The Boston Globe has taken an unprecedented move by devoting its entire front page Thursday to tackling the gun violence epidemic head-on. Under the headline, “Make It Stop,” the paper reveals an AR-15 rifle — actual size — with an adjoining image of a bullet entry hole:

Bold and unprecedented message in today’s @BostonGlobe, using the entire front page to promote an editorial pic.twitter.com/p2tZDhHTRe — Ben Volin (@BenVolin) June 16, 2016

The beginning of the editorial reads:

Greed, legislative cowardice, advanced technology — that is how we got here. The United States has been pummeled by gun violence since the assault weapons ban expired in 2004. This year, mass shootings have already claimed 61 lives. One class of gun, semiautomatic rifles, is largely responsible. But this nation cannot be a hostage of fear. We can make it stop.

The bold stand from the Boston Globe comes just days after an attack on Pulse nightclub in Orlando that left 49 people dead and 53 injured, the deadliest terror attack on US soil since 9/11. The editorial provides some sobering statistics on the issue of gun violence and the lack of legislative movement in the wake of increasing mass shootings: 47 mass shootings since 2004, 411 people killed, and 0 successful attempts to reinstate the assault weapons ban.

“The US must ban these guns,” pleads the pieces from the Globe’s editorial board. It continues, “We do not yet know who will be the next president of the United States, but there’s nearly a mathematical certainty that the person to hold that office will be called on to console a grieving nation after another mass shooting.”

The Globe identifies what it considers to be the six United States Senators standing in the way of sensible legislation, five from the GOP and one Democrat, as well as the amount of money that each received from gun-rights groups:

Kelly Ayotte (R. – New Hampshire)

Richard Burr (R. – North Carolina)

Jeff Flake (R. – Arizona)

Heidi Heitkamp (D. – North Dakota)

Ron Johnson (R. – Wisconsin)

Rob Portman (R. – Ohio)

The editorial concludes bleakly:

Unless this nation wants to see more mass killing in our schools, churches, theaters, nightspots, and office buildings, we must address the casualty quotient, which vastly increases with the use of semiautomatic assault arms. The idea of restricting unfettered access to assault weapons is only considered radical when it comes out of the mouth of a modern US president. To most Americans, and every other democracy on the planet, it is rightly considered common sense.

Read the full editorial from The Boston Globe here.

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J.D. Durkin (@jiveDurkey) is an editorial producer and columnist at Mediaite.

[image via Twitter]

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