Are we more concerned with the kids losing their lives? Or *how* they are losing their lives? Texting and driving kills 11 teens PER DAY. Every day. Please don't tell me "but cars aren't meant to kill people" because you're arguing the "how" children are dying. If you are truly concerned about saving the lives of children, you would be just as outraged by that statistic.
And by the way, FBI statistics state that in 2016, handguns killed 7,000 people, rifles (ALL rifles) killed 374. Seems to me that calling to ban "assault rifles" is not really much of a solution at all. It's a political rallying cry and "we the people" echo the cry without actually observing it.
2
Response to
“With Passion and Fury,Students March on Guns NYT March on Guns(NYT March 15,2018”
Mass shooting with Assault Rifles
of American citizens on American citizens has become epidemic
Each of the students had very valuable concerns and suggestions.
However, many of those “for the 2nd Amendment-- need to be addressed. Many of their concerns and comments have value but do not solve the problem.
“shoot back”. In the school and theater situations this likely lead to many more deaths ;
“In rural areas the cops are too far away”. True. But unless you outnumber and outgun the foe, you probably “hulked down” and wait for the cops-like in combat you are calling in for help.
Those concerned about lose of freedom some sort of “group”
Those who call for stricter laws like background checks” have already lost battle.
For example, the Las Vegas killer whose background was blank.
The same for many who lived in the household of legal owner.
Also, mental checks before purchase would be nice, but raises serious problems of reliability and privacy. I. doubt that you could find any professional psychiatrist such a test reliable, or 2. any real lawyer would recommend it.
Finally, the name calling of 2nd Amendment Supporters will be ignored here because all it does is divide us into a colorful, but usless, school yard fight!!
*"Round and round and through the town they marched,
These children who united and cried and arched,
Their heads in eulogy, heartache and then power.
`No more` they cried standing in front of the old clock tower.
They became the adults, the teachers who give
The common sense initiative for their right to live.
We learned from you to correct the wrongs
We have created, and no matter how many furlongs
It takes, those weapons of mass destruction will go back from whence they came.
We cannot wield the military's tools, nor should we ever have had them for our use."
*(The Ants Go Marching One By One)
1
Why wasn’t Parkland shooting survivor Kyle Kashuv invited to speak?
1
And not a single mention of Kyle Kashuv. Anywhere. Shame shame.
1
Looks like the First Amendment is in as much trouble as the Second
2
Why wasn’t Obama forced to view the shooting photos to see the results of his failed policies?
1
Is anyone else as outraged over Rick Santorum’s response that kids should do something more constructive, like learn CPR rather than advocate for “phony gun laws”, in response to this crisis?
In other words, kids should just shut up, learn to accept mass shootings, and stop complaining about them. This, coming from a staunch pro-lifer.
I think the Parkland students have the right response to this, and I heartily concur: They (and I) call —.
5
I saw a great number of professionally printed posters. What organization ordered and paid for them? All of these rallys would have required permits from the various cities, issued to an adult. Who were these people? Where was this media coverage for the other March for Life in January?
1
Putin honed his organizing skills on all the anti-Trump rallies he organized after the election and he put them to use again on the anti-Second Amendment rallies. A lot of Rubles went into these rallies
2
This latest attempt by the Democrats to confiscate guns is going to fail as badly as their previous attempts
2
Where in the world do you get this idea that the Democrats want to take away guns? Please name anyone in the Democratic Party who has specifically called for this, and don’t conflate the banning of the availability of automatic weapons or their accessories, or common-sense background checks and licensing, with confiscation.
The 2nd Amendment is not going away.
It’s exactly this kind of toxic disinformation that is feeding this crisis.
5
Well, was it the 850,000 the Soros sponsored organizers say or less than 200,000 according to experts in the field.
All the gun control laws in the books wouldn't have stopped Cruz. ONLY an armed security guard would.
When the left FINALLY figures this out and stops creating "gun free" (aka "soft targets") will our children actually be safe.
1
Hurray for these courageous young people. I hope they can turn this country around from a Military Industrial Complex that is invested in profit from war making. We currently have no anti-war people in Congress. Time to change that, also. It is linked into our guns on the street.
1
Why does Coloin Noir think the students at Parkland are that people know their names is some sort of upside? That their "celebrity" is of more value to them than the lives of their classmates or their right to seek an education without fear for their lives.
It often seems like the school shooters aren't the only gun crazies out there.
Were there more demonstrators in Wash, DC on Saturday, or people at Trump's inauguration?
2
The NRA claims 5 million members. The cumulative number of people who marched yesterday around the country may have exceeded that -- hard to know.
The gun rights advocates have largely prevailed due to intensity, not that their positions are in fact the majority. But watching your classmates getting shot has produced, and almost surely will continue to produce, a generation far more committed to gun control than their elders.
The gun advocates here are all blowing smoke and posturing and calling these kids names because they don't want to admit the obvious: gun-rights advocates are almost exclusively old white men who voted for Trump. Everybody else is against you to various degrees.
People will not tolerate kids getting shot at school. The kids going through this will become extremely pro-gun-control, for obvious reasons. Most of their parents will too.
Insulting these people, calling them childish or irrelevant, just hurts your cause.
Gun advocates need to figure out how to stop the mass murders by losers with guns, if you want to keep unfettered access to these weapons.
I don't think you can, or even really want to, do that. But if you can't or don't, American gun law will move toward Australia's.
7
an even smaller minority than the 5 million NRA members quoted is the number of dead killed by these shooters. a smaller minority still is the number of school shooters.
I think the gun-regulation effort would do better to focus its movement on specifics like bump stocks or AR-15s. These are perhaps points of controversy too -- but the left may find some middle ground with the right at these points.
Blanket efforts to "end gun violence" by having the state confiscate all weapons are bound to encounter stringent, and, imo justified opposition from lawful gun-holders who possess a firearm to protect their families, their homes, and themselves.
1
Yet, the simple truth is our "educators" at these schools, and their aversion to guns, is what created "soft targets" for crazies like Cruz. Not a single gun control law stopped him or others.
A far better answer is simply placing armed security guards in ALL our schools. Glad to see this is where we seem to be headed.
Remember when Occupy Wall Street decided they would change the world by banging on garbage cans for a month? This will be less effective than that.
In other news, Trump will ban bump stocks and the media will give him zero credit for it. None.
2
Nor will the Thing deserve any.
6
As a registered Democrat, I have no issue whatsoever with people owning guns for sport, for hunting, or simply to collect them. What I do take issue with is the guns getting into the hands of people who should not have access. The NRATV berating the survivors of mass shootings as unknowns if not for the violence against their peers, and Santorum sarcastically telling them to go learn CPR, makes me sick. This is NOT a two-sided issue nor will the solution be all or nothing.
5
What's disturbing here is that the gun control faction is using these kids to get a political " leg up" to promote draconian gun control. Nobody wants to see the propagation of tragedy like that that occurred in Florida, but the movement conveniently ignores the real problem, random violence caused by mental illness. I want to see more coverage in the NYTs of people who are concerned about the social pressures and medical issues that cause people to engage in random violence.
1
Other countries have mentally ill people. The difference is the US has the NRA.
And before you spout your nonsense about the Second Amendment I ask that you read Federalist Paper 29 on the intent of the 2nd Amendment. It was for maintaining a part time armed force regulated by the state. You want to shoot an assault rifle go join the national guard or the reserve.
9
Absolutely, and beyond laughing at the right-wingers who constantly cite that which they've never read, let me suggest that those social pressires and suchlike also produce those who fantasize about their patriotism.
2
Go read the US Code. The militia is not just the National Guard, it is the people.
God bless these children. They have the courage and emotional intelligence to speak their truth. This generation gives me great hope for our future. And they will vote. Change is gonna come.
11
The kid's are alright. They bring peace and love. Now I have faith in the future.
9
"Small counterprotests took place in a few cities. In Salt Lake City, several hundred people gathered near a high school, some carrying signs with messages like “AR-15’s EMPOWER the people.” Brandon McKee, who wore a pistol on his belt, brought his daughter, Kendall, 11, who held a sign that said “Criminals love gun control.”
'I believe it’s their goal to unarm America, and that’s why we’re here today,' Mr. McKee said of the Washington marchers."
Mr. McKee, their goal is not to "unarm America"; their goal is to make America safer for everyone, including you and your daughter. If you need an AR-15 to feel empowered, then you have a serious problem.
Criminals don't love gun control. They're not all holed up somewhere, rubbing their hands together with glee at the notion that gun control might happen so that they can wreak havoc on all the defenseless households that dot the American landscape. No one wants to take away Mr. McKee's guns, and most people realize that banning all guns is neither realistic nor achievable. Rather, what we're looking for is reasonable gun laws that regulate dangerous weapons such as the AR-15 so that they are kept out of the hands of dangerous people. You don't need an AR-15 for hunting or home defense. The name of the game is safety, and law-abiding, rational gun owners know this just as much as anyone else. We need them to shout this loudly and clearly, so that the Mr. McKees of this country, whom the NRA is courting, get the message.
6
Criminals love gun control. Criminals can’t wait for the fascists to shred the Bill of Rights and confiscate guns from law-abiding citizens and make the criminals’ job easier
2
Larry - Keep telling yourself that the criminals are sitting around eagerly anticipating the shredding of the Bill of Rights by fascists. This is still a free country, and if that’s what gets you to sleep at night, go for it. The rest of us are going to work to try to make the country safe. That doesn’t involve taking away the Second Amendment, but nor does it involve passively standing by while others get to step on all Americans’ rights to life and liberty in the name of the Second Amendment. That’s not how America works, but feel free to scream about fascism if you so choose. The rest of us have work to do.
2
As a 67 year old white guy, hearing these articulate young people speak and try to lead the nation in a worthwhile cause, gives me hope. With what has been coming out of Washington it is so easy to become disalusioned in the future of this country. I feel these young people from Florida have the capability to lead us down a more hopeful path
10
These kids are terrific, hats off to them. We need to protect those who are getting shot at instead of protecting the shooter.
We ought to repeal the second amendment, confiscate all killing machines, and make the penalty life in prison for firing one (except in unique circumstances). Gun violence and deaths will plummet. Then make gun ownership a privilege after proving fitness and responsibility through a rigorous process.
Repealing the second amendment would protect Americans from the tyranny of reckless gun ownership, restore safety, and reaffirm its citizens right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
6
Even more impressive are the Parkland students who oppose shredding the Bill of Rights. Their defense of the Constitution is truly inspiring!
4
So touched and moved by these young men and women. Good for you and the country is with you!
8
I cried a lot while watching this - and felt ashamed to be an American adult - there is collective guilt for us.
6
And how very sad that these young people are so committed and have taken their time to come out for what they believe and yet the weak knee'd Congress, beholden to the NRA, will do NOTHING. Well, many of them can't vote yet but it shouldn't be that long until they can and I hope they remember.....
9
The Students protesting are not along. We seniors --grandparents and great grandparents have petitioned AARP to join the cause and lobby for gun safety. This is a medical problem as well as a safety problem. We sent a petition with 100 signatures asking AARP to join the fight. We have not heard from them at this time.
10
These children and the movement they have launched are awe inspiring. I admire them to the fullest. They truly will make America great again.
10
I heard a young activist on the radio say "We do not expect that we will change the minds of any of the senators or representatives who have taken money from the gun lobby. If we do, that's great. But these are grown men, mostly men, who have established their positions long ago. We plan to *replace* them. The mid-term elections are coming and we have to get involved and elect representatives who think differently and have the courage to act. Our lives depend on it."
It was the first time I was hopeful for our country since Summer of 2016.
13
The kids have done more than their part. They have jumpstarted this issue again. It's now up to us, the adults, to keep up the momentum and pressure relentlessly so the NRA and its pet GOP snakes can't slither away again. I marched on Saturday, and the spirit of energy and determination was incredible. But we grownups know just what a long haul is ahead and it's on us to help these kids finish what they came to do.
8
Why was Andrew Pollack, father of shooting victim Meadow Pollack not allowed to speak?
2
He chose not to attend.
I heard Mr. Pollack in an interview say, “Gun control is a waste of time. These kids should fight for safe schools.”
I disagree with what he said, but support his right to say & protest where & how he wishes.
The march was wonderful & inspiring. These students give me hope.
3
He and his son were prevented from speaking because they refused to go along with the Constitution-shredding, gun-confiscating hatefest. Looks like the First Amendment is as endangered as the Second
I respect Mr. Pollack’s views and choice not to attend. None of the solutions to this need be mutually exclusive.
1
Restored my faith in the US. Who could not be inspired by such eloquent young Americans. Made me think of lyrics from the Leonard Cohen poem/song Anthem;
I can't run no more with that lawless crowd'
With that lawless crowd,
While the killers in high places,
Say their prayers out loud,
But they've summoned, they've summoned up,
A thundercloud,
And there going to hear from us.
Ring the bell! Ring the bells that still can ring,
Forget your perfect offerings,
There is a crack, a crack in everything,
That's how the light gets in.
I think I heard that bell ringing loudly on Saturday.
My apologizes to Mr Cohen for taking some small liberties with his lyrics.
8
My generation fought for civil rights and an end to the Viet Nam War in the streets. For the most part we were non-violent, and for the most part we won. It took a longer time than most of us wanted, but we won. If the kids today keep it peaceful and keep up the pressure, they will win too. I will be behind them. their cause is just. They are on the right side of history.
7
Those of us on what passes for the Left these days need to think fiercely about what we contributed to losing an election to the shabby likes of Donald Trump, major thinkers like Rick Santorum, and the kinds of dolts who smugly sound off about how, "no gun has ever been convicted of murder," "Obama stopped the background checks, not the NRA," and, "maybe if the lamestream media talked about urban (and you know what I mean, right?) murders," and think their rechants of Rushbo and Hannity are big smart stuff.
Seriously, let's us grown-ups not do this again. It's getting people killed and is likely gonna kill many more, it's cutting my country's future off at the knees, and darn it, it's just not that much fun.
This is a better country than the one I grew up in. Be good if we acted like it again.
3
The 2nd Amendment exists to assure an armed and organized citizenry is prepared to defend the country and the Constitution, If someone wants to own a firearm let that individual join a duly-constituted militia that provides instruction in safe and effective use of that firearm as well as preparation in maintenance, communication, first aid, and other skills necessary for a "well-regulated militia".
If you are not willing to join the militia you do not need a firearm. If you want a firearm and are unwilling to join the militia you are suspect of anti-Americxan inclinations. You are a prospective bandit, or subversive, or other threat to the Constitution and other citizens. Time to stop messing around with firearms. Want to hunt but do not want to join the militia.....use a bow. Want a gun for household protection? Join the militia. Support the 2nd Amendment, the full 2nd Amendment not the one embraced by Friends of Thugs and Terrorists, otherwise known as the N.R.A.
11
Yes, the Second Amendment exists to arm citizens to defend the country from fascists who would shred the Bill of Rights
2
Nice try usa99, but the Supreme Court disagrees with you.
The Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that arm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home.
Furthermore, the Second Amendment’s prefatory clause announces a purpose, but does not limit or expand the scope of the second part, the operative clause. The operative clause’s text and history demonstrate that it connotes an individual right to keep and bear arms.
I invite you to read the opinion:
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/07pdf/07-290.pdf
1
Further to the same point, where were the armed citizens defending those locked away in Guantanamo Prison from fascists who shredded the 4th and 5th amendments??
1
This is going to be a long, though, ugly fight. I pray that these kids, and the rest of us, the majority of Americans who support common-sense gun regulation, have the courage and commitment to see it through. We can change our laws of we stand firm. Let's start by not re-electing or electing a single representative, local, state or national, that takes even a penny from the NRA.
11
When I compare the intelligent, insightful speeches by these young people with the hateful and uninformed rhetoric of NRA supporters, not to mention the appalling, dismissive comments of people like Rubio and Santorum, it is clear where the future lies. These students are not “arrogant” as one Republican sneered. They are well educated (exhibit number 1 for high quality public education), motivated to save others from what they experienced, and bravely articulate. I now have hope that we will have meaningful gun violence reform. We must all support them by speaking out, voting and getting out the vote.
16
The comments on this site are highly instructive regarding: 1.) the ignorance of those proclaiming the 2nd Amendment gives everyone a right to weapons, which is a thoroughly modern and Constitutionally inaccurate construct; and 2.) the notion that the students are a front for adults. Only cynical, out-of-touch NRA types would say or believe that. The facts are clearly otherwise and the amateurish approach of some of the Marches/demonstrations prove it. Democracy is messy.
For a group (NRA supporters) famous for staging "fake" events, it is amazing (or perhaps predictable) that they don't know when they are being played.
12
There is a special place in hades reserved Colion Noir (what a name ) Dana Loesch and Wayne La Pierre . Especially vile was the comment the black cat made , sure I would like to see someone with a plain ole gun stop an AR15 , or does he advocate school grounds be patrolled by someone with an AR15? Not only vile but stupid! Kids yes you can , you are up against a protracted fight with the gun lobby but don't give up , fight the good fight and stand firm . Si se puede!
10
''Show the autopsy photos. Show the 1-foot wide exit wounds. Show the heads exploded from head shots. Show the 6-year old kids blown in half. Show the pools of blood. Show it on the front page of the NY Times, on CNN, on Good Morning America, etc. No hiding it, because there's no hiding the collateral damage. IN YOUR FACE.''
I completely agree (which is rare these day's) with the thrust of this article and this comment in particular but I would like to add that it was the daily graphic TV news of wounded US soldiers and murdered Vietnamese civilians of both genders that turned the stomachs of the US people against the atrocity of the Vietnam War. This led to 2 decades when our culture could be described as mostly anti war (see protests against Reagan's "Star Wars' and the Nicaraguan Contra policies and lack of support for the endless US backed civil wars in Angola and Jonas Savimbi) as well as the two million mourners at the John Lennon funeral (see Paul McCartney at the anti gun protests yesterday).
However we today fight ENDLESS wars in the ME and since 2001 BOTH parties have been invested in American arms sales and wars of choice to feed the arms sales abroad that do to the world what domestic arms sales do to our society at home.
Endless wars and confrontations not only murder millions but prevent any realistic hope of confronting the global problems of overpopulation and gross inequality while feeding racial hatred and democratic rot. SHOW THE HORRORS please MSM!
13
I see Rubio came out in support of the nRA and didn’t say decent thing about these kids. He is despicable!
13
Alexander Hamilton: "Nothing is more common than for a free people, in times of heat and violence, to gratify momentary passions, by letting into the government, principles and precedents which afterwards prove fatal to themselves"
Alexander Hamilton and the Founding of the Nation p 462
4
"If one must quote, it proves best to cite the original source. This removes the suspicion that we misquote for political purposes, the possibility that it may be pointed out that this describes Donald Trump and his embrace of right-wing fantasies all too well, the reminder of the embarassing fact that Lin-Manuel Miranda was part of the protest, and the obvious question as to how Alexander Hamilton died."
6
Thanks Robert, it rarely occurrs to me that one would misquote a founder, or anyone, for political purposes... although I understand how the secular left might project such motives.
I wish that assault weapons had been regulated in some way after Vegas, but nothing. If they had, then the Parkland victims might still be alive.
6
I wish Obama hadn’t neutralized background checks and had allowed authorities to report Cruz and his behaviors to police. Those 17 people would definitely be alive now
Circumvent gun laws/ gun control by having and carrying a Jo staff as a weapon.
its nice to see that the kids got out of there parents basements for a weekend for some fresh air and protests. The children that made it on to all the Sunday shows are good news for the democrats...they have a deep bench of substitutes ready to take the reigns from schumer et al.
I look with hard-fought optimism at today's high school generation, not 20-somethings, because a college generation concerned with "micro-aggressions" and "safe spaces" provided by established institutions would not survive a Kent State or a Jackson State. The most positive thing I have seen in years is the call by high school students to demonstrate that unless things change, there will be No Business As Usual. If they do this, if they continue on the road to determining the nation they and their children will live in, they will be criticized, bribed, threatened, co-opted, and worse. But that's the way life is. Remember Kent State and Jackson State. There is no free lunch.
Today's high school students have the opportunity to be the first cohort in a half century known and remembered for what they accomplish for a better America, not simply a consumer label, as has every generation since the Sixties "generation." Voting is a big positive step and, yes, by and large the Democrats are less toxic than the Republicans. However, as with the Viet Nam War and Civil Rights in the 60s and 70s, it will take an entire generation of young people to begin by saying NO! to the current system. They are the ones with the energy and creativity to then develop their own media, organize boycotts, take to the streets, engage in civil disobedience, and whatever else they, not we, deem necessary. After all, they are the ones who will live with the consequences of what they choose to do or not do.
8
Please, WaPo, keep this story in the headlines and in your editorials. It is critical that the focus of efforts to reform our laws related to firearms remain in the forefront of your reporting. It is a disgrace that our country experiences so many preventable deaths due to firearms, specifically including incidents involving weapons that should be available only to the military.
Don't let the march recede into history as something significant, but in the long run, irrelevant. This is a dire situation that affects all of the nation and all of our citizens. Don't let the gun manufacturers and their amoral mouthpieces and proponents effectively enable this slaughter to continue.
This is the essence of what a free press is about. Tell the people (the public) who will be, and how they will be, benefited from allowing and excusing the operations of greedy enterprises that manufacture instruments of death.
Our children's lives depend on our country's recognizing, exposing, and holding accountable the nameless, faceless, immoral people at the highest levels of corporate power and political complicity that allow this slaughter to continue.
7
The most childish argument put forth to Continue uncontrolled GUN use in American is the one that medically ignorants put forth: namely, that ferreting out the mentally ill will prevent mass shooting. This reasoning is stupid and uninformed.
It is well known that ALL countries have their share of mentally aberrant individuals. The reason why these other civilized countries have fewer shootings is simply because these lands have the wisdom to make guns less available and control them by law.
Did Corbitt in Austin explain to the public why he made those bombs? No. Could he have? Probably not. Did his family know. No. Is it easy to separate the mentally ill from the normal and then treat them? No. Was the apparent schizophrenic who killed 17 at the Parkland school easily recognized.No.
Will there always be a certain population of troubled individuals in our society. Likely. What to do to prevent shootings then? Simple. Impose strict gun control laws! That’s the answer. Even American teenagers know this. Time adults did too.
9
The students were not demonstrating on behalf of specific policy. They were pawns of the institutional left whom has no reservation exploiting vulnerable children, who went through unspeakable tragedy, in service of collective ideology. The rally proved as much.
Emma Gonzalez is now a political actor. She will be challenged to articulate her views in nuance to a very large, diverse country about a very complicated, entrenched cultural, Constitutional, and public policy issue. This is no place for young, impressionable children.
I did hear (or one of the other insta celebs) her bring up Canada few days ago. I wonder how Emma feels about the Queen?
Maybe true allegiance to Majesty Queen Elizabeth II is better than the 2nd Amendment.
5
Wow! Really? Why can't people consider these kids have based their views on issues the way most of the rest of us do, by considering personal experience? Hopefully hers is not one that she has to repeat.
4
Not only does she argue better points, but she would probably beat you at chess, too.
8
Would you be as brave going into work each day knowing a shooter with a assault rifle could storm in and murder you?
2
This seems to be all just Hollywood. Instead of American Idol or dancing with the Stars its being a high school pawn of some adult activist group. The next reality TV show coming soon.
3
Like most people, I was very impressed by these young people and their maturity. I heard the former senator Santorum on CNN (don't know why that guy is put on TV) disparaging these young students by saying that they should learn CPR and learn to look after themselves instead of asking others (lawmakers) to do so. Seriously? This is the position of Republican lawmakers? Don't they look after the interests of their constituents and thier twisted ideologies? Don't they want to protect young people? I think it is going take another generation before people give up their guns. Who knows how many mass slaughters we will have to endure before then. What a sad state of affairs!
9
A gun has never been convicted much less indicted for a crime. These students should try looking the issue logically rather than hysterically.
4
P.S. I am all for more gun control as soon as its advocates such as Obama, Hillary Clinton, Andrew Cuomo, Mike Bloomberg and others lead by example disarm their security details.
And it was Obama (not a gun, not the NRA) who neutered the background check process
Sounds like these kids bother you.
3
NY Times,
I hope that you will keep the march for our lives and the efforts for gun control on your front page. We owe it to these students.
Thanks.
13
Syria might have been a better place to stage these protests. The children there have it worse than Parkland or even Chicago and Oakland.
Why are these teenaged protestors so self-serving bourgeois? Nice show, but Africa is worst of all for children suffering random gun violence. Need to make that point, too.
3
Maybe that's next for them. Right now they live in Parkland, Florida, USA. They are dealing with what they can influence in their own backyard.
5
So being spoiled children, they should accept being shot in home economics?
4
Anymore do they have "home economics", even at bourgeois suburban high schools?
Every student who spoke from the podium, or spoke extemporaneously, off the cuff, when interviewed in the street by a reporter, spoke more intelligently, eloquently, logically, than our President. A sad situation for all of us, indeed.
30
Wonderful day of protests around the US and the world - I hope that the momentum continues and that both young and old remain very active through the mid-term elections and beyond. We MUST vote our conscience and implement stricter, sensible gun laws locally and nationally without going overboard. Gun owners and would be gun owners should be supportive of these efforts to reduce (eliminate?) gun violence as much as possible. Gun ownership should be seriously managed and monitored by authorities at all levels of government. What sane person wouldn't want that? Those that counter protested saying that the second amendment gives them the right to bear arms do not understand what the founding fathers were thinking and are either intentionally using this document as a way to allow greater gun ownership and violence, or, are just naive. Sensible gun laws are supported by the no longer silent majority. Get out and register to vote!
9
Putin was very good at organizing anti-Trump rallies and now he’s used those skills to organize anti-Second Amendment rallies
3
These kids are really bothering you.
