wonderfully articulate and focused and on the right side of history. young people have always k own more than they have been given credit for. it's time to listen to them and follow them.
26
Teenagers wont let them win...thats a good start. Personally, if the NRA wont evolve, I would like to see them on the same watch list as wacko Militias and the KKK
16
This will fizzle just like all the other "movements". Where are the "Occupiers"? The "Too Big Too Failers"? The "Sandy Hookers"? The only of these movements that appears to have any legs is the "Confederacy".
2
Those of you who call yourselves Pro Life and allow the media to do the same, now is a good time to join the cause. Prove to the country that you are what you say you are.
10
One "elder" from Gen. X that stands right beside you! Thank god the youth are speaking sense. The old white dudes in D.C. have been bought off and sold their souls. I hope the youth can stay untainted by the lure of cash.
18
Children of New Jersey and across the USA: keep speaking truth to power. Don’t ever give up. We adults who love our children also love you. We stand with you and behind you, and we are both ashamed and grateful that you must lead the way.
19
Register to vote, as soon as you're eligible. Maybe as independents, to make both parties chase your votes. And then vote in every election. You are your own futures.
19
i am walking beside you. you are the future. Stand up for your values and beliefs. If you're of voting age or going to be in november, make your voice be heard and vote. A very wise man who happened to be our 44th president, if you don't like what you see vote or if you're of age to run for an office run. The kids of the 60's changed the war in viet nam to get rid of the draft.
16
The writers cite Columbine and Virginia Tech as calls for action, but for what? Both of those were committed with handguns, unavailable for purchase for those under 21. VT did result in improved reporting into NICS that might have prevented Cho from purchasing handguns.
A ban on light rifles and bump stocks may have reduced what occurred in LV, but would have had no impact on Florida, Sandy Hook, nor the two previously discussed. The most obvious redress to consider is how the schools and authorities responded to actions by the shooter in Florida, and figure out when action is warranted. My sister is a teacher in California and has remarked that her district has a few similar problem children they keep ignoring as well.
1
I appreciate your efforts and hope you will succeed beyond all expectations. You may consider a Political Action Committee and seek corporate support. Remember you have buying power and those that oppose you can be singled out, especially where your money goes and who you will have as an employer.
4
Finally-- the younger generation has the courage and stamina to stand up against the NRA. We must put an end to this carnage with guns. I applaud all of you, including the young people all over the US who agree with gun control. The NRA is beholden for all the lives lost---and the congress who supports their agenda. The NRA controls congress. This is madness, and I will continue to support your efforts to make strict gun control the law of the land. However, don't just ask for safer gun-free schools. Include everyone! Bravo! Donna Kline
7
Thank you for standing up for a better, safer future for all of us, and know that I, along with so many others from my generation, are with you.
2
I just checked in with my two teenage grandsons. The 13 year old was not allowed to participate because he had not signed up for the walk out at his school. The 15 year old did participate, at a different school, but the event was held in the school gym, possibly due to snow yesterday or maybe due to safety concerns. I'm proud of these young men and all the students who stood up today for safety for all kids. Too bad so many of their elders are more fond of guns than kids.
5
The students in my American Protest class will be reading your editorial tomorrow.
Proud of all high schoolers today.
5
Why only high school students ? Why not all of us ? Just vote out politicians supported by NRA. Vote in politicians that would introduce gun laws preventing egregious gun violence in this country.
8
Right on. It's tragic that it has taken so much death to stir this massive pushback, but the tide is starting to turn. Study the history of the NRA and how it was transformed from a respected gun safety organization to what is has become. It is a textbook example of how evil things happen when good men do nothing.
7
Good luck, kids. There will be countless people asserting their distorted view of 2nd amendment rights and the belief that the only answer to guns is more guns.
It's been a long time since I was in school, but back then there were NO mass shootings. Of course everybody and his brother didn't have an AR-15, but I'm sure that's just a co-incidence.
7
Meanwhile, the narrative on Fox News will be centered on "Crisis Actors" paid for and/or manipulated by George Soros and Tom Steyer. I just hope I'm still around when Sean Hannity and the like are regarded as Joseph McCarthy is now.
12
God Bless all the young, passionate and motivated American students. Stay with your goals and never forget why. You are our future voters! You could be the Greatest Generation of the 21st Century
6
You are the future! You have the courage, determination and commitment to stand up to the crass and corrupt "legislators" who have become puppets for the NRA and other profit-seeking promoters of violence. You have the common sense to stand for your right to a safe and fruitful education, rather than to remain pawns of political cowards who wish to increase the level of violence by arming teachers. This is a disastrous and dangerous idea. You must continue to speak out and stand for sanity and safety, as the "adults" in charge have abandoned you.
7
Please boycott all company's that you don't have to use, like Fed-ex. It's tie to put gun right in perspective, and time to take the NRA' legs out. The real much deeper problem it The Supreme Court decision on Citizen's United. Get the big money out and the elections will belong to people again.
7
So Hal, big money in elections taking the results away from the people is the problem. I guess that means you think the election of Conor Lamb in PA, who outspent his opponent 4-5:1 using the deep pockets of in state and out of state organized labor, doesn't represent the real will of the people of PA? Since Lamb ran on a pro-2nd Amendment campaign that's even more reason to oppose him? Right??
A long journey begins with initial steps.
But the walk needs to continue after those first steps.
Today's students and future voters have plenty to learn from the past ineffectiveness and denial of their elders.
Turn off addictive and down-dumbing gadgets, get off ruinous social media, insist that the leading press organs, such as the New York Times, do their jobs: in-depth investigative reporting on the murder industry (the companies which for decades have been manufacturing assault weapons so that crackpots can buy them, with minimal restriction, for mass killings of students), its corrupt nexus with the murder lobby, the NRA, and their eager prostitutes in the halls of Congress.
2
What is a shame is that people that are elderly or those living alone can't keep a gun for the "thugs" getting them? This is going to make people that is harmless worse off. Also, I have noticed there are blogs ( https://www.tnnursery.net/gardening-plants-blog/gun-control-should-we-be... that don't even pertain to guns talking about this issue. What about the National Rifle Society Batling wanting more gun control? Of course, they aren't going to fight for that, sales would go down. Also, let me tell you a brief story. One night someone was literally kicking our door down. If we hadn't had a rifle and my husband wasn't man enough to use it, we could have all been killed. There was 5 of us in the house. So guns are necessary. The problem is the hands they are getting placed in is the major problem.
The problem with weapons in the home is the large number of domestic incidents that end in shooting of family members. The gun in your home is more lethal than you realize, what if one of your family members takes it to school are you going to take responsibility for there actions?
6
Good for them. Weapons with high rate of fire and high bullet capacity have no legitimate civilian use. They are certainly not covered by the 2nd amendment, the same as NFA illegal weapons such as short barrel shotguns and rifles, machine guns, etc. With thousands of locations selling them, a would be mass murderer can get one regardless of any background checks, age limits, etc. Such "solutions" are merely lame attempts by politicians to say they did "something", while ignoring the main problem: easy availability of such weapons. Doing something about that would put their big time NRA donations at risk: " ... the NRA has spent $203.2 million on political activities since 1998." (Politifact, Oct 2017)
2
"We as a generation must band together behind them, just as Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson and others stood behind George Washington and fought to create this great country."
Steve, you and these students do realize that when the Founders and others stood behind George Washington they stood behind him with modern military weapons and opposed a well armed oppressive federal government. And you do realize that after fighting and winning their independence that those same Founders codified the 2nd Amendment to give that same right to future citizens. They considered what they went through to be a legitimate enough use for civilians to be able to arm themselves and form militias if the need arose.
"... the NRA has spent $203.2 million on political activities since 1998" You do realize that is only $20 million/ year... on all races, President, Congress, governors, state legislatures etc. You do realize how relatively small an amount that is. It also represents just $4 for each of the 5 million NRA member/ year. And barely puts the NRA in the top 20 in annual political contributions. The most any candidate received from the NRA in the 2016 cycle was Paul Ryan who got $9,900. So you're going to have to explain to me how NRA money is buying so many politicians. Maybe, just maybe it has more to do with the fact that they represent 5 million members (voters) and a whole lot more non-members who agree with their policy stances.
An alternate more effective strategy to demanding that all Americans surrender their rights in regard to anything a 12-18 year old might use to kill, while throwing a 3 year old like shooting tantrum in order to gain celebrity killer status, would be for these other coddled juveniles (who are now faddishly acting out to get yet another kind of undeserved fame) to advocate for all their peers past the age of reason at 12 years of age to start acting like responsible young adults ... instead of hypocritically demanding full adults rights AND that they be treated like babies that are not morally accountable until they are 21.
Dear students, I applaud you exercising your 1st Amendment rights and the NYT for publishing them and allowing comments. Because on part of putting your views out there is to accept that other will disagree and challenge them. So far most of the students have been given voice by the media in forums restriction opposition. 1) I notice you, like many other students today, call for and promise meaningful change that will make our schools safe. But I notice you don't mention a single proposal that would accomplish that. 2) You talk about your spending power as you begin to earn your own wages. I'll be curious to hear your views on the 2nd Amendment as you also gain the responsibility to protect your family from criminal elements that won't follow your gun laws. 3) You talk of flexing your voting rights which you gain at 18. It is ironic that you admit you shouldn't be trusted with a gun until 21 but we should trust you to determine gun ownership policies for all ages. 4) You cite the founding fathers standing behind Washington. You do realize they stood behind him, as private citizens, with military weapons opposing an even better armed federal government, and after winning their independence they codified the 2nd Amendment to preserve that right for future citizens. 5) My wife recently passed the NRA self defense/ handgun certification course. Many "common sense" gun control advocate pushing you out front want to deny her the right to possess that gun. Do you agree?
REPNAH, it is interesting that you believe you must be a gun owner to vote on gun policy. Must I remind you that a majority male Congress and Senate write policy related to a woman’s reproductive choices? Now THAT is irony.
8
Nashvillle hears you, and we will be marching with you here on 3/24. God bless you for getting this movement going. It's way past due, but I sense a huge coalition is coming together, and change will come of this.
3
Such wisdom from the mouths of babes. What a beautiful and inspiring OP ED, so brilliantly articulated! I am so hopeful that “this time” something will get done about gun reform; this time we can stop the senseless murder of our children; this time the whole country appears to be united toward this goal. It seems that every 50 years or so, we have a monumental movement to make some sort of major change, whether it’s about social justice, against special interests or simply to protect our health and welfare. In the “teens” of a century past, we had women struggling for the right to vote, in the 1960’s and 1970’s we had young and old, black and white leading the way in the fight for civil rights in our black communities, marching beside the Rev. Martin Luther King; we had women (and men too) fighting for a woman’s right to choose; and, lastly the fight to end the war in Vietnam (led by the youth of this country – my generation, the baby boomers). What these young people have started today is destined to be finally finished by them – the wonderful youth of Generation Z. Keep up the good fight. I am so proud to be a witness to this revolution, and am particularly proud to see our own Zach Dougherty from Toms River as one of its leaders. I will always be behind you in this struggle until we find an end to this madness. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate my birthday than to march in solidarity with you in D.C. on March 24 with the Bus for Progress.
4
Let's hope generation Z will have the endurance to overcome those of their generation who back the NRA. Again, it's not registered, stable gun owners who are the problem. It's the unstable, immature, angry owners who tend to buy big amounts of ammo, and the legality of owning weapons intended solely for multiple shootings, that is the problem. Avoiding registration, buying at gun shows, etc. All this needs to be fixed. Of course this won't mean zero murders, but surely a whole lot less. Imagine the "devastation" that owning few, or no, guns would have on all those gang infested neighborhoods!
Why don't all the gun owners who support reasonable limitations and checks on ownership and use join the NRA and support modification of this organizations stands so all our citizens can be safer? I been wondering this for a while.
20
A more immediate question is why NRA members who, in polls, have supported by large majorities, universal background checks, are not working to unseat their own organizational leadership who clearly care more about guns than the people who are killed with those guns.
9
I've been saying this to friends for years. All of us join the NRA and fix it from within. Does anyone know whether regular members have voting power?
3
Darcy, support is coming for you from young and old from all over the USA and the world. All it takes is watching a few NRA videos to know that these are hateful people appealing to fear, ignorance and racism. The NRA is fueled by greed and right wing anger, not patriotism. We stand with you and your generation, Darcy.
2
Bravo! I stand with you.
Teenagers might not be old enough to vote yet but children of every age can put the following question to their parents: "If you vote Republican, why do you care more about guns and embryos more than me?" A couple of suggestions for Twitter hashtags: #DidYouVoteForMe? #VoteForMyLife.
I am immensely proud of our young people today!! You bring hope and compassion to the world. (Yes, you had partners all over the globe walking with you today). I am just heartbroken that this was not pressed by our elected officials after so many beautiful little 1st graders were slaughtered in Newtown.
4
Ok, JTSomm I'll play your game. Have the rest of the kids ask their Democrat parents, "Did you love me while you were pregnant with me?" If they were miscarried they could ask, "Did you love me the short time you had me even though you only saw me on an ultrasound image? Did you mourn losing me?" And for those aborted, "Why did you love your life more than mine? Why didn't you love me as much as parents who let their children live? Why did you vote Democrat so millions more end up like me?" #DidYouVoteForMe? #VoteForMyLIfe
Isn't it ironic that people who vote to defend their 2nd Amendment right to keep and bear arms to protect their families and their kids, also fight to protect the unborn's right to life. But the group that defends the right to abort the unborn fight to take away the right for law abiding parents to defend their families and their kids.
But people who don't value human life at either stage will abort their kids or obtain guns, legally or illegally, and slaughter other innocent people.
So maybe to be different and consistent we should partner together to value all individual, innocent human lives and commit to follow our laws and protect and defend those lives within those laws. If we did we wouldn't have a need to ban weapons because they wouldn't be misused. The fact that you know that's unrealistic is the reason so many law abiding citizens will defend our right to protect ourselves, and yes that defense includes exercising our vote.
Forgive us, kids, if you can. Somehow we grew numb to this. We got the notifications from your principals — “We conducted a successful live shooter drill today...” — and because we’ve never lived it, we never had to go through this, we just failed to think. We failed to put ourselves in your little light-up sneakers, in your Reeboks, in your Jordans. We never really put ourselves in those maintenance closets and bathrooms and coat rooms where you’ve been crammed in, crouching, holding your breath, waiting, while your teachers have spoken to you soothingly, mentally willing their own nerves to stillness. We failed you. We failed. This should never have gone this far; we sat on our hands while you were forced to hide in closets. We failed.
7
This debate has become one of the right to own guns and to let innocent people be murdered or to save lives by gun owners surrendering their guns. The teenagers are presenting genuine feelings that nobody's life should be considered expendable for the convenience of others and they are correct. But the means to reduce the risks from gun violence are really not being considered seriously. It should be about how to allow gun owners and those who don't want to own guns to find a means to reduce gun violence while respecting each other with the trusting attitude that each should be able to offer the other.
The NRA is not preventing good gun control measures, even though it opposes nearly all of them. The anti-gun advocates who fear that any gun may become a murder weapon are not okay with the second amendment nor with people owning any guns which they could live without even if less happily. The politicians do not tell their constituents what they must support or oppose. To get gun control means addressing the disparate interests of people to find a common ground which can be effective in preventing gun violence as is possible by identifying those likely to commit the violence and to remove access to guns from them.
A generation may be larger than baby boomers, has more than 300 billion spending power, may just be the people who changed the political game from corporation controlled government to consumer controlling government through corporations! Finally, a truer democracy in a free market.
Dear NRA funded politicians: Hear our voices, look into our faces, we are the future of this country and we see you for who you are. We see through your rhetoric, we see your threats of losing 2nd amendment rights for what they are. We have looked down the barrel of an AK-15. We hear the sound it makes in our nightmares. We saw our classmates murdered. We see you and you will see us, we are not going away!
I am a 67 year old boomer and this is what MY teenage-self would say to you! I am a gun owner, I hunt, I argued this same issue about guns with my own parents when they were alive. I will be out in the streets marching with the brave Generation Z and backing them in any way I can. Hear us! See us, we are not going away!
36
I understand your anger at your parents and the feeling that they can’t protect you, but there is nobody who cares more about you than they do. You have every right to ask them questions and to demand answers. And with your support, they could get a lot done, one school at a time.
5
It's only the US, and Yemen, where it's so easy to get a gun. All the other reasons so many people want to cite about the violence we face, they are all rather empty on balance. US, and Yemen. We have the most guns and the most gun violence. Need anything else be said? I'm sorry to all the people who have been deluded into thinking the 2nd amendment allows them any arms they want. But, it is a delusion. That document was written in another time. The rights it expresses are valid. But the weapons and technology did not exist when the right was set up, so an accommodation is required. Can you buy a fighter jet? A tank? Why can you buy an assault rifle? That weapon is for professional fighters, not an amateur at home buying guns. Thanks kids for calling out the utter hypocrisy and wrong thinking here. Keep it up!!!!
1
It is politically foolish for my fellow progressives to continue to tar the entire NRA with the same brush. We need to openly acknowledge that ordinary gun owners are decent people, not monsters. They are our neighbors and friends and relatives. They are hunters and hobbyists. And they are our potential allies! They don’t like to see children murdered any more than we do. But why should they help us if we keep maligning them by tossing them in to the same pot along with Wayne LaPierre and his fellow gun extremists.
It is the NRA leadership who rightly deserve our condemnation - they who claim to represent the values of the rank and file, when they clearly do not; they who paint the NRA as a united front when their membership is obviously conflicted. We need to learn to separate the extremists (and those who want only to protect corporate profits) from those citizen gun owners who may already be on our side. Instead, we’re forcing them deeper underground and into silence. We desperately need NRA members to change the NRA leadership and create a new direction.
17
Wayne LaPierre is the face of the NRA. If its members do not wish to be painted with his brush, it is their responsibility to oust him and his ilk.
9
BRAVO!!! Take it from someone who helped bring an end to the war in Vietnam. The students can do it!!!
4
Bravo, teenagers! You are indeed the kind of leaders we need in this country. Stand up and fight for your safety and the safety of all from guns and the NRA and the spineless politicians who bow down to the NRA! I am so glad to see your faces and hear your voices. Do not give up!
3
....and their parents, extended families, teachers, religious communities, concerned neighbors, responsible law enforcement and accountable policy makers. And that list grows higher, broader and stronger every day that the weapons industry and their schill the NRA and acolytes back down and give in to right thought and action.
If any candidate takes any money from the NRA we will "come after you" as one student said.
How many votes can these kids be responsible for. They each have two parents, two serts of grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, siblings, froends and neighbors to start with.
No more NRA.
2
I think the best way to defeat the extremists at the NRA would be to develop a broad national consensus around the principle, "reasonable guns in the hands of responsible owners." As long as the NRA can convince gun owners that we are out to take away all guns they will continue to manipulate them as single-issue voters.
2
The gun violence by people who clearly have become dangerous but who remain able to obtain firearms is probably preventable to a much greater extent than our government has taken reasonable measure to make possible. If it were not for the fact that so few of those who have guns have nor ever will become dangerous, the most prudent preventative measure would be to simply restrict gun possession to a few people who have been well examined and licensed to assure that their guns are well secured and they are well controlled. But that it not the reality. The reality is that nearly all gun owners are responsible and use guns safely and keep them secured. That means that expecting these people to instantly decide to dispose of their guns is not a reasonable expectation. So the next best way to reduce gun violence is to be able to intervene and to remove guns and access to guns and ammunition from people who are likely to harm themselves or others through well established legal methods. This however can never satisfy either the people in the NRA who fear confiscation of all guns nor the anti-gun advocates who just cannot feel safe with any guns in private hands.
