been using the terms “All Lives Matter” and “Blue Lives Matter” to gain support from people who are not informed and oppose the Black Lives Matter Movement. The All Lives Matter and Blue Lives Matter popped up as opposed to the Black Lives Matter, even though the Black Lives Matter movement has never been about being anti-cop, it is about bringing justice to innocent people being shot and killed by bad cops that take advantage of their position. Acevedo’s recent words prove that the tactics have taken up by the Republican party to “protect all life” has been false and only to help the NRA.

Since Acevedo made his public comments, the offices of Ted Cruz, John Cornyn and Mitch McConnell have said that they are currently reviewing the Violence Against Women Act. Senate Democrats have said that they are working to create a bi-partisan bill to be voted on.

Police Chief Acevedo has made a strong impression on Congress and could possibly lead to some changes in gun laws in Texas and the rest of the United States. He further stated, “So I don’t want to see their little smug faces talking about how much they care about law enforcement when I’m burying a sergeant because they don’t want to piss off the NRA. Make up your minds, whose side are you on? Gun manufacturers, the gun lobby, or the children that are getting gunned down in this country every single day.”