13
"Everytown for Gun Safety" is a 100% Astroturf group with little genuine public support. The NRA, by contrast, is a true grassroots group with support from tens of millions of voters who agree with its positions. If the NY Times wanted to do some actual reporting, it would have been nice if it had mentioned who, exactly, is funding all these so called protests. This is far from spontaneous and certainly not grass roots.
5
Who financed the rallies? I’ll give you a hint, the rallies cost a lot of Rubles
1
@ Larry
Russia funneled tens of millions of dollars to the Trump campaign through the NRA.
13
The students who organized the march got $500K from both Oprah Winfrey and George and Amal Clooney plus more from other celebrities and I heard a Go-Fund-Me account was also started. I think it was pretty spontaneous....conceived, organized and implemented in less than 30 days....
4
I had scheduled a trip to DC for this weekend prior to the shooting in Parkland and the March being organized. I proudly participated on the March and left a visit to the Smithsonian for another trip.
It was a a great honor for me to be part of this movement and I am proud of American teenagers and have hope for America.
Students, parents, teachers and all Americans that marched on Saturday, don’t let this be your only moment. Keep organized. Plan a major walkout and march in October. Join other forces for Change such as the women’s movement, Black Lives Matters and others. Your struggle for gun control is also the struggle of women against abuses and African-Americans against police brutality.
These movements have a common theme - stop bullying, stop intimidation, stop hatred and stop violence.
17
Proud of the students and of ALL who marched, 800,000 in DC was the approximate number. How many more in all of our cities and towns?!
The 2nd Amendment calls for "a well REGULATED militia" doesn't give anyone the right to own an arsenal.
By the way, 78% of Americans do not own a gun of any kind! ONLY 3% do! And the NRA membership is roughly 5 million! There are over 400 million Americans in the U.S.
Do not underestimate a small group of determined people!
Change IS coming!
16
Instead of addressing this comment to the students, I’m addressing it to the ringleader, Vladimir Putin: the Second Amendment isn’t going anywhere
3
Like many others posting here, I was struck by the contrast between the simplicity, elegance, and honesty of yesterday's speakers and the incessant lies and vapid platitudes of Trump and his allies. It felt like sun breaking through clouds, a breath of spring.
14
Harvey Weinstein has to have orchestrated this. Too well planned.
1
More likely it was organized by Putin
When the shooting is on the other side of the world,
not a peep out of 'em. When it happens in their own
backyard, all hell breaks loose!
They're not looking at the big picture.
They're just thinking of themselves!
2
When it is you that is getting shot at, it compels a reaction. How do you know they aren't against shooting in Syria, too?
3
I would like to know whether Bernie Sanders has renounced his pro-gun views. He voted against the Brady Bill and has to a large extent supported a pro-NRA position.
We also know that in July of 2917, Bernie Sanders and Rand Paul were the only two senators to vote against a bill for sanctions against Russia, Iran and North Korea.
I guess that it makes sense for an ally of Rand Paul to be pro-gun.
3
Oops. 2017, not 2917. Sorry for the typo,
Or perhaps Bernie Sanders is simply reflecting the wishes of a majority of his constituents.
5
Americans everywhere, including Vermont, are abandoning their support for the NRA. Sanders, however, sticks to his guns.
I am grateful to have marched in Haynes Park, NM. The event was well organized & well attended, the student speeches inspiring. I am very hopeful that young people will make the needed change. Their plans & organization are incredible. I am all in!
I marched for my daughters (one works in the elementary school she attended). I marched for my son.in.law, an educator at The Berkshire Museum. I marched for my grandson, attending kindergarten this coming autumn.
#NeverAgain
12
Hopefully Trump and the 90% of Republicans who support him will be banished so far from power than they don't creep up again until the 1% are in the streets complaining of how they no longer have incentives to work. When that happens, then maybe liberalism has gone too far.
4
Is it OK if I come back here six months from now and ask the forum what the Children's Protest has accomplished? Too soon? How about a year?
2
Yesterday at the March for Lives rally in Riverside, Calif., I met a young man who was one of the organizers for March for Lives. I wanted to thank him and his colleagues for their hard work and courage. The three young men I met were courteous and well-spoken. I shared with them that my political life began with protests in the 60s and 70s against the Viet Nam War. They said that was 'cool' or something like that. I was impressed by these young people. When the rally finally began, I learned that many of the organizers were survivors of school shootings. Allan, one of the soft-spoken young men I spoke to earlier, was a survivor of Sandy Hook. That took my breath away. I can't tell you how his words, and those of his colleagues, moved me. One after another, these young people came to the stage and told of their experiences, their fear that they would be killed, now as when the disaster occurred, how they feared their families would hear of their deaths and what they would be forced to undergo. Some were angry, but not provocative. Some were reasonable, reassuring the crowd that they were not here to take peoples' guns away, just to reform gun laws so that school, church, theater shootings will stop. Some were sad, and all were a little afraid. But all were also determined to help our nation rein in the insanity. And the one conviction they all shared is that some of them will vote this year. More will vote next year, and the year following that. I have never been so proud!
21
Its amazing how truth well spoken can cut through the noise around us.
8
I’ll wager $10000 that not even one of these kids can define what an assault rifle is
6
And I'll wager that not even one of the low-IQ, anti-education, pro-gun adults can *spell* assault rifle, without auto-dict.
8
Larry, you are plastering nonsense all over this thread. You have not said anything sensible yet. You must be a Fox News fan.
9
What difference would that make? Call it what you want. You can protect yourself and maintain your second amendment rights without owning a shoulder rocket launcher, right? If you need to fire weapons designed not for hunting, but for killing humans, then just enlist in the armed forces; they would love to have you in their WELL REGULATED MILITIA!
2
The best way to prevent future school shootings is to repeal the ridiculous Obama rule that prevented school authorities from disciplining Cruz, reporting him to police, or keeping records of authorities’ concerns. Obama prevented background checks from working!!
5
NRA diversion.
8
Wow. Larry. Just wow.
6
This response organized by highly intelligent and articulate students at a public high school in Florida certainly tells me that I should stop painting Florida with the broad brush I have used in the past. Florida certainly has more than its share of yahoos and rednecks -- look at the idiot they have for a governor -- but that is obviously not the whole story. Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, obviously provides its students with a first-rate education, with excellent faculty and advanced placement curricula.
As I was curious about the individual for whom the school was named, I found this --
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marjory_Stoneman_Douglas
7
Instead of passing more silly new local laws which, in essence, say "this time we really, really, really mean it" we should enact Federal legislation which will require all gun owners, from manufacturers to dealers to final customers, to carry firearm insurance and hold them STRICTLY LIABLE for ALL harm caused by their guns regardless of who uses them. That's vicarious liability, as with cars.
Prospective gun owners will have to undergo psychological screening and take proficiency tests like we do with drivers who must take driver's tests before they are licensed.
We will limit the number of guns that you can buy.
We need all guns and ammo to be traceable. As with cars, guns should have Certificates of Title so we know who owns what gun at any given moment. And the ammo? When I buy eggs at Trader Joe's each egg is imprinted with a code. We can do that with ammo so we can see who is buying what and in what quantities.
Do this and people will safeguard their guns and transfer them legally. (Of course if the guns and ammo are stolen and the owner was not complicit or negligent in allowing the theft to take place the gun owner would be off the hook.) You're not fool enough to leave your car parked on the street with the windows open and the keys in it are you?
Nothing that I have suggested conflicts with that pesky Second Amendment.
7
No, nothing you suggested conflicts with the Second Amendment, just like a poll tax doesn’t conflict with the voting rights of Americans
2
@ Larry
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia wrote in his majority opinion in 2008’s landmark Heller case : “Like most rights, the right secured by the Second Amendment is not unlimited.” It is “not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose.”
7
I would not call our Bill of Rights “pesky.”
The picture in the NYT on Sunday morning showing the student march on Pennsylvania Avenue seemed to show a crowd as large or larger than Trump's inauguration speech crowd. Is it possible that more future voters are rallying against Trump than those fools who actually though he would be a competent POTUS?
15
Many commentators point out that America’s murder rate compares unfavorably to Northern European countries and some East Asian countries. These countries have very small or virtually non-existent black and Latino populations. America’s murder rate should be compared to countries with similar demographics. The FBI Uniform Crime Report shows that 72.6 percent of Americans arrested for murder in 2016 were black or Latino. If only non-Hispanic whites were counted, the U.S. murder rate would be similar to European murder rates. However, gun ownership rates are highest among non-Hispanic whites.
.
https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2016/crime-in-the-u.s.-2016/topic-p...
5
The marches are great: now for the hard part. Get everyone out to vote for anti-gun candidates.
7
Correction: not "anti gun candidates " candidates that want sane and thorough gun laws and background checks.
4
No, Tom got it right the first time, Dems are Anti-Gun.
2
The demonstration's value is for voter registration, and in fact everybody should be registered to vote to graduate from HS anyway. What would be great is if student action demonstrates staying power, and went to work on a bigger student problem than guns: drugs. So I encourage the kids to do this and more. Hopefully this won't go the way of Occupy Protest Theater.
That stated, if guns rights were seriously challenged, which they are not, you could get perhaps 25,000,000 gun owners to demonstrate en masse on a given preplanned day. One must keep in mind that the students are having a bit of a field day here, expressing a bit of self love and self interest, while gun owners know gun rights as a fundamental piece of their Americanism for which the go to work every day and pay taxes, more like owning their mortgages thank just a complaint.
4
You are attempting to deflect from the issue, which is that we absolutely need serious gun control in this country. You are not fooling anyone.
5
I am informing you of what you are up against. You seem to not know, and not care. Your battle can fail just like many other battles, don't be too enthralled by your own misconception of your opponents. That's not deflection, that's wisdom.
2
All Americans should be registered to vote in High School. I was registered with my senior class at an assembly in high school in the months before a presidential election. This was many years ago, in a different state than I currently reside. I was not told to join any particular political party, nor advised on how to vote. I did learn that it was an important civic duty and have made it a priority review the ballots carefully and vote always.
1
The cynicism and hostility shown by some of the comments are disheartening to say the least. The
actions of the young people who organized and participated in the March should be applauded, not
denigrated. Maybe there is hope for the future ...
15
Those of my generation, the boomers, have witnessed the passing of the torch though it must be noted that passing skipped a generation. The Millennials never rallied in significant numbers to any cause but the teenagers who rallied to the March for Our Lives give us hope that a new groundswell of concerned citizens will demand equal justice for all genders and races and sanity in our social contract.
7
I attended the D.C. march, and as I commented elsewhere here, it was overall executed amazingly well, esp considering the short lead-in time. It was comprehensive, perfectly-paced, with all details considered...volunteers in green vests, fresh (drinking) water stations, plenty of port-a-potties, etc.
I am very passionate about gun control and am confident we Will see meaningful change, and like everyone, I want to see it sooner rather than later. I feel very strongly that this can be accomplished by employing multiple tactics.
I believe I heard MLK's granddaughter make some type of comment about a 'gun-free' world, or something similar to that...about 'no guns'. Either way, if I heard that correctly or not, any talk like that would be extremely detrimental to our cause, as that type of suggestion is precisely what 2nd A 'gun nuts' use as an argument Against gun control (they say we want to take away All guns). I'm disappointed that I don't believe I heard one speaker that was a gun-owner. (While the audio of military talking about ARs etc and their dangers was very effective, not quite the same as a speaker in the flesh...where folks could see their face.) We need more gun-owners (military, law enforcement, hunters etc) to show their faces and speak to their desire for reform. Need to push for MORE companies to continue to Sever Ties with NRA. Arrange Townhalls or coffeetalks in towns/cities all across US with reasonable but opposing citizens to have Conversations.
6
China has had a big problem with school massacres They found after investigation that several of them were direct or indirect copy-cat killings. They restricted coverage and the numbers fell.
It's worth looking at.
These marches along with all the 24/7 press coverage, as well as the politicization might have the opposite effect.
So if our 2nd Amendment rights are up for restrictions we may have to look at our 1st Amendment rights as well. It may be more effective than a gun grab.
2
You need to do some research, the Chinese are not allowed to own nor buy guns.
1
The attackers used hammers, clubs and pikes.
Annie and I marched with the crowd in New York City ... and it was a huge crowd.
As we were arriving by subway it was announced that everyone should go to 86th ave, the original assembly point at 72nd was overwhelmed ... that's 14 city blocks of additional people packed nearly shoulder-to-shoulder.
Counts of "how many people" need to distinguish how many people were there at one time, vs how many people came and marched ... people where still coming to march after the first wave was finishing and dispersing.
5
La nouvelle Jeanne d'Arc américaine, Emma Gonzalez. Brava!
8
Not a good comparison. Emma Gonzalez is educated, articulate, and of sound mind. Joan of Arc was an unlettered girl who had auditory hallucinations. Joan of Arc appealed to the superstitious, while Emma Gonzalez appeals to Reason.
Other than that, Joan of Arc didn't end well. I certainly wish Emma better luck than that.
3
very true. Point taken.
It's my dream to see massive domonstrations at every gun show that sells guns without thorough background checks. We should not tolerate this gaping hole in the laws.
9
Rick Santorum stated kids should learn CPR instead of calling for a change in gun laws.
Really. CPR for a bleeding human who was just shot up to pieces by a semi automatic rifle?
We’re not talking about cartoons. We’re talking about human organs ripped to shreds. How dare he! And kids should fix that with CPR. Pathetic statement!
23
If the Constitution can be amended to add guns, it can be amended to take guns away.
The NRA is a terrorist organization!
12
This debate over automatic weapons and banning them because enough is enough already when it comes to a gun and what harm it can do, makes me think of smartphones. A phone used to just make a call but now these new smartphones do practically everything short of walking the dog yet does include the newfound abilities of stealing elections and taunting someone else to commit suicide with. There needs to be a lot of banning in order for this country to be safe.
1
The second amendment says a right to bear arms. It doesn't say cannons, gernades or mortars, which were the advanced weapons of the day in 1791. If the forefathers had wanted civilians to bear military style weapons they would have made a broader statement.
If the argument is going to be used that we can never stop all shootings, then we need to get rid of law enforcement as we we will never get rid of all crime. We may as well get rid of the FBI and NSA because we will never stop all organized crime, terrorists, international crime or anything else.
If there was a law against having multiple unlicensed and regulated military style weapons, people could be arrested BEFORE the crime is committed. If we can at least make it easier to stop a killer before he mows down 20, 30 or 100 people, why not do that? The NRA scare tactic of the majority of people in the US wanting to take away all weapons is ridiculous. Anyone swallowing that line is naive.
8
Former Senator Rick Santorum says students should be taking CPR classes instead of protesting for gun reform?
And Santorum should crawl back into the hole from which he came.
13
I travelled to DC for the march.
I realize I have been repeating myself all over social media, and via messages to various gun control groups, but I will continue to do so. if only because I feel so strongly about this topic, and that we could potentially change even MORE minds, by employing a wider range of tactics....
Overall, D.C. event planning was excellent, esp considering the short lead-in time they had, and how comprehensive all the various aspects of the rally were executed. Choice of singers/music was excellent and impactful. Emma's 6 mins. of silence, profound. Male speaker's comment about 'those who accept $ from the NRA should take those checks and put them into their retirement accounts' was spot-on. Audio clips of back-to-back mass shooting news reports, and shallow politician comments made in the aftermaths, incredibly profound. Audio of various military saying how they understand only too well, the power of ARs, etc., very effective. LOVED one of the female Parkland students saying 'We are not here for breadcrumbs!'
Happy to see a mix of speakers talking about mass shootings, as well as about gun violence as a whole. We need wide swathes of the US population on the gun control side....not just (primarily white) students who've been affected by mass shootings, but also people affected by 'accidental shootings' in 'gun country' (toddlers and young kids getting access to loaded guns) and folks affected by inner-city/gang violence.
9
Regardless of what the Supreme Court says about gun rights, the Second Amendment does not say you have he right to own guns. It says you can keep and bear arms as a member of a militia, and that only if such militia is necessary for the security of the state. There are no militias, and they are not necessary for the security of the state. This is what it says, and to anyone with some exposure to XVIII Century English it is clear as water. These young people understand it better than the dinosaurs in the Supreme Court, it seems.
11
These young people need to vote, or encourage anyone they know of voting age to vote in November. We simply need to get rid of as many Republicans in Congress--who will pretend to pay no attention to any of this activism--as possible. That's the only way to see any change happen. The Red Folks are in the thrall of the NRA, and that won't change. We need to work as hard as we can to shove them out of office.
3
I cried yesterday, because I realized democracy was not dead in America.
16
Hurray for the kids! They've got the sense to see something irrational when pro-gun people are lost in the fog of the past!
When the US Constitution added the Second Amendment in 1791, the technology DID NOT EXIST for a citizen to annihilate so many people at once. Why isn't this argument, this simple fact, destroying the NRA's stand on the Second Amendment? If someone put a nuke in a rifle, no one would allow it, so the question is: Why don't people stop an archaic argument that's been left in our laws too long from being changed when it's clearly not a threat to someone owning a single-shot weapon limited capacity gun? I think the children have to be the ones to change a law that should be amended to take into consideration inventions completely unforeseen over 225 years ago. DAH!
8
Awww, those kids are so cute. Give them a decade or two of reality and they'll all wise up and understand why real grown-ups are pro-gun and pro-GOP.
1
If the liberals want a total ban on guns, or a particular type of gun, is spite of the fact that murdering shooters are extremely rare among the millions of citizens who own guns legally then they should fully support Trumps immigration bans and controls because even he admits that most immigrants (illegal) are good people, but since enough of them are committing crimes and illegally exploiting our good will then they should all be banned.
Well? Why not?
I'm sad reading the deeply cynical comments by people that think these teens are being exploited.
A 17 year old is fully capable of seeing the insanity of banning peanut butter from schools, but not guns. A child can understand that guns kills people. A child can see that we create stronger, tougher laws for cars than we do guns. That's irrational, stupid, and insane and it doesn't take maturity or age to see that. A child can easily see the difference between a gun used for hunting and a military grade war machine. This is common sense.
The idea that liberals are exploiting these teens is cynical and that way of thinking is destructive and harmful. Teens these days have a far greater awareness about the pain and destruction in the world. Dismissing their experiences and ability to think freely is how you create a disenfranchised, cynical generation. We don't need any more of that. We can't solve the world's problems with cynicism. Giving them a platform and elevating their voices isn't exploitation.
Regardless of your personal opinions on gun control, don't dismiss the minds of young people. They're going to replace you. Either open yourself up to listening or step aside. Sounds like the world crushed your dreams and left you bitter, please don't do the same to these young people.
15
Ah, the fickle finger of fate. It's only one day since the marches and already the item on the NYT website has moved from all space above the fold to #3 on the left hand side. By Tuesday? Gone, I'm sure. As the lyrics said, "And marches alone won't..." You got to do something to stay in the media. The civil rights movement knew this as did the anti-Vietnam war movement and the gay AIDS initiative. Heck, even the Black Panthers knew and did this (and you think white people with guns are scary). So, what's the plan folks?
The pitiful progressives...want to turn this into an anti-Trump narrative. Meanwhile, back at the ranch -- the Newtown shooting occurred under Obama's watch' Columbine under Clinton's. And the most number of killed in a school shooting was in 2007 at Virginia Tech --- right before Obama was elected to the WH with a majority in both houses. What happened? What did these dem administrations do?
What the progressives need to learn, instead of manipulating children in their quest to establish much stricter gun control, is that it's not going to happen. First, most homicides (if you're concerned about inner city homicides) are committed using a pistol, not a rifle. By a huge majority. Outlawing assault rifles isn't going to save many lives, it will stop only a fraction of total annual homicides. Second, Trump is right. Even if you desperately want to eliminate all guns, it is a virtually impossible task given the number of firearms in the US and the availability of other weaponry (cars, bombs). Therefore hardening schools (and other large public or quasi public spaces) is the only thing that will have an impact in the short run. How we do it and pay for it of course needs to be addressed but the initial requirement is for people to commit to doing something that will work, not trying to go after Republicans and the NRA.
Third...the 2nd amendment will never be repealed. That is a non starter so please focus on things that are doable.
What we learned, along with Obama, is that the Republicans blocked almost everything he tried to do.
4
Gee, if you are so sure it's never going to happen, why are you wasting your time on this?
11
exactly how did the Repubs block anything? Obama didn't initiate any legislation when he could have.
1
Thank goodness congress will again allow the CDC to study gun violence in a systematic and scientific manner. Led by these kids, people are proposing a variety of gun control measures, but it remains to be seen how effective the ones that pass will be.
Starting in the 60's, the federal government mandated the collection of crash data and then forced the car industry to make safety improvements. Despite cries that reckless drivers, not cars, were the problem, real progress resulted and fatality rates have steadily improved (until the arrival of the 'smart' phone).
But despite tens of thousands of gun every year, we (or at least one side) have deliberately tried not to know more than the sound bites each side hurls at the other. With better facts in place, opponents can argue the real merits of further action.
No other country has tried to enact stiffer gun control starting with the level of firearm ownership we have here. It remains to be seen if widespread availability and possession of guns, despite waiting periods, background checks, age requirements, mental health and criminal disqualifiers, and an assault weapons ban, will make enough of a difference for a problem that is multi causal.
We'll need concerted efforts to initiate meaningful reforms and diligence to prevent malicious backsliding. It's also likely we'll need further measures to get gun violence to the levels achievable in other advanced democracies. And that battle will probably last generations.
10
When will people realize guns aren't the problem, people and society are the problem. Mass shootings have increased, gun regulations have increased "reality" tv and social media have increased all while family values, basic human decency, education and common sense have been thrown out the window. Open your eyes and look at the real problem not a product of that problem.
The demands of these students is to stop a problem that affects only them, and that is mass shootings at schools and how they should be prevented in the future. Their slogans and signs are all about how they want to be safe at school. And this is when mass shooting themselves do not in particular target schools.
Recent mass shootings have targeted a church, a nightclub and an outdoor music concert, events that these students are not including in their protest.
One would think that if they want to get a movement going based on their protests they should make it about the aspect of the gun problem as it affects all Americans. And that extends beyond mass shootings in general, which statistically speaking are not a general threat to public safety. The average American does not think of the extremely unlikely chance that they will be caught up in the next mass shooting, and mass shootings make up less than 1% of gun killings. What affects the average American is the other 99% of gun killing, those that can happen at anytime anywhere.
However since these students are not marching against only mass shootings that take place in schools, their demand to be able to be safe at school is actually quite selfish in that they are concerned only with how guns affect them. So, why should the whole country, in particular legislators, dedicate themselves to solving a problem that affects only a tiny portion of the population.
FLA
The Future Leaders of America were in full bloom yesterday among the vast sea of people in Washington and around the world.
They've set the groundwork for change. The momentum is building. There's a student protest set in April. The graduation at Marjorie Stoneham Douglas High School in early June will keep the gun control issue on the front burner. Then, it's on to the November elections.
It's like The Perfect Storm:
The Right Issue- sensible gun control
The Right Time- NOW!
The Right Place- at the ballot box!
This is where The Future Leaders of America and The Future Voters of America confront a momentous challenge. They delivered yesterday. There's no reason to believe they will not continue to deliver until they get meaningful legislation.
10
These young people give me hope for the future. A future where rich, white, conservative men don't dominate the political landscape. It will be interesting to see how they surrender power to the younger generation.
6
I see a revolutionary moment in the movement launched by these intelligent and courageous kids. All power to them. And I hope they bring all the adults known to them around to stand behind their vision come November.
The opponents of gun control invoke the Second Amendment ad nauseam as if it and the Constitution are sacred instruments of governance. No, they are not. Our Constitution has after all been amended 27 times since its inception. It was designed by visionaries but not by divine forces, and even as visionaries the founders recognized their human limitations and wisely left room for changes in the future.
If an amendment can be added to the Constitution due to the perceived needs of a given set of circumstances, so can it be repealed by another act of the nation-- not capriciously or rashly as under any authoritarian regime but after thoughtful debate across the country. The time has arrived to move in that direction as a blind adherence to the Second Amendment keeps taking a massive toll of human life week after week in this country.
Rational laws allowing specific types of licensed civilian gun ownership for clearly-defined purposes-- hunting, self-defense and so on-- can still exist or be created on the model of all other civilized modern nations. Think Europe, think Canada, think Japan, think Australia, for starters.
Why is the perverse NRA bent upon keeping the U.S. adamantly wedded to the late 18th century?
13
Imagine you're Marco Rubio, doing one of his "calculations." Like the president, you'll say anything to get elected. But it won't matter, because the people in these photos will soon be able to vote, and we'll have the NRA to thank for getting them to the polls.
"The old get old and the young get stronger. May take a week and it may take longer...." Like the Vietnam war, it will take longer. But eventually the numbers become so overwhelming that the politicans are forced to do the right thing.
7
My fear is for these young adults that the media will pounce on the if they do anything wrong no matter how small. We all know what Fox News and others will do to these kid, they will chew them up and spit them out. It’s just a matter of time.
1
So far, these young adults have shown themselves quite capable of rebuffing the ignorant attacks that have been launched on them. They don't take guff from anyone!
5
As a responsible gun owner this is so inspiring after years of frustrating inaction, of "thoughts and prayers", and "you can't fight the NRA" - a cynicism cultivated by politicians to preserve the flow of blood money. The jig is up, though, because this massive demographic will be voting very soon and not afraid to call them out, and turning their NRA ratings into a badge of shame. God forbid a shooting happens in any of these politicians' districts. But if so, I will donate to raise billboards there with their name and likeness on it with "NRA A+ Rating".
12
A way to help break the choke hold that the NRA has on Congress (mainly the Republicans) is a requirement that all candidates declare on any political advertisement for office whether they receive, or received in the past, financial support from the NRA. That would make it easier to know the candidates we need to vote against.