But let us imagine that these demonstrations finally rouse a majority of the electorate to repeal the second amendment and to make guns that are lethal, illegal to own without strict constraints. How would that be enforced if the 110 million gun owners do not just surrender their guns voluntarily?
1
No one is asking those who already have the guns to surrender the voluntarily unless they choose to do so through a legal buy-back event. Nor will the Second Amendment be repealed. A majority of the electorate already supports universal background checks and magazines limited to 10 rounds as demonstrated by numerous polls. This includes a majority of NRA members although too few have taken the next, essential step of either giving up NRA membership or using their NRA voting power (do they have any) to get rid of the unconscionably cruel NRA leadership.
3
Australia did it. Im sure one of the most powerful Nations in the world can too. While people might say " They can take my gun from my cold dead hands!" Im sure them and their backwoods shooting range training would quake at the sight of armored troop transports on their streets with geared up military personal coming for them if they refuse to follow the law, if worse came to worse that is. As a gun owner myself,Id have no issue if I was turning my 2 guns over for the greater good.
1
This is how the war in Vietnam was stopped. It started small, a group of young people came together. word spread by small articles buried in the pages of newspapers and students visiting other campuses. It took years but it happened.
This time the group that is the spark is younger, they have the internet and the speed of light to help spread the word. It will still take time, but the change is coming.
Get Ready.
26
Well said, young man. Well said indeed.
Just know that some boomers are on your side, and have been trying to create change.
1
I am a father and a teacher, and the voice of our young people is incredibly important to me. We should be protesting systems that are outdated and non-sensical. We should be questioning tradition always. We should stand, not only when it is convenient, but, most importantly, when it is difficult. America is not perfect, but we have made promises to our people, and the strive to fulfill those promises is a task for each of us every day.
I don't understand why we haven't heard about restricting assault rifles and military-style weapons to gun ranges, where they can be fired safely. Keep your second-amendment, go to the range and shoot a pumpkin 3 zillion times from 20 feet away, but when you leave, the gun stays. Equip each of these weapons with a GPS unit, so that we can track it's whereabouts at any time. Charge violators with felonies.
Change takes time and commitment, aren't our children worth that?
1
Dear Beautiful Children,
You are angry, idealistic and brave. Hold on to those concepts as you grow and the eloquent words of today fade into memories. Your battle is our battle, but it is your turn to lead. You will soon learn the irony of doing the right thing is that many will scorn and even hate you for believing in positive change. Feel the love from previous generations and let it propel you to a better future. We once helped stop an unjust war by refusing to give up. Life is short, but the love you leave behind is eternal.
1
While pursuing the NRA these kids might want to consider the toxic environments within the schools that create the shooters. It's the bullying, the cliques, the hourly free-for-all in the hallways, the stoners disrupting classes they are only taking to make up their numbers, the Easy A courses taught by indifferent teachers, the time servers who should have been sent out to the workforce at the end of their sophomore year. It's not just "the way it is", guys. It's what is even more wrong than selling the wrong weapon to the wrong person.
That has not been my experience with students, in the fifteen years I have been teaching high school.
Students, go ahead with your march. We adults fully support you.
As my generation brought about the change in the 1960s during the Vietnam War, you can also bring about the much needed change to stop the killings.
Keep your focus on peaceful protest. Soon enough you will have the power of VOTE.
Use the power of your VOTE to remove those who are in the way. Remember that those adults who are in the way for their cowardice or personal profit are a minority, we adults who support you are many times more.
1
The reforming of America lies in the hands of these kids. They're very inspiring, we wish them great success.
1
You and your peers give me hope. Evidently our public high schools, at least some of them, are doing quite well, to produce such clear-thinking, articulate and capable student leaders as you.
You are creating and leading the first high school student-driven mass movement in American history. I am inspired to hope that the fact-defying politics that prevails in Washington and much of our country day maybe isn't the last act of American democracy after all.
https://politicsbyeccehomo.wordpress.com/2018/02/20/whats-that-sound/
1
You lift our spirits and give us hope that at long last there will be measures enacted to make students safe in school and others safe at other venues.Your voices are powerful and heard due to the magnifying effect of social media.I have protested school segregation and the Vietnam War so I am old but I have not given up.You can lead this fight and I will support you # I VOTE
3
Thank you generation Z from one of the last of the baby boomer generation. We're heading to D.C. to support this important cause. Thank you for your voices and passion. We need you.
4
I reminded my Congressman Rep. Leonard Lance that ...if you take a dime from NRA, you will lose the four votes in our household...
Protests are all good, and we will March on the 24th, but votes are what matter...
It's us vs. them...we must make it clear to our Legislators...
Not quite the Civil War, but perhaps this is "this generation's Vietnam."
Let's hear it for the young people in America!
Have faith in them.
5
We're right beside you!! We can do this!! Don't give up!!
4
Dear Teenagers, We are rooting for you. But to defeat the NRA you have to get to the source of their power. Follow the money. It will take you to the gun manufacturers, the ammunition makers, the gun magazine publishers, and the movie makers and television show producers who feature guns as "must haves". To sell guns, they must create a culture of fear, a culture where use of guns is associated with strength and "manhood," and -- never forget -- the culture of racism. The NRA is the tool of these commercial interests. The NRA is the agent that spreads these sentiments. I do not refer to responsible gun owners who use it for hunting, or own guns inherited as heirlooms. They are not the ones who are the target of assault weapons' advertisement. Only one political party benefits from the gun culture. You know the answer. Back in 1992, this paper published a series of articles on gun violence: (NY Times Mar 8, 9, 10, 11,12, and June 11). The Wall street Journal that same year (February 28) had an expose on one family of gun makers: "Firepower a single family makes cheap pistols that saturate cities," by Alix Freedman. The issues have never been addressed. They persist. They have, in fact, grown much worse as the makers of these weapons use all the tools of marketing to increase their profits. The cost to the public in hospital costs, injury, and lives lost is in the billions.
3
Keep on being vocal and visible! You are making a real difference and your impact will ultimately be huge, for which my generation, who tried but couldn't make it happen, thank you. Please remember that much needed sensible gun laws aren't just about schools, however, despite the importance of that. Shootings happen in so many settings, which make them terrifying to everyone everywhere. It's a national disgrace not found in any other country. Thank you all and know that we have your backs.
2
I want to believe that gun owners are good, decent people who just happen to own guns. But NRA members cannot have it both ways: they can't claim to be reasonable and responsible while allowing irresponsible and rabid extremists like Wayne LaPierre to maintain roles of leadership. They can’t claim their main concern is protecting the Second Amendment and have as a leader someone whose main concern is protecting corporate profits. They can’t claim to be truly law abiding and patriotic while allowing LaPierre’s blatantly anti-U.S. government rhetoric and unhinged conspiracy theories to go unchallenged. NRA members must get rid of LaPierre immediately and demand new leaders who better reflect the responsible values alleged by the rank and file.
5
You young people are giving me hope. I'm with you. Let's do this.
3
We stand with the students speaking out against the NRA and assault weapons. Bravo and keep it up and vote as soon as you can. You are the hope of the future. And get rid of Citizens United which has corrupted politics by allowing unlimited money to flow into it.
3
I am so proud of, and invigorated by, these articulate and impassioned students! Hear, hear! A great majority -- I repeat, a great majority -- of those of us in your parents' generation stand with you, and will continue to march and fight along side you. With your remembrance of our country's (nobler) history and fresh keen sense of self-empowerment and moral rectitude, our future will be brighter, and saner. Let us all keep up the fight, and, indeed, along with marching, VOTE!
2
This movement is motivated by emotions. Adolescents are not good at mastering their feelings to work through challenges, less so when they act in groups. There will be a great deal of emoting and they will act according to the suggestions of any adults with who they identify, and they will not see it until they are much older. They want certainty answers to the problem of gun violence but they cannot get the whole picture in their heads, yet. great opportunity for manipulative advocates from the extremes.
They know more than you do. They have witnessed 17 of their friends and teachers slaughtered in their school. They want a ban on military style assault weapons because they don’t want any other person to die in a school shoot out.
1
There are 5 million of those guns in private hands and these kinds of guns have been in private hands since the 1960’s. The vast majority of gun violence is done with hand guns, rifles of all kinds are infrequently used. Realistically, eliminating those guns is emotionally satisfying but it really would not have as much effect in reducing gun violence as you feel it would.
No where in this revolt from these teenagers is the discussion of mental illness. This young man was mentally ill and should have been receiving the proper care. Also, the security guards with guns did not run into the school to stop this carnage. They ran away. These are very important topics that must also be included in this discussion of guns. This tragedy could have been avoided if many things had occurred before and during this frightful day.
Yes the issue of mental health needs to be addressed. But as you know funding for mental health has been cut and the mentally ill are now allowed to legally buy military style assault weapons.
The security guard would have been killed. His pistol is no match for a AR15.
2
Thank you so very much for showing we adults the chutzpah we used to have when we were your age in the Sixties. I wish you the best in your endeavors. The secret is not to be part-time citizens. My parents taught me since I a child to be politically active even though I could not vote. When that moment did arrive I could not wait to exercise my right to have my voice heard in the polling booth.
That was more than a half century ago, and I have not wavered to keep up-to-date and aware of the issues. I vote in all elections, and primaries most importantly. That is the means we all have no matter how rich or poor we are. No one can buy my vote. I know where I stand. Money spent on someone like me is useless. That is something I hope you young voters realize. When you negate the power of lobbies, especially the N.R.A., there isn't a thing they can do to change your mind or your vote.
Again, thank you for taking upon yourselves this cause. It is a good and righteous cause. Keep up the fight. Never falter, never surrender. And most importantly never lose interest in realpolitique. I have your back. Good luck and Godspeed.
DD
Manhattan
4
I applaud you and am behind you 100 percent. I am a one issue voter and will not vote for anyone who takes money from the NRA or who does not actively pursue the banning of all assault rifles. Those of you out there who still think your precious second amendment is more important than young lives, remember this: although being murdered at a school is still a rare occurrence, each lost or injured child, teacher, or coach is known and loved by hundreds of people in their lifetime. Those people are affected and traumatized as well. The pain and suffering spreads far beyond the immediate families, the school community, or the town where these tragedies occur. It is a collective American nightmare and it has got to stop.
4
Thank you, young Americans. This child of the sixties is proud of you - and this citizen of New Jersey is proud to share a state with you!
4
I remember as a southern conservative being radicalized by the Vietnam War - you pay attention when your life is at stake. These kids demand help stopping the absurd carnage of military weapons. Their lives are at stake. All enablers of the terrorist group, NRA, are given fair warning. #nraterriorts, #terroristnra
10
You are our most precious citizens and must be protected. The current legislators (R) are so owned by the NRA and the only reason they are is because of the bribes they receive from them. The current laws in the 2nd Amendment are too broad and must be changed by concerned voters and not their legislators who appear to be more for assault weapons than for our children. The time for excuses is over. Vote them out of office.
I am so proud of what you are doing and I want to do what I can to help you. Just keep posting what you need and I’m sure there are many people like me who will do the same.
I believe the most critical law that has to be changed is the availability of assault weapons. I want to make these weapons of war illegal to own and must be taken off the streets. Don’t allow anybody to own them. They are meant for the purpose of killing as many people as possible. The argument by the NRA that we are taking the 2 nd Amend. rights is absurd and if they repeat it often enough people will believe them.
BAN ASSAULT WEAPONS NOW!
3
Dear kids, from NRA: sorry about your troubles, but we care more about guns and rural 60ish voters than your lives. Take care and be sure to vote GOP
3
This is a day to be truly newly energized, hopeful, and determined. One way that we can magnify our effectiveness is to join Everytown, Mothers Demand Action, and Students Demand Action in vast numbers. The marches are a watershed moment. But. When politicos see that there are numbers that rival the NRA's membership in an organization dedicated to fighting the gun lobby, with the backing of dedicated financial support from people like founder Mike Bloomberg, and Buffett, with thousands of mothers, students, teachers, and folks from all walks of life joining daily, and pledging to get in the "grill" of lawmakers, or vote them out, that will be the tsunami that washes out the influence of the NRA lobby.
3
President Lincoln said, "The ballot is stronger than the bullet." Let's show them!
7
Dear Students;
The NRA is not the enemy. The people who are shooting up your schools are your classmates. You should ask yourselves why. The shooters are known to you and you see and interact with them every day.
1
NRA text book victim blaming. And lots of people warned of this one.
Show us where the NRA cares more about the kids than their being targets or customers (whether them when old enough or their parent or teachers).
2
Here:
https://explore.nra.org/interests/safety-and-education/
How many mass shooters were NRA members? NONE
How many were in the military? Over one third of them. Nikolas Cruz was in the JROTC, said he wanted to be in the Army, was excited to talk to an Army recruiter in school, stayed with a military family, obsessively played military themed combat video games used by the military to train and condition new recruits. As of 2002 all schools are required to submit to the Pentagon personal information on all of their students for recruiting purposes.
What don't you see about this situation?
The NRA is indeed the enemy.
1
bravo!!! I will be joining you on 3/24..
2
I agree, and I stand with you. You are the the best of our future.
This week I begin training as a substitute teacher K-12 in Iowa. I realized that President Trump's recent words to a room full of lawmakers, ..."frankly I think some of you are afraid of the NRA" were all bravado, bluff, and phony.
He would actually be THE LAST one to run into a school "if he heard shots fired". He is the ultimate coward and handmaiden of the NRA.
Wayne LaPierre is actually our current President in the WH.
As a babyboomer, I want to help this country, our kids, and generation Z as a blessing of righteous behavior before my time is up.
Enough is enough. I will be marching with you all on the 24th AND voting with you.
4
And Gen X, please vote when you can! From a Baby Boomer who is disgusted with everything.
I've felt it since the day of the massacre. I'm finally ready to say it:
This time, it's different.
Politicians: Ignore that at your own peril.
2
From a doctor friend in Italy:
>… In Italy you can’t buy a pistol, or carry any firearm on the street, without a license (porto d’armi) issued by the police. What you need to get that license:
1) A specifically authorized specialist physician (not your own General Practitioner) must certify your mental health.
2) A specifically authorized physician must certify that you have no visual, hearing, or other physical problems that would interfere with proper use of a firearm.
3) You must have a clean criminal record, with no history of violent crimes or restraining orders.
4) You must not be an army deserter or a conscientious objector.
5) You must have had proper training in gun use and safety, either in the army or a certified two-month civilian course.
6) You must provide a list of all the people you live with.
7) You must demonstrate a specific reason for being at high risk of violent attacks – owning a jewelry shop or working as a security guard will do. Few people meet the test.
You have to reapply for your carry license every year, and you can only own 200 bullets at a time.
If you only want a weapon for sport or hunting the process is easier – you can buy a few shotguns on the basis of just criteria one through six, with a license good for six years....
Moral of the story: there are one tenth as many guns in Italy per capita as in the US. And one tenth as many gun deaths, even if you include suicides, accidents, and the Mafia.
http://www.stethoscopeonrome.com/
3
With this administration, you should also not assume that you are safe from a lot of things. Let's hope this Trump circus act is just an anomaly, a dark chapter in our country's history. Citizen's United has turned our political process into a highest bidder junk show. Thank you for reminding me that not all of the country is asleep at the wheel. FIGHT!
2
This generation of failed leaders owes you an apology and a debt of gratitude for refusing to back down on this important issue. I hope that your passion and enthusiasm will finally turn the tide. The answer to reducing gun violence is fewer guns. It's common sense.
2
You take the lead, kids.
We've got your back.
4
As a retired educator it is encouraging that our students are showing that they’ve learned to act thoughtfully and independently. These youths will lead us to a better tomorrow!
5
I just got back from the walk-out...I went to my old school to support the students...it was such a surreal experience. So many other kids from other schools were walking out at the same time, I wish they'd coordinated their efforts. It's not about politics at this point, just expressing solidarity with students across the country. I'm glad this issue is getting more public attention though a backlash may result. People need to work together to try to solve these problems
3
Why is it that grown men seem to huddle, doors locked,
and bristle with guns (one AR types rifle "bristles) when
the real threat is not to their inner lives but to our own
kids in schools, in large part because the assault rifle
creates the feeling of power. Power inside one's home
and the power of revenge on the party of mentally sick
people? What is it these men share with school shooters?
Anger? Fear? Racism? Idiocy? NRA propaganda that
props all of these emotions for the sake of profit? And how
does a nation help all by getting us to realize that the assault
weapon, the symbol of our times, and Glock type pistols, do
not belong in the general citizenry....not for protection, not
for fun at the range, not for blowing up deer, the great
trophy buck that signals one's "real" manhood. How to get
through to these men, many of them fathers or grandfathers?
And the Representatives and Senators who duck the moral
issue, which is that a fine nation can never be fine if it
allows and fosters gun violence. 600,000 Americans have
died from gun abuse over the past decade. We can safely
blame the availability of these particular guns on much of it,
the availability that inspires the "Make my day" spirit in the
weakest of, primarily, men. The kids, marching, are stronger
human beings by far.
4
As a grandmother and retired teacher, I couldn’t be more proud of all of you! This shows massive hope for your generation! Thank you.
6
Bravo, bravo! You have the support of many, many adults who tried and failed to accomplish what you will.
Ultimately this is a fight between greed and security of ordinary people. Mark my word, the gun culture is buoyed by nothing but pure greed. It means big bucks for many who are powerful and excel at manipulating the psyche of masses.
“There are more gun shops in the US than Starbucks, McDonald's and supermarkets put together“
https://www.indy100.com/article/there-are-more-gun-shops-in-the-us-than-...
6
I am fully behind you. I am so sorry that my generation has failed you so miserably. Stay proud, stay brave, stay strong. Do not give up.
5
Bravo, Students, for presenting a cogent argument for gun control and why teenagers are taking the lead on this, literal, life-and-death issue, that lawmakers have been too timid to address for fear of losing votes. As is often the case, the children shall lead, because they are not so jaded as to think they can't make a difference.
25
These children are about to get a rube awakening. When Truth speaks to Power, Power just swats it away. Few organizations are as powerful as the NRA. Most gun owners love their guns more than someone else's children, sometimes even more then their own.
19
David - Most NRA members support gun safety legislation. I is only the NRA leadership, funded by the gun manufacturers, who resist all reforms. If the membership can be engaged, the administration's policies can be changed.
3
They will vote. They will have money. They will have numbers. They will make it happen. The old will die off. They will still be alive. Bury your pessimism.
2
Unfortunately I must agree with you. "Power" is acting again by not even allowing bills to come to the floor of the House or Senate for debate. Power also does not like to be shame, and to hear there arguments against very reasonable restrictions would be embarrassing to them and their patrons.
"Truth" in this argument is getting stronger everyday as more and more of these kids come of age to vote and to get involved in the process. Not just protesting, but running for office, making the case for change in state houses and congress by being part of those organizations and making, yes, forcing the debate.
Looks like they're in it for the long haul, and are cynical enough to appreciate the short sightedness of our current political "leadership"
1
I've long wondered if we'd ever see a repeat of the type of activism that fueled a walkout in protest of the Viet Nam war many years ago in my own high school. When I heard the defiant, articulate voices of students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, I felt my question had been answered.
These endeavors sometimes feel futile, but don't forget how sustained collective activism changed public opinion on the war and many issues since. Thanks to these young adults for leading the charge on this issue. Now it's time for the rest of us to get behind them.
4
Thank you, Generation Z, for stepping up where others have failed. My grandchildren owe you, and I'm eternally grateful .
6
Children are our future. Dismiss them at your peril.
5
The GOP values party over country, and (NRA) money over lives. This is nothing new to those of us that have been paying attention to this for years. Now, our youth (and future voters) are starting to figure this out and I say we-the-people welcome you to the fight of our democratic lives.
6
So sorry that we are not there yet. Your generation should be reaching for the stars. Instead you are made to stare at the barrel of a gun. Not acceptable.