6
The adults who denigrate these young people and support the NRA in getting them killed, should be ashamed of themselves. How low can you go, when you place the right to bear arms over the safety of children? No other civilization has the guns we have in America, and no other has the senseless slaughter because the N.R.A. holds sway over legislation that would eradicate these killings. It is wrong. These adults are wrong. Thank God for these young people that are speaking truth to power and are ready to vote. God knows they've suffered enough at the hands of the N.R.A. and those who support them in Congress over these innocent lives. I wouldn't want to be in the shoes of those whose hands aided and abetted this slaughter when they stand before the judgement seat. Justice will be served, here or in the hereafter. Please God hear the cries of these young people and help them accomplish what adults have not been able to attain - safe schools and neighborhoods for their friends and themselves. Please young people, "Don't give up. Don't give in." My grandchildren lives and their friends depend of your efforts and resilience in the face of great odds. These grandparents join many across the United States have your backs, as the Texas grandmothers protesting stated.
6
I look with hard-fought optimism at today's high school generation, not 20-somethings, because a college generation concerned with "micro-aggressions" and "safe spaces" provided by established institutions would not survive a Kent State or a Jackson State. The most positive thing I have seen in years is the call by high school students to demonstrate that unless things change, there will be No Business As Usual. If they do this, if they continue on the road to determining the nation they and their children will live in, they will be criticized, bribed, threatened, co-opted, and worse. But that's the way life is. Remember Kent State and Jackson State. There is no free lunch.
Today's high school students have the opportunity to be the first cohort in a half century known and remembered for what they accomplish for a better America, not simply a consumer label, as has every generation since the Sixties "generation." Voting is a big positive step and, yes, by and large the Democrats are less toxic than the Republicans. However, as with the Viet Nam War and Civil Rights in the 60s and 70s, it will take an entire generation of young people to begin by saying NO! to the current system. They are the ones with the energy and creativity to then develop their own media, organize boycotts, take to the streets, engage in civil disobedience, and whatever else they, not we, deem necessary. After all, they are the ones who will live with the consequences of what they choose to do or not do.
9
I teach yoga, and recently had to take 'active shooter' training. This is how our children live in fear, daily! how can they learn?. I was moved to tears during a power point, no less!.
After watching yesterday, I began work on my teaching lesson for today - wanted to find 'non-violence' in index of sourcebook, but the book had no index. Truly, I opened the large book,to this:
"Nonviolence is the law of our species, just as violence is the law of beasts. In the savage man, the spirit is not awake; he does not know the other law as he knows that of physical force. Human dignity demands that one refer to a superior law, which implements the force of the spirit."
MahatmaGandhi
Thanks so much, young marchers for reminding us of what dignity, as Gandhi describes, means.
5
Thousands of students that marched to end gun violence belong to just the generation that will get their act together and be the model citizens for the nation and work with each other to fight for no new wars, no alcohol and drug abuse, no disruption of learning in schools and colleges and full of love for their fellow human beings. Well done students who rallied for a better future without gun violence. You have given us hope that the future is bright for all if us.
6
It is time for freedom loving Americans to demand that the 'well regulated' part of the 2nd Amendment be enforced.
No one needs an AR-15. No one needs any kind of assault rifle or semi-automatic weapon. No one needs a bump stock. No one needs to be able to fire more than six rounds without reloading.
Gun owners should be required to hold insurance. They should be required to have a gun safe. There should be mandatory waiting periods for any gun purchase. No sales should be allowed without a background check. There should be strict liability, civil and criminal, for any gun related accidents.
The so-called 'responsible' gun owners have been silent or actively working against any reform. Their time at the table is over. They were never willing to work on this issue in good faith.
I stand with the students. Regulate and confiscate!
7
These idealistic young people are facing off against America's most powerful political lobby. It's primary mission is to defeat all movements like this. It has never failed, and today it is more powerful than ever.
The kids rarely mentioned its name, but I'm sure they know what they are up against. I was in the street with them yesterday, carrying a sign. I am rooting for them to succeed where all others have not.
7
America is in a power struggle with Republicans on one side and Democrats on the other both beholden to their big donor base. Until we are able to take large money contributions from anonymous sources out of politics, it will literally take absurd events like mass school shootings to move the needle against big money. If you want to get sensible laws passed for the prevention of gun violence, start with passing laws limiting influence spending in Washington.
7
I was part of the generation who protested the Vietnam war. I was fifteen when I started and began my protests after a boy in the neighborhood who had signed up perished. The effect on the neighborhood but particularly his family, made me think about the senselessness of what we were doing.
I feel the same way about the NRA and the number of guns that now permeate our daily lives. This isn't about the 2nd amendment. No one is coming to take guns away.
It is about sanity. As with any war, things need to be thought out and well planned. What the kids are saying is: we need sane policies. What the NRA is saying is we need to sell more guns. They need to have an enemy. The rest of us need firm leadership.
If I were physically able right now to join them on the streets in protest that's where I'd be. Sadly, I'm not there yet but when I am that's where I'll be.
What gives me hope is the energy and commitment they show. They demonstrate what is best about us in this country.
What the GOP and the NRA demonstrate is how much money means rather than human life. How sad they have sold their souls.
How wonderful we have a committed generation of 'Z's to inspire us.
7
All well and good. I support it completely. I just hope that these students and their news media enablers are prepared to do what it takes to actually enforce gun control measures should they pass -- primarily hugely punitive sentences for those caught with illegal guns. Has anyone even thought this through?
To just clean up what's already out there is going to be a massive, unprecedented undertaking, and the individuals likely to have unauthorized weapons are by far the least likely to turn them in. For the control to have a prayer's chance of working, we are going to have to introduce titanic mandatory sentences and fines for those not in compliance. There is little doubt this will ultimately end up having a disproportionate impact on under-privlidged communities.
Even if the Republicans were to miraculously pass meaningful legislation, I have gargantuan doubts that the current incarnation of the Democratic party or its media enables, let alone the new generation of self-described SJW, would have anywhere near the backbone to enforce the laws.
Which means we are likely at best looking at toothless legislation that has no chance of being enforced.
If you're marching for gun control and think that enforcing it would mean anything less than building gulag-style prisons for mass incarceration or slapping offenders with utterly crippling fines, you're living in a fantasy world.
The national student movement has done a good job staying focused on weapons, NRA, and crooked politicians, not allowing politicians, media, or celebrities to hijack/piggyback on their message. Now they face another challenge from activists, local and national, who want to tie their laundry list of grievances onto the protests. In San Diego that is exactly what happened. A lead organizer, and first speaker did just that for the first 20 minutes. It's a bad idea, it dilutes the message, brings in new ideas that many there may not agree with or support, and opens new avenues for the opposition to exploit.
Students screen your speakers, stay on message, stay united.
6
Gun advocates should take their fingers out of their ears and listen to the message. Amazing that these young adults are NOT advocating for repeal of the second amendment though if they did who could blame them. All that they are asking for are sensible gun CONTROL laws.
The first part of the second amendment states the importance of regulation. It's time for gun advocates to acknowledge this important part. If they are not part of the solution they are the problem. Lead, follow or get out of the way please.
6
As a journalist and documentary filmmaker, I travelled the country for many years. I interviewed a school shooter in prison. I interviewed victims of gun violence. I interviewed a father who accidentally shot and killed his only daughter. I interviewed a man on death row who was found at the wrong place at the wrong time with a loaded gun. But I never met anybody who successfully defended himself, or his loved ones, with a firearm.
4
The kids are learning that their lives don't matter unless they take political action and vote.
2
Look at the signs they are carrying, different, homemade, personal. Compare with signs carried at rallies made for propangands purposes for the authorities of Turkey, Russia, the Palestinians..., many of which were obviously printed in the same printshop and put on poles purchased wholesale.
8
These kids are the future. They seem better prepared and much smarter than the last generation. They give me hope for this country. They need to vote and stay involved. Maybe some of them should run for local offices? I'd vote for them.
6
i don't care what teenager thinks or believes. they are naive, non tax paying kids with no life experience except what they see on tv or on the fake news networks. you tell them what they should do, not ask.
I think they did do something. And they didn't need to be told.
9
@jeff - Many students have seen their friends or fellow students die by being killed with a gun. This is not fake news. These students will be the voters of the future.
5
Many of the kids organizing these rallies, unfortunately, have had the life experience of losing friends or being shot at themselves. For them, it's personal.
1
From the article: "For many of the young people, the Washington rally, called March for Our Lives, was their first act of protest and the beginning of a political awakening. But that awakening may be a rude one — lawmakers in Congress have largely disregarded their pleas for action on television and social media in the five weeks since the Parkland shooting."
-------
The alternative is that it's the politicians who are in for a rude awakening.
Let's hope so.
7
So very proud of what these kids are doing. If anyone has a right to make these demands, they do. Keep going 'til you get what you're asking for! There are so many people inspired by you and in awe of you!
7
Please accept my nomination for the dumbest thing said about this issue, specifically about these courageous young students. This morning, on CNN, former senator and perennial presidential candidate Rick Santorum, said the students were not really `doing' anything. Sure they were urging Congress to show some courage, but any legislation would come from the actual members of Congress - not these students. In other words, the demonstration was just noise. But then he offered this: if the students really wanted to do something that was meaningful and constructive, they should learn CPR, enabling them to save a wounded classmate. I'm not making this up. Students should learn CPR so they can help the wounded survive another slaughter. Needless to say, Santorum's presidential ambitions have been met with laughter.
12
Been stewing about this all day with the counter protesters. He claimed the students didn't know the Constitution. First of all, the right to bear arms is not in the Constitution itself. No, it is not enshrined it the Constitution which was ratified in 1787. The second amendment, which has been misrepresented by the NRA was a separate amendment ratified in 1791. So please read the Constitution and the Bill of Rights (2nd Amendment) before taking pot shots and calling people ill educated.
7
If you want sensible gun control then start with the most radical approach and demand repeal of the 2nd amendment and settle for reasonable limits.
6
I am 74 years old and I support these young people! Gun violence is out of control!
11
This entire gun control issue has just gotten too far out-of-hand. Just talking about the premise of gun “control” and people offer to shoot you while referring to the second amendment. But, your neighbor can’t own a nuclear weapon or a howitzer or M1 tank…. therefore, there are limits to the second amendment.
Of course, even if an assault weapons ban was put in place, it would be like telling a five-year-old to “not look in the closet.” Assault weapons would be bought in bulk and the gun companies would repackage the same gun only slight less ugly to avoid the ban.
I would think full background checks and a national registry for all guns with traceability back to purchases would be effective in determining where the criminals are getting their weapons thus allowing law officials cut off such to a large extent. Even that idea drives many people to unbelievable anger.
With 300 million weapons out there and the strong lobby from the NRA, the problem is insoluble.
And our GOP representatives and senators wouldn't think of having guns in congress. (they could learn CPR too)
3
These students are doing and saying exactly what their Liberal teachers are telling them to do and say. "The children" are never taught both sides of the gun argument just one side. This march will be known as the Clueless children's march of 2018.
No civilians "need" semi-auto rifles and high capacity magazines unless it's their intention to kill cops and overthrow the government.
7
One need not prove a need for a right. It's in the Constitution, just like the freedom to worship, or not.
Look up utilitarianism, semi-gluteous.
The problem with this entire "march" across the country is the liberal educational system actually made kids march for this. Some children were disciplined when they refused to leave class to march. So this was a school led activity in which children were used to pursue the Liberal gun control agenda. The latest shooter was not of age and obtained access to his firearm illegally. The laws are not the problem. Guns are not the problem. Criminals by definition ignore the law for their convenience. Therefore even totally banning guns would only make it more difficult for someone like the shooter, not impossible. Drugs are illegal and I dont see anyone who wants them bad enough being stopped from obtaining them. Turning the vast majority of American Gun Owners into criminals is not the answer. Teaching our children to take personal responsibility is part of the answer. Parents, RAISE your children.
I marched against the Viet Nam war as a "child" of 17. Anyone who thinks an adult can influence a teenager either doesn't have one, or doesn't remember bing one.
4
By your argument, all drugs should be legalized. Indeed, speed laws should be removed because they tend to be broken, taxes should not be levied, because people cheat on them. People in the military should be free to walk away because some do, etc. I applaud your extreme anarchist argument. Hope you apply it consistently.
3
God bless these children who truly are teaching the grown ups how to behave as grown ups.
8
What about the problem of police with guns killing innocent, often black, people? And what about the further problem that when police do kill innocent, often black, people, they rarely are prosecuted and convicted?
3
Meanwhile, the current Oval office occupant went golfing and then took the long way back to Mar-Lago to avoid the protesters near him. So good to know that he would have "rushed into the school unarmed."
No need to rush into a school unarmed, just write good laws that protect us. As they say, the pen is mightier than the sword (or gun in this case).
8
:-)
when the going gets tough,
some cowards go golfing ...
1
The shame is these students have no idea how the bill of rights protects them and the part the 2nd amendment plays in the overall purpose of the first ten amendments.
How do you define an assault weapon? Do you ban the weapon or do you ban the sale in the future? Columbine happened during an assault weapons ban. From everything I have heard from these kids they know nothing of this.
I heard some protesters say they want to ban all guns. I can guarantee they have no clue what needs to be done to accomplish this.
Legislating based on emotion is a horrible way to legislate. These kids don't realize this now but hopefully they will eventually learn.
6
This is precisely the mindset that these young people seek to overcome. They know it won't be easy, but I believe they are up to the task.
6
Actually, Larry, when you look at the facts, you will see the students have them on their side. Here are two examples:
Before Heller there were 4 SCOTUS decisions that held that the 2nd Amendment did not give every person the right to own a gun. Stare Decisis alone shows that Heller was a bad decision. "A fraud on the American public.” That’s how former Chief Justice Warren Burger described the idea that the Second Amendment gives an unfettered individual right to a gun. When he spoke these words to PBS in 1990, the rock-ribbed conservative appointed by Richard Nixon was expressing the longtime consensus of historians and judges across the political spectrum.
Here is what can be done with gun regulation:
Firearm-related death rate per 100,000 population per year
US 10.54
France 2.83
Israel 2.10
Canada 1.97
Sweden 1.47
Italy 1.31
Denmark 1.28
Germany 1.01
Australia 0.93
Netherlands 0.58
UK 0.23
Japan 0.06
You are right. We should legislate based on facts.
8
"Legislating based on emotion is a horrible way to legislate"
They are calling for legislation based on stopping people from getting killed.
Give the students more credit--after all, they are exercising their first amendment rights.
4
The turnout was far lower than first believed
According to the Blaze, yes. According to material reality, no.
When Emma Gonzalez stepped up to that microphone, I did not know what she had planned. When she stopped talking, and the seconds passed, I gasped, silently imploring her to fill the silence, worried her audacity would backfire in some way. Then I realized this was something else entirely.
Any performer must know how terrifying it must be to stand in front of a camera, and millions of people, without saying a thing. No background music. No distractions. Pure vulnerability. What Emma did was show the naked power of raw emotion. That was real courage we witnessed. If you listen to her breathing and watch her chest and take it all into you, you can't help but to be moved. I was sobbing and heaving as I took that fierce young woman into me. She was communicating, but not with words. I adore this young woman and believe she will be our new leader.
120
It is not terrifying to stand in front of a mike, camera, whatever if you have a reason to pause. We witnessed a young girl that is hurting, that cares, and that knows she stood before others that will make the necessary changes in this country.
Correction to my previous post:
This massive protest, especially by the young, gives me hope for our country's future.
5
I'm so touched and moved and inspired by these young people. I do wonder if the NY Times, though, should also present perspectives from young people who are in schools where there have been mass shootings but who do not support the views of the students at this march -- students who, in other words, have a very different view of the Second Amendment and the rights to bear arms. Seems to me it is incumbent on newspapers as vaunted as the NY Times to present their perspectives as well, now more than ever. Or your vaunted paper otherwise wouldn't be promoting and promulgating democratic inclusiveness.
1
Bravo to these wonderful, wounded young people. To be able to articulate their heart ache and horror, and express their dedication to this cause is heart wrenching.
The country as a whole, and the cowards in the congress, and the phantom president, who chose to hide in Florida, could take a lesson from them. One can only wish and pray for their success. They deserve every ounce of support that they can get, and the citizens of this nation need to stand up and be counted. They deserve nothing less.
2
It won't do any good so long as people like Rubio and Ryan depend so much on NRA money. Santorum is a certified fool. We know this from all of his failed political runs.
1
The NRA has bought the GOP but it cannot bully these students and millions more into into silence.
These loving, life-affirming students will prevail. And the hateful, death-dealing NRA will fail. It's just a question of when.
Time, truth and the future are all on the side of this fine, brave new generation.
4
Yawn. What policies are the kids' handlers actually proposing anyway?
1
got to wonder hoe these marches will affect that majority of nra members who favor stronger background checks and other sensible regulations. will they push for reform from within or just rip up their membership cards? decision time is here.
1
So proud of these kids. I have kids just out of high school and they ABSOLUTELY would have had the wherewithal to orchestrate protests like this. I can't wait unit the NRA drones in Congress get what is coming to them.
5
Though millions of our citizens desperately want sensible gun control, they're not the ones paying for our elections so they lack clout. The many who still want guns for all are captives of our 'American Exceptionalism', which is really American Abnormality compared to other civilized nations.
This satire by Andy Borowitz perfectly captures such self delusion.
"Every Classroom to Stop First Armed Teacher from Misfiring." Mar. 16, 2018
WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—
"Hours after an armed teacher in a Northern California classroom fired a gun and injured a student, the head of the National Rifle Association proposed placing a second armed teacher in every classroom, to shoot the first armed teacher before he or she can do harm.
“Had there been a second armed teacher in the classroom to shoot the first armed teacher, this regrettable incident would never have occurred,” Wayne LaPierre said. “The only thing that stops a bad teacher with a gun is a good teacher with a gun.”
The N.R.A. executive vice-president said, “In a perfect world, you would have a third armed teacher, in case the second one messes up, but right now I’d settle for two.”
He blamed anti-gun activists for blocking measures that would allow multiple teachers with guns to shoot at one another and thus keep the nation’s classrooms safe. “It’s time to stop the madness,” he said."
Yes! A 3rd armed teacher---the perfect solution. Put this on msnbc and cnn and let the pundit panels go at it.
1
I look forward to going back to the US in 50 years time, flying into Senator Emma Gonzalez International Airport (at Palm Beach, maybe?) and then going on to Mt Rushmore to see the new carving of President Gonzalez...
43
Let's hope that kind of change doesn't take 50 years to realize.
1
Someone needs to ask Rick Santorum what he would be thinking while giving CPR to one of his own or any other child during- after a mass shooting?
Does he even know when or how to administer it?
He ought to give that some thought before he again opens his mouth.
2
Somebody needs to tell Santorum that no amount of CPR will revive a kid who is bleeding to death.
2
If you're expecting Christian care and understanding from Santorum you'll likely be disappointed. He's not a Christian. His so-called "religion" is used as a weapon, not a shield. It's a perversion of the true Christian faith.
2
What these students need to do is take individual and generational responsibility for educating and disciplining their peers to stop acting like three-year-olds throwing a tantrum to get attention by now committing mass murder simply to become famous. As opposed to going to Washington, and perform-weeping for the cameras about how much they "care" in order to get the same level of unearned celebrity status as the recent teen shooter. These 12-21 year olds are killing each other and themselves with guns and its their problem to solve, their responsibility to discipline themselves to simply stop picking up guns and pulling the trigger.
2
Right....nothing to do with adults or politicians.
2
Wrong. School shootings a small percentage of the death and dying visited on Americans by guns.
Learn something about the First and Second amendments.
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia wrote in his majority opinion in 2008’s landmark Heller case : “Like most rights, the right secured by the Second Amendment is not unlimited.” It is “not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose.”
Rick Santorum suggested that students should learn CPR, I assume so they can offer some mouth to mouth to their dying friends. Apparently he is unaware that a weapon of war like the AK47 leaves holes the size of grapefruit where the bullet exits, and that these guns are literally DESIGNED to shred the body and organs to mush. So, Rick, how much good does a little CPR do when the kid's brain and viscera are splattered all over the walls? Just asking.
14
The best part was the celebrities and politicians with their armed bodyguards: Guns are evil, except in my defense!
3
Your front page headline says "the most powerful moments came from students from Parkland." Please revise this. Says who? What about Naomi from Chicago? What about Edna from Los Angeles? Neither were from Parkland. Those were very powerful moments for me, as a March participant. In addition to Parkland voices. It's accurate to say the most powerful moments came from the students. All of them. Thank you.
44
Sorry, seeing children manipulated by cynical adults and attention seeking celebrities leaves me cold.
7
Your cynicism leaves me cold. It is these kids that are leading this movement, and they have given us hope. I congratulate and thank anyone who wishes to support these kids in making a difference
8
Your cynicism of young people has clouded your judgment. For starters, assuming they have been manipulated demonstrates you did not follow their immediate response to the loss of their classmates.
What's more, not understanding the intellect and commitment of students to a cause or their ability to organize suggests you haven't set foot in a high school classroom in decades, much less taught courses in AP Government & Politics, Sociology, Law Studies, or American History as I did. Privileged to engage with great student leaders in such classes for 33 years, including 22 in your state, I respectfully say your attempt to deny the legitimacy of these students leave me cold.
Underestimate these young people, like the NRA and many in the GOP are doing, and you all might be in for a rude awakening, not too unlike the cynics who doubted the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam protests.
4
@michael james cobb:
how, where do you see signs of manipulation?
is it inconceivable to you that young people act
out of their own free will, especially after what
those who survived this tragedy went through?
maybe my imagination does not stretch very far.
but, i admit, that by its farthest stretch,
i would not have come to your [cold] conclusion.
4
I just saw a video clip online in which former Senator Rick Santorum, referencing the student(s) (leaders) of Marjory Stoneman Douglas HS, claimed that these students should learn CPR and should not look towards others to solve their problems for them. For Mr. Santorum to make such a claim is utterly disrespectful and denigrating towards youngsters who, on Feb. 14, over a period of six minutes and twenty seconds didn't know from one second to the next whether that day would be the last Valentines' Day they got to see; or, more important, whether that day had been the last they they got to kiss their parents goodbye I have often heard Mr. Santorum reference his Catholic faith on TV. Well, on this Palm Sunday, Pope Francis has this message for you, Mr. Santorum: “There are many ways to silence young people and make them invisible. Many ways to anesthetize them, to make them keep quiet, ask nothing, question nothing. Dear young people, . . . [i]t is up to you not to keep quiet. Even if others keep quiet, if we older people and leaders, some corrupt, keep quiet, if the whole world keeps quiet and loses its joy, I ask you: Will you cry out?”
99
and that is exactly
what these wonderful youngsters have started doing:
they are done waiting for others to solve their problems for them
and have dexterously taken their fate in their own hands.
i so hope that this movement will GAIN momentum.
[and i won't admit how strong i want this to become
because it might be a bit too early to say ...]
i wish the marchers plenty of patience, passion & perseverance!
1
steffie princeton
Rick Santorum is living up to the meaning of his surname. One should not expect anything less of him. Period.
Don't you remember? Rick Santorum is all about the sanctity of life. The hypocrisy is nauseating.
2
I would love to see these students who went "Hoggwild" on Saturday push the Democratic nominees for House and Senate to spell their specific anti-gun positions.
If the goal of the marchers was to castrate the NRA that majorly funds Republican candidates, then they are no more than political puppets.
2
PISonny,
FYI. These students did not go "hogwild" as you superciliously put. They were organized, very very organized. And it was not about Republicans or Democrats. You are giving it a political twist. Their sole message - they simply want to go into school to learn without fear of being gunned down and murdered in cold blood. Remember, they don't vote, as yet. And therefore they are no puppets.But as sweet, 11 yr. old Naomi Watts pointed out, they will be in a few years! PI Sonny -talk about gun-positions then.
3
Give Democrats control of the Congress and they'll pass legislation cracking down on gun addiction. And as you can already see, republicans NEVER will.
Hey Rocky, Eight years of Obama got nothing done on gun control despite that Dems had super majority in the senate during the first year of Obama presidency.
Any Dem who takes an anti-gun position in a purple or red state is not going to be elected.
Get real, dude.
1
This young people are going to chase the stupid right out of this issue, and then politics in general. We boomers need to show up, give money, and stay out of the way.
12
I marched in NYC, I'm a 78 year old white guy, but I'm with the kids. They are our onlly hope.
18
Accept nothing less than Congress Legislation. Lincoln would have called for an amendment as with slavery. A Real President Acts when massive amounts of Americans are killed. We have a Businessman in Chief. These students are unhappy consumerists to Trump. He doesn't see the future of America in them only how can he side step this bad clientele movement. NOT Second Amendment and NOT guns don't kill people, people kill people drivel. It's the Money Stupid. Do Not Stop until Legislation Passed.........
5
More Americans are killed each month in Democrat controlled Chicago. Land of strict gun control.
Students.......for the future: the NRA and NRA friendly businesses may ignore you now, but you have economic clout. They won't ignore your boycott!
8
Guns enable mass murders, obviously. But why do so many Americans want to kill other Americans in the first place?
7
You missed the talking point here. You're not supposed to ask questions like that. You're just supposed to blame "guns" for crimes and black hearted people. It's so much easier that way, didn't you know?
1
Guns make murder easy. Maybe you didn't figure that out yet. And being able to cross states lines and go to gun shows and buy all you want just makes getting guns that much easier both for criminal gangs and so called "law-abiding citizens" who have no respect for the rule of law.
2
And it keeps getting weirder...(if not already posted)
Santorum is just pathetically bizarre.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/25/politics/rick-santorum-guns-cnntv/index.html
13
How about, Glennmr, simply saying that he (RS) is "pathetic," and letting it go at that? (I, too, saw his appearance on CNN and thought, "well, there he goes, again!")
Protests mean very little without follow up at the ballot box. David Hogg's message to the DC crowd struck the right note - the weekend's actions must reverberate right through to November and beyond. Gutsy kids is one thing, but it needs gutsy politicians more than anything. Let's hope we see a few more in power very soon.
17
I've just learned what former Sen. Rick Santorum said about these remarkable young people and I'm disgusted.
The only thing I hope is that he has shown that he is to stupid to ever hold public office again but then I think about the fool we have in the White House now and a chill goes down my spine.
11
Well the usa fights for countries to change there constitution why can t you modify your second amendment and forbid for ever fire arms. you are in 2018 not 1790 prove to the rest of the world that you are truly a democratic country otherwise I do not believe that you are the home of the free.
8
Modifying the constitution requires a constitutional amendment and that's such a difficult process it will probably never happen again.
I am so proud of the young people who had the vision and fortitude to make these events happen! I am proud of the parents and teachers who have nurtured these young minds to think, to question, to explore very difficult issues. I am inspired by the inclusion of all victims of gun violence. What I witnessed was solidarity and inclusion, thoughtful commentary, and fierce determination. I support all efforts to fight the divisiveness that has become "normal" and look forward to the changes this new generation will demand!
13
unfortunately, your POTUS doesn't care
3
A wonderful non violent way to overthrow our very evil government. Just by voting. So cool!
20
We did vote. Hillary won by over 4,500,000 votes. Donald Trump was elected by the men behind the curtains called The Electoral College to prevent Americans from actually electing a president "they", the ultra rich, lawyers and bankers didn't approve of. We alll vote for the lawyer of THEIR choice. You might be allowed to choose a dog catcher. If there's any danger of you electing high officials, we can always fall back on the voting machine hacking that has NEVER BEEN STOPPED!
Good points. Yet the electoral college can be overwhelmed by sheer numbers. Purple states will be turned blue or so I hope.
I believe at this point in time we are ruled by a fascist dictatorship. ActuallY I know it.
THE AMERICAN NIGHTMARE
While America's children bleed to death, weep and march to the WHITE HOUSE, their President golfs?
24
Trump does less damage to the world when he golfs, so let's hope and pray he stays on the golf course every day.
Show of cowardice, too, as the president skedaddles.
So unmanly.
23
Presidents can't introduce gun control legislation. They can only sign or veto gun legislation.
The protesting "students" seem to be either ill-informed or happy to be manipulated by Democratic activists.
(1) There are at least hundreds of thousands of semi-automatic guns and rifles already bought and owned LEGALLY by Americans, and there is no way the government can confiscate them if they passed a ban on "assault weapons".
Besides, such a ban would be subject to constitutional challenge in that it infringes on right to bear arms. (The constitution is about arms, not about specific classes of arms. Reasonable restrictions can be placed in who buys the weapons not who buys what weapons if they are not disqualified)
(2) Comprehensive background checks did NOT WORK in Parkland shooter's case. The FBI was warned twice (one warning as late as a couple of weeks before the massacre), and they screwed up. The shooter bought the weapon LEGALLY after going through background check. Background checks are only as good as the database that is used for vetting, and the authorities screw up, no law is going to work.
(3) Most of the killings that happen in gun-strict Chicago are with handguns, and it is ironic that no much emphasis seems to be placed on eliminating gangs from our communities. Liberals do not want to deal with gangs sternly because they say gang members are mostly blacks and Hispanics.
You cannot have the cake and eat it too.
(4) It is also strange that the "speakers" (some call them actors) did not call for better mental health support.
3
Oh, so we just shrug our shoulders and do nothing then?
9
1. Total nonsense. Many things such as various drugs were legal in the past, but when made illegal became subject to confiscation.
"A fraud on the American public.” That’s how former Chief Justice Warren Burger described the idea that the Second Amendment gives an unfettered individual right to a gun. When he spoke these words to PBS in 1990, he was expressing the longtime consensus of historians & judges across the political spectrum.
As for type of weapon, even Scalia admitted that the Constitution does not give anyone the right to own a rocket propelled grenade launcher.
2. If assault weapons were not available, we would not have to worry about who was buying them.
3. It does no good to have strict regulation of guns in Chicago, if somebody can travel a bit and freely obtain them. There are no international borders to be crossed when bringing in a gun from Missouri to Illinois.
4. The Las Vegas killer would have not have been discovered by any mental health test known today. There will always be undiscoverable crazies. What we should not do is facilitate their killing with guns.
6. The rest of the developed world can handle this. So should we.
(Gun Deaths per 100,000 residents)
United States 10.27
----------------------------------------
Italy 2.95
Australia 2.94
New Zealand 2.66
Denmark 2.6
Sweden 2.36
Germany 1.57
Hungary 1.21
Ireland 1.21
Spain 0.9
Netherlands 0.7
Scotland 0.58
Taiwan 0.42
Ukraine 0.35
Poland 0.29
England/ Wales 0.46
Japan 0.07
....
7
Oh to think you are so knowledgeable and superior telling the youth what they should be doing. Wait until they vote, then we will see who is telling who.
4
I love you patriotic kids! You give this grandpa faith and confidence in our nation's future.
20
The Declaration of Independence, the reason for the creation of the United States is based upon the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness - the first being life, and regardless, none cannot be achieved outside of safety. There can be no way that the right to own a gun exceeds the right to pursue life’s, liberty and happiness in a gun free zone of safety. The instinct to have to have access to guns at all times and in all places is indicator of mental or emotional illness and should not prevail over the need for safety and sanity.
45
In the last century, tyrannical national governments have killed millions of innocent citizens and the 2nd amendment protects lives from that and liberty as well.
Consider Stalin, Hitler, and Mao.
A bank vault is a defense against robbery when the bank is closed. It may seem unneeded because closed banks are never robbed but the vault is why they don't.
Madison envisioned an armed people as a defense against a standing national army used as a tool to impose tyrrany.
Those who would say a rifle is not match for a tank so they won't o any good need to remember how we lost more people in Iraq in the insurgency. How people had to live in the Green Zone so that would not get killed by small arms or IEDs.
There are none blinded than those who will not see and there are many who will not see the many ways this could have been prevented without weakening the 2nd Amendment.
The resource officer could have gone on as well as the deputies that followed. When requests were made for a forced mental evaluation they could have been honored. Domestic violence charges and a conviction would have made the shooter a prohibited possessor. Spot on see something say something dips might not have been followed by do nothing.
Please consider that the right to keep and bear arms specifically included arms useful to a militia. That militias were often not parts of the government choosing their own officers. That well regulated can also mean in effective working order.
Americans use guns in self-defense much more often than they used guns to murder someone. The Justice Department’s National Crime Victimization Survey shows that 235,700 Americans used guns in self-defense between 2007 and 2011, a total that works out to 47,140 incidents a year, more than four times the number (11,004) of firearms murders in 2016. Should Americans have the right to use a gun to protect their right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness?
1
If Americans had not been armed in 1776, Great Britain would have easily suppressed the rebellion. No one would have fire "the shot heard round the world."
1
For the first time in a long, long time I have real, solid, inspired hope about our upcoming voters and future leaders of our country. It turns out, they are very engaged in matters of the utmost importance in our democracy - their right to life, for starters.
56
How about they insist that congress vote on the president's proposal within say a week. I heard nothing like that, just banning and such. Not that huge of a turn out either, not millions. I especially want the database to be improved, and everyone who is suspected to not be able to use a weapon properly on it with a way to get removed if any mistakes are made. Better to put someone on the list who might not belong there than to miss someone who does.
10
It might also help if we regulated the sale of weapons of mass destruction.
There were millions including DC plus all the >800 US cities and foreign cities. It was the largest student-led protest since the Viet Nam war. Are you referring to banning bumpstocks as Trump’s proposal? What happened to the promises concerning gun legislation he made to the victims of school shootings that he met with shortly after the Parkland incident....not mentioned again after he met with the NRA....how much money did Trump get from the NRA....sad
You mean that President who looked the kids in the eye at a meeting, promised them he'd stand up to the NRA, raise minimum requirements to buy a gun...and then groveled and gave the NRA everything it asked for the minute they left?
Yeah, I think I know why they're not asking for his approval or proposals.
1
I participated in the march here in Portland, OR. Even with our usual spring drizzle, the crowd was at least tripled from what had been anticipated. All ages, all genders, all races were represented - it was an enthusiastic and focused crowd. What a wonderful experience to see what the children of Parkland have wrought. Upon returning home, I was even more moved to see images from Rome, Amsterdam, Geneva and countless other plans places supporting the cause of gun reform in the US. We are indeed one world and are in it together. Heartfelt thanks to every citizen of the world who made their voice heard.
51
For the first time in a long while... America...America's Young...have created something very special, relevant, potent and inspiring.
You should all be very proud and in awe of what they have started and will continue to do, say and make happen for ALL Americans safety, security, peace of mind and future.
I am very proud of them and the unity they have and are creating that will bring America ultimately closer together and they are already forging the path on the journey to showing and making America great again!
Bravo!
90
Agree. They are our only ray of hope. Others who may help indirectly are Robert Mueller and Stormy Daniels et al.
In any event if not much happens in next several months, a transformation will occur when the youth start voting in huge numbers. Too bad it takes school shooting massacres to effect change.
And there will be more sorry to say.
1
Seeing those kids gave me the first glimpse of hope since November ‘16 . The baffling part to me is why older people were not out there too . I understand that the older white guys are a lost cause but where were all the other older voters ?
22
In Boston, at least, the older folks were asked to stay back in the march and let the young people, who organized the march, lead the way. But there were plenty of older folks (parents, teachers, political figures, and others).
29
You appear to be a racist and an ageist. We elderly folks have better things to do that march and many live where such don't really exist. I fully support better vetting of gun purchases, but marching and talking are both not effective and mostly beyond my physical ability.
4
This 57 year old white guy was there.
17
Wait, I am confused! These poor shell shocked kids' message is muddled.
Are these kids protesting that the wrong people have access to guns?
Or that we leave them exposed to those who do by not having those who know how to protect them doing so?
Which?
The former, you jerk. How many of your friends have been turned into bloody pulps - or do you only watch TV..Fox news, no doubt. Guns, and the seconed amendment are to kill humans -years ago it was i ndians and runa way slaves. Now it is white racists. We need neither of these ideas to go un-regulated by society.No YOU dont need to kill run away slaves or indians any more.
30
You are not 'confused' Scott, just trying to muddy the honest rage of young victims who have finally seen that all of us "adults" have been behaving like infants.
7
One of the things they are clearly protesting is the unregulated sale of automatic rifles, a.k.a, weapons of mass destruction.
This massive protest, especially by the young, give me hope for our country's future.
59
A photograph from last year and one from this past weekend have joined to clearly show what America is all about.
I'm referring to the photograph last year of the small crowd for the Trump inauguration and the photograph on several web pages of the hundreds of thousands of gun violence Protesters who filled Pennsylvania Avenue. Trump and the republicans better take note because this is not the end, but is just the beginning.
And what did the NRA do about this? They had their TV spokesperson, who uses, hides behind, a pseudonym, go out and taunt the survivors of the latest crime and those family members who lost a son or daughter.
Now it is our turn.
Today, don't put it off, pull up your representative and senators web pages and find their "Contact Me" page and send them a strong message of support for the people who marched yesterday all across our country.
57
maybe the people who actually vote do not want further restrictions on gun possession.
Renegade,
I doubt that very, very seriously.
The extreme radical right ( republicans and the NRA ) think that it is going to be the status quo and all this cannot be sustained through to November.
They are wrong.
What is going to happen is such a comprehensive shift in American ( European and the rest of the world to follow ) politics that the paradigm of left and right no longer will apply.
It is going to be truly progressive policies that will be proposed and enacted by those people that are going to be voted in, ( women mind you ) If you are a candidate that wants to accept money from people/corporations that still want that status quo, you are going to be targeted for a primary by a candidate that will remain true.
The youth is not wasted and neither will be all of our futures.
40
One can hope.
1
So the extreme radical right are those who believe in the 2nd Amendment and the Constitution?
I noticed an article on Yahoo earlier today that treated a 4H sponsored gun club that provided competition target shooting. Bravo, 4H. There was a time before drugs, crime, and all of the other social ills when a couple of 14 year old Boy Scouts, intent on merit badges, could walk down to the Nat'l Guard Armory carrying their 22 rifles right though the small downtown and no one took notice. Why would they? It was a different day and time.
I resent "guns" being blamed for the reason that it takes attention from the mentally ill who need help and places the blame on an inanimate object. I also resent it for the reason that blaming an inanimate object is, on the surface, irrational. I resent irrational people pontificating about our rights as citizens guaranteed us under our Constitution.
Let us turn our resources to the needy of our communities; especially the mentally ill. More than that: consider participating in gun clubs for the scouts, the 4Her’s, JROTC. The clubs keep kids busy under adult supervision and as if by magic, the kids turn out better. Why? Because of you and the example you provided.
Oh, and another thing: provide proper armed protection for your children (you can bet the private schools do). Demand more from your school boards and law enforcement.
Guns are not going away. Why? For the reason that guns are not the problem. The troubled, the mentally ill, the criminal, the drug dealer, the gang member: those are our problems. Concentrate on those.
4
Spoken like a true spokesman.....an NRA spokesman! Guns don't kill people.
Mentally ill people do. All the statistics have proven this wrong. Yet you persevere and sadly succeed. Forget all these high faluting stats and twisted reasonings. Be honest to yourself and ask, " Would mentally ill people kill if there were no guns around? " Remember, be very honest to yourself!
3
The inanimate object is not a problem until a human picks it up
2
Watching from Australia , I am absolutely gob smacked by this line of " guns are not the problem " .. well yes they are .
Nowhere else in the world has children being killed as they attend school . What is wrong with you .
So arming teachers is a solution ? This is not a wild west T.V show . Seriously have you lost the plot entirely . Such simplistic propositions as drug dealers, criminals and the mentally ill . How do you police that ?
4
Those who want to solve the problem of mass killing will focus on all the causes including resource officers staying outside failure to prosecute domestic violance, failure to follow up on urgent tips, failure to apply the Baker act when requested, rather than only on limiting legal gun ownership by mentally able adult non-felons.
Those who are really motivated by diminishing gun rights will focus on legal restrictions to lawfull gun ownersip and use the tradjegy to serve their own political interes.
I assume the Students are not millionares and unable to self fund a national movements. I hope those who have provided funding are not giving voice only to those students whose positions align with their own.
Are some acting in the context of "never let a crisis go to waste."?
There are many existing tools to reduce gun deaths including probable caused based stop and frisk, prosecuting gin crimes to the fullest extent of the law, NICS and prosecuting domestic violence to create prohibited possessors not to mention following up on spot on tips.
BTW how many have young people have died in Chicago with its strick but perhaps underenforced gun laws since the tragedy?
5
The problem with Chicago is that guns are coming in from surrounding areas that have far less strict gun laws in place. And, keep in mind that the the Supreme Court has ruled that the so-called "right to bear arms" is not unlimited. Those students whose positions don't align with the students who marched in protest have probably never faced the wrong end of an AR-15. When they do, let's see what they have to say.
1
The protesting student’s demands are overly modest.
The students want to stop mass shootings. With 117 mass shooting fatalities, 2017 was by far the worst year for mass shootings deaths on record, but there are about 17,000 murders per year. Stopping mass murders altogether would reduce the number of murders only by about 0.9 percent.
The students want to ban assault rifles. Semiautomatic rifles—including assault rifles—are used in about 8.6 percent of mass shootings, but banning all semiautomatic rifles—including assault rifles—wouldn’t reduce mass shooting fatalities by 8.6 percent. Mass shooters denied semiautomatic rifles would use semiautomatic handguns. The shooter in the most lethal school shooting—Virginia Tech—used handguns to kill 32 students and teachers.
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Report, rifles—including assault rifles—were used in 374 murders during 2016, the most recent year for which data is available. The same year, unarmed killers beat, stomped or kicked 652 victims to death while other killer bludgeoned 475 victims to death with blunt instruments.
We need to work on the circumstances that make Americans want to murder each other.
9
Good points, but assault rifles are already highly regulated to being mostly banned. Judging weapons by how they look rather than how they work is ignorant.
4
That is absolutely not true, there are no additional regs vs any other firearm, in fact less than handguns because there's no waiting period. If you want to join the discussion, at least know what you are talking about.
The New York Times and most of the public classifies AR-15s as assault rifles.
Emma Gonzalez named the 17 students who lost their lives and then stood in silence for 6 minutes. That is how long it took the shooter to kill 17 students and injured 15 others at the Majorie Stoneman Douglas High School. Words could not have been more effective.
There is no logical reaon why a fellow student was armed with a
military assault rifle or why anyone could logically justify the right to own a weapon of mass killing.
We have gone beyond thoughts and prayers. We don’t want more memorial candles to light the dark corners of our selective reasoning for the right to own a weapon of mass destruction. A well-ordered militia does not justify an individual who owns an arsenal of weapons and ammunition for the purpose of killing a deer.
It is up to us to speak out loudly and unambiguously to congress that gun ownership must be regulated, that a person’s background must be investigated to be certain that the owner of a any weapon is responsible. It is by far an imperfect solution to the epidemic of gun violence
in this country, but we must start before more innocent lives are lost.
45
The shooter in the most lethal school shooting—Virginia Tech—used handguns to kill 32 students and teachers.
You conveniently forget to mention that Seung-Hui Cho's handguns weren't simple "six-shooters" or "Saturday night specials." They were sophisticated, "beautifully"-designed and crafted handguns with high-capacity/quick reload (for handguns) magazines, not the sort of weapon with which one needs to hunt deer or muskrat, but ones suitable for the rapid-fire slaughter of other people. Stop trying to deflect -- "Oh, look! A squirrel!"
1
I stood in the crowd in DC for five hours yesterday, so I'd like to report as an eyewitness and participant: it was a peaceful, single-minded, multigenerational throng of hundreds of thousands of people, led by the young, who will not be thwarted or fooled by hatred and ignorance. Many of the groups affiliated with gun reform are going out of their way to state that they respect the 2nd amendment but are asking -- begging, demanding -- common sense gun laws and an end to the sick delusion that grips our society (thanks to gun manufacturers and the NRA controlling our politicians and the narrative) that guns make us safer. Listen to the youngest members of our communities speaking truth to power: guns do not make us safer. There are no alternative facts on this one -- the body count doesn't lie.
I was so proud of the children and teenagers who spoke yesterday. The crowd around me listened intently for hours. We are not going to be cowed or defeated by fear. We are on the cusp of a new era of civic participation and voter suppression will not stop us.
177
Common sense is not common and is quite subjective. Do what the president proposed or at least vote on it to show who is willing and who is not.
ML, thank you, thank you, for standing and being counted yesterday.
5
Some things in life are not subjective. Like death. If someone is dead, they are no longer alive -- like all of the children killed by guns in the U.S. Please, please read the Boston Globe's extensive analysis of why MA has fewer gun deaths than any other state:
"We could save 27,000 lives if all states had the Mass. gun death rate" - The Boston Globe
http://apps.bostonglobe.com/opinion/graphics/2018/03/seven-steps/
4
I hope all these young people vote in the next election if they can.
29
Only 13% of 18-24 y.o.'s vote. So no, those that are eligible won't vote.
1
It's easy to regulate the people who will do what they are told.
Try regulating those who won't. That is where the problem lies, and why people run to guns in the first place. For in this modern world where anything goes, realists understand you must provide for your own security, whether you want to or not.
It is useless for sheep to pass resolutions in favor of vegetarianism while wolves remain of a different opinion. - William Ralph Inge
Hire more sheep dogs to guard the lambs.
2
You are driven by FEAR. Too bad, I wish you some peace.
Try monitoring what you tell yourself.
The folks who marched yesterday were driven by FAITH.
I prefer their world.
2
Yeah.
and give peace a chance.
For years, decades really, many of us who support sensible but meaningful restrictions on firearms have despaired that anything would move the electorate to challenge the power of the NRA and its hold on the GOP. Who would have thought that the answer to our prayers would come in the form of these wonderful young Americans who promise to do what their elders failed to do.
Let's hope their passion of yesterday will translate into votes tomorrow. And, hey, why don't we older Americans do something to redeem ourselves and join them?
35
Remember tobacco? Remember 'gay marriage'? We thought that we could never beat the big tobacco companies or win equal rights for gay people to marry. And we did. The gun lobby and their motley crew of bought and paid for politicians will soon go the way of the dinosaurs. I can't wait!
The only way to stop a bad legislator who doesn't care about reducing gun violence is by electing a good legislator who does care.
60
No parent, brother, sister, friend, student, teacher - no one - wants to see their loved ones' lives cut down abruptly by gun fire. To all the silent elders I have one question - are you not complicit in the future murders by standing on the sidelines, by not marching with the youth, by not demanding immediate action, by not voting out those who are hopelessly beholden to NRA, by not saying NEVER AGAIN? Can you live with that?
20
The hateful and abusive tone of comments reported as having been made by various NRA shills about the students make grim reading. And the hysteria of those (snowflakes!) who think the children are coming for all their precious guns is a saddening testament to how profoundly in the thrall of firearms many Americans are. But the eloquence and steadfastness of these hurt young people is really inspiring, in the tradition of the movements that historically have made this imperfect country try and try again to realize the ideals it was founded on. You can't purse life and liberty if you're worried about being killed at school! Or be happy.
74
Beautifully stated.
1
NRA talking points for this weekend:
Give them bump stocks
Say Hollywood Elites and billionaires liberals are behind this.
20
Finally, all those Republican "thoughts and prayers" are being answered!
39
And answered, David, "out of the mouths of babes!"
DNC listen up.
DNC, despite massive war chest, you have lost your way.
I would rather donate to Emma Gonzalez and the kids who know how to organize and fight the gun lobby.
28
You are presenting a false binary choice kat: There is one party -- the Democratic Party -- that favors reasonable gun restrictions and mirrors the vast American public sentiment in favor of reasonable gun restrictions.
By contrast the other party -- the Republican Party -- is in the pocket of the NRA.
So supporting the Democratic Party candidates at the same time supports these students.
19
I'm with you on that Kat. We need to start over with non-corrupt politicians in any party.
12
Nice try, but only one political party showed for these rallies.
13
Vote Democratic. We will get rid of all guns in the hands of private citizens, and all police who mistreat citizens.
6
Nice try, but nobody sane is asking for perfection. Or as I seem to recall a rather better President saying, "Never let the perfect be the enemy of the good."
19
and there it is....
1
Yes, by all means vote Democratic. But we must drop the rhetoric of getting rid of "all guns in the hands of private citizens" as both unrealistic and deeply antagonizing to a segment of our society with legitimate reasons to own firearms: serious target shooters, ranchers, biathletes... We must not be as "absolute" as the NRA crowd, and we need to be realistic.
Why no reply space on the anti-gun control people article?
These people aren't pro-second Amendment they are gun Fanatics and anti ar-15 control people; please quit describing them as Second Amendment defenders. many of us who support the kids are pro-second Amendment. we also believe there's no need for assault rifles or semi-automatics in the marketplace. #emasculatetheNRA
29
Interesting that 2A fanatics always overlook the 'well regulated militia' part. It's like christians who conveniently overlook parts of the bible they don't want to think about.
2
I wish there was a comment section too on that other article. Did you notice at the end of it when they asked the young gun rights activists what laws they wanted they responded with 1)universal background checks 2) mental health test before any purchase and my personal favorite 3) a registry to know where and who owns ALL guns. They were literally arguing for tighter gun control. They don't know their views are actually in line with the other camp? Crazy.
I have never felt more ashamed of my country than I did after seeing the talking haircuts on Fox & Friends snicker and sneer at these students simply because of their age.
53
1. Will they register to vote?
2. How will they vote (will Democrats offer good candidates)?
3. Especially will black students (and their families) vote? They left Hillary Clinton dangling in 2016.
The GOP has had a gender, minority, and youth gap. This could widen that by miles. Or not.
10
Hundreds of thousands of young people in the streets. Bet you couldn't find one future Republican among them.
17
Its called a mob. I know plenty of high school student republicans... but their voice is not relevant when the media is on your side
Trump wanted a big parade. Well, here it was. Where were you Mr. President?
62
I retired after 34 years of teaching. I am 73 years old. I watched the entire march yesterday and cried during most of it. All my own thousands of kids came back to me as I watched those outstanding young people demonstrate with great eloquence and style, the best of America. We live in an interesting, often ugly time. Trumpism is a nothing but a cheap, life threatening, disgusting disease. Those young people are the antidote and I am so grateful that they had solid teachers and caring parents to assist them on the long journey of their, up to now, relatively short lives, and to the demonstrations yesterday. America is going to be alright. Where there are all those bright, clear eyes, there is hope. Emma G? You rock!!!
53
I was there. I cried too. We were all crying. Emma Gonzalez was just incredible.
19
All young heroes, more power to you. Stay strong and never let go of the great momentum you have build. The powerful NRA is quiet and the cowardly dirty politicians have left the Capitol because they are scared, very scared. Here is the chance for you to put garbage in the garbage can. And d as sweet Naomi Watts reminded you, you will have that right, the most powerful weapon in your arsenal - the vote! And remember, " United you stand, Divided you fall ". The NRA and corrupt, compromised politicians will try do just that - divide you. My superheroes don't allow that!
20
Reality check untill people become awaken to real causes they will continue to point blame to the guns. We sensationalize violance an drama in televission poisoning the minds of children. Children grow up to become super preditors or worse stil we continue to point blame to gun. What price to we have security in schools how much of 70 billion in income from lotterys are spent to protect are children in school zero. How much of taxs collected from states from lottery winners 40 percent goes toward security in schools ,zero
2
It is time for all responsible Americans to stand tall with these students. They are demonstrating more character and intelligence than the corrupt NRA and the Republicans they have bought. Shame on Congress and the White House!
23
So, about this urban gun violence that no one hears much about in the white media, when are those survivors of such violence going to start talking to the police so the killers can be jailed and put away?