5
How can we actively stand with you to nullify the NRA's Death Grip on American citizens - young up to 95 years of age - living in cities, rural areas or towns in-between - children in school - playing outside anywhere - sleeping on couches or beds in their own homes -- walking down the street - in a store - everywhere?
Let us all know - what we can each do everyday - to work towards Gun Control Regulations to protect everyone.
It has to stop - the NRA has to be reduced to an after thought - while the rest of America - all ages - work for strong gun regulations to protect all of us.
We have the Right to Live Safely without guns!
Thank you, Darcy, Zach and Sarah for writing this letter to call all of us to pro-active attention and action.
2
Register and exercise your right to vote. Our government should answer to its people and the only way that will happen is by voting in people who will look out for our interests and not just that of overpaid lobbyists.
4
It seems way past time to publicize extensively that Mitch McConnell will not permit a debate on gun legislation.
4
Bill, Thank you for posting this information. I am not a fan of MMc but I did not know that he will not permit a debate on gun legislation. How does one not permit debates on any current issue. Such hypocrisy!
I am astounded that in Northern Weschester our local Senator Terrence Murphy & Assembly Member Kevin Bryne have nothing to say about their support of the NRA and how students are publicly protesting in their districts. All we get from them is Hopes & Prayers. Hopes & Prayers that both of these elected officials get voted out.
4
Keep this up and don't ever stop, Teenagers! We have failed you, and nothing we can say or do will bring back the 17 innocent lives in Parkland. We're very sorry. Take charge of your lives and make up your own minds. Be strong, and know you're not alone.
4
Reading this, I am proud to see these young, strong, smart voices are from my home state.
By I know there are millions of equally young, strong, smart voices all over this great country that feel the same way.
One of the best things the rest of us can do for these young people is to help them to register to vote as soon as they are eligible.
3
Rock on young Americans; true courage under fire. I'll be out there marching with you.
6
Get out the heavy tactic. Let's start the move to repeal the second amendment. This is not a new tactic; remember that we used the 21st amendment to repeal the 18th.
Our second amendment seems to have the word 'regulated' in invisible ink. Let's make a new version that is very clear about the standards for gun ownership.
2
Repealing the 2nd Amendment is a Fool's Errand. The People and their future new lawmakers know that ONE individual pumping lead a mile-a-minute IS NOT "A well regulated Militia.."
These imbecilic calls to repeal the 2nd Amendment is tantamount to rushing a fortified hill of no strategic value.
This is a siege. The NRA's puppets will be starved of votes. New lawmakers will actually take-up debate and make new laws.
There will be NO LET-UP by Generation Z with their backers nor by the generations to follow.
The NRA's Wild Wild West Show is over, start getting used to it, and be satisfied with your personal protection and hunting.
1
Please, make "no guns in schools" a focus of your efforts. Arming teachers is insanity. Embrace that single clear bright line. It's the most effective use of your unique position in this debate, and it directly answers the craziness of thinking that ever more guns is the answer.
2
As this movement continues, I would like to offer a small suggestion. For the moment, forget about the politicians. They are an incredibly [fill in here] clump of humanity. Rather, proceed to the doorstep of the NRA. Thoreau said it best "There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root." Be the one striking at the root.
4
Because my son is a high school teacher in South Florida, this forceful and reasoned op-ed has special meaning for me. The leaders of this country have failed our young people. So young people are taking matters into their own hands to change that. I believe they can. To be sure, meaningful change should have occurred after Columbine, Virginia Tech and Sandy Hook, but didn't. The NRA and the politicians they support took comfort from that. But it is apparent that Stoneman Douglas was a tipping point, and students are seizing the stage. The NRA's response to students being slayed by assault rifles--introduce yet more guns in schools to fire back--only underscores why the students' sound reasoning will ultimately prevail over the NRA's madness. Hats off to the three high school students who authored this op-ed for articulating the commitment of Generation Z to achieve what those of us in prior generations failed to. It now falls to us to cede the stage and support them.
44
Sadly, in America, the political process is now owned by those who can contribute the most money to the candidate. The NRA is one of those organizations. They are a conduit between the politician and the gun makers funneling corporate money to candidates.
When the first NRA endorsed incumbent politician loses a race on the gun issue, the landscape will change.
4
I salute and support your efforts--I hope our craven, NRA-funded political class listens to you. But keep in mind, many of us, from many generations, sometimes starting as young as you are now, have been speaking out for policies to foster responsible gun ownership and safety from gun violence for a long time. We have not been silent; we just haven't been listened to.
Nevertheless, I am happy to add my voice to yours, to speak out in support of your effort in any way I can. Perhaps together we can make a difference.
3
Thank you so much for pointing out “the king has no clothes”. Only the innocent, uncontaminated (by money) mind can point out the Common Sense.
Your generation is making me feel “ America will be great again”.
3
Excellent. I am glad to see these young people reminding our craven politicians that they will eventually be held accountable for their failure to act at the ballot box.
1
I have a couple of questions:
1. Why now and not when the kids were slaughtered in Sandy Hook , or Aurora, or dozens of other places? I suspect the Trump presidency has something to do with it. If Obama or Clinton were in office the protests would look very different. I am not claiming the kids are wrong, but I do seriously question the spontaneity of these demonstrations
2. What about teens who don't agree with their peers. Should they be ostracized or somehow forced to cower? I suspect teens from some heavy red hunting states would be completely raked if they stood up to support gun rights in this environment. We have to be careful not to let valid gun rights supporters be abused in the rush to action
1
It’s hard to imagine that a young person actually does not mind that he may be gunned down in school. Nobody needs a military style assault weapon to shoot deer.
1
That's not my point and you know it. I asked two very valid questions. Is there a component of anti Trumpism in these protests and is a teenager who supports gun rights safe to disagree with the angry mobs? I am not invalidating the completely understandable sense of fear that these students feel. I am just a bit skeptical about the spontaneity.
I applaud the courage and conviction of today's youth for taking a stand where my generation has failed. The NRA has led this country astray and our politicians have lined up behind them for the sake of money and power. I feel much better about the future knowing human life means more to our children than gun industry profits.
1
We stand with you and encourage you to exert your strength and voice. You can and will lead where our generation has failed, and we personally apologize for our lack of moral leadership against guns and violence. We will be marching with you from afar.
1
The NRA has about 5-6 million members.
There are 100 million gun owners in the United States. The tiniest fraction of 1% of those 100 million ever cause problems for others with their guns.
And virtually all of those 100 millions want to keep their guns. The situation would be the same if the NRA didn't exist.
BOJ statistics: A household member was present in roughly 1 million burglar- ies and became victims of violent crimes in 266,560 burglaries each year from 2003-2007. That is a quarter MILLION Americans who were present in their homes and were victims of violent crimes JUST in situations where there were burglaries. That does not include all other situations where people are victims of violence.
Also "About 12% of all households violently burglarized while someone was home faced an offender armed with a firearm." If you are without a gun yourself you are in a dangerous situation, and so is your family.
Do I care at all about the NRA when faced with those, and other statistics telling me how likely my family is to be the victims of a violent crime? I've had the situation happen to me--my family was threatened in a serious way. I didn't have a gun then, but I do now.
We need to keep our schools safe, but we also have an obligation to keep our families safe when they are not at school. Having a gun does that.
Many of those 100 million gun owners feel the same way (plus they enjoy hunting, collecting, and shooting). And only 5% or so belong to the NRA.
2
You don’t need a military style assault weapon to hunt or to protect your family.
I am so proud of our youth! It can and will be done. In the 1960's it was the youth of this country that stopped the Vietnam war. It really is simple, VOTE, VOTE, VOTE! Part of the mess we adults have left you is because we forgot the activism of the 60's. We got lazy and complacent and got too comfortable in our individual worlds.
We have also forgotten common sense and have swallowed the "it's complicated" mantra. It's not! It's the guns stupid! It takes zero dollars to create a ban on assault weapons. It will take trillions to arm, train and militarize our schools. Money that would be better used on education which, but the way, the government always seem to say we don't have. Really?
Democracy is a lifetime commitment and we all must be vigilant or the greedy, the fanatics, or the crazy will take over.
1
For decades, a rather hackneyed saying has been invoked by many so-called wise adults whenever the young ones were about to launch a movement of revolutionary implications: "If at 20, you have no idealism, you have no heart; if at 40, you are still an idealist, you have no head."
Let's put this bankrupt cliche to rest by letting the students lead and the adults follow and jointly topple the the NRA's dangerous stranglehold on the country. Then, come November, with another revolution at the ballot box, let's wrest power away from the corrupt and reactionary Republican control of the Congress and throw out the nation's so-called President through impeachment.
Back in 1960, the tyranny of Syngman Rhee in South Korea was overthrown when heroic student marches against him were made stronger by the adults who awakened and backed the movement. It can, and should, be done here as well.
4
You will win. Many will underestimate you but you will win. Many will call you idealist which this country needs more of and you will win. Your tenaciousness will be called stubbornness by many but it is your strength and you will win. Your truthfulness that we have failed you will be called by many disrespectful but truth will help you win. You will win so do not give in - millions and millions of us have been impacted by gun violence and need your inspiration to achieve sensible gun legislation and have your backs. You will win.
2
As an American citizen living in the UK (where there are sensible gun laws as a result of a mass shooting in a school) I am amazed and saddened at the intransigence on greater gun control.
Where I can, I try to argue calmly and rationally against those who appear to value their guns more than they value the overall safety of the nation. Some listen, but many see it as an affront to their "rights". This implies that while reason and rationality will be important, so will sheer force of numbers speaking out against those who refuse to compromise.
So use your voice to stand up for what you believe and use it to persuade others - your parents, your friends, your friends parents, your teachers - that things need to change, finally. That the lunacy needs to end.
Good luck, and my thoughts are with you.
1
“Our parents and grandparents did not succeed in ensuring our safety at school. So we must do it ourselves.” The line hit me like a bullet.
I bowed my head in shame after reading it. I am part of the generation that the authors, three teenage students of New Jersey, chastised through this powerful article. I applaud them for doing it. It will certainly serve as a wake-up call for most of my generation.
But there is only so much that parents and grandparents can do. The initiative for effective gun control legislation must come from politicians. It’s very thoughtful of the three authors to warn “politicians like Donald Trump, Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell who accept donations from the National Rifle Association and oppose efforts to restrict gun purchases....” As we all know, the biggest obstacle to any gun control legislation in the country is the N.R.A. And as long as politicians, President Trump counted first, are beholden to this powerful organization, no common-sense gun control law will be passed.
The students may note that the threat of using their spending power – about $30 billion, according to this article – won’t have any impact on politicians who are awash in wealth, thanks to generous campaign contributions from outfits like the N.R.A. and other vested interests. But the threat to “flex our muscles at the ballot box” will work. I implore them to continue wielding the threat.
43
You can vote. Never underestimate the power of your vote!
1
I am sorry that your generation has had to live through these horrors. I am even sadder that the adults in the room find it more important to dismiss or belittle your concerns in favor of their ratings by the NRA.
We didn't have to worry about being shot at school. We worried about our lunch money being stolen, not our lives. No one should have to worry about being shot or killed in a school or any other place during the day. I hope and pray that your youth and appeals to reason force our politicians to listen and take action to end civilian ownership of firearms designed solely to kill humans.
4
As a parent, educator, activist (and speaking on behalf of all I know who are also parents, educators, and activists), we've got your back. Thank you for waking us up and spurring us to take up this fight with you.
4
NRA, Gun Owners of America, and Gun Manufacturers and elected politicians take note: it was the younger generation (the now aging Baby Boomers) that brought Civil Rights changes to the Nation and ended the Viet Nam War. Your days of controlling the gun debate and gun laws are numbered. It is the young who will bring change and finally get rid of you. You have created a violent and unsafe world for Generation Z to grow up in and they have had it! I am 67 and am proud and thrilled by their actions. We all should be. They are demonstrating a level of sophistication and understanding of the issue that none of older folks anticipated, but am so happy to hear. Obviously, something very positive is happening in their public school classrooms; they are demonstrating an understanding of the political process and the forces against them. Beware those who resist them or ignore them. You will lose at the ballot box, you will lose at the cash register, and you will become pariahs.
11
Would that our elected officials could remember that fear creates an atmosphere which is not conducive to learning, whether it is fear of the "intruder" with a gun, or fear of an armed teacher. Guns do not foster education. Keep ALL of them out of schools. Thanks to all of these students taking over from the Millions of Moms who marched in 2000 and have continued ever since. May your voices be heard and heeded!
3
The most important thing you can do (until you are old enough to run for office yourselves) is to get young people out to vote. Change gonna come!
4
Smart kids! They spell it out not just in terms of moral responsibility, but they point out their economic and voting power. They call out businesses for doing the right thing and not doing the right thing. They are savvy enough to use muscle. I am one adult who is behind you and very proud of what you are doing.
3
Teenager should not DICTATE us policy. They have a limited view of the world. They would do better pointing out to administrators those students who are potential problems as opposed to trying to making policy for the whole country and adults.
3
Because the "adults" in the room have done such a great job.
3
Yeah. Too bad kids just won’t tolerate being gunned down in school.
1
As a medical examiner who migrated here from the U.K. in 1963, my horror at
the rate of gunshot injury here has remained undiminished. At last resistance
against the pernicious gun lobby has been stimulated by schoolchildren.
Congratulations !
5
I understand that Americans, within reason, have a right to own a gun. What I don't understand is why the NRA gets to make all the rules. Don't the people count for anything anymore? I understand HOW the NRA is able to make the rules: through the legalized bribery encoded by the Citizens United decision. But why, in a democratic system, has it been allowed to exercise so much power?
6
Your letter is superb. I’m a grandma and I am with you ALL THE WAY. You are right; we have failed. But you will succeed. I will march on 3/24 and continue to march, to raise my voice, and to vote.
4
Good. These people who were babies or not born on 9/11 have been used to communicating electronically all their lives. They DO know what is happening. Suggest you young people check the NRA score for politicians and vote for people with the lowest approval scores from the NRA. This old woman is heartened by your courage and smarts!
7
This baby boomer stands with you on March 24th and each and every day. Your power is not in financial wealth it is in the voting booth.
6
Congratulations, Generation Z. I am sure, you will succeed where we failed. We did fail but our hopes are with you. We got caught up with our jobs, raising children and a certain amount of defeatism as well. I hope you will be relentless.
5
I do applaud the authors of this article and ALL of Generation Z who are behind making these long needed changes to public safety. I hope you are successful.
I would caution that you not cast blame on your parents and grandparents though. "Our parents and grandparents did not succeed in ensuring our safety at school. So we must do it ourselves." Many of them have tried to affect change by voting, by writing their elected officials but they have been betrayed by the very people they entrust with their votes. Also, parents are busy working and providing for their families and may also risk consequence in the work place for taking too hard a stand.
As students you have the luxury to be LOUD and say what you like with little or no consequence SO NOW IS THE TIME be LOUD and make these changes. If you are NOT successful please know that the system is hard to change and hopefully you will not be known as the generation that failed AGAIN to make the changes to our gun laws that are so desperately needed. If it doesn't work your parents and grandparents will not BLAME you they will only applaud you for doing everything you knew how to do to make the world better. BE LOUD!
2
I stand next to you in your strength and conviction, something, tragically, my generation could never seem to do, even when we tried. I am a Mom, I am a believer of peace, and the right for all people to thrive in a safe and caring environment. I grew up in California, in a time that had its own turmoil, but I never had to fear for my life, or that of my friends and teachers, when I was in school. I raised two sons in California, fortunately it was in a safer time, just before the beginning of gun violence in our schools. Our daughter has been raised in Canada, and I have to say, with deep regret because we love our country, that we are happy she has been raised here.
I am appalled that our country has continued to let our children down. I have voted in every election as a U.S. citizen living abroad, believing that even one vote can make a difference. We all have to continue to believe that it can.
I stand in solidarity, hoping that your generation can do what ours did not manage to. Stay together in strength and conviction - do not give up. Hold on to your passion to push this change, and accept no less. Move forward in your compassion and belief that change will come with your powerful voices.
4
The article starts, "The killings of 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida may be the massacre that finally gets federal and state governments to enact common-sense gun control laws. That should have happened after Columbine. It should have happened after Virginia Tech. It should have happened after Sandy Hook. But it didn’t."
WE THE PEOPLE thought our elected leaders had our backs. WE thought they worked for us. We pay them with OUR hard-earned taxpayer dollars. WE had no idea the Koch brothers and other Robber Barons were trying to destroy OUR governments at every level and were spreading hate-anger-fear-chaos-guns.
Now WE know and WE are taking steps to wrest back control of OUR governments and lives.
WE have the right to send our children to school - and for students to attend their school - knowing they are safe from being gunned down. WE have the right to go to OUR parks, theaters, concerts and other public places without the fear of being killed. WE want guns off the streets of America.
Attention gun owners: WE THE PEOPLE do not want your guns. WE want your guns to stop killing us and our loved ones. Don't you?
7
Sign up here to join the March For Our Lives on Saturday, March 24th - or just show up to support your local school districts:
https://marchforourlives.com/
2
njglea, Thanks for posting the link. I just signed up. Anyone else?
Bravo! I am standing with you, and have sent many emails to Congress as well as making constant comments to WAPO and NYT about where I stand as far as gun control.
The first step in gun control is to ban military assault weapons of mass destruction like the AR-15 or the weapon of choice in mass shootings. I just read that Florida is working on a new 'ban military assault weapons' amendment which should get enacted because it will save future American lives.
I just read the NYT editorial and comments from the teens speaking out and marching today. They are all excellent right on point and intelligent, caring comments. I too get angry when members of Congress make a total mockery of the dead shooting victims and their surviving families by offering up prayers and moments of silence. They add insult to injury as only 6 members of this GOP in congress do not accept donations from the NRA. The GOP have accepted their money for decades.
This is a profits over people and country Congress for the most part, and I can't wait for you kids to vote as you want to do the right thing and do not expect to be paid for your vote.
53
I applaud those organizing protests in favor of improved gun control. However, the NYT and other media are promoting the myth that the upcoming "March for Our Lives" is led and organized by the students themselves. In fact, March for Our Lives is led and organized by a coalition of well-funded and highly sophisticated anti-gun organizations under the umbrella of Every Town For Gun Safety (ETFGS).
ETFGS's IRS filings show an annual budget of about $40 million (in 2015), and a professional administrative staff of six whose salaries and benefits range from $200,000 to $320,000 per year (in 2015, presumably higher in 2018). Guidestar, which rates non-profit organizations on various criteria, gives ETFGS its lowest possible rating, 1 star out of 5, for lack of transparency. Apparently much of the ETFGS funding goes to anti-gun advertising.
ETFGS is definitely not a bunch of schoolkids, but rather a major activist organization that carries out very refined anti-gun programs and advertising; and alsoproduces very polished materials explaining how to organize protests; arrange housing for students visiting Washington; speak to politicians and the media; file for parade permits; prepare hand-made posters; etc.
I support peaceful and lawful expression of opinions about improved gun control. However, I think it is misleading for the NYT and others to fabricate a narrative that such an extensive and sophisticated protest is being led and created by high school kids.
Mon Ray, you mean like the NRA? It’s takes an organized group to fight the NRA. Or would you have us believe the NRA is just an insignificant club without political influence or funding to buy pro-gun votes in Congress and state legislatures? How hypocritical of you.
Anyone who thinks that they're just kids and not capable of organizing, has either never read a history book, wasn't born or has forgotten the student protests of the 60's and 70's. There is a lot of power in these marches and it would be remarkably stupid to blow them off -and don't forget ... "Never trust anyone over 30."
7
Very well articulated. Thank you.