3
Fox people have been trotting out the atrocious fallacy that these students are being used by bogeyman socialists to pursue an agenda that the students don't really want. Accusations have been made that the students are only doing it because they are in the thrall of their teachers who are holding grades over them. The patent absurdity of this proposition is belied by the sheer numbers who attended these rallies all over the USA and the world. So to Tucker Carlson: would you care to retract that ridiculous position?
Mr Trump- dear beloved and exquisite leader of the free world: I know you are going through a difficult time at the moment but would you like to compare crowd size numbers at the Washington gun laws rally to those at your inauguration? Perhaps you would like to recall Sean Spicer to explain it from the podium and Sean Hannity to do the same from the Fox studios. BTW as an Australian I would like to apologise to America regarding Rupert Murdoch- he is yours now. SAD.
33
Where were the massive marches (incidentally - promoted by the dubious "womans march" crowd) after Sandy Hook? I guess when Obama was president there was no need to protest. This is more about Trump than about student safety.
What about ism again. These current marches were initiated by the peers of the adolescent peers of the victims. I can't imagine that the elementary school kids at Sandy Hook 6 or 7 old would or could organise such marches. If it is about Trump that does not augur well about his political future. It was probably a mixture of both Trump and the shooting. Hard to say in what proportion but it seemed to be about guns more than Trump. There was nothing dubious about the Washington crowd which was way bigger than Trumps inauguration crowd with its dubious funding,
So proud of this March for Our Lives movement the kids from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. started. They are more adults then the so called adults in our government. Our congressmen and senators are abducating their responsibility and 45(?) I don’t want to go there.
17
“And these children that you SPIT on as they try to change THEIR worlds, are IMMUNE to your consultations. They’re QUITE aware of what they’re going through.” -Bowie
29
BRILLIANT Bowie still inspires. Musical prophet for those seeking light in the darkness.
6
People should consider not supporting violent movies that offer violence with guns as entertainment.
6
Thanks Maria. Now could you speak to the subject at hand? Violent movies and games are all over the World. Mass shootings are American!
Way to go students. Keep it going, and "always do your best, never get discouraged, don't be petty, always remember people may hate you, but they don't win unless you hate them back, and then you destroy yourself."
Keep going and you will win. Focus on the lack of differences between the AR15 and M16, (the M16 is banned), focus on what a 'well regulated militia' really means, (because these paper sunshine patriots forget to mention that always), and focus on NRA's complete lack of military experience, specifically draft dodger Wayne LaPierre, and you'll WIN. You're going to WIN. Go students, GO team.
18
I lived through the 60's & 70's revolution by the young against Vietnam. What I sense here is that once again, the young will rise up against the powers that be against their unthinking cruelty which was responsible for millions of lives lost then & which are responsible for lives lost now. We didn't have the internet then - but still, movements on all fronts arose & finally an unjust, cruel, unnecessary war was stopped. I am feeling a glimmer of hope, finally, that another such generation has arisen which could prevent another such war, whether in NK or Iran.
If revolution is occurring with these students, so be it. It will be our only salvation with the war tribe Trump is gathering in his WH.
17
More people went to March For Our Lives than did to your inauguration, Mr. „President“. Get the message?
31
Our children and grand children feel they MUST interrupt their childhood and young adult lives to do what lawmakers at state and federal levels have been UNWILLING to do! You do not have to be a rocket scientist to know that 300 million firearms sold in this country should have required a background check (PERIOD!) and that weapons of mass destruction, used in war zones to kill 100's of people in a matter of minutes - along with armor-piercing 100-round magazines etc. should be available to military ONLY. This should have been fixed two decades ago in the USA --- But the answer is that bribery is LEGAL in the USA and the NRA has billions of dollars in bribe money!
19
Ms. Pezzi, Ana, so there were WMD in Iraq after all?
Isn't Congress on break this week?
Paul Ryan won't have to stand up tomorrow and say "Now is not the time to talk about this" I guess......
By the time they return, this will be old news unfortunately.
3
"Isn't Congress on break this week?"
Yes, and any voting by mere citizens is 8 months away.
1
Students of America, you have momentum, do not stop till you are in office and can make the changes you are calling for.
13
If "It takes a good guy with a gun to stop a bad guy with a gun." and the US has over 300 million guns why are we known as the shooting capital of the world instead of the safest country in the world? Australia solved their mass shooting problem, with sound gun control legislation. It works! States with stronger gun laws have less shootings. Google it. Become informed. After watching the Parkland video, taping the live shooting, hearing the pops of the bullets and the screams of the students lying on the floors of their classroom it became very clear that our legislatures are immoral and are lead by their personal desire for greed and power, but they don't represent us, the people. The NRA is calling the shots. If our government doesn't value the life's of our children, how, in fact, can they possibly value our own!
20
Sorry, Peter, Australia tried to solve their problem by confiscating guns. And gun ownership has now returned to previous levels. Perhaps you need a different example.
Seriously? Where is your data?
I don't recall any reporting of weekly mass shootings in Australia lately.
Perhaps you need a different example.
4
I'm sorry John. Whatever point you're trying to make it is WAY, WAY safer in Australia because of their gun laws. Nobody is Marching for THEIR Lives. They are marching for Americans's kids lives.
1
So glad to see and watch the NY Times video between those of Parkland and those of Chicago. Awareness to the issue of gun violence everywhere and every day from around the world and home in America.
Never Keep Silent until your objectives are met with success!
5
There is a danger here. Now that Republicans can see how well organized and ready to act that young people are with the help of social media watch for them to initiate measures to regulate social media so it can't be used this effectively again. Remember, except for a misguided minority voter here or there the vast majority of Republicans are white supremacists and NRA worshipers and they are doing whatever they can to keep it that way. So look for Republicans to restrict and control Facebook, Twitter, and all other social media programs that afford good coordination and organization for minorities and young people.
1
Wow. Yesterday Facebook was the villain in stealing the election, tomorrow the hero for saving the day from Republicans. I’m not even going to think about it anymore.
1
At last it is so refreshing to see society wake up to the fact that our leaders have been corrupted and bought off by the NRA. I am particularly impressed by the the students leading the charge to stop this insanity. May all of them who take money from the NRA be voted out!
14
Do tell us how five million people corrupted Congress when 130 million voted in the last election?
The electoral college put Bush Jr & Trump in office - the majority votes went to Gore & Hillary Clinton. We have to toss the electoral college in the trash along with the NRA.
2
John, your comment makes no sense. The comment Yvonne made said nothing about the past presidential election and nothing about 5 million people. You are going off on a tangent.
It’s important to note that despite what you may claim, none of them, and none of you, are protesting gun violence. You’re protesting gun ownership. You might lie and claim it’s only about background checks or “assault weapons” (a meaningless political term that can describe nearly every firearm out there, including the hunting rifles you claim you don’t want to take), but if you’re honest, you’ll admit you want a full ban and confiscation of every privately owned firearm in America. That isn’t happening. Not without a civil war.
5
"if you’re honest, you’ll admit you want a full ban and confiscation"....That is an insult. I am honest and I want an effective and efficient background check system and restrictions on assault style weapons.
“assault weapons” (a meaningless political term that can describe nearly every firearm out there, including the hunting rifles".......And you can take your garbage elsewhere, 'cause if you need a rifle with more than a three shot capacity you are not hunting.
20
First, for the millionth time, the 2nd Amendment is not about hunting. Second, nearly all handguns and rifles hold more than three rounds. So what you’re calling for is a ban on nearly every firearm useful for defense and nearly every one made since 1940. Not happening.
3
Every day, I wish the British had won. The founding tax evading fathers were evil and stupid, bequeathed us a nation of genocide, violence, racism, religious fanaticism and stupidity, because they put no restrictions on guns, colonization or religion. And everyone misinterprets the 2nd amendment. We don't need a militia, and this amendment of evil should have been repealed 100 years ago.
2
If you cannot see the irony in having a gun ban enforced by men with guns, then you fail to understand why the 2nd amendment was written in the first place.
3
No, you fail to understand. The revolutionary war began when British forces attacked colonial armories at Lexington and Concord....hence the second amendment
1
If you cannot see the irony in having guns controlled by people with guns, then you fail to understand why the Second Amendment is not absolute and why innocent people are dying.
1
Nobody needs a military style assault weapon unless he is planning a massacre.
8
No single action will end gun violence in the US. But, I'd like to see gun owners held responsible when their guns are used in accidental shootings. There are almost 2 million children living in homes where guns are loaded and unlocked. Unsurprisingly thousands of children die every year and thousands more are injured as a result of this carelessness.
8
Just one suggestion, remind the current administration that not only will you will soon be able to vote, you can also run for office.
9
Protests outside the United States regarding (internal) issues of the U.S. Constitution smack of attempting to exert outside influence. We’ve seen that recently.
Big difference, nobody was trying to hide it
2
Isn’t it surprising that people outside of the US are concerned about American children being gunned down in school. When so many Americans don’t care.
8
I wish they would invade and liberate us from this evil gov't. I wished the same thing under George Bush. I could pledge allegiance to the UK, Denmark, Finland, France, etc, but not to this rogue nation the USA.
Awesome show of force and opinion. Nothing but respect for those now young-adults. Matured by the lack of efforts on the parts of the alleged adults in the rooms and halls of power.
As an old guy, Im excited by these younger citizens exercising their right to protest and march. Want to help them, but willing to let them lead. It exciting to see that the American youth might be the undoing of the many fossils currently sitting in office, and on Corp boards, who put profits over people. And a factor in the undoing of this President. (that alone is exciting)
March on "kids"...you are no longer the forgotten! You are the future. And never forget to respect that power.
8
After hearing so much about the dim-witted, selfie distracted, social media obsessed younger generation , my faith is restored. The astounding articulateous of not a few but dozens and dozens of "kids' under 19 has been so impressive - ad reassuring. While we older folks have pretty well destroyed good government, topped off by the misguided election of reality showman trump, at least the future looks good. The glaring contrast with the adult politicians who can't do anything but dodge the issue couldn't be more stark.
14
The kids were so inspirational in every way , they gave me hope for our future.
So articulate, rational thinking delivered with passion.
I love them.
However that hope was diminished by the predictable comments from the right, Rubio, Santorum as two examples . Then the disgusting statement from the NRA.
Nothing from Trump.
This indicates that between now and next January nothing will happen.
It is imperative that in November we kick out the conservatives from the House and Senate and it is our youngest generation that can do this.
It is in their best interest , it is not only gun control, it is a crumbling infrastructure, a unsustainable debt , ever increasing cost and availability of college and health care that puts at great risk their future.
We and they must vote , enough is enough.
12
It's saddening to see these kids exploited by the left. Lured by VT cameras and the promise of a career as a celebrity victim, these kids are barreling toward leftwing stardom. After raising millions for marches, I was disheartened to watch 60 Minutes kick off their segment on the MSD students with one of the shot students, whose father was hoping he could get help with his medical bills. I forgot to hear Emma Gonzalez or David Hogg speak up for him, or Oprah/CLooney cut a check. But they all had plenty of time for the cameras and the marches and leftwing applause. Their votes will be manipulated and forgotten so the left can complete their power grab for open borders, higher taxes, repeal of the 2nd Amendment, abortion funding and foreign policy capitulation (in exchange for a Nobel). I don't see the media talking to the students who where there that have a different opinion, or even talking to the kids who were actually shot and survived. I'd never call emotional teens crass opportunists, so I'll leave them as exploited emotional kids. Meanwhile David Hogg laments how his newfound fame hasn't translated to college acceptances. Tell him not to worry, I'm sure UC Berkeley has a front row seat just for him.
10
Did you know that the NRA has received funding from Russian oligarchs?
17
And what has the right done for us? Gitmo, Iraq, perpetual wars, terrorism, torture, tanking the economy twice, tax cuts for the rich, attacks on the environment, against immigrants, against endangered species, and support of lax guns laws, which are killing our kids.
5
I am deeply saddened by your cynical attempt to disparage these kids. It is clear to anyone listening to them that they have their own voice, an authentic voice. These kids give me hope for a better America.
4
There is another threat these people face, but this one is certain to have an impact on each and every one of them. The effects of climate change is likely to come down hard during their 40's; maybe their 30's. It might shatter all their dreams and leave them in a Hobbesian world where they will be glad to have weaponry at hand.
Time to hear from youth about this existential matter.
4
To put in Trumpian terms: Yesterday's rallies where huge - even bigger than huge - but not quite as big as his inauguration…. All kidding aside, yesterday gave me hope for our country and hope that people can still transform the country for the better. In the spirit of the suffragettes, the Vietnam protests, the marches for civil rights, and the recent women's march, we were all witnesses to history in the making. It was a very special day when the courage of our convictions “trumps” the blood soaked money of special interests and the NRA.
7
Young people with ideals are one thing the NRA cannot buy and corrupt. The NRA has bought Republican U.S. House Representatives and Senators, Republican State governors and legislatures, and irrational political commentators for decades. It now looks as if that corrupt bunch of has run into a substantial push-back from a substantial group of rational young people with common sense, human decency, morale values and a desire to retain the Democracy of the United States, all things the NRA and their Republican Good O'le Boys lack and oppose.
6
Why does no one found an alternative to the NRA? It is said that numerous NRA members disagree with that organization's views and policies. So why don't they leave and found a rival gun owners' association that embraces the principles and views of those opposed to the NRA?
4
Members of Congress display their servitude to the NRA just like the BELL BOYS from Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. The difference is the Bell Boys from the hotel were unwitting and our representatives are COMPLICATE in carrying their guns and ammo nearly everywhere to be exchanged for BAGS of money..!
Gun violence in this country has become our own personal Viet Nam.
We must WRITE, call and show up in LOUD force to their district offices, DC offices, 1600 Pennsylvania, and the national mall every month.
The LAST week of every month could be suitable for every group or faction that is opposed to GUN violence in their own communities to come out, raise awareness and to fund raise against GUN violence.
So many good causes that, we as Human Beings and Americans, have supported by: walks, marathons, concerts, bike rallys, sit-ins, marches, bake sales, and yes, prayers and vigils.
Our universities and schools, houses of WORSHIP, workplaces, concert venues, hamlets and villages have all been targets of GUN violence maybe because they are the BACKBONES that have made us who we are as a nation.
If every one of these 'vertebrae' in the BACKBONE were to use their NETWORK through their hamlet on a given day to hold a walk, run, concert, bike rally, march, sit-in, bake sale, and yes, prayer and vigil, would anyone holding office support that?
Call it: the LAST Sunday, the LAST Saturday, the LAST week, or last SUPPER. Devoted to the victims of, and to end to, GUN violence in America...!
4
Watching these young people yesterday gave me hope for my country. I'm so proud of them!
12
Until these amazing young people reach the age of majority they will need the support of dedicated, caring adults to make sure the "stop at Nothing" actions they will take are safe. As an organizer and protester, it is a real conundrum to imagine direct actions that can be taken by people who don't have the legal rights of an adult.
At the same time, imagining a youth led die-in at a gun show where the police are called in to remove the protesters, and the students' guardians intervene to prevent the police from touching children expressing their first amendment rights, is a very interesting legal and social problem. Police can ask parents to remove unruly children from stores or risk arrest if they don't remove the child, but the child is never at risk of being arrested for that behavior.
Of course, young people, especially of color, are picked up off the streets for no reason whatsoever every day. The police state is strong, but what will it do with children in organized direct action protest? How should our laws treat these young people?
5
It is time for change. To achieve change, we must flip 40+ flippable districts this November. We must also take back statehouses ahead of 2020 & undo the obscene anti-democratic gerrymandering that leads to more votes for progressives nationwide but nevertheless to reactionary control of the House.
6
It was a mistake to bring up the issue of urban gun violence within the context of these rallies; it is an entirely separate issue from that of mass school shootings using rifles. We know how to curb violence in cities; you flood problem areas with police, and you vigorously enforce every law on the books. This is something politicians can actually do, but they lack the will to follow through. Contradictions such as this bely the central message of the marchers in that this is about solutions to gun violence; instead it is just a feel-good moment and an opportunity to lash out against all the familiar stalking horses of the left, like the NRA.
The central message is that our children are tired of being gunned down in school, in church , at the mo, at concerts, at the mall, on the streets. Apparently the slaughter of our children doesn’t bother you.
4
Local efforts are undermined when they can be circumvented. Chicago has relatively strict laws with respect to guns. But Wisconsin and Michigan are states with different laws that enable people from Chicago to get guns that they cannot in Chicago.
A very impressive display of the intelligence, determination, and commitment by these very young people. A strong positive statement for the future of our country.
The immediate next step would seem to be ‘get out the vote’ to help ensure the defeat of candidates who stand in the way of strong gun control.
The hysteria created by the NRA also needs to be defeated with the strong support of the many responsible gun owners.
Congratulations students. Don’t let up on your mission.
11
These youth led gun control rallies were no 'show of force' in any typical American tradition. The clear clever contrast between the youthful leaders and speakers and President Donald Trump was an awesome display of unity, maturity, humanity, humility, empathy and wisdom.
7
We should lower the voting age to 17 or perhaps even 16. Some other countries have already done that. Young people in general adhere to our nation's ideals better than most of their elders. They might be our last, best hope.
2
The members of the gun lobby are strong, but they are old. The new generation can and must show that the Constitution refers to an 18th-century need for armed soldiers. The Constitution did not anticipate people some hundreds of years later insisting that we all need to be packing AK 47s. The old guys will die off; the new generation will show the way.
9
When will our Congressional representatives really listen and act? Children should not be going to school or in school walking in the shadow of fear. This has to change. Soon, many of the high school students will be old enough to vote. I hope they change what adults will not. It seems that money talked and was the only thing that kept weapons rampant without strict gun laws. Now, words coupled with action will bring a change. Perhaps, not now but very soon, and it will be new voters.
4
The kids are great.
The response from the right is not new. those against Vietnam protests (and some still are), they've staked their position and going against that position, in the face of incontrovertible evidence, will stick to their guns because to admit that it's wrong they have to admit that they're wrong. Nobody wants to be wrong.
My father was an exception. He shipped bombs to Vietnam but didn't criticize me for protesting the war. I once came home from a demonstration that I was covering for my school newspaper and I was in a foul mood. Mom and Dad were there and asked "What's wrong?" I ranted on and on about this and that and Dad said "You're right but what are you going to do about it?" That's when I realized that tearing down is easy but finding a lasting solution is way harder. This precisely is what President Trump and the NRA stooges fail to understand.
I see a lot of similarities between the women's movement (Me too) and the kids movement (March for our lives). They're not popular with a large contingent of our society. That contingent is the one that LBJ referred to when he signed the Civil Rights Act saying "There goes the South." They don't want to admit that they were wrong. Accepting the most flawed President in recent history to cover up their misinterpretations is something we have to deal with. We may never convince them but we have to live with them. This doesn't mean we should give up. It takes time and perseverance.
2
A well maintained registry of guns and a well maintained database of people who ought not be allowed access to guns and ammunition could change the way guns are managed in this country. These would enable reliable background checks for all who would own, purchase, or exchange firearms, and they would enable laws to remove guns and prevent access to guns from those deemed to be at risk of doing harm with them in a systematic and legally satisfactory manner. It is far more important to use our powers and wealth to focus in upon reducing gun violence by identifying those who are highly likely to do harm than the broad and unfocused effort to just remove guns from all who have guns already.
Not understanding the scope of gun ownership and how they are mostly used can lead people to think that the simple and best solution is to ban guns that seem unacceptably threatening. The much praised assault weapons ban the lasted for a few years never provided for the effective and quick removal of those weapons from private ownership. While purchasing them was illegal, the vast number owned could not be confiscated for many years, unless a very big effort was made to locate and seize them. Banning weapons does not remove them from being threats any sooner than focusing upon identifying people who pose dangers and removing their guns.
1
The need to reduce gun violence and especially mass killings is an urgent need but just a feeling of determination to eradicate the problem is far from enough to accomplish those ends. The problem is very complicated and cannot be addressed cheaply or by passing a few strict laws. The use of slogans to arouse people to support one side or another will continue but actually addressing the problem effectively means understanding that sloganeering should not direct people's efforts if the problem of gun violence in this country is to be effectively solved.
True. But unless people are inspired and engaged, nothing will happen. Unless they are inspired and engaged,they will not educate themselves regarding the complexities and issues around gun violence. Sloganeering is a way to get people's attention and motivate them to action!
1
I attended the march in Portland. It gave me more hope than I have had since November 9, 2016 that we might finally escape our slide into Thomas Hobbes' nightmare.
4
This Generation is maybe the greatest success of the Boomer Generation.
5
Well, along with ending the Vietnam war.
Gun registry and well maintained databases of those who would be a risk to themselves or others if allowed access to guns and thorough background checks prior to all sales and exchanges of guns would not address the harm done accidently by those who mishandle guns out of ignorance or failure to consider the consequences of how they are using them. Guns are lethal tools and all will maim and kill, small single shot vest guns to semi-automatic rifles. A lot of children are killed with guns left in homes where they can find them. Burglars steal guns that they can find. People lose their tempers or try to use them to scare away people that they think are threats. People think of the guns as protection and leave them loaded and ready to shoot in easy to find locations. People just stow guns in some closet where anyone may locate and remove them. These are all behaviors that make accidents and impulsive misuses of guns that lead to tragedies highly likely and can be prevented. Guns should be locked up and not be left loaded. Children need to understand that guns are not toys and must not be touched by them. People who have guns to protect homes should understand that guns left loaded and easily retrieved are a big risk to people in the homes and can easily be stolen.
Licensing that requires training and informing people of legal responsibilities and safe practices would go a long way to reducing this aspect of the problem of gun violence.
1
I'm so pleased that young people have an important issue burning under their feet. They're going to have to know how to organize and protest even harder in their future. That is if things continue in the direction they are going. Possible conscription looms ahead. Question authority kids, always.
3
These young adults will be soon or are 18 years of age. If you don't take them seriously then I suggest those in Congress start looking for a new job-you term there is very limited. It would be a mistake to under estimate the power of this segment of our society..
6
and yahoo news highlighs the 44 kids who object, and want guns, ar-15's. the second amendment was for militias of civilians to kill humans - either runaway slaves or indians.
We do not need to kill indians OR runaway slaves any longer, in fact, we need to make reparations.
And as for350 million guns - so what? - you can't count that high? we can count a LOT higher..When we attacked acid rain, did we say oh there is too much, we can't fight it??Same for cloroflurocarbons in freezers - these are two battles we have WON! By passing laws and enforcing them. So all 350 million guns in america, turn them in..We can do it.. There are way bigger numbers than 350, and we can count that high.
9
The primary purpose of militias was never to killed Indians or runaway slaves. The primary purpose of militias was to protect the citizenry against tyranny, as they did in 1776. The Minutemen were militiamen. Militias formed to put down slave rebellions, but not to capture runaway slaves. Runaway slaves were tracked down by sheriffs or bounty hunters, but they weren’t killed; they were returned to their owners. A dead runaway was worth nothing to bounty hunters. But you are right. The Second amendment is outdated. We need to repeal it, but we should not ignore it. If one of the rights guaranteed in the Bill of Rights can be ignored, they can all be ignored.
sorry buddy @william case, the purpose of 2nd amenndment militias was to kill humans, specifically indians and slaves.
Those who support "2nd amendment rights" want to kill humans. End of story. It has NOTHING to do with 'hunting for food'' or some other garbage. The second amendment was to kill humans. It 's over, for that.
3
Oh, and the 2nd amendment had NOTHING to do with 'arms against tyranny" - really, NOTHING!! It was to kill indians and slaves as effectively as the new government could get done, and enlisting civilians onthe outposts of society were part of the deel. If you are out there in
Wisonsin, on your land-grab for the new United States, yes, you can kill those Indians. Or if you are on your estate in south Carolina and those slaves run away, you can shoot them, because their freedom undermines our economic system. THAT is what the second amendment was FOR!!! Not to provide support against Britain - that was over pretty quick!!! But slaves and Indians went on for years and years and years.. No, we do NOT need the 2nd amendment any more for anything..,
1
The Second Amendment is a pox on the body politic of the US. The question is, how does one vaccinate? Ban some weapons? Or strictly limit access to all weapons, through some combination of registration, licensing and mandatory firearms safety training? It will be interesting to see how this young generation takes this on - we, the older ones, have completely failed, but this newer one won't, we would have to hope.
8
Repeal it, if you care to try. You will find that a majority of Americans want the right to bear arms, even if they do not own a gun themselves. You maqy limit access to some weapon classes, but you will never real the Second Amendment.
The Constitution has been amended three times in my lifetime. It's not impossible. (America once passed an amendment outlawing alcohol, so anything is possible.) At the moment, an amendment permitting the federal government to place significant restrictions on gun ownership would stand no chance of ratification, but an amendment leaving gun control up to the individuals states might have a shot at ratification. Why would Texans care if New Yorkers or Californians want to disarm? Many Texans think New Yorkers and Californians should be disarmed.
1
Most Americans want gun control.
And meanwhile, GOP pols like Rick Santorum (on CNN this weekend) says the kids demonstrating are immature slackers bankrolled by "Hollywood elites and billionaire liberals," shirking responsibility by "asking" others to pass "phony gun laws" that according to him do nothing, instead of "taking personal responsibility" and learning how to "deal with" a shooting "by learning CPR."
Or maybe also learning to apply a tourniquet and how to stanch bleeding from a sucking chest wound, Rick? Or give last rites? Yes sir, those kids can count on you and your Republican frat bros to do absolutely nothing, but still have the mindless vanity to repeatedly insult the nation's intelligence, such as it is these days, on national television.
Guys like Santorum are proof that nearly all among this generation of Republican lawmakers have no place in our future.
84
Republican name calling--the usual contribution to the discussion.
4
Members of Congress display their servitude to the NRA just like the BELL BOYS from Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. The difference is the Bell Boys from the hotel were unwitting accomplices while our representatives are COMPLICATE in carrying the NRA's bags of guns and ammo nearly everywhere to be exchanged for bags of money...!
1
i'm not the kind of person to make fun of people,
but for his remarks mr rick santorum deserves
my suggestion that he spend time in a SANATORIUM ...
to think his insults over.
Schools became different places after Columbine, no longer open safe havens but fortresses to protect. The protestors yesterday have lived with shooter drills and increased police presence but these precautions have not made them feel any safer as one after another school shooting occurs. The is reality that the right to have an AR15 is more important than a student's life in our society. People remember childhood experiences, it shapes their opinions, values and actions as adults. As these students become voters, they will have influence and already have the beginnings of organization and are learning the power of that organization. Hopefully change is on the way.
43
Many of the students will reach age 18 before the November elections, and I am more than positive that these remarkable people will be at the polls.
And, for all voters, both the Republican and Democrat parties have volunteers in the community who drive voters to the polls. There is positively no excuse to say, "I couldn't get there." Just pick up the phone and call the local headquarters, and they will pick you up at your home.
The real test will be if US prepared to act on the will of the people and not bow to the corporate lobby groups with all the right connections. If there is cynicism about government that the system only works for a minority elite this "crisis of confidence" presents an opportunity to make people heard and their fears addressed. Having a hunting rifle registered at home allowed in Switzerland with strict guidelines but not AR15 types. In London England crime appears even more complicated with every gang member carrying a concealed kitchen knife; or acid in bottles. Both societies under stress at the mercy of angry young men with family problems? "All you need is love" by JOHN LENNON killed in New York City by deranged gunman.
3
The one thing the Douglas students have in common is their high school. I’m not an educator, but I must say that I’m deeply impressed by the educational foundation these young people have received. How thoughtful, how articulate, how determined! Good job, Douglas teachers!
253
No wonder Betsy DeVos wants to de-fund public schools. Educated kids may may cost her arms-dealer brother big time.
14
I join In applauding these teachers. These kids from every corner of our country put most of the US congress to shame.
5
Yes! All states should have teachers who teach their students how to figure out what is in their best interest, rather than simply accepting what politicians tell them to do.
2
As a 56-year-old, I guess I should say that I'm "proud" of these kids. But beyond that, I am in absolute awe of them. They are intelligent, energetic, and sincere believers in their cause. They have not been sullied and discouraged by politics as we older folks have been. They must keep the momentum going, through to Election Day 2018. That will be the single most significant day of this amazing campaign.
169
When will young people march against the endless war doctrine of the Republican and Democratic parties. Do they not care that everyday the US is murdering people in over seven countries?
12
The young people are saying "choose life." That goes for fighting climate catastrophe, foreign wars and nuclear weapons, too. Gun violence is both a real issue that they can grasp onto right now AND a metaphor for all the ways their generation has been sold off to the murderous oligarchy that rules our country. And they are waking up to that fact. Today, the issue is gun violence, but I assure you that these clear eyed, smart and courageous young people won't stop there. They are our only salvation. We need to cherish and support them.
4
Maybe that's your cause to march against.... sometimes you've got to pick your battles. Apparently this is one that resonates with them the most.
Are you saying that because they aren't taking on ALL the causes the young people shouldn't take on this one??
3
We have met the enemy, and it is the NRA.
160
No, actually it's ignorant people who want to ascribe societal ills to an organization who represents law-abiding individuals.
We have met the enemy, and it is the current Republican Party, bankrolled by the NRA, industries that would destroy our environment, and Russian oligarchs. Cut off the head of this snake, and its body will lie motionless in the light of truth.
8
Karen....How many of those lay-abiding individuals know that the NRA has received funding from Russian oligarchs?
4
Rick Santorum said this morning that instead of passing "Phony gun laws", the youth of America should learn CPR. Rick Santorum......you are the worst kind of politician and the worst kind of leader.. You are exactly what this movement is going to make sure never gets into office again.
Youth of America.......congratulation on taking this courageous and purposeful action. All "Rational Americans" are with you.
348
One has to hope these throwbacks, including Marco Rubio, keep on talking this way so the friends of the NRA are clearly the spotlight come November. They are really saying two things: that they owe their allegiance to the NRA, not to the school kids (or anyone else in the cross fire); and they think kids should be seen and not heard. It's corruption on top of 50's era arrogance. This wrongful and clearly understood stand should earn them a ticket out of office (an no return) as soon as the coming midterms.
8
Guns laws have been established for 50 years. Mainstream America will never allow any more restrictions on guns laws. These young people lost the fight before they were born.
Who is doing the killing? Mostly disaffected kids that the popular kids bullied. Place blame where it should go.
Rick Santorum has never been bravely honorable and patriotic enough to volunteer to wear the military uniform of any American armed force.
I am a black grandfather born and bred on the South Side of Chicago. I grew up around some gunfire. I had a gun in my face twice. I have civilians, cops and crooks in my family. I have shooters and their victims. I have the living and the dead from homicide and suicide.
6
American students are heroes, our politicians are traitors who care nothing for the future generations of America.
91
David Hogg for president and Emma for NSA. Why not?- they are smarter than Trump and Bolton.
3
How about an edit to "some" of our politicians are traitors.
I personally know many who do care about the future generations of America.
1
Agreed, MOST of our politicans are traitors and a few do care.
1
The "mass shooting generation". ... This is an obscenity.
27
Ask yourself why the same radical liberal democrats who organize and fund these rallies to take away weapons from law abiding citizens won't vote to secure our borders. Thousands of dangerous illegal weapons are entering the United States.
Not only weapons but dangerous drugs that kill many more people than guns.
3
Nope. Mexico gets its illegal guns fron the US. Chicago gets its illegal guns from other states with lax gun laws. Gun control isn’t banning guns. It’s regulating the sale and distribution of guns.
4
I think they are marching to end gun violence in the US, not to take away your firearms. They'd just like to be as safe as kids are in most every other country in the world.
4
Actually, I think you'll find that the flow of dangerous weapons across the border is going mainly from north to south. Easy to get here, a ready market among gangs there.
4
The mass hysteria and attacks on Republicans and the NRA is more proof why the Founding Fathers made the United States a Republic and not a democracy. Mob rule wants to take away Constitutional rights and then our right to free speech. The Left is using these tragedies to further their gun control movement and not doing anything logical and reasonable that would actually help prevent the next tragedy.
Focusing their hate on the NRA and law-abiding gun owners, versus the complete failure of the system, will only hurt your cause. Bad guys never obey the rules, so no matter what you do, they will always commit crimes. It is a fantasy that you can remove all the guns in the US, as more will flow across the border and will give the bad guys an open hunting season. Of course, your hatred for conservatives and the Constitution blind you to any unintended consequences.
9
I think their focus is on ending gun violence. By the way, if you read the second amendment, it isn't very clear.
"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."
Maybe our elected leaders need to spend some time cleaning up the language so that it addresses the need for regulation without preventing healthy, law-abiding people from bearing arms.
2
I care deeply for the Constitution, which is why I do not misread it. A well-regulated militia, like the National Guard, is different from any and all who are at least 18 years old. The NRA is all about maximizing sales and profits for the gun industry. Rifles, shotguns and handguns have their place in civilian society. Military weapons and accoutrements designed to maximize carnage do not. Safety over profiteering. Always. Move out of the way if you can't lend a hand. The times they are changing thanks to these passionate, admirable young Americans.
4
None of the rallies or Parkland students are talking about banning guns. They are talking about common sense regulations. And they students don't need 'the Democrats to 'use' them .... nothing is more motivating than actually hiding in your classroom at school, experiencing the fear, and seeing your classmates shot to death! They have their own reasons for campaigning for gun control laws.
5
Trump's got nothing to say to these kids and their lives.
Kids got your tongue, Mr. President ?
45
President Trump does not need to respond. He has advocated for gun law improvements. These young people are not President Trumps' potential supporters in the 2020 elections. In fact, most of these young people will forget to register and if registered will forget to vote.
1
If he doesn't pay attention to his own son Baron, how can he speak to youth that are more articulate than himself. Trump is too busy playing golf and sowing chaos in the White House to be bothered.
4
I am so proud of these young people. Keep doing what you know is right. When we protested the war in the sixties we did not have the support of the pubic for a long time but they did eventually understand that we were not unpatriotic or selfish. We saw a wrong and tried to change it. You have my full support. Don't let the gun lobby tell lies about you without calling them on it. They will put all their money behind trying to make you look bad.
94
It would be better to protest Donald Trump and Republicans. That is the reason for all this stupidity. End their rule and you not only solve the gun issue along with many others just as important. A march against Trump is also a march against dictators like Putin and others. This would be much more effective than this single issue.
9
No gun restrictions were established 50 years ago. Voting Americans will not allow for any more restrictive gun laws.
President Trump is not the problem. The hands-off educational system is responsible.
Aren't you forgetting about the 2nd Amendment and the Constitution? Blaming Trump and Republicans does nothing to help solve the problem.
I see your point, but unfortunately, these mass shootings preceded Trump, so it's the NRA and the lax attitudes of Congress that we need to protest now.
Admittedly it was quite a stage spectacle yesterday with the commensurate liberal media circus surrounding it championing it as their cause with the kids acting out their parts. I also have to admit that I felt a certain unease when my wife expressed her disappointment with our fifteen year old grandson and his parents because yesterday all he did was play soccer. Has childhood now been politicized as well? The last vestige of optimism stolen away.
5
If you had actually gone to one of these rallies, you would have heard middle school and high school students talking about what it is like to have monthly lockdown drills, what it is like to be one of the hundreds of thousands of children to have been shot at in their schools, and what it is like to watch their friends get slaughtered in cold blood before their very eyes -- or while huddled behind a door texting their families goodbye.
1
The ones who took to the streets are the real optimists. Because they think they can make a difference. Having „better things“ to do is not optimism - it‘s ignorance.
4
Unfortunately their childhood now has to be politicized for the sake of protecting their own futures. You and I have not done the job. I'm going to get out there and try to help but it sounds like you will continue to keep your head in the sand and look at the problem of gun violence as something created by the media.
1
Watching and listening to those all those many diverse young people yesterday as they laid down the gauntlet to the ossified, cowardly and corrupt party of the NRA, I found myself with the first unforced smile, and a joy in my heart that I haven't felt in a long time. They've given me hope. And for that I'm very grateful and will support them in any way I can.
55
The students have made a big impact and gun control will be an issue in the November elections. How this will all end up, though, depends upon all the people who decide to vote in November and whether the second amendment limitations are intelligently addressed or an serious effort is made to enact another amendment to change the rights of gun ownership to a privilege of gun ownership. There are some very deep divisions in the perspectives towards firearms in this country that will not be changed by emotional displays.
People who live in urban and suburban communities need far more controls imposed on who may keep and bear arms. Any misuse of firearms where so many people live so close together is a serious public safety problem which our current weak gun control practices and policies just are not acceptable. But in rural areas and most of the geography of this country people both use and keep guns in a manner where the public safety concerns are much less than in urban areas. The culture of guns there is old and emphasizes safety that enables having so many guns not so much of a threat. So how to address the circumstances and needs of both?
One big problem is the movement of firearms in areas where controls are few to where controls are more restrictive allows those who will harm others in urban areas to do so. If all guns were registered and all exchanges of guns required background checks, this illegitimate trade could be detected and interdicted much easier.
12
If you have ever been on the wrong side of a gun, you pretty much should get to set the rules.
17
It's a bit late for rules then, though, isn't it?
Having grown up in a "rough" neighborhood, I did in fact have a gun pointed at me when I was 15 years old. Luckily, the guy saw someone else he wanted to shoot more than me, and turned to shoot. His gun did not go off; apparently it wasn't working or didn't have bullets. My friends and I just ran, so I don't know what happened to him after that. Just grateful to be alive now.
1
Perhaps the mental health aspect should also consider the more rabid NRA and other gun advocates as well as those applying to purchase. Some of them sound severely paranoid and unhinged.
21
The NRA has, by their own numbers, about 6 million members. Think that’s a lot? It’s less than 3% of the American population. That’s right. Fewer than 3% are holding us hostage to their agenda. We outnumber them by a lot.
VOTE!
182
Yeah and by other estimates they are about 5% of gun owners. That means that the NRA does not speak for all gun owners, either. It also means that those gun owners have their own view of gun ownership from the NRA. It also means that gun control measures must account for the real wishes of a whole big proportion of Americans who the NRA does not represent.
5
And most of them are members for the member discounts.
4
Yes, and only 5% of Americans hunt for sport.
5
This young people have starteda movement. The NRA may have more Money and Lobbyistes. The Young people will have the Votes.Those in Congress that take NRA Money your end is coming.
22
Vote the hooligans out of office. In the past eight years, they've made it clear that they understand no other language. They obstructed Obama in ways that are traitorous to the American republic, refusing to consider a Supreme Court nominee, for example, until he was out of office, and voting to take health care away from millions. They do their best to gerrymander beyond the wildest dreams of a wing nut and they attempt to disenfranchise millions of eligible citizens. Vote them out of office. Let's take our country back for our children and grandchildren from the masters of war and the killers of children.
49
"If the opposite of pro is con, then the opposite of progress is Congress." Best description ever of the GOP-controlled Congress. The youth clearly understand what is at stake, and the majority of Americans join with them. As for the "opposition" - that includes you, Sen. Rubio - you might want to begin practicing in the mirror your future, election-night concession speech, or alternatively, your conversation with NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre in which you decline future campaign donations and explain why you are donating the more than $3M of accepted campaign donations to support March for Our Lives.
15
"If the opposite of pro is con, then the opposite of progress is Congress."
BEST post all day! Thank you!
So long as we have people in Congress like Marco Rubio and Paul Ryan who have been completely bought by the NRA, nothing will happen. These people need to be voted out. I was shocked that Florida re-elected Rubio, especially after his confession that he hated his job.
30
We will take action every day in every way until they simply cannot ignore us any more.”
If an adult said that they’d probably be put on some kind of watch list for making threats, like they did with the Black Panthers back in the sixties. Yesterday we were all like proud parents watching our kids perform in their first school play. So long as they realize that and understand it’s just a script.
1
Pay attention and see what happens.
we note Mr. Doe they are not afraid of using their real names.
1
These will be the kids that overcame this dark moment in our history
13
After the darkness of this past year, a day of sunshine. There is hope and it's 18 years old. The best thing about yesterday...didn't hear or see Trump all day!
24
It's certainly refreshing to see these students taking charge of the narrative. I'm ok with them replacing every member of our government for a hot minute. How many lobbyists are in charge of our elected representatives? I don't recall the word "lobbyist" in our constitution anywhere. It's ok though...as a fifth grade teacher I am a huge civics teacher, as we have classroom elections among other things. We have to pass on a better place than the one we inherited. I guess money and wealth is the root of all evil.
4
Emma Gonzalez, you gave a better speech, than Trump, Ryan, McConnell - people 3x your age. It is wonderful to see young leaders emerge in opposition to entrenched, failed, money-hungry DC.
Elders are suppose to nurture and launch the next generation. All of DC has failed that responsibility too. The kids are ready.
19
So amazing and inspiring! Please don't lose the momentum, vote, and influence the vote so that those beholden to the NRA pay with their seats. Guns should be heavily regulated, because they are weapons of murder. There should be a ban on military style multi-round weapons for the general population. Gun owners should be 21 or older, have licenses and pay insurance, be required to be trained to use a gun and learn about safety, and report their guns if they're stolen. There should be no guns sold over the internet. All gun buyers should be checked through a national registry of criminal offenders. There should be no open carry in any state, and you should not be able to buy guns where you buy diapers. There should be gun buy-back and destroy programs to get the millions of illegal guns off the street. They're far more dangerous than any immigrant who's overstayed a visa. As for hunters living in rural areas who want to raise their children in hunting, they can get their child a learner's permit and hunt with them and assume responsibility for what happens with that weapon. Finally, except for police officers, no guns, ever, in schools. Thank you, young leaders for cutting through the haze of propaganda and focusing our energies on caring and fixing this horrible American problem and tragedy that we really can change if we work together.
8
It is time for the younger generation to take control of this country. It is their country, their future and as has been said and proven the adults have made a mess of our democracy. I have been thinking of leaving this country, because a country that cares nothing for it's citizens is not a place I want to live. This day I am hopeful and again proud to be an American.
4
Here in Riverside, California, I sang with the Riverside Resistance Revival Chorus, a group of women, mostly older, who appear from time to time at progressive themed marches and other programs. We dress all in white to echo the legacy of the Suffragists. In front of Riverside's Historic Courthouse, the students who planned and produced the march here spoke eloquently about the need for change, and brought tears to everyone's eyes when the names of the 17 dead in Parkland were read. Perhaps the most meaningful act of all, for me, occurred when the young organizers came to the chorus members, one by one, and hugged and thanked us. My response: No. Thank YOU.
9
Yes god bless these children an adults who put their bodies out on the streets all over the world. But bodies on the streets without bodies in the voting booths is next to meaningless in the long run, especially when dealing with politicians who take money from the NRA oer r are supported by gun owners who are paranoid about their gun rights being taken away. Nonsense. I own a gun. And god help any fool who busts into my house at night bent on mischief. But people have to register to vote if they intend to "vote you out" and then they have to stand in line in foul weather in November to reall
5
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 is ragin'.
It'll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'.
10
Terrific! I sang along!!
Someone try to steer Emma Gonzalez in the more effective direction of a law degree so she doesn't become Joan of Arc.
Such support from the NYT commentariat. And yet, as the Democrats gear up to clone Conor Lamb and his pro-gun views in every district, they bemoan progressive "purity tests".
Note to members of the blue team: what these kids are proposing is an ideological purity test for political candidates. I will support that, as I always have; will you?
Because the Democrats are as guilty of this as the Republicans. Instead of boldly standing up for what's right, they have for decades kowtowed to the narrative set by the gun lobby. And all the while I have heard Democrats complain about youth turnout, even as youth have been gunned down in streets and classrooms alike.
It is not simply about changing laws. It is about changing a culture. In much of America, guns have become a tangible stand-in for the lost masculinity that the collapse of the middle class has wrought. It is people who feel no sense of control in their lives grasping for something that makes them feel in control.
And until that is contended with, this fight will never end.
2
Love it! I'm so proud of these young people, our future! Yes, it's time to vote out every single Republican who is getting "good grades" from the NRA.
7
Attention GOP:
These informed and fully engaged young American activists aren’t going away.
They’re networking, driving voter registration and they’ll be voting in November. And even more of them in 2020 as more and more are eligible to vote.
Maybe the GOP should listen? The narrative on Fox and the various GOP voices over the weekend has been mostly “naive and uninformed kids, already had their movement hijacked by Hollywood elites” blah blah blah. The very same narrative that the NRA fed them on Saturday.
It certainly appears we’re witnessing the beginning of a sustained movement rather than just a moment.
4
The first time I marched in the streets was in San Francisco on Moratorium Day, 1969. I was 22 years old, and Richard Nixon soon called us "bums."
The second time I marched in the streets was yesterday. Back in '69 we wound up on the right side of history...those who marched yesterday are already there.
18
The NRA is cultivating an extremist mindset in its membership. While we were on vacation a few years ago, our 80-something year old neighbor who is an NRA member collected our mail for us. When we came home we discovered that he had opened mail addressed to us from Everytown for Gun Safety. He was curious to see what message the enemy was sending and couldn't help himself. He's one of the NRA sheep who've been brainwashed into believing that any gun control is a slippery slope leading to the banning of all guns in the US. Here you have an otherwise law-abiding and venerable member of the community committing a federal offense as a result of this "circle the wagons" mentality promoted by the NRA. I asked him what well-regulated militia he was currently a member of.
11
Yes! Women first, and now children leading the charge against the wrongs.
Meanwhile the NRA resorts to trump like mocks and smears. They are already the past. The women and children are leading us into the future. They’ve already started to vote the wrongs out.
7
One problem as I see it is that as students get older, graduate, and go off to college, into the workforce, etc., their will be a dissipation/attenuation of the time and energy the now have. Thus, every graduating senior among the student demonstrators who are headed to college should now consider organizing "March For Our Lives" activist groups in campuses across the country. And networking them together. This will serve to institutionalize the cause, and continue the focus of their energy and activism for at least an additional 4 years.
Think of the student protests of America's insane, violent gun culture as the resistance that never happened back in 1930s Europe during the rise of fascism. These smart children are sick and tired yet just in their teens, at the dystopian gun nightmare the feckless Boomer Generation foisted on America.
This nightmare isn't just about loons shooting up schools, churches, concerts, nightclubs etc., it's also about authorities shooting unarmed American children and father's like Stephon Clark in his backyard in Sacramento for no reason, except that city's own embrace of violent gun pathology.
BLM is right, municipalities are perpetrating human rights atrocities on American citizens. The larger injustice of these government shootings is that the executions are rubber stamped by municipal, state and federal officials. DAs, Grand Jurys, and Judges including Supreme Court justices validate the shooting of unarmed citizens first and asking absurd questions later like "are you still alive?". The trigger happy shooters almost always walk after the injustice.
American gun culture and its NRA sponsored and state sanctioned embrace of violence is a global disgrace. It is the guns, and the twisted notion that guns don't kill, that is absurd. Just ask the protesting children who've witnessed home grown American slaughter first hand, and who are now protesting our second amendment delusion. They are smarter and more humane, decent than gun lovers and their greedy aupporting politicians.
5
The only way to affect legislation is to contribute campaign money. In other words, buy a politician.
Voting out those "pay for play" politicians is the answer.
A list of contributions by the NRA to every congressional candidate will be very helpful.
Hopefully, many other sources of extreme violence will become major issues within our citizenry. We are a powerful nation. But our past and current penchant for violence still significantly blemishes the considerable good that our nation does. Even our history books cover up our entire unconscionable past.
Just think for a moment: There were no European settlements in the continental United States just 500 years ago. We justified all of our misdeeds with as "Manifest Destiny" or other Christian-based entitlements.
So let's hope that our youth will bring a moral awakening to our nation. Let's cleanse our history books of the lies and distortions that are woven into brains. And let's learn to be more thankful than proud to be Americans. There no good reasons to allow Washington determine the fate of our nation. I'm not recommending a move to plebeian governance, because the controlling force would reside in our media. But non-binding referendums during national elections might be a way to free us from a broken system.
The issue here is lack of focus and innovation. A surprising and disappointing occurrence since the academic community is leading this advocacy.
Unfortunately, the problem is not the guns, as guns cannot pull their own triggers. The problem is the criminals and the mentally ill. These people break gun laws because they do not care about gun laws. To take away all guns is also no solution. A quick look at history and the alcohol prohibition of the 1920's to 1930's indicates that a firearm ban will increase the criminal element involvement with firearms, the black market, and eliminate any deterrent that a criminal may have if people in law abiding households no longer have guns.
With the permeation of the internet in our young society it should be abundantly evident that instant communication can be used to signal the police or some form of security instantly when someone or some situation does not look right. Initiatives along these lines will have much more immediate and long term impact on reducing school violence whether the tool is a firearm, bomb, knife, etc.
As everyone is taught when they are young (thank you A. Einstein), the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different result.
Study upon study on this globe has shown the same thing: the more guns, the less regulated the guns, the more gun violence; the fewer guns, the more regulated the guns, the less gun violence.
I absolutely agree that one proper definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results.
1
In Boston there were people walking through the crowds, giving instructions to young people to register and vote. That's the only way things are going to change.
5
Our local rallies had voter registration tables.
I keep seeing the condescending articles of comments about whether the young people will vote, or will be apathetic, or will continue their protests.
Today's young people - Gen Z - is very underestimated. Youth culture is not frozen in 1960s Berkeley, or with Millennials or Gen X. This is different. This is no Occupy movement which was largely a youth-only countercultural movement that helped frame a serious problem but was internal and deliberately not political.
Kids against Guns is very focused. These teenagers are familiar with the political landscape, with the attacks on LGBT, women's rights, Muslims, and immigrants. This is a very diverse informed generation, and their friends would fall into these categories. 9/11, Iraq and Afghanistan Wars, school shootings, the Great Recession, the attacks on critical healthcare -- all these have cast shadows over Gen Z who are more realistic, less optimistic, and at the same time are focused.
Their demands are reasonable ones. 26,000 teenagers under 18 and children have been killed by guns between 1999 and 2016. The Vietnam War took 60,000 lives across 20 years, and most Americans knew someone who died in Vietnam. Now most young people are familiar with gun casualties.
Most Americans including gun owners support universal background checks, closing loopholes, child access laws, and the majority also support bans on military style weapons and large capacity ammo.
It is the GOP/NRA who are out of step.
8
I'm sure the GOP's reaction to these brave young students will be to raise the voting age to 21.
2
They won't need to do that. The Russians will control the vote very soon, and the GOP will welcome it. The GOP agenda is in alignment with the Russian strategy: destroy from within without firing a shot. GOP'ers: You've been had.
1
This has been an effective political campaign organized by the Democratic Party so that politicians can get their picture taken with kids who espouse Policy prescriptions based on emotion and not rational thought.
It’s interesting that it has become popular to campaign for the government to take away one of our fundamental rights. People used to want more rights.
The fact of the matter is that these are high school students who are experts in having a traumatic experience and experiencing loss. They are not policy geniuses and it is ridiculous for anyone to say otherwise. Policy that comes from emotion and feelings will never be good policy.
So we should never have revolted against England is what you're saying?
1
Please explain that to the people who will never give up their guns until they are pried from their cold dead fingers.
The emotional attachment some people have for their guns is slaughtering our children and grandchildren.
2
Saw much of the March on TV. The courageous students spoke with greater discipline and purpose than most paid politicians that are beholden to the lobbies. They get paid by taxes to do what the lobby groups want.
Emma G.'s looking past the cameras held the thoughts and aspirations of many people. Her stark silence that seemed to stop time, reminded of the main character in the 1928 Carl Dreyer film.