After Sandy Hook, the New York idiot-son-of-statesman governor passed the NY SAFE act. Widely reviled by gun rightists, but effective. Where are the rest of you (us)? If DINO Andy Cuomo can do it, can you?? Heck, even Senator Kirsten Gillibrand claims to have changed her position (the position she exploited to win her upstate NY Senate seat) on the ridiculously wide availability of hand-held killing machines.
Thank you, kids. I'm sorry that me and my generation let you down.
1
These wonderful and articulate youths make the most important point: that it is the power of the vote that will change our destructive gun culture, one that brooks no dissent and allows for no sense or rationality in our gun laws. The new generation of voters cannot just say they support rational gun restrictions but then vote for politicians who will do nothing, as all too many of their parents and grandparents have done. Our terrible rates of gun violence, injury and death are not normal among other developed countries and we need to understand that fact.
The NRA benefits enormously from a minority base of zealous single-issue voters. It's time the rest of us made a politician's votes on gun restrictions, such as banning high velocity semi-automatic rifles and universal, thorough background checks one of the key issues on which our vote will depend.
For our children's sake.
54
There are many so called "single-issue voters": for gun control, for women's control over their bodies, against big money in politics, black lives matter, environmentalists, etc etc. Why are we each fighting our own separate battles?
Ask: how much the big money boys mentioned in Jane Mayer's book "Dark Money" contribute to these groups? Very little if anything at all. Ask yourself, "Why?" Does Fox news report favorably for any of these groups? No. Ask yourself, "Is there a connection?" YES there is: our demands for dignity and right to lead our lives as we would like run up against the profit margins of the dark money boys. Who, after all, funds the NRA if not the big gun makers? NRA is just their lobbying arm. Who will rush to the defense of these profiteers if not the dark money boys? They march as one to polls (think Citizens United, defeat of unions, NRA, and the Christian right) to make almost a one party country. We march under separate banners. No more Sanders v. Clinton. Get half a loaf -- whatever you can get -- and then work for more. GET OUT THE VOTE. And VOTE. VOTE VOTE - AS ONE, the way they do.
Great go for it
1
Hurray for Gen-Z!!
4
Well said!
1
SHAME ON YOU to those Administrators who are penalizing students who walk out of school today to protest for their own lives.
They are doing what you and Legislators have not done for too many years while children are shot and killed.
Instead of using this "action" as a positive teaching tool, you punish instead of educate.
Your grade is an "F".
123
And yet, those administrators who are punishing students for their protests are unwittingly bestowing power and credibility unto the protesters that will last beyond the memory of the punishment.
3
Fully, completely support you in this, you bright young citizens! I urge you to use this time to create strong and living links with people who are also opposing corporate politics and its effects. Find and join hands with #BlackLivesMatter, #TimesUp, #WaterProtectors, and #Dreamers. It will take all the effort you can muster together to make the changes you want
Only forms of action which avoid mere speech-making and ineffective “blah” and mechanistic activism can oppose the divisive action of the dominant elites and move towards the unity of the oppressed. - Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Paulo Freire
3
We are with you.
3
Gen Z, you make me proud!
4
The 5 million or so NRA members represent a tiny minority of the +320 million Americans. Their organization should not be dictating ANYTHING to the American people!
8
Never give up!
5
Stop. The NRA always wins.
1
Three items.
In long conversations with a large number of high school students zero [to include all of these authors] could articulate what they believed was a viable solution that did not cause harm to others by violating their natural rights under the Constitution.
When pressed, none of those planning to walk out were willing to surrender any of their natural rights in a quid pro quo exchange for demanding others surrender theirs.
When asked to describe the NRA every single student [to include the authors of this article] failed to do so accurately.
The NRA is a membership driven civil rights organization dedicated to the defense of the Constitution. It is not an industry led lobby group.
So in answer to your claim. No you will not win. No you will not undermine the civil rights of 5,000,000 dues paying members and 100,000,000 law abiding American gun owners. No the NRA does not oppose you exercising your right to free speech, just your use of that right to defame the American people.
In the end your protest is “filled with sound and fury signifying nothing”.
3
"The NRA is a membership driven civil rights organization dedicated to the defense of the Constitution. It is not an industry led lobby group."
Wait right there. What?!?
Man, I want some of the laced kool aid you are drinking.
Read the preamble. Then read the second amendment again. Get back to us when your head clears.
2
What are you afraid of...no one is coming for your guns...this is about safety for our children...
2
Message to the NRA: Listen to the kids; stop taking "donations" from and giving life memberships to dubious Russian sources; agree to some sensible gun controls; listen to your members on both sides of the political spectrum -- or you will become irrelevant.
2
We hear it from the left almost every day about how these young people are incapable of making decisions on their own, especially when it comes to emotions upon which all of this is drawn. You can't have it both ways...now these kids are all suddenly wise beyond all former wiseness...
So how do they propose compensating me for my guns that I bought and paid for. They are my property and just based on that principle alone, I'm not handing them over. I have never committed a crime with a weapon in the 35+ years that I have owned them. I have never had 1 stolen and I have removed them from my dad's home when he became unstable due to dementia...I am 1 of the millions of responsible gun owners out there and the ONLY people that will be harmed by this kind of emotional uprising. How about actually learining about both sides before you go charging to add more laws...given that we don't seem to enforce the laws we have. That brings me to the largest part that is being ignored by these short sighted students and that is the mental health aspect and that the shooter never should have been able to get the gun he used...if our current laws had been followed. This was preventable and a gun ban wouldn't have helped...
1
It's not about taking all weapons away, it's about taking assault weapons away, period. No one who advocates for gun safety laws wants restrictions on al weapons, just weapons meant for war. I served three non-combat years in the Army. I can tell you firsthand what an M-16 (military version of the AR-15) was made to inflict maximum damage. The bullet from one of those rifles is huge - over two inches long - and is made to bounce around inside the body once it makes contact. Made to wound more so than to kill as it makes other soldiers stop to care for the wounded, rather than continue fighting. There is absolutely NO NEED for assault weapons to be in civilian hands. We've had far too many tragedies in our country - children, teens, and adults - inflicted by these weapons to show that more weapons do not make us safe, especially assault weapons. We went 10 years in this country with a ban on them and no gun owners felt deprived because of it. Shoot all of the non-assault weapons you want, have fun, I get it. But no more assault weapons, better background checks, waiting periods, and better/more effective training and follow through at the local, state, and federal policing levels to take those 911 calls more seriously and not adjudicate them in the criminal system, but put them in hospital ERs for psych evals. Let the mental health professionals decide whether a person needs treatment, not law enforcement.
4
In the face of these teenagers doing the best they can to fight for their lives, whining about compensation for your AR-15 collection might appear petty and selfish. It doesn't seem like better background checks, a waiting period and banning assault rifles is too much to ask when the alternative is a child's death. We have restrictions on many things in this country. You need a license to demonstrate competency to operate a car, fly a plane, be a doctor or a dentist; lots of things where improper action can lead to death or maiming. Yet owning something that was designed specifically to cause as much death and destruction as possible seems to fall outside the norm of regulation for you. Strange, don't you think.
3
You could keep your guns. Please just do not keep the military style semiautomatic assault weapons.
3
Enthusiasm for a cause is wonderful, particularly in our youth. A fair warning though - once you restrict or eliminate one constitutional right, how long before it's suggested that other rights go on the chopping block? Afterall, the vitriol directed at the NRA and their law abiding members seems designed to denigrate and silence them. Is free speech the next to go?
2
The NRA is just ONE group. "Every Town For Gun Safety" is wealthier and more powerful -- they lobby to take away our guns and Constitutional rights. THEY have organized these "student" groups.
They operate in near secrecy. Why is nobody upset about THAT?
1
Our children’s right to go to school without fear of being gunned down is more important than the “right “ you perceive you have to carry a military style assault weapon.
1
Zejee: most of the children killed each year are killed by other methods than gunfire, let alone AR-15s (which are not assault weapons, not military weapons and not automatic nor machine guns).
More kids die in swimming pools, but I do not hear you calling the ban swimming pools. More kids die in car accidents, but you don't call to ban all cars.
If you compare the number of school shooting deaths to the total number of kids in school....there is no major risk for most kids at most times. The problem is the risk is random, and that makes people feel they cannot control it. But life is like that anyways.
We will never forget your friends who died.
Your success is hoped for right around the world You deserve better than what you were given, though persevere, grow in strength and don't let them tear you down.
4
I will attend the March for Gun Control in Indianapolis, and I intend to urge everyone I know to attend. Right now, the NRA is gearing up for a fight with the student survivors of the gun massacre in Parkland, Florida. Think about that.
The NRA is TARGETING these students, as well as the families and survivors of Sandy Hook, Columbine, Charleston, Las Vegas. Dana Loesch is probably filming another poisonous, threatening ad to be released soon. This is what these students are up against. Stand with them everyone.
6
As a Generation Xer who was one of the first hundred thousand people on the Internet back in the day, I'm glad to see Generation Z use the tools that we are leaving them so well on this front. We're right behind you.
4
Seems like teenagers have more guts than the so-called adults in Congress. Maybe we should lower the voting age to get some sense back into government. Go kids, the NRA is nothing to be afraid of!
7
THANK YOU! The only way the Dead Souls will be forced to change the absurd gun laws is through your persistence. Persistence, not giving up, I pray you will all continue this no matter how long it takes. THANK YOU!
3
Keep it up! Remind the people who want money poured into military spending to have the strongest government in the world while arming themselves against a tyrannical government are morally and intellectually bankrupt.
4
And a child shall lead... where we parents have failed.
Let's hope these young people will marshal the nation to force our elected officials to turn away from the teat of the NRA and enact sensible legislation like an end to the gun show loophole and mandatory waiting periods before a 15-year old can buy an uzi. Unfortunately, most of the children of the sixties who spoke out and fought against a wrongful war got absorbed into a culture of greed. How many cemetery plots does it take for parents to shake off their complacency and reinterpret (or rewrite) the 2nd ammendment. As our disgraceful president might say, sad.
3
I am as proud of these young people as I am ashamed of NRA-bought politicians.
5
Wrong target, you should be outraged at the local sheriff in Broward County who allowed this to happen by not following up on credible leads against the shooter and the local office of the FBI that also dropped the ball on leads. Of course those are more difficult targets to hit as opposed to NRA which has been vilified by the democrats and the media. The NRA has nothing to do with each community hardening its schools, which is something that should have been achieved years ago.
1
Yeah. Making US schools armed fortresses is the solution. Why do you need a military style assault weapon? Planning a massacre?
There are many erroneous opinions concerning firearms, and the laws that should pertain to the models available for sale to the public.
The biggest misunderstanding is that guns originally designed for military use have no place in private ownership.
The most common rifles are lever action, bolt action, and semi automatic. The most common handguns are revolvers and semi automatics. All were originally designed for military use, and commercial use then followed.
The lever action rifle is derived from the Henry rifle, first used by Union troops in the Civil War. At the time, it was said you could load it, and shoot it all day, and a batallion armed with them could hold off a regiment of troops using non repeating rifles. These 19th century firearms were the "Asssault rifles" of their day, but are commonly used to this day.
Similarly, the bolt action rifle was developed in the late 19th century, and its sturdy design allowed the use of cartridges far more powerful than those used before. And soon thereafter, we had civilian bolt action rifles of similar calibers.
Once WW2 got going, the battle rifles of US troops were semi automatics, Garands and M1 carbines.
Similarly, the revolver was first made in volume for Army and Navy contracts, and simillar models sold to civilians. Semi Auto handguns have been around since 1896.
The AR-15 is similar in design to the military M-16, but is not the same. The M-16 has full automatic capability, the AR-15 does not.
3
Go for it and don't quit. You are so much more articulate than others have been and you seem to radiate strength. Keep going and know that you are not standing alone or only with other teens. I am 65 and support you totally.
4
These liberal High School Students demand that we change the law so that they can’t buy any gun until age 21. Why? Because they say they are too immature to be trusted with a gun.
Today, they argue, we know that young peoples’ brains aren’t quite mature enough to handle a deadly weapon. People younger than age 21 are too emotional. They need time to mature.
Well, fine. If they aren’t mature enough to have a gun, they aren’t mature enough to vote. Change the voting age back to 21.
Seems logical to me.
1
They are saying they want a ban on military style assault weapons. Why don’t you listen.
1
Standing Ovation!!!!!
4
Bravo Teenagers,
we, all adults salute you to do something sensible adults could not do. Along with this gun violence fight, focus on on the following:
1) Seriously, look what the 2nd amnedment 's intention and what it translates into modern day social language
2) Lower the voting age so that you (unpoluted and unbiased mind) will have a say in the next election
3) Encourage candidates of your choice to rjun for the office in November.
4) Why should NRA get tax exempt if they oppose more than 50% population?
4
All citizens and corporations and the stock markets must get behind the kids and finally control guns.
3
Well stated! I am in full support!
4
Brilliant, but also torturous in that they make their argument not as much on morality as on economics.
1
In my opinion you all should go on strike and simply refuse to attend school until new laws are passed. You have a right to do this since schools are obviously so unsafe.
I'm sure 50 million American households stuck with teenagers at home will quickly overcome the power of the NRA and their apologists in the Washed Out District of Corruption.
3
Go kids, go! Here's an idea: advocate for a yearly permit fee per gun. I have to pay a yearly permitting fee of $20 per each pet in my household and a $50 permitting fee for my alarm system. I will be marching with you on March 24th.
3
Half of all the world’s firearms are in the USA. The only way to be safe in America is to leave it, as I did fifty years ago.
1
Good luck dear children. America needs you. Keep fighting the good fight.
4
Thank you, universe, for young people!!!
4
The second amendment is intended in protecting lives, but now the NRA invokes the death of children in school rooms as collateral damage in preserving the cash flow from corporate lobbyists. Why not have a day that any innocent citizen is ritualistically sacrificed? I expect that such sacrifices are already experienced as an act of honor to the founding fathers. Perversion and just another flavor of how to rationalize that the ends justify the means, no matter how horrific. Which citizens will be sacrificed next? When? Where? The irony is that tyranny is living large in the White House, now, and the NRA are collaborators. I implore NRA members to take back their organization to its sane and sober roots. Listen to our young people. They speak the truth.
2
Dear Gen-Z,
I'm a Gen-X momma and I stand with you. A sibling march is happening at my state Capital in Madison and I will be there. My kids are walking out of school today and I support their decision.
Some of you will follow this particular issue right into elected political office sometime soon. I beg you, stand up for true democracy. Join the effort to GET MONEY OUT OF POLITICS. We need to end the influence of money.
I vote, I call my MOCs constantly, I march......but the money talks. We live in a country where the majority is held hostage to the desire of a hyper-monied minority. It must end, for all our sakes.
5
This is a horrible article. We as generation Z have a duty to stop people like this from destroying our nation. Generation Z has been poisoned by liberal education institutions. As a member of Gen. Z, I can assure you we will stop this and all liberal propaganda. We will not let our generation destroy America. Millennials, who have failed to turn the USA into a socialist country have turned to their children to do so. Eleanor Davis is a perfect example of a millennial adult reaching out to the youth, who outnumber her generation to accomplish her goals. We will reject the millennial values, just as their own generation did with the election of Donald Trump.
So we should learn to tolerate the slaughter of children in schools—like you do.
The first step is to gather all the data and analyses. Then run proposed policy changes against historical incidents.
Ignoring the national debate over which flavor of weapon is more or less lethal or who can buy them when or how mental health professionals can or can't diagnose and mandate treatment, the larger issues are how to establish a comprehensive solution.
Government at every level could easily propose the following plan (Homeland & FEMA):
1. Develop and fund school physical safety standards
2. Fund school security guards. Fund random roving police patrols.
3. Fund emergency planning & response systems. There are some brilliant automated systems that could be developed. Routing the injured, for example, properly can make a huge difference.
4. Fund universal period 8 first aid training. If we do this nationally, we can save 20,000+ lives/year.
5. Fund regional emergency exercises
6. Develop & fund emergency planning training programs, perhaps within Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers (FLETC).
7. Develop national tactical standards as part of a Lessons Learned system (FLETC/Homeland Security).
The Big Picture is that 147,000+ die every year from trauma. 20+% of those can be saved. Focusing on the attack method de jour ignores the fact that the evil folks will change tactics to accomplish their goals.
http://nationalacademies.org/hmd/reports/2016/a-national-trauma-care-sys...
Until young voters, and their loved and loving ones (i.e. all of us), eradicate the current corrupt Republican Political Machine - toxic gun laws will remain. This Party has been relentlessly thwarting sensible, citizenry-protective gun control legislation, nationwide, since 1960. Fifty eight years of violence, tens of thousands dead and here we are. Sad but true.
President Clinton managed to pass an automatic weapon ban during his tenure, but only after the Republican Politicians had wedged a five-year Sunset Clause into the legislation. The law was effective while it lasted.
Senator Diane Feinstein, one of the nation's greatest Senators, has proposed the legislation needed for this otherwise unstoppable crisis.
2
Bravo! I applaud your commitment and forthrightness. And all of the adults in the room should be doing what we can to support this nascent activism in our youth: support gun control organizations with donations, help the students organize voter registrations for new voters, and participate in get out the vote efforts in 2018 and 2020. This anger and outrage cannot be allowed to peter out with the latest news cycle. It has to be channeled for the good of the majority who are wholeheartedly in your camp.
3
This 73 year old grandmother stands with you.
4
Spare me the lectures from children. Learn something about the constitution first. Constitutional rights are more important than a bunch of emoting teenagers.
1
That’s difference between. We think the lives of our children are more important than your beloved AR15.
@ZeJee Never owned a gun and never will, but nice try.
God god bless the children! They will deliver us from the evils of my generation.
4
Politicians who take money from the NRA and those with high ratings by the NRA should be voted out of office.
4
Conect with as many of your generation that you can and form a union. The Youth Union.
You don't need to only work on gun control issues. Work on Collage Dept . You will run into the corporate greed on that issue soon.
Work on environmental issues. It's going to be your broken planet soon.
National dept issues.
It's your future paychecks the government is giving away to billionaires with these tax breaks.
It's your world very soon. Don't let the worst generation in the history of this planet ,the boomers take everything that should be handed off to you with their greed ,waste,war mongering and gluttony.
1
I stand with you and I will see you on the 24th.
4
The future just got a little brighter!
2
There goes our children. We must follow them, for we are their elders.
2
Many of us will march with you on the 24th and are so proud of the waves you are making. One day, our elected officials will actually work for the will of the citizens. Money corrupts but can also do good.
3
Republicans were unmoved even by the parents of the Sandyhook victims. May they listen to you and may more young adults vote them out of office!
4
YES! We've been waiting for you. Every people has the government that it deserves. You, however, deserve better. Welcome! Please hit the republicans hard, harder, and harder still. Put out country back on its path "towards" greatness. Remember the Bill of Rights and educate others. Remember, beauty is the harmony among all living things. In loving kindness, Mark.
3
You have my deepest sympathy for your struggle and my enthusiastic support. I am SO PROUD of you! It's fantastic to see a real political awakening among your generation. My generation (GenX) never really had one, instead allowing the NRA, et al., to hijack a certain segment of the public imagination and a current majority of Congress. For that, we owe you an abject apology.
2
Roll Darcy Schleifstein. Roll Zachary Dougherty. Roll Sarah Emily Baum. You and your Generation Z - ROLL - like an unstoppable tide!
The gun lobby is about power. Keeping the Republican office holders voting as directed on all manner of issues is the NRA's true function. Attack ads funded by mega-donors is the NRA's tool against "the disloyal".
The bulldog has been harassing our democracy for far too long. With every boycott, you declaw it. With every march, you pull a tooth from it.
And with every vote, you will send it closer and closer to its final destiny: irrelevance.
You are already leaders, so become the better officials than the generations before, and cast vote in our representative bodies AS YOU SEE FIT.
The NRA is done, but just doesn't know it.