Vote out all politicians who take money and support from the NRA.
Marco Rubio doesn't deserve to be a U.S. Senator from Florida.
Most important to remember - if victory isn't immediate, keep working and vote again next time. And the time after that.
Change may be slow in coming but in the long run, staying committed will win.
Vote this time. Vote again next time. And the time after that.
Thank you to the Parkland students for this lifesaving movement.
8
Forget the voting age. The 16 year olds can drive people. Those under 18 can help register people and use social media to help those of voting age understand the urgency of gun control. They can also team up with a large group of voters who are about to get hammered--the disabled, many of whom can't drive but who also need to vote to stay alive, as their food, insurance, and subsistence income will be taken away in "entitlement reform". The kids get this. They can't be bought and they aren't going away. In a wealthy country like ours, people don't need to die in the streets. Unregulated guns maintain the fear. Kids--don't forget to follow the money. There are many tools those in power use to stoke the fear. We are a wealthy, resourceful country. We can do better!
4
Anthony Montalto, the brother of Gina Rose Montalto, one of those killed, held a sign that said: “My sister could not make it here today. I’m here for her.”
That sums it up. HIs sister, who should have been alive, planning her life, hanging out with friends, laughing, sharing secrets, and worrying about school, isn't. She's dead. And so are the 26 children and adults in Sandy Hook. So are the people who were killed in Las Vegas. They were murdered for no reason partly because of a fanatical NRA and the senators and representatives who love their contributions and the high ratings from the NRA.
The motto ought to be safety first. We should be putting people first, not guns, and certainly not guns designed solely to kill human beings. How many more must be slaughtered this way before our elected officials listen to us? What's an unacceptable number of deaths? Is it 100, 500, 1,000, 5,000? Or do we need to have an elected official's son or daughter murdered with an AK-47 or an AR-15? Would that be persuasive enough?
This reader doesn't know what's more disturbing in America. Is it the fact that the murder of innocent people who aren't famous isn't enough of a reason to make it impossible to get these sorts of firearms? Or is it that even when our elected officials are shot nothing is done? Or worse, are our elected officials and GOP dominated Congress more concerned with the money than they are about American lives?
24
France is a country with a long history of politicized high school students. Strikes and demonstrations over political and social issues are a part of life. In contrast, U.S. high school students have been less a historical force for change. Maybe this is changing. A good thing.
9
I was at the march in Chicago. All the speakers were young people; I think the oldest was a junior in college and most were in high school. I was impressed by their poise and their eloquence. After seeing them I feel hopeful that they will be the tipping point and we may be able to turn the tide.
20
NYTimes, please pick your headlines more carefully.
This was a show of ***peace*** and ***nonviolence***!
The framing of this as a war between nonviolence and violence makes it more difficult. Making it harder to get machines that can kill or maim a lot of people in a big hurry seems to enrage people who want easy access to those weapons as a right. They seem unable to balance the right to life against the right to kill easily. They think more violence produces less violence.
Nonviolence, like silence, is noticeable by the absence of harm or intrusion.
Too many people seem to disregard the facts and think ever more violence will achieve safety. It won't. It's expensive as well, and students and teachers are suffering from ever decreasing resources for what should be free universal quality public education. Taking some of those resources for more violence should not be the answer. Escalation of harm does not reduce harm, it increases it.
12
Yesterday, millions of young students marched through Washington and in other states to fight for gun control and demanding a background check prior to buying a gun; many students were accompanied by their parents. They no longer want to go to school in fear of their lives.
They claimed it is a movement that will continue unless they see some reasoning legislation. Otherwise, they will make use of their vote to oust politicians members of Congress that are receiving contributions from the NRA and the gun industry because staying in power is more important than saving human lives.
It’s inconceivable that 72% of the population doesn’t own any guns and yet 3% are gun owners are in control of our future. We, as adults must join these young students to create some balance in an effort to end the heinous massacre of people in this country.
13
I saw many, many middle-aged & older at our march in Atlanta. We have hoped for a day like this for a long time.
10
Let's hope these articulate young people stay focused and principled and do not lose their way as many of the 60s era protesters did; becoming enamored of the very things they shunned coming of age.
7
I attended the march in San Francisco. It was deeply inspiring to see so many young people who I had once thoughtlessly considered apathetic, so passionate and engaged on this issue. Their political awakening is an unstoppable force. The times indeed are a changin.’
14
"Imagine" its really easy if you try.
I kept hearing that song as they marched. So many people, so many words of hope.
9
Thanks to Paul McCartney for marching in the streets of New York with thousands of others.
Millions of us miss John Lennon.
35
“The only reason we’ve ever heard of them is because the guns didn’t come soon enough.”
FACT CHECK:
The only reason you've ever heard of them is because the gun did arrive - and when it arrived, their friends and loved ones were butchered with efficiency.
141
Funny how the NRA's insistence on filing our streets with guns gave voice to the people that will destroy the NRA.
Without the NRA, nobody would know the names of these kids.
2
"with efficiency"
6 minutes 20 seconds
17 dead
15 injured
A lifetime of grief for friends, classmates, families who will always remember those "who will grow not old."
1
These young people demonstrate the savvy and fervor that surpasses all of the adult outrage about weaponry without controls. I believe that they will be a constituency that Congress cannot ignore.
10
Will these young people 18 years+ register to Vote in the November 2018 & 2020 elections?
Their vote is important if a change is to happen.
I hope their enthusiasm will not wither over this summer and fall.
14
They are teenagers who want to get rid of the second amendment and refuse to blame individuals for these tragic occurrences. First, the second amendment will never be repealed, which will frustrate the kids. Second, some of them will realize many of their talking points are flawed and want to distance themselves from the movement. This movement will likely be over by September, unless many more sick and evil people attempt to damage schools.
To: John R.
I disagree, they will remember and will vote in 2018 and 2020.
Note: No one wants to repeal the second amendment!!!
Emma Gonzalez, David Hogg and all the students demonstrating, agitating and organizing for serious and lasting gun safety legislation are my heroes.
They are doing more for gun control than Congressional Republicans have ever done. These students are honest, incorruptible and fearless, and they will make a difference.
Politicians beware...
143
wow. incorruptible?
because they're young? because they agree with you?
If you pay taxes, you are complicit in corruption. If you don't pay taxes, you are probably corrupt already. If you're human, you're either corrupt or corruptible.
Mother Theresa described herself as a "wretched sinner." She became a nun, and then a saint.
I think you're comment is naive.
I marched and I contributed. Now the marching is over and the long, hard struggle begins. If the movement is going to succeed, it must replicate the primary strategy of the NRA: raise money, develop a mailing list of supporters and relentlessly target politicians based on vulnerability and their support for the NRA.
This is a movement that should continue to be wholly owned and operated by young people whose courage and capability have shamed us older folks who have so miserably failed them for so long on this issue. Those of us who are parents of teenagers may be used to “shut up and write the check.” In this case, they could not be more right. I hope parents around the country no matter their political affiliation will continue to heed our cildren’s pleas and give them the resources they will need to end this scourge.
12
How does the movement succeed, rb?
If further gun control is enacted, it will only result in the paradoxical effect of allowing more guns into our society. More guns, cheaper guns, and more dangerous guns because we will be opening the door wide for the criminal black market.
These children are marching, and advocating for something that will only result in more guns, cheaper guns, and MORE dangerous guns flooding our streets. The left loves to lead with its collective bleeding heart, but ENOUGH already with recommendation of something vague that can only make matters worse. American history has proven it time, and time again. The left, unfortunately, is making our next generation dumb on this issue...
Go ahead, check out how the 18th Amendment to our Constitution worked out. It made the manufacture, distribution, sale, and consumption of alcohol, the most deadly recreational drug in our nation ENTIRELY ILLEGAL. Check how long it took for the black market to take over the supply of the demand for that drug which, by the way, kills 3X as many Americans annually as guns-- 90,000 compared to 30,000 for guns 2/3 of which are suicides.
1
for kkurtz. The recommendations are not vague and, for most, the aim is not a total ban on guns. The recommendations are universal background checks, a ban on assault weapons, waiting periods between purchase and delivery, and a reliable no-buy database.
4
Your argument that gun control (and nobody is arguing for banning all guns) would only increase the number of guns and the black market for guns belies a lack of understanding in what the NRA has accomplished. It has driven legislation that legalizes what is essentially a black market in unregistered gun sales, it has significantly degraded the government’s ability to track certain types of weapons and their sale, it has even prevented government agencies from studying the impacts of guns on the nations health.
Under the veneer of protecting law abiding citizens’ right to bear arms, the NRA has deliberately drafted legislation that has greatly expanded the ability of gun manufacturers to market their wares AND has greatly abetted criminals in their efforts to both attain weapons and avoid detection by law enforcement due to laws that restrict certain types of information from being collected or require its deletion from the public record.
1
I'm sick of hearing about "law abiding gun owners" and point out that most mass murderers were considered "law abiding gun owners" before they went off and killed a whole bunch of people in a split second. None of us can tell with certainly who will, or won't, someday lose it over a personal or professional crisis, and when that happens and there are guns all over the place, someone is bound to be hurt.
72
Yes. Sick people will hurt other people. No doubt, we have many sick people. Someone, as you say, is bound to be hurt.
Problem is, what you--who should know better-- and these children are advocating for-- gun control-- will only result in more guns, cheaper guns, and MORE dangerous guns flooding our streets. The left loves to lead with its collective bleeding heart, but ENOUGH already with recommendation of something vague that can only make matters worse. American history has proven it time, and time again. The left, unfortunately, is making our next generation dumb on this issue...
1
These kids are going to need a lot of support with the gun control issue. In their young age, I'm not sure they understand perseverance and patience. As their generation quickly grows into adulthood, they will have other issues on their minds and out of necessity, abandon this endeavor. However, I hope they plant the seeds in this nation so that other will take up their cause. The good news is that they will be of voting age soon and they will not forget those politicians who are bought off by the NRA and refuse to protect them from gun violence.
7
I believe these young people fully understand this will be a long, up-hill fight. I applaud their maturity.
2
Yes. The kids need support.
As for needing patience, and perseverance... not so much. Especially if they continue marching for gun control which American history has only proven will make matters worse.
These children are marching, and advocating for something that will only result in more guns, cheaper guns, and MORE dangerous guns flooding our streets. The left loves to lead with its collective bleeding heart, but ENOUGH already with recommendation of something vague that can only make matters worse. American history has proven it time, and time again. The left, unfortunately, is making our next generation dumb on this issue...
Go ahead, check out how the 18th Amendment to our Constitution worked out. It made the manufacture, distribution, sale, and consumption of alcohol, the most deadly recreational drug in our nation ENTIRELY ILLEGAL. Check how long it took for the black market to take over the supply of the demand for that drug which, by the way, kills 3X as many Americans annually as guns-- 90,000 compared to 30,000 for guns... 2/3 of which are suicides by gun.
1
Unfortunately, they do not understand that gun"control" will control nothing. It will only make more guns, cheaper guns, MORE DANGEROUS guns available to ANYBODY with a pulse, and the money to pay,
My thanks to the New York Times for having the courage to allow comments; from what I saw online at many news sites during the march, the palpable anger and fear of many gun-owners and the NRA came out in horrific vitriol against the marchers, most especially the younger students.
While the on-line posters were reaching into their boxes of right-wing and NRA-supplied memes for material ("good guys with guns! teachers with guns!"), the students were digging into their hearts and memories and speaking truth to power from experience. No one can deny them a voice: they earned their seats at the table in the most difficult way imaginable.
37
It’s clearly time to lower the voting age to 16. The country needs these young voters to dare I say, Make America truly Great Again!!
2
The voting age should be raised to 21. These kids are being manipulated to make the Democratic party the good party. The dems have never voted in gun law reform.
Meanwhile we have an inept GOP controlled congress and a president who apparently can’t even find any lawyers willing to defend Him.
I applaud and support the students who are bravely callling for reasonable gun control.
15
I was extremely moved by the speeches I heard yesterday all over the country. I thought that they kept the focus on the lives lost. Calling out their names. Singing Happy Birthday.
9
"For many of the young people, the Washington rally, called March for Our Lives, was their first act of protest and the beginning of a political awakening. But that awakening may be a rude one — lawmakers in Congress have largely disregarded their pleas for action"
How dare you! How dare you decide "their awakening will be a rude one." Just because the so called grownups can't keep their focus on things that matter for more than one news cycle, just because those grownups have been willing to relinquish their power for the pittance they're given in return, just because they lack the heart and the stamina to stand and fight for what they believe in, just because they imagine their thoughts and prayers are enough, just because, just because, just because - doesn't mean that everyone thinks like they do. The future does not belong to them. The shoulda, coulda, woulda, people are in for a rude awakening, not that it will do them any good. Too late, too little, too bad.
I love these young people. I stand with them. I encourage them. And I tell them, because I know from what I learned when I was their age, that no matter what happens , this moment will stay with you forever. You will change your world.
22
The New York Times ran several good articles on these marches, but I strongly feel that today's youth culture has not been understood including by the press or Republicans. It has a different character, and it is huge. These young people are inspirational but have also already been through more than many adults realize.
Lead, follow, or get out of the way.
3
Meanwhile Trump took circuitous routes to and from his golf club, thereby avoiding protesters near Mar-A-Lago. I expect that, just as he bragged about getting away with shooting someone on 5th Avenue, Trump would not move to take down the NRA even if his son was shot.
12
"Meanwhile Trump took circuitous routes to and from his golf club, thereby avoiding protesters near Mar-A-Lago"
Is this the same brave Trump who said he would have run into the school to confront the shooter?
Actions speak, not words. I'm shocked that those who still support him can't understand this.
2
I'm so proud of what these young people organized, and the concurrent demonstrations around the country.
Yes, there's a jaded side of me that thinks that Congress won't take notice or care. But with this protest and last year's Women's March (and the MeToo movement), I think that the sleeping giant is awakening.
How can normal Americans support the craven, despicable things that the NRA, Rick Santorum, Tucker Carlson, et al said about these brave students? The (vanishing) political center is thoughtful and ethical enough to be repulsed that the Right allows such hateful things to be said. (And at some point, maybe even some of the Deplorables might wake up and realize how deplorable they really are.)
The silent majority of Americans (who belief in basic decency, truth, and justice) have been complacent for the past 15-20 years, and have allowed the Radical Right (in all of its manifestations) to take control of our country's political discourse. We never believed that it could ever get as bad as it has gotten. The advent of Trumpism has been the jolt that we've needed to bring us together in spite of our differences, stop taking things for granted, get off our butts, and fight to take back our country.
More people marched in DC yesterday than attended Trump's inauguration. We ARE the majority. We WILL take back our country!
124
These kids are great. They will be voting and I am proud to see this shift in attitude, FINALLY.
Meantime, haters like the NRA, with its ramped-up talking points and mockery of these young individuals, are beyond appalling. As many of our military veterans said during the rally in Washington yesterday, there is no need to have a military-grade weapon. No need whatsoever. You don't need it for protection; you don't need it for hunting; you just don't need it. If you want one that badly, join the military, for heaven's sake, and use it on the front line. When I hear the arguments for these guns, I hear crazy talk: such opposition now are those hunkering down in their bunkers waiting for the Apocalypse. Good luck with that.
38
When I saw the photos of these our extraordinary children, when I heard their voices, and Ms Emma Gonzalez's poignant "words of silence," for the first time in over a year I had hope for our country. They are strong; they are smart. They have the wisdom and vision - and maturity - needed for leadership in every walks of life, including in our local, state, and federal governments.
These remarkable young adults, more adult, I dare say, than many in the generations before them, will bring us to our rightful place in this still young century. And it is not power of which I speak. It is rather a New Renaissance of our nation, where peace, stability, diversity, equality, and progress in every form regain their rightful places in our society.
Finally, from the bottom of my heart, let this Baby Boomer who lived and experienced pain as well as triumph during these past 70 or so years, say, Thank you. God bless you. And it is with joy that I hand the reins over to this wonderful, vibrant generation.
198
AMEN to that! I'm with you Kathy. Hope has risen in the hearts of many because of these passionate young people. I say bless them all!
1
Profiles in Courage when adults are nowhere to be found.
42
We seniors who have for years been voting for Democrats for House and Senate
eagerly await these fine young people to join us. Together we can overcome.
33
Paul Ryan, R-W.
Profiles in Cowardice.
2
The difference now is that these young people can conceive of diluting the NRA's hold over politicians. Trump is the poster boy for "bought and paid for," as is one of Colorado's senators, Cory Gardner, who has taken $3.8 million to do the NRA's bidding.
On Saturday, in rhe March for Our Lives in Denver, people spoke to each other about the power of small donations to "buy" their own representatives and 10,000 people in one voice denounced Gardner for the shill he is.
These young people are focused, articulate and able. It's the adults who're jaded and flaccid in the face of the NRA and its money and twisted messages.
Most NRA members want what the march was about: raising the age limit for gun purchases, having credible, universal background checks and banning assault weapons for civilians. Not too revolutionary and certainly in keeping with the Constitution's direction on a "well-regulated" militia.
The bloated shills in Congress will not be easy to dislodge, but it's coming.
25
I too want to see sensible regulations for guns. I have had enough of the NRA holding our politicians hostage and causing terror throughout our society. Our politicians must begin to stand up for the people who they supposedly represent. And just a quick reminder.....I and millions of others of like mind intend to vote. So the message to the politicians is - do your job or you will be gone!
23
Strong and inspiring statements from all speakers who were all identified by name ... but the the musicians weren't. Their statements and names are important,too. Why leave them out? There words were in music but they also were speaking truth to power. NYT- is this a double standard or an omission?
5
Students teach. Adults learn.
Martin Luther King's granddaughter: "I have a dream. Enough is enough."
Perfect.
13
It is fascinating that right below this article in the on-line edition, is a headline "‘America First’ Bears a New Threat: Military Confrontation." The article lead-in states, "Not since...2001, have key national security leaders so publicly raised the threat of armed confrontation if foreign adversaries do not meet America’s demands." So while American guns at home are objected to, US guns abroad seem just fine to our youth. Perhaps there is a larger issue at stake, concerning the American culture of weapons and killing. As for the Second Amendment, it is perhaps especially since 2001 that American citizens may need to reconsider just how wise that Amendment is. Regards.
4
I was one of the ~8,000 passionate citizens in Salt Lake City who marched in support of common sense gun legislation yesterday. Our numbers overwhelmed those of the "counter rally" and I was curious why the NY Times focused their attention on this minority? Our voices matter and the courage it took for us to march peacefully matters, as we faced those with their guns standing to the side. Please don't discount our voices for gun control because of where we live.
33
The students should, like all lobbyists do, design model legislation for gun control for both the state and local level.
Don't worry, there are plenty of think tanks around who might help them. Indeed, they could even make a telling point by going to American Enterprise Institute or Heritage and asking one of them to design it in conjunction with a progressive think tank, such as Center for American Progress.
If the right wing think tanks refuse to cooperate with CAP, so be it. That will be on the public record.
And remember, ALEC does this for a living for the right.
Anyway, once the legislation is designed, the students will now have a document that they can get inserted immediately into the legislative process at the state and federal levels. All you have to do is get two elected officials as joint sponsors in the bi-cameral legislatures -- one in Nebraska.
That way this "Children's Crusade" acquires an immediate political -- but non-partisan -- focus.
Much like the Equal Rights Amendment, though hopefully with greater success, the kids can throw themselves into the political process more or less immediately, and at ground level, and, in publicity terms, keep a very visible scoreboard of their efforts and successes at a website.
The NRA will battle them furiously, but this is now:
"Choose your weapons, Gentlemen" time.
Do not lose sight of that.
Unity, focus, specificity, and ... heartfelt enthusiasm and dedication, a winning formula against Wayne Lapierre.
9
@arbitrot: do i read you correctly?
these youngsters should ask the heritage foundation for help?
if i am not mistaken, this foundation advocates privatization,
deregulation, cutting social support, and preemptive military strikes,
among other things. correct me if i'm wrong ... but it seems to me,
that such goals are just the opposite of what these young kids aim at.
Julia, you seem to have neglected that I stipulated that they should do it in collaboration with the Center for American Progress. Let me assume that you know something about CAP, and how they could more than hold their own in a collaboration with Heritage.
Indeed, I would predict that Heritage would reject the challenge of attempting a clearly non-partisan move with CAP. In which case, tant pis Heritage. And then it would be on the public record as to why CAP had to develop the legislation on its own.
Let me assume that you know the difference, in Washington, between showing up with a lot of anger and other emotions, and showing up with a piece of model legislation in your hand.
ALEC certainly knows the difference. They have operated well below the outrage radar. But they have been very successful for the gun lobby.
Have you heard about Trevon Martin and Stand Your Ground?
Julia, it's ready, aim, fire, not ready, fire, aim.
"Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
For all the fine speeches and moving words, it was Ms. Gonzalez's strategic use of silence that best brought home the horror of assault rifles. Seventeen dead in minutes. The NRA is not about life but death. Profits over lives is the foundation of unfettered access to weapons our nation's founders could not have imagined. Elected officials who take money from the NRA must be voted out of office. Citizens United must be overturned. Strict campaign finance reform must be enacted. We must protect our fellow citizens from military weaponry designed to inflict maximum damage in minimal time. There is much work to do. In this time of national crisis we must follow the lead of the young, for they are future of this fraught experiment in government by, for, and of the people.
22
A change of culture is overdue. I wish and hope that these young people have the stamina to succeed!
17
A federal government owned by the NRA and the gun lobby successfully abort all effective gun control legislation. The only weapon powerful enough to to change the hearts and minds of elected officials is the vote. District by district, state by state, voters 18-25 must vote . They must become single issue voters. Defeat every elected official who opposes gun control, and in twenty years assault weapons will once again be banned. Demonstrations alone can focus the nation on the issue. So long as the young fail to vote, the NRA can not be defeated. To defeat the NRA, first you must win elections.
17
So many people marching and speaking out. It is too bad that the Republicans in Senate and Congress were in recess and certainly did not want to hear the message from Americans everywhere.
Guns are hazardous devices and endanger their owners, their families, and the rest of us. AR-15's and their cousins are not designed for hunting or useful for home protection. They do not belong in the hands of our civilian population.
With respect to regulation of firearms, it should be remembered that even hunters must comply with state regulations for hunting seasons and limits.
12
Now comes the hard part.
We shall see if anyone is willing to do the grunt work. It is easy to get a permit to hold a rally, even easier when it is well funded by filthy rich Hollywood elites.
Let's see if these young people are willing to continue to work when the television cameras are gone. Anyone can pose for a photo shoot on TIME. It takes a lot more effort to knock on doors. It is tough registering people to vote. It is really hard to get them to vote.
So far, I have heard a lot of talk. I have seen very little real action. This is beginning to look like a feel good moment rather than a change movement.
I have some hope. Not a lot. Check back in six months.
1
I takenit that you somehow missed all the exhortations to register and to vote, and all the voting registration going on among the crowds.
2
If you want change too then why don't you get out there? Don't depend upon others to make change happen for you.
4
@Concernicus: If you don't think the work is getting done, why don't you help get it started? Can you give me an example of a time when standing on the sidelines commenting negatively improved society?
4
These students are such an inspiration. It *is* different this time. Emma Gonzalez and her 6 minutes and 20 seconds of silence was the loudest statement of all. You could feel the pain in her tears, and you could feel her determination as well. She is the voice of change.
I am so glad they are finally taking the government on and making a difference. Never again!
11
Like my generation, with Protesters of the Vietnam War, this generation will never change their minds about their cause. If it takes 10 years eventually this upcoming generation is going to beat down the gun lobby.
From the hundreds of different protest signs carried the one saying "21st Century Guns 18th century laws" stood out as a simple and undeniable fact.
Rubio's statement about two sides to the issue of guns will not stand up for this upcoming generation of voters. His campaign money of $1.05 from the NRA for every student in Florida makes his future look very bleak.
These students know the facts and the are going to VOTE THEM OUT!
7
why anyone thinks that a politician or politicians can "end gun violence" is a false narrative, in my opinion.
opioids are illegal to possess, yet overdose deaths continue.
they can make it more difficult to obtain guns. they can even legislate their dystopian vision where only police and the state have all the guns.
what ends gun violence, in reality, is when the shooter kills him or herself, surrenders to others with guns, or others with guns shoot and kill/injure the shooter.
The world in which the state has all the guns, and we live as subjects to the state rather than as citizens (which we are already well on our way toward), is scarier to me and worse than one in which these horrible tragedies and traumas occur.
3
There are 300 million guns in this country. Isn't the "only the government will have guns" argument past its expiration date by now?
How many people would be massacred by a six-shot revolver or a break-action shotgun? A few, of course. Not dozens, or hundreds.
An AR-15 is useless for hunting, and a poor choice for home defense. Banning military-style weapons with large volume magazines and high rates of fire would have zero impact on hunters.
Someone's right to own a tool designed to do only one thing - kill - doesn't supersede my right to life. Or my kids' right to go to school. The mere fact that legislators are pushing armed teachers as a solution to mass shootings proves how in the pocket they are to the NRA.
Except that in every other developed nation in the world, there are strong gun laws, few guns and far fewer gun deaths. And yet they function just fine. The real dystopia is the current US gun situation, where 30,000 people die unnecessarily every year because politicians are too weak to enact sensible gun regulations that the vast majority of Americans support and the constitution explicitly endorsed. And this notion that we need to protect ourselves from the state? What paranoid planet do you live on? We live in a democracy where WE are the State (I appreciate that Trump wants to change that, but he won’t). All the gun nuts in America, with their assault rifles and delusions of bravery wouldn’t even make a dent against our well armed and well trained military, with its tanks, missiles, bombs, planes, nukes, etc. Absurd
2
You can't possibly think that all the guns could help you resist the US military? All we have to do is throw a few switches, turn off your water, block your sewer, and you'll give up your guns inside a week or die of cholera.