3
Kids, go register in enormous numbers and vote. It counts. So do your protests. Marched against Viet Nam and the lies that fostered it. Behind you. No AR-15s as an agenda is critical and no NRA buying votes top of the list.
2
Go Generation Z. Vote with your walkouts, marches, dollars, voices and ballets.
And while you're at it, help overturn Citizen's United!
Looking forward to working with you in these fights.
3
Go forward, be bold, keep resisting and fighting this monstrous organization which is the NRA, the politicians and companies that accept money and cow tow to it. Keep marching, make your voice heard, write to newspapers, contact your Congress Representative and Senator, make speeches and VOTE! We need you now more than ever, you are the beholder of our democracy, you are the change we need, you are our hope against profit, evil and stupidity. Thank you for all you do and all you say. I will proudly march with you in Brunswick, Maine on March 24th!
3
There is a reason that kids are not allowed to vote. They are inherently stupid. If they commit crimes, they are usually tried in a separate court, because they are considered too immature to be held fully accountable for their actions. One week before Valentine's Day, lawmakers were asking if Tide could make their products look "less appetizing". Children can not make a difference in a system that they do not understand. I know that thousands of schoolchildren will walk out of their classrooms tomorrow, but I am quite positive that most of them couldn't name a single person who was killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas. They speak out about the NRA, but have no idea of it's function or purpose. Kids who have never read the Constitution have no business thinking that they get to affect it. Where is the rage and fury at the FBI for ignoring the warnings about this person? Why isn't there more outrage towards the person who actually DID the killing? Asking for more gun laws, when the ones in place aren't being enforced, is ... no way to fix this.
Nobody needs a military style assault weapon unless he is planning a massacre. You should listen to the young more carefully. They are not the stupid ones.
A sliver of light.
2
Keep up the good work!
2
Three cheers for these young people who are stepping up and taking a position after 17 students were killed with guns in Florida.
A quick check on Google maps shows that the three high schools these students attend are in wealthy and leafy New York city suburbans. Most homes near Toms River High School have outdoor swimming pools.
So where have these students been when far, far more black and brown inner city children are being killed with guns month after month?
Folks on the left and in the media become outraged each time there’s an episode of white suburban high schoolers or college students being killed with guns but are silent about the ongoing slaughter in the ghettos.
Why is that?
3
I teach at a middle school and just came back in from our school's "walkout." It was a travesty. The overwhelming majority of students and teachers both treated it like a joke. There was total disorganization, loud laughter and joking, and only 10 minutes in, everyone decided it was too cold to continue and went back inside the building. Out of a school of more than 500 students and teachers, here was no one else who stayed for 17 minutes or even remained silent to respectfully reflect on the horror of 17 students and teachers who were murdered at a Florida high school by a lone gunman with a semi-automatic weapon, which he had legally purchased as a "law-abiding citizen."
My heart sank. I want with all my heart to believe the best, but something told me that this total lack of empathy is why it is unlikely that anything will change in this country.
32
teens will be teens. More evidence that this is being orchestrated by the adults. Its all a part of the hate Trump movement.
1
Don't give up. Good things can happen with these kids.
3
In two words, the problem was "middle school." (not high school)
3
You kids are the best! It is your future and the best of us are happy to see you take control of it. We haven't done so well, but we will support you now. Go get 'em!
2
Unclench your fists, dear students, and remember that you are global citizens as well as Americans. The need for student safety transcends national boundaries, and so shall your benevolence as well. As you grow up, vote, purchase and march for the benefit of all students, all children and all life, everywhere. This is just the beginning!
1
Another beautiful, moving and articulate statement from these students.
Watching these young leaders honor the fallen students from Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School and transform their tragic murders into a powerful, emotional movement is nothing less than transcendent.
That I have to use the word fallen to describe students who were should have been safely learning in their classrooms is appalling.
The NRA and the bought-and-paid-for politicians who place the NRA's money over our children's lives have been placed on notice. These students are coming for you. Unlike the shooter at MSD High School, they are not coming with military grade assault weapons and high capacity clips. They are coming with their voices, their intelligence and their passion. And they are bringing millions with them. When the end comes you can look to this moment in time as the begin of that end.
Rubio, Ryan, McConnell, Trump and all the rest, there's a lesson I learned when I was a high school student many years ago. That lesson... actions have consequences.
Your actions:
You chose to support a gun lobby that has moved to the lunatic fringe.
You chose to accept blood money from this gun lobby.
The consequences:
You will be remembered as legislators who placed assault weapons, money and your job as a public servant over children's lives.
You will be voted out.
Goodbye. And good riddance.
2
We “adults” have let you down in so many ways due to greed and ignorance. The most glaring is certainly school shootings. I am all-in with your movement, but it will be a long struggle. Please take a page from the NRA and do to their supporters in Congress (and the White House) what they have done to their opponents—namely help fund the opponents of NRA stalwarts. As soon as a Mark Rubio or Rick Scott loses office because of their support of the NRA the pendulum will swing. Just let us know where to send money.
But the other big issue where we adults have really let you down is climate change. And this administration is reversing decades of progress on this front through ignorance and greed. We are destroying our planet (I see this first-hand as my work takes me to areas of the world already being severely impacted) and the ramifications for you and your children are dire.
I am heartened by your courage, your intelligence and your determination. It’s beyond tragic that we have so failed you, but thanks to you—to quote a line from my generation— “ the times they are a changing.”
3
Thank you for putting the so called adults in congress on notice about reducing gun violence in this country.
2
I am 68 years old and a strong gun control advocate. People in my generation have failed you miserably and those who are in control of the government are mightily responsible. We have allowed the republican-controlled Congress to sleep with the NRA. On March 24th I will be standing with you here in Phoenix and I hope that you know there are many, many of us boomers who stand with you as you try to bring about the change we could not.
79
A most sensible move from our youth, arising from our failure, repeatedly, to protect each other, especially those unable to do so by themselves, children. And, since the massacres do not seem to affect us, is it any wonder the kids have lost all trust in us adults, and certainly in those holding the seat of power? No justice, it seems, even as we speak, when yet another high-caliber military- style weapon was made freely available...so to be able to mow down people, specifically humans, as an AR-15 is designed to kill in as efficient and effective way as possible, as designed by your "trusted" blood-drenched N.R.A.-Gun lobby and in complicit with the sold-out republican party and, of course, despicable Trump (who doesn't give a fig). Given that we, adults, cannot be trusted in protecting the most vulnerable in our midst, it is just that we step aside, and allow new blood (pardon the pun) to make decisions demanded by sanity: strict universal gun checks, raise the age, ban assault type rifles, in addition to banning the unrestricted access to guns by unstable individuals that voice intent to harm others, and certainly those in domestic abuse. Much needs to be changed, recognizing the difficulty in breaking a sick culture that glues us to the 'need' of carrying a gun. Our disputes should be resolved perfectly well by dialogue, our insecurities, and prejudice based on ignorance, not withstanding.
More of you will be killed by your poor driving. Given your assertions and reasoning, we should take away your privilege to drive. I am sorry for the deaths, but part of being an adult is understanding that in a free society people are free to do evil. I do not advocate that people commit crimes, but people have committed crimes since the beginning of mankind. And anyone who is willing to commit murder will easily and willingly violate any law restricting their access to weapons. Do some research and learn that America was less violent when we had even more weapons per person. The thing that has changed is our culture. You want to end school shootings and mass shooting than work to return to traditional Judeo-Christian beliefs.
Bravo to all! The future of our country is in able hands. Generation Z can achieve sensible gun control, but only if the political power of the NRA is first understood and then undermined.
It's not so much that politicians rely on NRA campaign contributions to get elected--it's more accurate to say that they seek NRA approval to STAY ELECTED. The threat of losing their jobs if they challenge NRA orthodoxy has been enough to keep so many otherwise decent politicians in line. Sadly, it seems that Congressmen by the score simply cannot imagine a life well lived outside of elective office. But what if we turned the tables on the NRA and made their threat of political retaliation not a cause of abject fear but a promise of a once in a lifetime opportunity?
Start a GOFUNDME account and raise $1 billion dollars. Then make the following announcement: "Any member of Congress who votes for a ban on the sale of military style assault weapons to civilians and is subsequently voted out of office in their next election will receive an award for 'Courageous And Meritorious Public Service' in the amount of $10 million."
Politicians who once feared the NRA will instead stand up and snarl: "Go ahead, punk. Make my day."
Is this illegal vote buying? Prove it. No money would ever change hands either before or immediately after the vote.
An illegal campaign contribution? Money awarded to a former politician with no future in politics? Good luck making that case.
As the first paragraph suggests we wield great power, purchasing power. BOYCOTT Florida, and any and all states, businesses and corporations that support the NRA, and refuse to acknowledge this horrific violent epidemic. We have more money than the NRA and any lobbyist and corporation. This is real!
Such amazing youths! They put us all to shame, and this movement is so overdue!
Because we all have children. Even the NRA monstrosity have children. They go to school and are in danger. (Or so one would think. Have there been any studies about the whereabouts of sons and daughters of NRA between the ages of 5 and 18? Do they attend school in gated compounds guarded by men with big guns?)
The children who showed us that the emperor had no clothes and was scared of them (remember the CNN Town Hall, or the meeting with the so-called President?) might go where no one has gone before. They proved yet again that our so-called representatives see green instead of the red blood spilled each day.
And maybe they will decide to put us all to pasture, like the youths in the movie Wild in the Streets. It's fifty years old and it's now scarier than ever, because we're fifty years older as well.
In the begining came the children and then the rest of us followed, then there was Peace.
All credit to the three of you. I hope you succeed where previous generations have failed.
I applaud those organizing protests in favor of improved gun control. However, the NYT and other media are promoting the myth that the upcoming "March for Our Lives" is led and organized by the students themselves. In fact, March for Our Lives is led and organized by a coalition of well-funded and highly sophisticated anti-gun organizations under the umbrella of Every Town For Gun Safety (ETFGS).
ETFGS's IRS filings show an annual budget of about $40 million (in 2015), and a professional administrative staff of six whose salaries and benefits range from $200,000 to $320,000 per year (in 2015, presumably higher in 2018). Guidestar, which rates non-profit organizations on various criteria, gives ETFGS its lowest possible rating, 1 star out of 5, for lack of transparency. Apparently much of the ETFGS funding goes to anti-gun advertising.
ETFGS is definitely not a bunch of schoolkids, but rather a major activist organization that carries out very refined anti-gun programs and advertising; and alsoproduces very polished materials explaining how to organize protests; arrange housing for students visiting Washington; speak to politicians and the media; file for parade permits; prepare hand-made posters; etc.
I support peaceful and lawful expression of opinions about improved gun control. However, I think it is misleading for the NYT and others to fabricate a narrative that such an extensive and sophisticated protest is being led and created by high school kids.
2
I suppose you want to relegate the students voices to their school newspapers? Given the monolithic funding of the pro-gun movement, if the students get some outside help, I see no harm nor foul.
Of course students need--and should get--help in having their voices heard. But shame on the NYT and others who try to make it appear as if the student actions are initiated and carried out by the students alone. I believe this is called fake news.
There is actually quite a long and interesting story to be written about the "student" gun protest movement and how it has been organized by major players (individuals and organizations) on the left-liberal side of the political spectrum. There is nothing wrong with this, but the lack of transparency and disclosure is disturbing to this long-time liberal.
Full and balanced reporting used to be the hallmark of the NYT--no longer.
I was born when Eisenhower was President. We just didn't have mass shootings in schools at the time and certainly not with assault rifles.
The protests of the Viet Nam war were a pivotal moment in American history and strengthened our Democracy. The nation knew we didn't belong there and were lied to from the very government we depended on to make reasonable decisions. Your generation now find yourselves in the position to make a difference and change the path the country is now on. Do it. Those in congress that rely on the NRA to be elected are already bought and owned by a minority group with lots of money. You can change this as you have the high moral ground and common sense behind you. Don't get distracted by the political noise. If successful you will be remembered in history as true American patriots that made a difference against all odds. That's as American as one can get. Those lost in gun violence in schools across the nation need a voice and you're it. Keep up the pressure and you'll see the opposition collapse like a house of cards.
You'll certainly have this baby boomer's support.
God Speed to you all.
3
Dear teenagers. The NRA ALWAYS wins. Welcome to real life in America.
Please vote in the next election if you hope for incremental change on guns. Wholesale change will not come in your lifetimes, however, and you should be aware of that.
1
As we have seen just last night and this morning around Pittsburg, votes DO matter. If the young people of this country are united, and if, IF, they vote for candidates who will limit access to weapons of war, things WILL change.
1
I am so proud of you, our young women and men.
You give me hope of a future brighter than my pessimism allows.
Organize!
March!
Raise your collective voices!
Register to vote!
Then vote out the establishment!
I want you to do better than my generation, too many among us sold out.
Don’t let yourselves and your future children down!
I and many many more stand with you!
Do not fall for the "arming teachers" idea. Let teachers teach. Let evolution burst through schools where brilliance is nurtured. Where minds meet minds in sacred exchanges of vision. Where inspiration provides nourishment for hungry souls. Where Spirit lingers after the last bell savoring the sparks that will light tomorrow's challenges. Do not arm teachers, for, in doing so, the very essence of education will be extinguished, and all that will be left is the boring death throes of test-measured academic survival.
The nation needs you to continue your efforts despite whatever setbacks you may encounter. Your ultimate success may wait until enough of you reach the age to vote, but your activism now will at least keep the flame alive.
I urge you to seek out those organizations and unions who can teach you the principles of organizing so as to further your success in finally bringing sanity to the concept and understanding of the second amendment of the US Constitution!
Bravo! While the 2nd Amendment guarantees the right to bear arms, nowhere does it say what type of arms. Assault rifles have no place with civilians.
3
In 20 years, 112 high school kids have died in mass shootings. To win this battle, you must cross boundaries, which young people are good at. A lot more have been killed by gang attacks at schools. Recruit those plagued by gang violence and your influence will be much greater.
2
This old soldier will be on the mall with these young men and women on the 24th. This is about politics - the NRA is attempting to subvert this nation's founding values.
2
The most important thing to do is vote. And don't just vote in the general election. Make the effort to vote in the primaries. That's where the candidates are chosen!
digitality seems equally the fuel behind mass shootings. Maybe ban social media, take away peoples devices, and have everyone who wants to use the internet have to go to the local library. Then allow only police and soldiers to have weapons. To satisfy the 2nd amendment, people can have muskets: the gun of choice at the time of the constitution. Hunters can be issued rifles for certain important hunts.
Didn't know about the FedEx connection. I'll keep that in mind down the road.
Thanks.
Thank you for standing up, speaking out, and inspiring adults to find the courage to stand with you to protect children. You have put our failed "leaders" on notice that we the people will fire career politicians who take money from the NRA and fail to enact common-sense gun control.
As the fable goes, it takes a child to point out what everybody knows but refuses to acknowledge: the emperor is wearing no clothes.
There is no need for the 2d Amendment and certainly no need in our country for semiautomatic firearms. The latter should be banned, the former should be repealed and replaced.
Congratulations, Parkland students! You are articulate, logical, poised and you have a very important message. We need your generation's ownership of the gun violence issue, since adults of all ages have failed to come to a resolution that will save lives. Many of us Baby Boomers will be marching with you on March 24, because we too had issues to protest when we were young (Vietnam, civil rights, women's rights) and many of us did. We are with you!
1
Dear Generation Z,
Your eloquence belie your age as your intelligence surpass my greatest hopes. I will stay on point with this as it is the most important first step but do not, for a minute, believe that this is all that needs to be done. You see, it is not just NRA, but a whole system that sponsors into the NRA. We are all the targets, unlike the poor kids at Sandy Hook, you are the target that finally shoots back with so much right that you can not be refuted.
As an older man, I have witnessed too many wasted lives, so if I have to go, I would rather that I did securing that your back is protected. I am coming home to the US to join the fight. Let the foe know that the fight has been joined, we are coming.
This is what defines the American psyche. We are taught to value the individual, not the collective, so take matters into your own hands. Do it. Vote. I am encouraged by your numbers. I'm a baby boomer, and I have spent my life voting against the greed that supports the NRA (and others with equally questionable motives) but my generation's numbers are dropping. It's on you guys now. Good luck, and know there are adults standing behind you.
Wow, great job. I'm a college professor and I love reading essays that describe where we are really going and give the facts on why we are going there. I compare your beautiful essay with the stumbling and bumbling of Ryan, McConnell and Trump, and all of the "leaders" who lied about a national gun registry when they defeated the gun regulation bill after Sandy Hook. Your vision is not only bold and just, it is the right one for your generation AND all those that will follow you. And you are not alone--there are over 100 million Americans who are cheering for you and the defeat of the NRA.
This is the same old song and dance. No one calling for "reasonable" and "common sense" gun controls has any concrete proposals to reduce crime, other than banning and confiscating all privately owned firearms (which most of you swear up and down that you don't seek to do). Everyone supports keeping guns out of the hands of criminals and the mentally ill. No one has any foolproof way to do the latter without also infringing on the Constitutional rights of law abiding people with minor depression or anorexia. Once you propose a ban on "assault weapons," which is merely any semi-automatic rifle or handgun made in the past 75 years with certain cosmetic features that make it look scary, or once you posit that the 2nd Amendment only prohibits the government from infringing on the supposed right of government militias to have arms, you lose all credibility. This is what has happened time and time again with this debate, and is the reason why no one on the pro-civil rights side is willing to budge.
1
This is only the beginning of a long battle. Please do not give up. We need to pressure our elected officials but we also need to look at our society and why so many people feel that they need a gun to protect themselves. Thank you for speaking up.
Outstanding. Tremendous. Searing. You will be the agents of change that we have not. And we will step up, because you're right. We have to.
It’s heartening that students are beginning to speak out, organize, and resist the NRA and politicians who support them.
AND, in time, if you, the articulate students, passionately want to change the firearms laws in this vast country, you will have to do more research ... and work politically for years.
In fact, mass shootings with assault weapons cause a small, small proportion of gun deaths in the United States. Mass shootings at schools make up an even smaller percentage of the tragedies. Most victims are killed with handguns by people they know. Men commit suicide. The intimate female partners of angry abusive men get shot.
Keep up the good work, please ... and persist. Thank you.
My generation is a disappointment. We have empowered people like Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan, DJT and a host of others who have sold themselves out. And they are too short sighted to even acknowledge the real needs of our youth.
These kids are articulate, passionate, and are just coming out into the world. Good things will come from them. We are in good hands.
Protest the NRA, and a hose of other things that "those people in power" force upon us. Vote- Vote- see Connor Lamb tonight- Vote. You are hitting 18, make your voice heard, run for office, support good candidates, get rid of county party bosses, run for office yourself. The best way to effect change is from within-so go out there and get yourselves into state houses and congress, and make them change, be that change.
There is no such thing as gun control, only gun centralization in the hands of the government. And that is bad for the reason the second amendment exists, over time governments always become overbearing and oppressive, and society as a whole needs a way to fight back.
As a college Professor I often challenge students who seem- like here- to believe they know all the answers, but only seem to see an issue from their point of view, failing to at least understand or try to empathize those who feel differently.
I explain how many Black folks in the South during segregation relied on guns to protect themselves because they police would not. NPR did a story on this last year: https://www.npr.org/2016/01/11/462698262/for-some-african-americans-gun-...
Likewise, I ask why of all the issue facing the founding of America was the 2nd most important Amendment about guns? Finally, I remind them that while in parts of NJ guns are seen only as implements of violence, in others guns are cultural. I then ask if anyone knows anyone who has a fond family memory of a gun. Usually, at my Northern NJ University, the answer is "no."
This is only meant to give them pause in drawing conclusions about things they don't fully understand.
And while I support my child and students walking out, I worry that the caricature of the evil bogeyman NRA as the major impediment to school safety is problematic and too simple.
Because if the NRA disappeared overnight, schools would still be as targets- and guns widely available.
On gun violence it seems there are two futures.
One is to harden schools which are now “softest targets”. If this is the strategy, there will always be a “softest target” and these will have to be hardened each in turn until we live in small islands armed against our fellow citizens.
The other option is to decrease the the likelihood of an attack. This means gun restrictions, anti-bullying programs, programs to deal with the troubled individual and more – ie change who we are – if that is possible. Which world do we want to live in?? It is a choice we make every election and have been making poorly. Demonstrate today and vote in November.
There is a fundamental divide between persons who believe firearms are a bulwark against tyranny and those who do not so believe. The Constitution prohibits infringement of the right to keep and bear arms, reflecting the former view.
This means that -- as a matter of constitutional law -- any restrictions on this right must be "necessary for a compelling state interest," and not just "rationally related to a legitimate state interest."
For this reason, the student protests will accomplish little because the measures they advocate cannot be shown to be necessary, except perhaps for bump stocks. Legislation that raises the age to purchase from 18 to 21 won't stop friends from buying for friends; waiting periods are pointless, except for first-time purchasers; a ban on "assault rifles" blinks such realities as the German army did very well in WW2 with bolt-action rifles. Such legislation will in due course be overturned.
1
My son is walking with his fellow students from his Miami high school today and I could not be more proud. But that pride comes with a great sadness and anger as well. Sadness because it took this last avoidable tragedy to propel an act of nonviolent resistance, and anger because we have the ability to prevent these acts of violence but continue to be thwarted by politicians too scared, too beholden, or too feckless.
My son will in two short years he and his class of 800 sophomores will have the vote. Across thus nation, millions of middle and high schoolers will wield similar power in the coming decade. At that time my sadness and anger will be lifted as the youth wash away these decrepit adults to the ash heap of history and demand a politics of safety and common sense. I count the minutes to that day but for now will support these meaningful actions, as opposed to the fake thoughts and prayers.
All I can say to the wonderful young people writing this editorial - Nicely done! I have argued with people all my long life that nothing ever changes unless people are shaken out of their comfort zones. This is why it's so essential not to stop talking and resist being told that "This isn't the time to talk to about guns" because if you stop you will allow those who could affect change the ability to stay comfortable, meaning nothing changes. (which I'm sure you can see has been the case)
Similarly, resist listening to people who advise you to "pick your battles." If injustice is being done, speak out - even if you know you can't win! The thing about social movements is that all it takes is for 1 person (better if there's actually more than a few of you) not to shut up about injustice. Others of a similar mind will see you speaking out and eventually decide "Hey, maybe I should speak out too." In time, there won't be just 1 or a few of you; those voices will hit critical mass and begin shocking the proverbial powers that be out of their comfort zones, forcing either process change or regime change.
So, in short - Never shut up about this. It WILL mean something eventually and probably sooner than you realize.
Until politicians are made government employees to were they cant receive more than $20 in any form a year. From any person, organization, or group or to any of there relatives. This will keep going on and on, because we don't count until its time for them to be elected. Unless above happens there will be no trust in government from any one there. I personally think they should wear NASCAR uniforms so we know who owns them.
Your straightforward sanity is more than just refreshing to our crumpled resolve on the matter of common-sense gun control, it is life-affirming, courageous and completely necessary to our freedom and way of life.
We are grateful and proud and resolved to support all your efforts.
Pay attention to the messaging. Every time the NRA and its paid political lackeys talk about “school safety,” return the conversation to the public health issue of “gun violence.” Don’t be out maneuvered by that old (and effective) strategy of breaking the gun problem off into a million little pieces.
Thank you, young people, for taking to the streets today.
Keep doing this -- but not just this. Go to your local political organization meetings. Write more letters and pen more columns. Be discriminating in what you read and watch so you don't encourage gratuitous violence in the broader culture. VOTE! And learn history, history and more history while you're making history.
Thank you Darcy, Zack and Sarah!
Please know that many of your elders who didn't do enough or who tried but couldn't figure a way to break the NRA's stranglehold on our political processes are with you all the way.
Also, please encourage the millennials just above you in age to vote. I've stressed to many of them who I know the importance of voting. But they reply that they "don't want to be a part of the system".
1
I am sure that Jersey City voters, a city that has had a democratic mayor for all but 10 years of the last century, will be able to change federal gun laws and finally solve the gun violence problem. Gun laws will change when their is a national consensus, not when a blue area promises to continue voting blue.
1
Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don't stand in the doorway
Don't block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There's a battle outside and it's ragin'
It'll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'
Bob Dylan
I support student advocacy to say the least. I support any positive advocacy. I'm with you. Political agency is a good thing. Go for it. I apologize if my generation was slow to take up the issue of gun control. We were busy getting shot at in Afghanistan and economically destroyed at home. Gun control was on the list but Columbine hadn't quite yet metastasized into the gun violence we see today. Ending wars and human torture seemed like a bigger priority at the time. Ending the Bush era in general really.
Speaking of generations, I would avoid dropping any statistics on Generation Z just yet. The Census Bureau only just categorized millennials this year. The last census was in 2010. For all intensive purposes, Generation Z is still pretty much unknown. You have to wait for a generation to fully come of age before you can start making meaningful generalizations about them. The only people hucking numbers around about Gen Z right now are marketers. They have a vested interest. Gen Z have a capacity to consume that was beaten out of millennials by the Great Recession.
Gen Z is likely to become a bigger economic force in the future but in demographic terms our best guess is roughly a 50-50 split. 1 million on the projected millennial peak of 81 million is 1.2%. As noted, these numbers are extremely rough too. You may prove right but I would suggest making allies before making bold proclamations. We can accomplish more as a coalition than as combatants.
One way for Generation Z to succeed with the admirable goals you're mobilizing for.... is to become Generation V - a mass movement of young Voters.
Rise up, resist and reframe the game. Transcend the alphabetical pull of X and Y, and relabel yourselves Generation V. Now. Immediately.
Just as we take inspiration from you, let yourselves be inspired by the orange V platform the illustrator of your brilliant essay provided.
Stand for what you stand on, Generation V, and make us proud. And, just to be clear, this is my brilliant wife's brilliant idea.
When I was the age of these remarkable young citizens, my home state of Georgia enforced laws mandating racial segregation. I didn't need anyone to tell me this was evil in the rawest form. The students who followed Dr. King believed in him because he rejected the counsel of fools who cautioned, "go slow." Young followers like Rep. John Lewis, participating in non-violent protests were beaten and jailed, but in the end, just a Dr. King believed, the walls of segregation came tumbling down. As a grandfather, my hope is that you and your young allies will reject any and all pleas to slow down and start a discussion. These are dilatory strategies meant to defeat you. The struggle, as you likely know, won't be easy. But following Dr. King's playbook will work. Keep fighting through direct non-violent action. Protest. Boycott. Return our country to sanity.
Presidents, lawmakers and judges should give kids the same protection they give themselves. Until open and concealed carry are actually encouraged near the President, all guns must be banned from all schools.
If anyone actually believed the 'good guy with a gun' myth, then congress would simply insist on its halls being filled with random people armed to the teeth.
Thank you all for having the guts to do what many of our congressional servants lack the nerve to do. That would be to place the dignity of human life above weapons of mass death. Even if you are not immediately successful in acheiving all your goals you will be voters in short order and will then have true control of priorities. Thanks again, keep up the good fight!
1
Excellent letter Darcey, Zachary and Sarah,
Thank you for what you and thousands of other students are doing. You have strong support from millions of upstanding Americans who believe machine guns and semi-automatic rifles hold no place in our society, except perhaps in the hands of police officers and the military.
Best wishes to you always.
Well said and marching and writing and talking does make a difference in theory.
But, in practice, as we are seeing in the recent PA election, every vote counts and this is what will make a difference. If we have a congress that votes into law sensible gun laws this will help to make a huge difference. The key is to get out and vote or help to get out the vote. And vote for those who pledge to change the existing laws and create new laws. Vote, vote, vote, vote---I cannot say it enough.
1
This is the most important fact in the piece:
"We are Generation Z, the generation after millennials. We outnumber them by nearly one million and may be the largest cohort of future American spenders since the baby boomers. We have more than $30 billion in spending power and wield enormous influence in family spending. Our spending power will only increase as we begin to earn our own wages"
$ is the only thing that will make a change and these students will have the leverage to make these changes. Common sense hasn't prevailed so let them use their economic might. More power to them!
I'm proud of these students rising up against this injustice. Keep fighting for what is right, regardless of whatever party is in power and funded by whatever money. We are their constituents and they all need to change, on the right and the left, to turn toward the people and our rights to LIFE, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
1
We so often see how technology and social media are misused. In this generation that has fully grown up with this technology, I see the good a connected generation can accomplish together and lead the older generations in a way that was not possible in the past. We are individuals with voice that together are a force. Let's use our democracy well and vote.
3
David Hogg was asked this morning on TV if he was worried that Millenials are more conservative as a group and may not support gun control. The very astute Mr. Hogg explained that Millennials mostly don't vote and the ones that do tend to be conservative.
Let this be a lesson the you Generation Z and Millenials. Every vote matters. Not voting is a vote for those that do. Voting 3rd party weakens democracy.
Please register and vote in every elections. The little ones, the local ones, the mid-terms and the presidential elections. All of them.
Politicians defer to their donors unless their voters roar.
7
Many thanks to the teens who are taking the lead when the adults couldn't manage it. Let's hope they are tenacious and that they maintain their righteous anger through what will surely be some political losses. But they (we) will win the long game and lives will surely be saved.
On March 24th I'll thank some of these newly minted civic leaders personally.
14
Vote, people, vote as if your lives depend on it. They do!
And, thank you to the student activists who may yet turn our country back to a democracy and away from being an oligarchy.
Thank you!
22
These children are starting off in the right foot, but they not only just register to vote, they must continue to vote year after year and not lose face.
12
You guys are taking a united stand that none of our preceding generations have and I support your response. I only trust the men in Congress who oppose you find themselves looking for employment this November.
You have my respect.
16
To the kids, the people you need are out there. We are out there. We are with you. We want you to succeed. We will stand with you. We applaud you. We are invigorated by your courage....and this fight takes courage. Courage, I think, dwindles with age, but we still know it when we see it. Keep going.....keep going. And thank you.
18
And we parents are terrified of playing Russian roulette everyday when we send our kids to school.
We are sorry we failed you but we will support you every step of the way and with our resources, starting with the walkout this morning.
16
There must be thousands of gun-loving parents who send their children to school every day. And what do they think about March for Our Lives? Please -- express your thoughts here.
1
It's is so inspiring to see these brave and courageous young people standing up to the older and powerful rich people who are profiting off of the low-intensity civil war that is raging in America every day.
These young people represent the hope for a better future, for a US that puts lives above money.
10
Dear Gen Z, this aging boomer is so proud of you and grateful for reasserting our long-held faith and belief in the true values that define this country. Your courage and commitment to stand up and step forward can and will prevail because although you have not yet risen to positions of power you own the one thing the rest of us no longer do: the future.
16
There are a lot of people who place the freedom to own guns to be so important that preventing gun violence by removing guns from people who might use them to harm others as too restrictive. There are a lot of people who fear that any gun in the hands of private individuals could be used to harm others and eliminating any such use is to much of a risk to allow. These two opposing groups control the discussion about gun control and their positions do not allow compromise, only victory or defeat. They prevent any real involvement between 110 million gun owners and 200 millions who don’t have guns from discussing gun violence and how to reduce it effectively so that those who would harm themselves or others can be prevented from doing so. Violent inclinations and reckless actions are abhorred by nearly all of the people in this country. There need not be any conditions for all to join in the discussion and to work out a solution. Just stop letting those at the extremes from controlling what everyone is doing.
5
Excellent Op-Ed! I love this paragraph: "We will flex our muscles at the ballot box, too. Many high school seniors will cast their first ballots this November, and in 2020, a majority of today’s high school students will most likely be able to vote in their first presidential election. And we will not forget the elected officials who turned their backs on their duty to protect children."
How true, how accurate, and how ominous for the politicians who take donations aka bribes from the NRA. Their days in office are numbered. Thank God.
27
Of course, we all know that the proposals "to protect children" will do nothing of the sort and will infringe on the rights of law abiding people.
I am so sorry for the pain you and your community are enduring. Thank you so much for focusing your energy on preventing this from happening again. This is the most hopeful thing I’ve seen in a long time. You have a window of opportunity here- DON’T GIVE UP! EVER! We are all counting on you and will support you however we can. These selfish people in power need to be taken down by all of us. We must vote at the ballot and with our dollars. I will be with you on March 24, with my six and nine year old children. Godspeed.
12
I read this and recall the power of words and the strength of action of my own generation, Baby Boomers, over Vietnam. You are our children and grandchildren. You have learned and listened well to the lessons of history. You will bring change and make the world in your image. Do not be deterred by setbacks, which will assuredly happen. We are proud of you.
11
I can think back to when I was 16 — 1976 — and remember how clearly my fresh, young mind saw the hypocrisy of the adults. It was as if I could see through every falsehood that went unchallenged, and I believed, idealistically, that I could change things. Forty-two years later, my mind is still quick to see the hypocrisies of politics and culture, of commercialism, of violence in the media, of large corporations cutting corners on pollution, of organized religion, of detention camps that contradict the American way of innocent-until-proven-guilty, of racism. But it is not so clear that I can change things other than how I live my life privately as an individual. This young generation with clear eyes and fresh minds must never give up on confronting the hypocrisies that are so evident to them. And they must never forget through the coming decades to carry with them what they see so clearly now, and to live out in their own lives, as best they can, the truths they believe in.
8
The young people of this country who are now speaking out need our prayers and support. This is their country now as we of the 60's generation cede control. Hopefully they have more success then the adults of this country in breaking the shackles of money, consumerism and corporate tyranny. As a college professor I see first hand the wisdom of many of our young people. They will make strides in the future to reset a culture that has careened off its tracks.
11
Bravo to the students of the Unites States for raising their voices against the NRA and those who distort the original intent of the Second Amendment and oppose gun control laws. They should be reminded that the same politicians who threaten their immediate security by opposing gun control laws also threaten their long term security by denying anthropogenic global warming and opposing actions that will mitigate potential future catastrophic climate change.
9
Politicians, take note. The handwriting is on the wall. It seems that many elected people in state and federal positions lack the level of courage that these students possess.
16
This is good to see and hear. I hope they are able to keep up the commitment that this entails and we see a huge uptick in numbers of this age group at every election. Any representative who has been bought and paid for by organizations like the NRA and corporations line the fossil fuel industry are not representing people at home. Often they are damaginging this world that future generations need to live in for quick profit. I think these young people know that and will make a difference sooner and later.
7
When I read your article and watch on television those articulate and committed students from Parkland, I see a large ray of hope. A word of encouragement: young people like you were instrumental in ending the Viet Nam War.
15
I don't mind protests just as long as the teachers and administration didn't talk about it or encourage it. This should be from what they believe and not what others tell them. Also I hope all students, Law Enforcement, and all citizens stay safe today.
2
'Teachers and administration' get mowed down along with their students, Lalo. They are in unity with their students in demanding common sense gun laws. Why would they not take a position on something that actually happens, and to them as a group?
Godspeed, Generation Z. I applaud your determination.
Fifty years ago, the year I graduated from college, was a watershed protest against an unjust war.
Now you guys are fighting an unjust war, the one that invades your classrooms.
Go for it! And learn the power of the vote, while we still have it in this country.
The only way to get the government you want is to change the government you don't want.
It sounds like you really understand that. Go for it!
36
Yes speak up and make your voice heard that's powerful and inspiring to a lot of people. Even the people who disagree with you then have to answer your points respectfully and deal with your concerns.
I'm standing with my local high school during their walk out today and participating in the March 24th event at my state capital. I volunteered to be a delegate at my county convention. These informed and articulate students advocating for change inspire me tremendously. They are our future leaders and I'm ready to follow. Action!
22
I am so proud of these kids! I just love them to pieces. I have such hope for the future, thanks to them. I'm marching with them on the 24th, and will support them in all of their endeavors.
30
One hundred percent behind you and very proud of you all. You are inspiring. Keep leading this very important and long overdue fight for gun control.
If these kids are effective in their efforts, this can become the beginning of a wide range of change in this country....putting people before profits could become a new societal norm, a breakthrough which puts politicians and all of us on notice that our lives cannot be bought and sold to the highest bidder.
Thank you to the young generation for your strength and fierce commitment.
55
The electorate must demand real and significant gun law reform and must insist that any person running for political office on any level must stand first and foremost upon that platform. The media has a role to play in keeping the public focused on that goal and in moving public opinion toward that direction. The electorate must not be distracted by the machinations of the powerful influences who feel otherwise. That is the only way for us to effect change and I think if we accomplish this very achievable goal other progressive issues will follow.
26
Depending on reform too, I remember a while back it was a 3 day cooling off period for handguns. I firmly don't agree with anything that breaks HIPA laws especially when it pertains to Veterans. Also I think there should be 10 year sentence for any stolen firearm. That you have possession or use in a crime.
1
I hope that you and women and the rest of us who are so frustrated with the corrupt merchants of death and their apparent stranglehold on the halls of power will be able to overcome the stench of death that hangs over humanity these days.
I take hope from your energy. Don't give up. There are more of us than there are of them, but they appear to have forgotten their humanity as they close their minds and hearts to anything but power and wealth.
Machines for killing are not "sacred" and nobody should regard those machines as more precious than life itself. This kind of thing is appalling: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/03/05/the-nra-lobbyist-behind-fl...
Marion Hammer and her colleagues seem to want to legalize murder. Marco Rubio is obligated for over $3 million. President Trump's bit is $30,000,000. McCain, for all his preaching, is obligated to the tune of almost $6,000,000.
There is no soul and no life to being bought and paid for.
I could on you, and on the women, and on my own friends and colleagues. We can do this!
66
Murder victims are almost all men. Murders of white women are rare. If you want to politicize those plagued by gun violence, you need to recruit men. Women are mostly bystanders.
last paragraph that was meant to be "I count on you".
michjas, that was neither up to your standard nor responsive. I was looking at the alliance of women, the young, and humanists and saying that unless the Republicans come up with new ways to steal elections, we, the majority, are going to take our country back.
Meanwhile, on guns, you appear not to know the facts and statistics. Start here: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/11/06/opinion/how-to-reduce-sho...
I already referenced Marion Hammer. If you support her campaign to make murder legal, you're not the man I thought you were.
If men want to return to the wild west, please leave us out of it. Nobody needs military-grade weapons, and it isn't helping protect anyone. It looks much more like a plan to exercise "second amendment solutions" if things don't go the way for bullies collecting arsenals (e.g., the Bundy family) want them to go.
I will still try to respect you, but you are making it more difficult than it used to be to do so.
1
Some of your parents have been trying; I’m sorry we failed you. And I am so inspired by your commitment. We wish you well! Register, register, register and you can own the government!
61
The point that this issue is not conservative or liberal, Republican or Democrat, is important. Folks of every political and philosophical persuasion can be made to see guns for what they are - a divisive force that only serves one master, and its not Jesus, folks.
48
All the marching, demonstrating, and snarky social media posts in the world don't matter if you don't vote. If you want to make a difference, make sure you vote while in college. Help a friend register. Help other young people get the proper ID needed to register. Drive follow students to the polls. THAT is the action that is needed.
Canvass your neighborhood. Volunteer for local progressive candidates. Heck, run for city council. This is how you change things.
110
“We will flex our muscles at the ballot box, too. Many high school seniors will cast their first ballots this November, and in 2020, a majority of today’s high school students will most likely be able to vote in their first presidential election. And we will not forget the elected officials who turned their backs on their duty to protect children.”
5
I hope every teen registers to vote as soon as they can. And vote in good people. And eventually run for office to be part of the solution.
41
The most outstanding and revolutionary act that so-called X-generation citizens can do is actually vote. The lowest voter turnout is among the 18-29 age group.
If you can flip that into the highest demographic voter turnout then you can shape the future. But you gotta' be in the game to win.
134
You effectively expressed the feeling of many adults who also support sensible gun control measures, and who are beyond frustrated and discouraged that our elected leaders are ignoring our wishes. Please vote when you can! It’s the only way we can effect the changes so desperately needed.
29
As a mom of three gen z’s, I am the queen of nagging - make your bed (losing on that one), pick up your clothes (not much better), eat and sleep better (getting traction on those issues) and most importantly, my last nag as they head off to independent life - REGISTER and VOTE (100% success on this issue). I admit that I check in on this, making sure they registered, found their polling place and on the day of voting, text them to get there before 7pm. I hope young people will be able to develop and sustain good voting habits and I really believe us parents are the start of those behaviors just like we have been with teeth brushing, eating with your mouth closed and changing your bed more than once a month.
48
Use this piece for your college essay and you are sure to gain admission to your top choice! I,for one, will vote for you, should this Baby Boomer be lucky enough to still be alive to see you into public office..and enjoy it! Keep up the good work!!!
24
Bravo, cherubs! We're counting on you to make happen what we have failed to accomplish. We need you!
16
The NRA is one player in the gun control debate, as are long time opponents of privately owned guns that could be used in violent acts with guns as the weapons, as are gun makers, as are the estimated 110 million people who own guns, as are the 200 million people who do not own guns. We live in a world where reasoned discussion.about serious problems tends to rarely occur. There is plenty of communicating and discussion but little of it is reasoned consideration. Most subjects are represented in ways that heighten emotions and cause people to react emotionally. So far we have not seen any sincere efforts to find solutions together. The active discussion is confined to treating each other as enemies in a struggle for survival.
2
Excellent.
One question for the writers. Why say, this is not about one political party vs. another? The voting and donation information of our representatives, federal or state, speaks a clear message.
11
I can’t speak for them, of course, but I wonder if they are suggesting that there are many people who call themselves conservative who know in their hearts the right thing to do. It’s a matter of ethics, not party. They should pressure their representative, regardless of party, to wash their hands of blood money. If they won’t, find and support someone who will. Or run!
1
Because it is not only about one political party, CitizenTM.
Democrats had control of both houses of Congress and the White House in 2009-10, yet -apart from a halfway sort of partial solution on health care- accomplished very little, on gun control on anything else. Yes: the same Democratic party which enabled irresponsible Bush tax cuts, the foolish invasion of Iraq, the bank bailouts, and the myopic nomination of the only imagineable candidate so deeply and widely disliked as to lose to Donald Trump.
1
As a Jersey girl please know that we Jersey girls will be marching with you just as we took to the streets to stop our generation from being slaughtered in the for profit Vietnam war. This is your time and your war to stop the for profit killing of your generation and those that follow you. See you in the streets!
99
So proud of you Zs - don't let up. Please.
65
George W Bush and Dick Cheney, along with the 2004 Congress, allowed the assault weapons ban to lapse and unleashed rivers of blood on our streets and in our schools.
I will never forget that or forgive them, along with their current triumvirate: Trump, McConnell, Ryan.
Pathetic.
168
The teenagers should get out of their mother's basement's, put down their X boxes, get off of Facebook and instagram and read the second amendment. Then get a Websters and look up the words "shall not be infringed." Guns do not kill people. People kill people.
2
No, they should stay in school long enough to read the ENTIRE second amendment, in its historical and linguistic context, to understand that it refers to MILITIAS, not individuals, and that the modern equivalent of "a well-regulated" colonial militia (emphasis: REGULATED) is the U.S. Army. They have more than enough weapons already.
9
The words 'well regulated' also appear in the one sentence that is our second amendment.
5
And look up "well regulated" while you're at it. Also the original meaning of "to bear arms" (i.e. to serve under command).
PS - responsible gun owner here.
2
Yea! Go Get 'Em! To give you more fuel for your fire, as of this evening (3/13/18), there have been 2,815 gun deaths, 661 children have been killed or injured by guns, and there have been 46 mass shootings, so far this year. It is appalling to me that anyone can think of the suffering behind these numbers and not want to change things. I don't know how Trump can sleep at night knowing that children his son Barron's age are being killed and hurt and he is doing nothing.
29
Because humpty-trumpty isn't counting on his son's vote.
Go for it, we stand with you!
31
Bravo!
18
Bravo! Thank you!
12
Your courage and energy have brought tears to my old eyes. Thank goodness for you and your fellow students. You are our future and I
am now convinced that our great system will survive in spite of the corrupt Trumpites.
Don’t ever give up your fight. You are bright lights in a dark time in this country.
60
Do not equivocate, do not yield a single inch, and make yourselves heard. Register to vote and express your voices at the ballot box. To throw them out of office. Only then will the shameful obsequiousness of the NRA-bought politicians be laid to bear.
94
God bless these kids. If they want to label the NRA something I would say that NRA="Merchants of Death".
16
Telling these students that they can only be safe when schools are turned into "hardened" fortresses is demanding their total surrender to the NRA. They know better and I believe they will never surrender.
259
These students actions are reminiscent of the CHildren's Crusade of Medieval times. This latest version of the CHilrdern's Crusade will not doubt be as successful as the Medieval one.
1
It isn't reminiscent of the children's crusade at all. It is reminiscent of the actions of the young during the fight for civil rights on the part of African-Americans.
2
B Windrip, Well said and this is exactly how I feel. Why make our schools into fortresses so the NRA can sell more and more lethal weapons? Greed and power are in charge of our country. It's time to get in the trenches and do what ever we can to turn this ship around because we are heading for more disaster and more mass shootings. Each mass shooter is trying to kill more than the last. Yes there are many guns out there already but that does not me we can do nothing. Gun safety is just common sense and no one is trying to rob anyone of their 2nd amendment rights. Keep fighting people the NRA can not continue to reign over our government. Fight and Pray for sensible gun safety laws now.
1
You give me hope, Gen Z. The Oregon Trail generation stands with you!
7
Finally someone that will stand against the gun loving minority. The nra has 300,000 members in Florida but Rick Scott treats them like they're the majority.
21
Thank you for all you are doing. When President Obama stood with tears in his eyes after Sandy Hook he and the rest of the sane citizens of our country thought there would be a meaningful change in our laws. But no. When the country watched the distraught parents from Sandy Hook walking the halls of Congress we hoped the stone cold hearts of these politicians would be softened. But no. Remember the party that holds our country hostage to the Second Amendment. I am 79 years old. I will march on the 24th.
139
I am a 79-year-old also and I will be wearing orange today. I cut up my Cabela’s VISA card and returned it, letting them know I will be purchasing my next walking shoes at Dick’s Sporting Goods. I will go to one of our local high schools at 10:00 to stand with students. I wish I could be in Washington on the 24th. Some say what good does it do to march? I say, what good is it to do nothing? When I see these articulate, intelligent leaders of Generation Z, which includes our grandchildren, I once again have hope for this country. Don’t get discouraged! Love that you know the value of your vote!
239
As an 82 year old grandfather, I applaud my great Millennial and Generation Z grandkids and parents, who have been for applying commonsense automobile registration and driver licensing regulations to gun ownership and use. Abolishing weapons of war is also common sense. Skilled hunters don't spray but aim to kill with a single shot.
I have already begun to boycott Cabela's, FedEx, and any other firm that I learn provides special discounts to NRA members. Politicians on the NRA take--Republic or Democrat--automatically earn my opposition and financial support for the opposing candidate if not also on the NRA dole.
10
Bravo Judith. You demonstrate that in every generation the good people are there, and probably in the majority. So far most of the time the bad have risen to the top. May it be different with GenZ!
5
Realistically I see this protest as meaningless and misguided.
Violence in society, like street crime, heroin, sex crimes, etc. is not going away. Ever. No matter how much one "protests" and pushes for more laws that might not be enforced.
People concerned should be going after school staff and law enforcement and especially themselves that did nothing to prevent this disaster.
3
And yet violence in schools is not a problem in Canada, England, Germany, France, Australia ad Infinitum. The problem CAN go away. But are we willing to do what it takes?
18
If violence will never go away, shouldn’t we make an effort to limit its scope, it’s lethality? Other countries limited gun access and have far less gun death. Why is that not possible here? Please help me understand why American exceptionalism means we must continue to use our children for target practice.
20
It may be that we could use their help. Instead of gaping on the sidelines watching ordinary Americans being shot down daily as they simply go about their business while politicians wade through their blood to grasp for NRA money, why not join in boycotting the international corporations that remain aligned with NRA lobbyists?
The most important thing we can ALL do is this : VOW to VOTE. VOW to never, ever VOTE for any member of the GOP/NRA Party. They are one and the same. Just say NO.
Gun Control or Dead Children. CHOOSE. NOW.
17
Even though I am not of your generation, I will march with you on the 24th.
8
On 911, 3,000 people were tragically killed - we went to war. In 2017 over 30,000 Americans were killed by guns - we did nothing. In 2018 a bunch of kids went to war - against the NRA. Thank you Generation Z.
100
Amen!
6
Go get them and don’t stop!!!
Sincerely,
Your elders
8
We support you!!
5
Start shaping the world you will be living in...
Never ever give up this fight
9
You are the future of our country, and God willing, will be the change makers this country has needed since Columbine.
6
Bravo! we're behind you all the way! I did the March on Washington in 1969, and marched against Vietnam on campus too. We were kids, and we made a difference! You will too!!! Here's a thought - - how about initiating a National Children's Association (NCA) ? You could be the biggest lobby advocating for kids and for safety, and put an end to the chokehold promoted by the terrorists known as the nra.
24
Excellent. Airlines should rush the embrace a NCA or a NYA, national youth association.
Yeah, because teenagers have all the answers. Think back to when you were a teen, are you the same person? Do you hold the same beliefs? “If you weren’t liberal when you were young you had no heart. If you are not conservative as an adult you have no brain.”
2
Simply a false rationalization for having no heart.
The thing is that many people actually become somewhat more liberal as they age and realize that life is easier and more enjoyable if one lives and lets live rather than in angry repose that some people harden too to the end of days.
Teens didn't come up with the answers, Rich. They are supplying the passion and integrity that's been missing. The answers have been offered and rejected over and over. They didn't come up with something new and silly. Ironically, you then quote a high-school style simplistic quote. Here's a better quote for me, thanks:
MLK Jr: "It's always the right time to do the right thing"
2
Never.Give.Up
7
More power to these kids. Their enemies are the NRA, the Republicans who take their blood money, the 2nd Amendment (as interpreted currently), and the toxic gun culture in this country. Anyone and everyone who owns guns, mistakenly believe they offer protection, mistakenly believe they are responsible gun owners, and mistakenly believe their support for the right to own guns is not a contributory factor to the sharply elevated gun carnage that blights this nation, and this nation ALONE amongst peers.
6
I am old baby boomer, and I applaud your intelligence, articulate espousal of common sense gun legislation, as well as your passion. Our country will be in much better hands than it is now. Bravo!
5
Donald Trump, Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell and many others like John McCain and Marco Rubio apparently are following the NRA’s guidance for gun control.
It’s a shame that big money has infiltrated our government. Even though Americans want sensible gun control apparently Donald Trump and the others are beholden to the NRA.
Please be sure to vote in the next election. Maybe a well written and published online petition would get the arrention of the politicians.
6
“I believe that children are our future, teach them well and let them lead the way.” In these darkest of days, when our republic appears to have been handed over to Putin in a bloodless coup, these children are the shining beacons on the hill. As children always are. The lights of our lives. They’re right that we have failed them on this issue, and so many more. But we did not fail them in teaching them well. They will represent us well as they come of age and they proclaim: Time’s up. Enough is enough. Never again. They’re fierce. And they’re coming. Get ready.
7
Wayne LaPierre has convinced Trump that we need to bring more guns into schools. What kind of idiocy is that?
America mourns as the NRA benefits from each and every mass shooting. After these tragic events, it seems our Federal and State governments pass laws that benefit gun owners rather than limit access to these death machines.
I am so proud of these young adults who hold the power to get the NRA out of politics. I hope and pray that they will create a new gun paradigm for America. My generation did it with cigarettes, maybe GenZ can do it with guns.
Chris Jones
Chico, CA
11
This elder will be with you in DC to support you and demand change!
6
As a Canadian, I can't for the life of me understand how a gun club with 6 million members has so much influence and power that it controls gun ownership in the U.S and dictates to the President, how things are going to be. Even in the face of children being mowed down by military weapons, the gun club still asserts their rights to not just own guns, but military style automatic rifles. One reason stated is that these weapons are used for hunting purposes. If you need an automatic weapon to kill wildlife, that is not sport. Why are the rights of hunters killing wildlife more important than the lives of your beautiful children? This is inexplicable.
51
Please help. Organize your fellow Canadians to boycott companies that continue to support a gun lobby that works to generate profits for manufacturers while blood flows daily.
1
Thank you for your leadership. The country supports you.
5
These students have spelled it out for all of us - the NRA and the politicians it bribes and threatens are entirely in this for the money.
Lives are being sold for gun company revenue.
VOTE.
16
So well said. So strong. So brave. So right. My Gen Z daughter and I will join you in the March on the 24th. #neveragain
12
Time to pay back any of your corrupt elders who looked at everything from guns to the environment, with the attitude that nothing is going to infringe on my rights to do whatever I want, and I am going to get mine first and I don't care what happens to the people who come after me. Even baby boomers like myself want to cheer you on and hope you succeed in rooting out the corrupt political and business interests that have put your safety in peril while in the classroom and don't care if they hand you a country that looks like Yemen, as long as they can put their assault weapon in the gun rack, behind the driver,s seat of their post apocalypse oversized Mad Max styled truck that belches black smoke and crushes any rational sized vehicle in a collision. My fondest hope is that you succeed beyond your wildest expectations and that anyone who has pandered to these corrupt special interest pays a horrible economic or political price for ignoring your generation's well being.
8
Go, teens, go! Your activism thrills me.
In the late ‘60s we high-schoolers nationwide left our classes and marched against the war in Vietnam, and we finally ended that war.
You can do this!
Please don’t dismiss all of us old people. There are more adults than you think who have your backs on this.
7
You will be successful. The change you are making is palpable. There are so many of us decades older than you who are ashamed of our politicians, and we will be marching with and supporting you all the way.
8
Senator John Thune of South Dakota, and other who stand with the NRA, you are on the wrong side of history. The gun lobby bullies, and empty platitudes they stand on, are being faced down by the coming generation. The country is with these young people. They are our future, and the facts are on their side. Responsible gun laws are working in the rest of the world. Perhaps you have not checked the data. They have!
Mr. Thune, and others who stand with the NRA, the world is turning and you are on the wrong side of history.
14
Bravo teenagers for your courage and your will to vote, something my generation (X) seems to have ignored. Our elected officials have a duty to protect their constituents and keep them safe, especially children. Fear does not give people a right to make the world a more dangerous place for the rest of us.
13
Fellow Gen-Zer; I'll be cheering you on, Darcy, Zachary, and Sarah! And more than cheering you on -- in NY we will be marching as well.
8
The future belongs to these young people and their peers. This young generation is smart,thoughtful, serious, strategic and committed. Assuming the world is spared global annihilation by Dangerous Donald, today’s youth will grow up and set things on a better course.
5
This is a marathon, not a sprint. Hang in there and do not give up. The ballot box is where this has to happen. Start with the stranglehold the NRA has on the Fla. state legislature. Find good candidates and help them throw the bums out.
19
I applaud you all. I also urge you to consider your power beyond your power as consumers and even as voters. You are the people who will care for those who are currently in power as they decline. Your tax and social security dollars will pay for their care and coverage and many of you will be the doctors, nurses, and carers who provide that care. You will be the ones teaching, governing, doing science, and entertaining the rest of us. You won't just be the customers for big businesses - you will be running the country. I, for one, can't wait.
11
I am in awe of your strength and maturity. Help the rest of us who have failed to keep you safe. Turn 18 and register to vote and then do vote, for your sake and the sake of our country.
4
Such moving words and impressive thoughts. You are so smart to understand that youth is your superpower. Batman is not coming to save us. You are! Fight!
5
So well written and inspiring. As a parent, I feel comfort knowing there are young people like you guys pushing for change to make schools safer for my own kids. We are behind you all the way!
8
"We have to work ourselves..."
Great op-ed and it will look great on your college applications. The Ivy League awaits you.
Sorry to rain on your parade, but to get anything done, you will have to learn that you do not work by yourself. You work with the system and in the system, as taxing and as difficult as this may be. And the successes, if there are, are slow in coming and accompanied by failure and by the need to get up after being knocked down.
1
Well done!
Vote Generation Z! Vote in every election, the mid-terms, the nationals, and really little ones because all politics is local. Change will come when legislature fear the electorate more than the NRA. Be consistent and never miss an opportunity to vote
12
You have my support and as you know the support of most of the country. You are the generation that will bring NRA to its bloody knees. I appreciate you so much. Stay strong! You have the light on your side.
7
How can we as a society require our precious children to go to school, and then trap them within its walls - guns outside, guns within - at the tender mercies of grasping politicians and their NRA allies?
Unless something dramatic changes for the better, there is no possible way I will allow my little grandson out the door to attend school when he comes of age. He's going to have to glean whatever he can from my appalling mediocrity as a home school teacher.
Bravo, students. I'm going to look for the nearest school walkout and join your colleagues.
6
You are not in this alone. Many adults (myself included) will be right alongside you, marching on the 24th. I urge everyone to consider that, while the students can lead this current movement, that it should not be thought of as solely by or for students. Gun violence is a scourge that has affected far too many of us, student or not, parent or not. It is a blemish on our entire nation. Anyone and everyone who wants to see meaningful gun control should be participating in this current movement, not just students or their parents.
I've been asking for years, 'Where is the outrage? Why is no one marching in the streets?' And now, at long last, that time has come. I am beyond inspired, and excited, and have been doing my part to spread the message, to get more people motivated to march.
It's not enough for adults (...adults who have, collectively, grossly failed our younger generations in this area) to say that they are proud of the students, or to 'wish them luck'. Anyone with a conscience must be a part of this effort, and cannot just sit by on the sidelines.
#PowerToThePeople #PoderAlaGente
84
Here Here! Walk out of school tomorrow and don’t go back until they pass legislation.
5
My thoughts exactly. If every school called a massive time out, parents would soon have to stay home, employers would lose money, and the largest might actually find it in their best interest to use their influence to shake the cowards we all elected to actually do what the majority demands.
Sorry, but you're ancestors fought to restore rights to people who had them unjustly violated. Now you are fighting to take away rights of others. The NRA is not your enemy. Your enemy is those of us Americans who care about liberty and the Constitution.
1
- and by the way, they are not fighting. That s what you guys do. They are exercising their 1st Amendment rights to try and change a situation that is killing them by the hundreds every year. You would call that collateral damage, the price we all have to pay so you can feel good about yourself. Grow up.
3
I'm so proud of this generation of teenagers who are taking a serious stand on this issue. You're the ones who will make America great again.
5
I applaud these students and others who are showing the backbone and grit that is missing in our politicians today. I and my family are 100% behind you and plan to attend a march on the 24th. Something must, and will, be done to stop the NRA having such a stranglehold over our country - as has been said, our politicians work for us, NOT the NRA.
3
The Second Amendment makes no mention on guns, just arms. So either citizens have a fundamental right to own any arms that they choose, or the legislature has the right to restrict arms that a majority deems a threat to society. You can’t have it both ways. Since we have already passed many laws restricting the owning and possession of certain arms, I would say that the legality of ownership or possession of any particular weapon is a legislative issue, not a constitutional issue. The NRA is just a lobbying arm of the armament industries, willing to disseminate propaganda for money.
13
Let this be the time that all generations - past, present and future - remember as the moment the bright light shone through to trump the darkness, chaos and inaction of elected officials and organizations who are blinded by the NRA.
3
They've already won......nice sentiment, but they're simply too rich, too powerful.
1
That's what Louis XVI and his bride thought, too.
1
They didn't have guns in the billion dollars though
Yes, the students are courageous and role models, but every adult should be ashamed that they have failed in their duty to the children of the nation to keep them safe. Why do the students have to take on the responsibility of keeping themselves and future generations safe? Any adult who believes in the NRA culture of unfettered access to all guns needs a reeducation and should feel deep shame for contributing to the death by guns in a school, Church, concert, theater, etc. I am a 76er yo and never thought I would see this day where so many just simply abdicate their responsibility. But worse is the vileness with which some adults treat the children/students. Thank God, we have the students to give us confidence in the future of US, certainly not the adults.
4
I am so proud of you all. Don't back down, stand up. Don't wait for anyone else to do this, make it yours. Best wishes.
4
Keep it up! Remember that it is a long slog. The tide against Vietnam only turned when the men and women who fought there came home and started to demonstrate against it. Even then it took several more years and Kent State. You do what my generation failed to do.
3
It's gratifying to see that the young generation can crystalize the issue and act on it.
2
I don't understand why all of those effected by the Las Vegas shooting (family members, local law enforcement, legislators) did not rise up and speak out. It is like the adults have given up, have lost their voices, have decided that massacre by weapons of war is the new normal.
I just returned from a trip outside of the US. I was surprised to hear (and shouldn't have been) that people from other countries are not planning to visit our country because they are afraid they will be killed by random machine gun fire.
It is shameful.
9
Very cool...inspiring...what we need right now.
3
While this is in part about weapons access, it is also about the many other failings that could have prevented this. ItIt is about the FBI not following through on tips including one from someone close to the shooter afraid he might shoot up a school. It is about the armed police who stayed outside while unarmed students were being shot inside including the officer assigned to the school. It is about the Baker Act never being applied. It is about the shooter never being charged with domestic violence and not being put on a prohibited possessor list in spite of 30 calls to his residence. It is about the shooter apparently threatening people online and not getting charged although I believe that can be charged as a felony. It is about the school being a LEGAL gun free zone where about 98% of mass shootings occur (Fort Hood, Florida night club, ...)
Those who wish to protest guns of course may. They may also want to protest the many other causes related to many in state and Federal Goverment dropping the ball many times.
22
The Baker Act has high hurdles, and it is not as easy to use it as one might believe.
Also, threats are not usually felonies, and the also have to be very specific as to the nature of intended harm, and to whom the harm is intended. "I want to shoot up a school" would not usually qualify sufficiently for law enforcement to even arrest an individual, and a conviction would not be likely.
So even if the FBI did go to the Stoneman Douglas shooters home, as local law enforcement did many times, they would have had no authority to take his weapons, much less arrest him.
Also, the usual bar for "mental health" issues is that some one is adjudicated. Meaning that he has committed some act, assault etc, and gone to court- that is almost always too late. Just being, "mental" or "crazy" as some people may say is not sufficient to disqualify someone on mental health grounds.
What is needed is a threat order of protection or similar as exists in Connecticut and a couple of other states that allows confiscation of weapons. What is needed is a nation wide, standardized background check with no exceptions for gun shows etc, and there is no default to the buyers favor if it takes a while. "No gun until the check is done" even if it takes a couple of weeks. Reasonable age restrictions are OK- 21, unless you are in the military or law enforcement- meaning around people that can provide adequate restraints, and also who pass some more stringent screenings.
Go kids- bring it to em
53
If we cannot depend on our agencies to protect us and follow the laws we need to make it a lot more difficult to get guns.
In other countries it begins with a membership to a gun club, training, registration and background checks. We don't have any of that - so laws don't protect because there is no process to support the laws. we give out the guns first and then expect law enforcement to take them away at the appropriate time - that's backwards.
6
John, forgive this cliched metaphor, but you're missing the forest for the trees, and there's something disingenuous about it. Behind the singular specifics -- many of them tragic and infuriating -- of every mass murder in this country is the fact that an arbitrary individual was able to legally buy an automatic rifle, a weapon of war, and open fire on their fellow citizens. Thanks for reminding us that we have the right to protest guns if we "wish." You're darn right we do, and we better.
7
I beam up my heart, courage and spirit to each of you. My generation stood up against Vietnam. You stand up against guns. United, we speak powerfully. Yes, we are the people, and we have a mighty voice. The youth of America are awesome and powerful. This column brings me to tears in admiration.
4
Someone recently said "They are young and they don't yet believe that the unconscionable is inevitable."
This is how change happens -- led by the young. We'll be marching right behind you. Lead the way -- and please run for office.
5
Yes, this is your Vietnam...but sadly this is about MONEY, not an erroneous domino theory or a William Westmoreland refusing to face sad truths. The NRA represents a ruthless "industry" and is is paying off lawmakers who take the cash regardless of lives lost. That's the reality and all the spin around the second amendment is a diversion from the fact of the millions of dollars of payments made. Dear Generation Z: if you can make headway, I will be eternally grateful.
4
Having spent a lifetime (I was once a teenager who protested McCarthyism)
working with students of all ages, I hope to live long enough to learn how the
current sincere, dedicated, concerned and fired-up teenagers will grow up to become following their current experiences?
History is against them. Should we even bring up that fact?
A Children's Crusade of hope and dreams set against a nation where the Armies of Ignorance clash by day and night, where hypocrisy, greed and arrogance are honored even by adults who once may have had some of the same dedication and concern -- the odds are stacked against youthful enthusiasm, integrity and that reviled notion: Idealism.
Bless them all. The Long and the Short and -- Them All.
Doug Giebel, Big Sandy, Montana
63
I applaud your generation taking up this fight, but let's not forget that many boomers and members of following generations have been trying to enact more effective gun safety laws for decades. And we have made some headway, for instance here in WA state, where we closed the gun show/internet sale loophole, banned bump stocks, and passed a measure that allows the courts to confiscate guns from the mentally ill. But these measures, and many more, really need national enactment in order to be fully effective. Keep your focus on the Democratic party, to ensure that gun safety is a priority for progressive voters, elections to flip red districts to blue, and state laws to bypass a do-nothing Congress. Keep attacking the NRA, it's a radical organization that must be stripped of its influence. And make noise, protest, engage the media, don't let this moment pass. Good luck!
236
Do not just focus on electing Democrats.
By all means, vote out politicians who refuse to support gun safety, but don't stop there. Win the support of both parties.
Make an NRA endorsement the bloody badge of shame that it should be. Make politicians fear to oppose gun safety legislation. Reward them if they support it. Crush them if they accept endorsements, money, or other support from the NRA. This may take decades. Do not relent. Do not get discouraged. Make sure the pressure is permanent. Never stop winning hearts and minds.
Once Republican politicians run in fear from the NRA, they will start supporting real, meaningful, effective safety measures. You will win, and we will get shot less.
Finally, a word of advice: Your opponents are masters of changing the subject. Don't take the bait. Make sure the focus stays on the goal, and don't let the conversation get diverted. Here's your message:
"Politicians: We don't want to get shot any more. Keep guns away from people who want to shoot us, or we will replace you with new politicians who will protect us."
Then do it.
1
'Good luck' is right. Like all previous protests about guns, the voices will fade, overwhelmed by the realities of US society. Not nice, but that is the way it is.
I will march on March 24th for you and my grandsons. Thank you.
8
Think about it. Virtually every school in the U.S. has procedures for locking down students to protect them from gun violence from deranged, unhappy, or vicious killers. If machine guns (by whatever name you call them) did not exist the carnage from pistols and rifles would be far less in numbers. If all guns were regulated and kept out of the hands of those not qualified or not suited to have them the carnage would be even less. If there were no guns the carnage from knives and clubs would be still less. And of course we must do a better job of keeping the mentally ill from acquiring guns; but GUNS ARE THE PROBLEM. Equipping teachers with guns is illogical. We need less guns around children, not more. Again, think about it, all of our schools are ready in minutes to turn themselves into sanctuaries from guns. Guns have become a religion ready to sacrifice children to its god. What have we become?
34
You are all so amazing I don’t have words. I have been beyond impressed with your poise and power and convection. I have a 9 year old and have been worried about our country and his future. You give me hope. Infinite kisses and blessings to you all.
16
How fortunate we are to have these high school students take up the gun control issue.
My hope is they will see no harm in this Older dad joining them at the March.
9
Beautifully said. Bottom line: the numbers are with those of us that favor gun control. There are more of us than them. More votes. More money to donate. We don't need to play politics or convince anyone because we will simply vote them out, outspend the NRA and finally make the gun control legislation this country so desperately needs.
15
Clearly, this op-ed demonstrates why NJ regularly places among our top states in quality and effectiveness of education. I salute these three youngsters for their zeal, as well as for their erudition.
We do see indications that the Florida tragedy likely will have a greater impact on gun laws than other tragedies have had – it’s been brought home to America cumulatively and painfully that this carnage isn’t going away so long as we suffer the license we do with guns. So, we increasingly must accept that our freedoms with guns must count such massacres as a regularly paid price for those freedoms.
Unless we bound the freedoms more effectively. I believe we will.
However, what the young typically have yet to learn that the old understand intimately is that large-scale change rarely happens quickly. Basic change usually crawls and is incremental in the real world, as opposed interests collide and compromises are crafted. Heck, I once expected that by now we would have a mature Moon colony and would have started initial efforts to terraform Mars and possibly even Venus. Silly me.
We’ll get there. But what the teenagers imply as demands represents fundamental change from our current gun regime, and some of it would have dramatic effects on the lives of some gun-rights activists. We won’t get there in one leap or in one year. But we’ll likely make a serious beginning.
Someday, we’ll even get around to terraforming Mars. Hope we don’t need to wait that long on guns.
4
Yes, this will likely be a long hard battle, but then so was the suffragette movement and the racial equality movement. So long as we know in our hearts that this is simply the right thing to do, and that meaningful reform is possible, we will prevail. We cannot waiver in our resolve or conviction, for to do so is to virtually guarantee failure.
I respectfully urge that we not focus on how hard or long this battle is going to be, but rather focus on the end goal, and understand that this will be solved in pieces. Heck, in just the past few weeks, we've seen things happen that were previously 'unbelievable'....businesses were publicly severing their ties to the NRA. Wayne LaPierre actually felt threatened enough to speak publicly after Parkland. Florida signed a new gun limits law. Etc.
The tide has turned and there's no going back.
Things are sure looking up for this country, with a young generation such as this!
8
You allude to another critical fight that no generation yet born in these United States has seriously fought. You are proud of New Jersey schools. New Jersey indeed has some of the finest public school systems in the country. You offer up the three students who speak so persuasively in this important Op-Ed as proof positive.
Those of us who have not budged from the prime spots on the sidelines where we rested after speaking up in the Civil Rights era are obliged to end our sloth today. We can do no less. We must join with these students and Sandy Hook parents alike now, on the 24th, and thereafter. We must end gun violence.
And yet. As the battle rages, it’s outcome far from clear, we have other fronts to defend. Lack of physical safety and gun violence are not the only monsters threatening our children. Our nation cannot be deservedly claim greatness until we ensure the education we provide the student in Summit, the student in New Canaan, the student in Bethesda is the education we provide the student in Camden, in Bridgeport, and in Baltimore.
We must fight to win. Our Constitution demands it. It requires we finance and deliver fine education equally for each of our children. It requires we keep them all alive, each to use their education according to their interests and talents. They deserve nothing less. We can afford nothing less. Quite simply, the fate of our republic is on the line.
2
I find it somewhat ironic, Richard, that you are supporting a movement dedicated to voting out of office the very people you swoon over on a daily basis. Or have you not figured that out yet?
3
With you all the way! Wednesday I will be a silent supporter at my high school alma mater as the students walk out for 17 minutes at 10 am, and I will march on the 24th. With deepest gratitude for your passion and commitment.
31
Well stated and powerful.
174
I can’t say enough how courageous you are and I support you full stop.
Show those who get money from the NRA that they are getting elected from the blood of our children.
It seems that no one reads the Well Regulated part of the 2nd amendment.
310
Beautifully written...gives me hope that there are sane voices among the young.
195
I’m going to go ahead and speak for generation X ... we have your back. Please don’t lose momentum and passion as time passes.. Keep the fire burning hot!
394
Amen, James. We are with you!
75
Speaking as the Nana of four, including high & middle school students, I have never been so proud and hopeful to read your op-ed! With our government in chaos headed by a racist, misogynist devoid of any shred of empathy and morals I am uplifted by your stand on this gun issue. Those cowards in all levels of our government concerned only with their own jobs, deluding themselves with talk of their “public service” should beware of your ground swell. Thank you for your willingness to stand up and be counted! We hear you and support your cause.
8
As a boomer, my heart thrills, my skin goosebumps, my eyes tear at this movement among Gen Z. Go, kids, go. We need your energy, passion and heart. This is your draft, your Vietnam. I am so sorry this is what it takes, a generation after Columbine, to drive home the point that the 2nd amendment is not without restriction. I will be wearing orange tomorrow, and marching in Portland.
439
Indeed. We can support these young people by voting Republicans out of office. Unfortunately no amount of killings will sway many Republicans from their steadfast support of the NRA.
4
Excellent. We progressives look forward to having you on board. The key is to vote and get your friends to vote. In the darkness of the age of trump in general and the horrible shootings in particular, you young people have been a source of light and hope. Thank you for all of your efforts. It is a privilege to watch you soar.
215
Pardon me, but “we progressives” is not having this movement “on board” their ship or train or whatever. Progressives have failed our children because they didn’t have the guts to speak their convictions. Progressives are free to join this new movement, which has no fear to do so, because they have lived the reality of the consequences of not taking action. Welcome aboard.
2
You are absolutely correct that your elders allowed this disgusting state of affairs to exist. They should be ashamed. No one can afford to sit back any longer and allow the NRA and its supporters to get away with what they're getting away with. EVERYONE with a shred of humanity, intelligence, and decency needs to step up and make their voice heard on gun control.
239
Well said! The adults in our government are despicable and criminally responsible for the deaths through their refusal to do anything.
3
I disagree with the failure label. Our generations helped to soften the resistance. Change happens gradually. Ours cleared paths so that this generation could go where we couldn't.
1
I'm sorry that we adults had to wait for your generation to take the lead but I am grateful that you have. We have your backs and will also stand beside you and do all that is needed to stop this horrific daily massacre of too many of our precious children and friends, relatives, neighbors, and so on.
Thank you for reminding us that we do have a voice and can use it to push back against a very small but overly loud group whose only goal is to promote fear so more guns are sold.
765
The reason why we have to wait is because the over 70 y.o. cannot let go of power and money. Many septuagenarians are wise. Very few of those wise ones are anywhere near power. Trump, Koch, Mercer and the entire cabinet reeks with the greedy values of me me me. But Dems are not exempt from the geezer grifters. Their leadership is also too old.
4
I applaud those organizing protests in favor of improved gun control. However, the NYT and other media are promoting the myth that the upcoming "March for Our Lives" is led and organized by the students themselves. In fact, March for Our Lives is led and organized by a coalition of well-funded and highly sophisticated anti-gun organizations under the umbrella of Every Town For Gun Safety (ETFGS).
ETFGS's IRS filings show an annual budget of about $40 million (in 2015), and a professional administrative staff of six whose salaries and benefits range from $200,000 to $320,000 per year (in 2015, presumably higher in 2018). Guidestar, which rates non-profit organizations on various criteria, gives ETFGS its lowest possible rating, 1 star out of 5, for lack of transparency. Apparently much of the ETFGS funding goes to anti-gun advertising.
ETFGS is definitely not a bunch of schoolkids, but rather a major activist organization that carries out very refined anti-gun programs and advertising; and also produces very polished materials explaining how to organize protests; arrange housing for students visiting Washington; speak to politicians and the media; file for parade permits; prepare hand-made posters; etc.
I support peaceful and lawful expression of opinions about improved gun control. However, I think it is misleading for the NYT and others to fabricate a narrative that such an extensive and sophisticated protest is being led and created by high school kids.
1
I see nothing that says that Everytown is running this the march on the 24th. The first I heard of it was through the Woman's March and it appears to be started by the students. Of course Everytown is supporting it and would likely be helping since as you point out is a major organization, but so what? How else are we going to counter the far more well finance NRA?
2nd Everytown for Gun Safety has two parts the action Fund and the Support Fund - only the Support Fund is a charity and would be rated by Guide Star for Charity Navigator. According to Charity Navigator the entire expenditure for Administrative expenses is 671k. So no way they could be paying 6 employees 2-3k with that. They are rated low for lack of transparency which is a problem, but also be because they don't want the NRA to know who supports them since the NRA members have a nasty habit of making death threats to anyone that stands up to their unfettered access to guns.
1
I’m doing all I can in the Maine Senate to support the Maine students who are taking up the fight. I’m behind them 110%. And we need them!
161
Thank you.
5
I have some hope because of these students that may 3 year old son may grow up in a safer world. Thank you.
146
What a wonderful comment and call to action. Yes, I am of the generation that has failed you. It has not been for lack of trying. But a failure nonetheless. I will back you in every way possible.
180
Trump, Ryan, McConnell, and countless other members of the GOP - this article gives you a glimpse into your future, the future of the NRA-loving GOP.
For once, you’re facing a force that can’t be bought. For once, someone is doing something to enact common sense gun control laws in our murderous nation.
Ignore them at your peril as politicians.
300
I loved this and as a Gen Xer I agree, your elders have failed you. But I have one quibble: it IS about political parties. The GOP are to blame for our dysfunctional Congress and the pathetic lack of gun control.
Vote them out.
579
I am a Boomer who fought this fight so many times, and now watches all our gains--clean air, clean water, limits to pollution, respect for our handicapped, equality for women and control of our own bodies, and the one that started it all, racial equality--all get erased in the name of corporate profit. I have spent more than a year now in despair but you are giving me hope.
Please listen to B. As you start voting, remember the political party who is not interested in your future. Follow the political process closely. Just as in Star Wars, your generation is our only hope for the future. VOTE!
172
A successful campaign: Highlight the need for gun safety.
Labelling the issue “gun control” allows the NRA and the GOP to fearmonger, demonize, and falsely accuse you of violating the 2nd Amendment.
Critics of this strategy state that the NRA will attack no matter what you call it. True, but there is still an option. During an election you can have an impact with most voters if you have a strong position. Most voters are not hard core ideologues and NRA supporters.
For most voters it will matter if you can list measures that promote safety or law enforcement, that do not block our use of guns – – but that Republicans and the NRA have blocked.
List the many shameful instances when the NRA has campaigned against moderates who proposed only safety, and who were not blocking gun ownership.
Most voters will listen if you simply list the shameful record of the NRA and of the cowardly politicians who toady to the NRA.
Most voters will listen when you point out that the 2nd Amendment contains the phrase “well regulated.” Conservatives on the Supreme Court have stated that there are no unfettered rights in the Constitution. Every right is limited by other rights. For example, we have limits to free speech, in instances such as libel or false advertising. We do not need military assault weapons on the street. You can still own guns, hunt, target practice, etc.
When conservatives scream that rules for safety violate the 2nd Amendment, remind voters of the phrase “well regulated”.
6
We have rules for car and highway safety. They do not stop us from driving. We need to communicate that rules for law enforcement and gun safety serve the same purpose.
All across American, voters in red states and counties believe the NRA fear mongering that “gun control” is the agenda to take their guns away. These voters are in a self-defense stance.
We need to respond directly to that belief. That belief is why so many voters do not listen when we promote gun safety.
1