Only in some fantasy can a your firearms even slow us down if we come for you.
Vote!
The only way to get real change is to VOTE.
The hundreds of thousands that protested will be either of voting age now of within the next few years.
Vote for change, Trump won the presidency by about 70 thousand votes.
Every voice has a choice.
13
Trump did not win the popular vote. He won enough votes in the right places to win through the Electoral College. And if too many people decide not to vote for anyone they are, whether they like it or not, voting for the person who gets into office. That's the biggest mistake the baby boomers who were of age to vote made in the 1968 elections. They didn't vote even though they marched and carried on about getting the vote and changing the voting age from 21 to 18. Had they voted Trump might not now be president. We might not have had a Reagan in office either.
The early baby boomers, for all their claims of activism, hurt later generations rather than helping them.
This new generation needs to get out and vote once they are of age. Voting is a right, a privilege, and an obligation. In some countries you can be fined for not voting.
2
What was so striking about the DC march was the fact that African-American and Latino students were able take the stage and speak about their everyday encounters with gun violence. It is sad that it took white privilege to amplify their message. As I listened to the speeches, I was in awe of all these young people. God sent in the reinforcements yesterday. I pray that they can fix our broken world.
15
What these young people are asking for has happened in this country 84 years ago, however the person that was shot at was FDR the President elect at that time and because of that and other things the Congress in 1934 outlawed the possession of Tommy Guns.
People have to learn that their right to own firearms has been amended in the past and yet the 2nd amendment still exist's, so there's no reason that it couldn't be amended again.
These students need to get the adults of this nation to act like adults and be responsible for not only their safety but everyone's safety.
This needs to continue until there is a change, either in the law or leadership.
7
Those kids have a devastating critique of American society to share, and even the most rabid gun proponents know that they have the right to be safe in school.
I'm not convinced that much can be done about the availability of guns, and this is why I agree with the father of Meadow Pollack, who has argued for making schools a hard target, for making them as difficult to get into as an airport. Now that will cost money but at least it will be money well spent.
1
Congressmen aren't motivated primarily by the donations they receive from the NRA. They are scared of getting a negative "rating" when the NRA puts out it's voting guide. This new movement would do well to create its own rating system powerful enough to scare these congressmen to think twice before supporting the NRA agenda.
21
I love this idea!
1
And post it on line. Great idea!
Just proud. So proud of these young people. We who were raised without fear of gun violence in our schools, but who now raise children in the shadow of that fear, we are with you. Thank you.
7
I hope these rallies will be the start of the decline of the NRA influence and control of the Republican Party and Trump. There has to be a point in time when people say something like "we're fed up with being killed by people with guns, and we're not going to take it anymore!"
6
While the theme of the extraordinary marches we watched yesterday was gun control,what the demonstrators looked like was just as striking as the significance of their message . Young, articulate, diverse , honest - they restored America’s belief in its future.
It may take a while for that generation to make its full impact where it matters, in the ballad box, but as they said themselves, it’s just the beginning.
26
Could we please see the faces and bios of the NRA lobbyists both at the federal level and at the state level?
23
Look at the comments in the companion article from the other side. Gun-carrying trump supporters threatening to kill housewives and children if you try to 'take their guns'. Those people have abandoned basic human decency, and they are supported by a contract to which you have agreed and are too afraid to walk away from- the constitution of a failed country.
You cannot live with them. They are subhuman.
#calexit
11
Trump, the NRA did something great. They unified the opposition to Republicans. Go Kids!
24
Against the backdrop of the worst possible year I've ever experienced as an American, the young people of this country, from coast to coast, have given me a reason for hope. Waiting for them to reach age 18 will be excruciating! Send every one of them to www.Iwillvote.com. Our thoughts and prayers have finally been answered!
12
I think this time it will be different. The adults in this country are so wedded to the nuanced philosophy of the Second Amendment that we dismiss these kids as “not sophisticated enough to understand what is at stake.”
But we are wrong. The excuse that we adults use to rally around the Second Amendment, namely that if German Jews had a gun in every household the Nazis wouldn’t have been able to go house to house and kidnap them in the middle of the night, is a red herring and the kids see right through this. They know that just as one can’t yell “fire” in a crowded theater that there should also be common sense restrictions to the Second Amendment.
Young people led the battle for civil rights and they stopped the Vietnam War. And they will change the country and perhaps the world again.
14
Poor/minority youth in the CITY have always faced “gun violence,” but there’s never been such focused and sustained “outrage” for them--it’s clever how suddenly black/brown kids are being included.
What does “gun violence” in America’s SUBURBS have to do with it in its CITIES? In a context framed by SUBURBAN “mass shootings,” how can you run pieces on the experiences of minority youth in a CITY like Chicago, without acknowledging the fundamental difference--that the former primarily involves LEGALLY acquired guns and the latter ILLEGALLY acquired guns? Conflating the two situations is vacuous and lazy.
Planned shootings by lone males with LEGALLY purchased guns, such as in Parkland, have little to do with the realities of poor, working, and minority populations in CITIES, and anti-gun suburbanites (including those gentrifying urban neighborhoods) have no right to dictate anything about guns to law-abiding people in the CITY. We deal with criminals and criminalized youth, armed with semi-/fully-automatic guns, high-capacity magazines THAT ARE ALMOST ALL DERIVED ILLEGALLY, which no legislation will touch. You have no right to tell people in the CITY that we shouldn’t be comparably armed to defend ourselves and those we love if--god forbid--the need arises.
Sincerely,
A CPL-holding English professor in Detroit, who legally owns a number of rifles and handguns, who is fine with rigorous background checks on all gun-purchases, who will never be an NRA member
4
A real English professor would have looked up the stats, and know that the guns used in urban crime are legally purchased to start with out in the 'burbs they're sneering at.
Oh, and FYI: the point is that it is insane to allow people like the Parkland or Virginia Tech shooters to buy guns legally. Good thing is, this is eminently fixable.
Aw...thanks for the suggestion on how to be a "real" English professor--look at you go sunshine.
Is that what the "stats" say bruh? Because the research from various perspectives that I've encountered all seem to agree that "the guns used in urban crime" make it to the hands of the "bad guys" from a wide variety of places and through a number of different conduits which includes outright theft. They also all agree that these places and conduits can only be traced when guns are actually taken when felons are apprehended, and in this regard, it seems to be generally agreed that only a tiny fraction of the actual illegal guns out there at any given time will be confiscated as the result of a arrest...
...and, this; just in from a "responsible" adult:
"How about kids instead of looking to someone else to solve their problem, do something about maybe taking CPR classes or trying to deal with situations that when there is a violent shooter that you can actually respond to that," [Rick] Santorum said on CNN's "State of the Union." (www.cnn.com)
Rick Santorum (and his ilk) may wish to heed the words of 11 year old Naomi Wadler:
“My friends and I might still be 11, and we might still be in elementary school but we know." “We also know that we stand in the shadow of the Capitol, and we know that we have 7 short years until we too have the right to vote.” (Excerpt from her speech).
22
What a condemnation of the public school system.
Not only are these children ignorant of why we have a 2nd amendment, they are actively requesting that the government take away their rights!
This is why vouchers are the only thing that can save our children from the liberal failure of public education.
3
I'd observe that they seem pretty clear that the current purpose of the Second Amendment is to ensure that the rights of lunatics to waltz into their school and kill 17 people shall not be infringed, and I'd ask you not to take Eric Blair's great name in vain like this.
2
@George Orwell: Sounds like you wish to do away with the Amendment that came before the Second one. George Orwell; your namesake would be amused (and terrified) of your thought processes.
1
Either your post is lousy satire or you paid no attention to the March for Our Lives message: raise the age limit from 18 to 21 for purchasing firearms; strengthen a credible universal background check to ensure only legal purchases and ban the sale of assault weapons for civilians.
Nothing remotely close to addressing the 2nd amendment.
Further, any notion that a couple of assault rifles and a palette of ammo is going to preserve "freedom" from "tyrianny" is lunacy.
And, in fact, while you make your entirely clueless statements, the so-called president of the United States is flirting with authoritarianism. What's your plan on that front?
I'll wait...
1
Well done youth of America. Now it is time to march on the NRA headquarters. The politicians have been bought and paid for by the NRA. The politicians are unfortunately puppets here. Why go after the puppets? We know who puppet master is.
10
Imagine if these students spent this much effort and time protesting the violence committed against unborn children each and every day. If we as a society are unwilling to protect the most innocent and vulnerable among us from violence , why should we expect society to protect anyone else from violence. The sad fact is that our culture celebrates violence, whether it is the false “choice” of murdering your unborn child to the popularity of violence in our video games and movies.
This is a "canned" comment. I have seem the exact same comment almost everytime guns are mentioned, but the writer is someone different every time. I notice that those who are against abortion are also against strong gun laws.
4
Again, the fanatic right voice of the scripted republican statements against abortion. However, the murder of school children by sick minds able to buy and possess assault rifles designed for military use is not an equivalent;republicans like you who support the Koch funded NRA say anything to keep the NRA in power and their Koch overlords. Abortion is a personal issue;women who make this choice make a hard decision for reasons between them and their God and no one else's business;What is the business of the public is the republican congress gutting health care for the needy&the elderly, reducing SNAP to a predesignated box of whatever by the corrupted Mulvaney;not funding schools in poor neighborhoods;providing no job training and child care for women who want to work;there are no grocery stores in poor neighborhoods and no banks,but plenty of pay day loans&car title loans at usurious prices that mulvaney said are OK;the Republicans and their tax gifts to themselves and crumbs for the needs show their corruption and failure to represent We The People. They represent the Koch's who hate taxes and want a totalitarian state because they and their father,cofounder of The John Birch Society, hated democracy and equality. The murder of many to stop Democracy from spreading to all levels and races of society.
6
To the 5 million members of NRA. We are 130 million citizens, we are NOT members of the NRA. And WE ALSO VOTE. Watch Us.
29
The youth do not vote in numbers of any significance, and adult voter turnout is about half of eligible voters on either side. So no, you are not 130M, and no, you do not vote.
1
were you around for voter registration in the 1960's?
The news media doesn't report who is paying for this to move their own agenda forward. It is siock to see adults behind the scenes use kids to push a completely false agenda. If the media would follow the money, the American people and kids would be enlightened.
3
What's the "false agenda"? I sincerely hope you're not the parent of anyone.
2
These young brave souls have shined a light on the dark moral cowardice of Donald Trump and his Republican sycophants.
The future of America just became brighter. God Bless our children,
9
As a daily reader and admirer of your newspaper I am conveying my disappointment and anger that you selected the photo for the top of this article. You had so many other photos to choose from that conveyed the young and ethnicly diverse participants. What message was your selection intended to convey? And to whom?
1
"Aerial video captured seas of people — in front of Trump International Hotel in New York; in a central square in Tokyo; along the streets of Boston; at a rally in downtown Fort Worth, Tex.; and crammed into a park less than a mile from Stoneman Douglas High". Trump's reaction? Very likely it would be something like 'my inauguration crowd and my rallies are much bigger! This crowd was so small. Sad!'
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Mr Noir and his leader La Pierre are afraid of these kids. It’s because the have the courage to stand up for their beliefs and fight for their lives with votes not guns. La Pierre stands to lose a substantial amount of his income if rational laws are enacted. NRATV stands to lose a substantial amount of its income if gun manufacturers are reined in.
The NRA has brain washed a group of people into believing only guns make us safe. They use class and racism to further their cause. They are the real threat to America. It’s USA not NRA.
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Second Amendment calls for a "well-regulated militia." Individual gun owners do not comprise a militia and there are minimal regulations at this point, so to comply with the Second Amendment, more regulation is requires.
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The violent see themselves as part of a militia that will impose their will on the majority if they don't succeed in the (cheating-filled) election process. They want to be able to use Trump's "second amendment solutions" and armories for the few and the violent are part of their plan. Sadly, that's what's in the background of all this.
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The young protesters need to understand that their probability of dying from gun violence has DECREASED significantly in the past 25 years. (Table 31; Death rates for firearm-related injuries; Health United States 2016; CDC)
ftp://ftp.cdc.gov/pub/Health_Statistics/NCHS/Publications/Health_US/hus16tables/table031.xls
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Would you like to trade places and sit in a classroom today?
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So therefore, what? No problem? Any kind of gun, anywhere, anytime? Just fine?
The vast majority of American citizens--including many rational gun owners--beg to differ.
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Yes, but the probability where? Not in elementary and high schools. Gun deaths in high schools have gone up. There is a mass shooting somewhere in the United States on average every week. Just think about that for a second. Every week. One gun death is one too many. Things must change. The epidemic of gun violence must be stopped and gun control is how to do it. It has worked in Australia and Canada....not perfectly but it has reduced deaths. It can and will work in the US if you can ever shake free of the killing grip of the death cult known as the NRA.
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I am so very proud of these young Americans. It gives me a great deal of hope in a time when the news out of Washington can make you very cynical about the immediate future. I am aslo so impressed with the knowledge, the poise, and the grasp that these young people have about the situation and how maturely they are dealing -especially how they are dealing with criticism and some really cruel cheap shots leveled at them by the gun lobby and it's followers.
I am at the same time very impressed with the high school that these "children" attend. It shows me what a public education in the 21 century can do when a faculty and community commit to supporting their school and its students. They are truly amazing people.
President Trump, who left town before yesterday's march would do well to really listen and to really learn from these students about how to deal with adversity and how to maturely respond to it. He has a lot to learn and they have a lot to offer.
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Military assault weapons won't be banned until photographs of the wounds they cause and the deceased are widely publicized, without blurring. Not a wide shot of a crowd standing around someone on the ground. Not ghostly black & white X-rays.
It must be the IN YOUR FACE kind of publicity. Close-up photos in full "living" color. Show the crime scene photos. Show the autopsy photos. Show the 1-foot wide exit wounds. Show the heads exploded from head shots. Show the 6-year old kids blown in half. Show the pools of blood. Show it on the front page of the NY Times, on CNN, on Good Morning America, etc. No hiding it, because there's no hiding the collateral damage. IN YOUR FACE.
Will that offend the tender sensitivities of the viewer? Too bad. This is the carnage that defenders of these weapons are supporting. I think the suffering of otherwise preventable future victims and their families is far worse.
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Agreed! New York Times, take the lead on this. If the victims families agree to usage, show it. Offensive and radical? Sure. But not nearly as offensive and radical as deranged Wayne Lapierre preaching to his choir of fanatics and motivating them to add to their arsenals.
We can't let another mass shooting happen! Use every tool available to get some sort of logical gun control in place.
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Sadly, I agree wholeheartedly and havr have been saying so for years!!
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Military assault weapons--fully automatic rifles--have been tightly regulated by near-impossible to obtain licensing since 1934.
Portland's families showed up in overwhelming numbers. I felt that a sleeping lion has been awakened.
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What if this current teenage cohort is a rebirth of the '67 -- '74 generation of 20-somethings?
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It is invigorating to see people finally say they've had enough. I don't think they care much about what the Montana counter-protesters had to say about them being brainwashed by liberal teachers and whatnot. I really hope these kids go out and do vote. In this case, there will be a lot of single-issue voters, which will not bode well for people like the Montana counter-protesters, who have been brainwashed by the NRA.
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I have some news for these young new demonstrators. Congress doesn't care. There is always some new march or demonstration in Washington. Members of Congress literally may not see a single demonstrator except on T.V. like most Americans. Demonstrations are for the demonstrators; their purpose is to energize your base to create a lasting movement that will result in real political power by (1) donating money to the campaigns of Members of Congress and (2) amassing a dependable bloc of voters in November. Short of this a demonstration in Washington is just an exciting happening on the Mall.
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The only thing to be done to finally get sensible gun control laws -- and this same thing must be done to put the brakes on the deranged Trump -- is to wrest the House gavel away from Republicans but voting out of office as many Republicans as possible. It should be considered socially unacceptable, and reprehensible, to vote for any Republican at midterms.
After the Sandy Hook massacre, 85% of the public and President Obama wanted stricter background checks -- but Republicans in Congress refused to help to pass such legislation and so, given Republicans' numbers in Congress at the time, such legislation could not pass.
Meanwhile, when the Supreme Court expanded gun-and-ammo access in Washington, D.C. -- a decision unpopular with most residents of D.C. -- they did so from inside a D.C. court building where people are not permitted to bring guns.
That sanctimonious hypocrisy -- and the N.R.A.'s insane greed and dementendness -- are repugnant and must be successfully countered.
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I remember the threats of "Obama's coming for your guns". How ironic that the kids will actually be the one's to actually "take your guns". Power to the youth.
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From the pictures, and from talking to people that I know that participated, it is clear that the crowd was WAY larger at the MARCH FOR OUR LIVES than it was for tRUMP's inauguration. Do you think he'll learn anything from this? I doubt he will, but one can always hope.
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Hundreds of thousands of new voters. They’re energized, they’re angry and none will vote Republican. That’s a beautiful thing.
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C'mon NYTimes, report it honestly. There weren't "thousands" marching yesterday. If there were at least 500,000 people marching in Washington, and more than 800 other marches around the country, wouldn't it be more accurate to say there were well over a MILLION (or two) marching?
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My soul trembled as I witnessed The Future speaking yesterday through the voices of these courageous, articulate, intrepid young people. Such wisdom and innate intelligence that has yet to be corrupted by greed and fear-- it was breathtaking to behold. There IS hope for America.
The NRA and other propaganda machines are putting them down and trying to create divides among them. My money is on the kids.
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Can't say much that hasn't been said here already. Proud of these young people. Participated in the march yesterday. Completely uplifting and rekindled my spirit of hope for this country. We need to support these young people in every way we can. It can't just stop after this march. Vote. Sign petitions. Contact your elected officials.
Our federal government is completely broken and only serves the needs of lobbyists. Time to send a message before it's too late.
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Kids should be learning about statistics not being a statistic. Unfortunately it has taken so many innocent and young lives, not to mention the trauma it leaves behind, to shake things up. I am so heartened by the young folks who are going to teach adults how to do something sensible. The only other places where there are more gun deaths is in war zones. America needs to stop being at war with itself. Just look at all the other countries that restrict guns.
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Columbine, Sandy Hook, Las Vegas, Virginia Tech.....
Each time, legislators have offered thoughts and prayers but precious little else.
This is not the time, they say, and once the time has passed, more often than not some proposal will surface in Congress or some state legislature that would only intensify our domestic arms race.
This time it feels different. Unlike their elders, the kids won't take any BS and, for the first time, the NRA brass are on the defensive.
The kids won't be giving up. And they are part of a wave of new voters that's coming in 2018 and beyond.
An assault weapons ban could be coming sooner than we think.
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Finally, I have hope for this world. I was seriously beginning to think in my heart that valid and realistic hope was not possible.
Profoundly grateful for these marching students who are a better generation than mine was at that age. God bless them all for yesterday.
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My family, including my six-year-old granddaughter, and friends marched yesterday. The eloquence of the high school students who spoke was amazing. It gave me great hope for the future.
The media is intent on asking "Why Now?" They bring up Sandy Hook and ask why something didn't happen then or after the church shootings or the Las Vegas shooting. The media wants instant gratification. The fact is that because of Sandy Hook and the other horrendous shootings - and because of Black Lives Matter - yesterday happened. Groups have been organizing after every incident and enough information has been disseminated that the shooting at Stoneman-Douglas High school was the breaking point and - most importantly - the students spoke out.
The Women's March the day after the sham "inauguration" proved what angry people can do. Protests and demonstrations have been taking place across America - and the world - ever since to show the world that the way America is being portrayed around the world by The Con Don and his Robber Barons brethren is NOT the kind of country we want. WE THE PEOPLE of all ages showed them again yesterday.
Thanks to all those who marched to support the kids and educators.
NOW is the time to take action to pass gun reform that will keep Americans of every age safe from death by gun.
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I forgot to mention the importance of the LGBT demonstrations and actions. It all matters more than words can say. Yesterday showed the true solidarity of OUR United States of America. It was a march for human rights and the rights of ALL Americans to live without fear.
Good Job, People!
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Sing it, Seattle sister !
Register, vote and donate to voter registration organizations and hit the Presidential-and-GOP EJECT voter buttons on November 6 2018.
https://www.rockthevote.org/donate/
https://www.voterparticipation.org/support-our-work/donate-to-vpc/
https://www.eac.gov/voters/resourcesforvoters/
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Referring to criticisms that teenagers "don't know what they are talking about", one of the speakers said that Joan of Arc was 17 when she led her nation to freedom. When Emma Gonzalez stunned the world with that poignant of moment of silence, I was reminded of Maria Falconetti in the classic silent film "The Passion of Joan of Arc" and her heroic stand against her accusers. Is Emma our Joan of Arc?
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Not a happy ending to that story--a violent one, too.
After each tragedy, politicians send their prayers. Perhaps Emma, David and the other students are the answer to those prayers.
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I had the same thought of Emma being a Joan d'Arc. I hope Emma does not have to be a martyr like Joan. She is passionate intelligent young women that has and will change the world. However, I hope we as a society allow her and assist her to move back to some normality, that she may finish high school and college and have some laughter again. We as adults have failed to make the world safe for these teenagers to have normal teenage lives. We must now stand with them to change this. I commit to stand with them, Gabby Giffords, the Brady Campaign, Sandy Hook, my own Senator Feinstein who has fought assault rifles, and others that work to make our world safe.
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I hope these kids can get something accomplished with our stone hearted politicians where all else has failed. The politicians are all cowards, coerring before the supposed might of the far-out radical NRA. Maybe if the politicians get the idea that tbey could lose their cushy sinecures by remaining inactive something can be accomplished. It may even be possible that the NRA members, a majority of which support universal background checks, can pry the cold, dead hands of the NRA bosses off the veto button.
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I cried so hard watching the speakers and singers. I have been truly fatalistic as of late, feeling our nation is crumbling before my eyes. As a Gen exer, I believe we failed standing up against corporate power. We never spoke up while tuition and healthcare skyrocketed, the assault weapons ban failed, the prison industrial complex took over the country, while teachers salaries flatlined. I pray these wonderful students have the fortitude to stay the course when we couldn’t. I support you. Never again.
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I understand. haven't seen this much activism by America's youth since the Vietnam War. Although the subject matter was different, and many other changes were simultaneously occurring, it takes nothing away from what was shown yesterday.
My greatest wish is the voting age be lowered a year to 17. I clearly remember when it was changed from 21 to 18: it was just prior to my 18th birthday.
The single most important thing I learned from that era is to keep the most important issue(s) alive; stay on the front page. That is real power, because anything can be changed. I witnessed it when (then President) Nixon resigned in 1973.
Don't let the momentum be stopped. Fight the NRA, because they are the root of the problem; no matter how much obfuscation they use to hide behind.
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It’s never too late.
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What impresses me is that "George Soros" has enough money to pay all of these people to "destroy our freedoms."
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Hey Tom, speaking for me and others, if you do run into George, please tell the right's favorite boogeyman that we're still waiting payment for our participation in the Women's and other marches!
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The sad reality is there are so many deluded people out there that believe what you posted that I can't tell whether you're being sarcastic or not.
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You can't buy passion. Soros can save his money. These protesters are fueled by love for their generation and disrespect for people that believe guns solve problems.
Guns do not represent freedom. Guns are for destroying lives and ending freedom.
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And who do you think is funding and organizing these protests? Anybody who believes that the students are doing this on their own spontaneously without a lot of money and organization support from the liberal Democratic crowd (Soros, anyone?) is naive or stupid. Perhaps both.
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What's wrong with funding and organizing protests to demand safety? Just tell us, please.
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Who do you think is funding the fire on the right to protect assult rifles and other weapons of mass destruction? NRA anyone?
These brave students are fighting for their lives and ours.
The NRA is fighting for their right to take their lives and ours.
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Look up the progressive movement known as Indivisible. Also, thanks to George Clooney and Oprah Winfrey for ponying up for the water!
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Viva la students!
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Republicans should be very, very afraid.
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American Spring!!!!!!!
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Bingo. You are right.
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And in Springtime the seedlings need nourishment......
let's hope so, it's time!
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I hope something comes of this. It seems current members of Congress and state legislatures have their hands securely tied by the NRA. Only when they are voted out of office can any real change begin.
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Their rage is misplaced. It should be directed at the incompetence of the police and FBI. If you want to expand the blame circle include all of the doctors who prescribe antipsychotics and antidepressants like candy.
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Incompetence of the FBI and the police you say? I have no idea what you could be talking about. All of the shooters have been caught and/or killed. What's incompetent about that?
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As in life, the current situation is the result of a complex and multifaceted SYSTEM. If the cause was singular, the outcome would likely be so, too. The fact that we have event after event after event shows the deep system-based issues at play. And when there are so many factors at play, there is often no one solution to fix the Swiss Cheese model producing these repeated results. These kids are appropriately enraged, appropriately speaking out. Are there more pieces they could be talking about? Sure! But you bringing in physicians and mental health medications into the “blame circle”, that’s a new one. Please, tell me more...
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LMAOROFL....IF this weren't such a serious discussion. Most of these shooters were on some kind of pharmaceutical...Columbine...Sandyhook...Las Vegas....an inconvenient truth for the anti-gun lobby.
Seriously, that 11 year old girl delivered a better speech than I have ever seen trump do.
I am serious.
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I thought the same thing, and think the same thing, every time almost ANYONE says anything. That’s how ignorant trump is.
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Perhaps our President needs to contact Naomi to vette his Twitter rants before pressing "enter".
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Yea, but she's a lot smarter.
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The rise of collective public protests against guns and gun violence is momentous. But the “do-nothing” Republicans of both houses are behaving like puppet lap-dogs to the NRA and they are all far removed from reality.
The reality is that all of the debates on the need to improve controls on guns and gun ownership are DEBATES ON THE MARGINS involving, for example, debates on mental illness, magazine size, etc. Any new legislation to strengthen gun controls will affect only new purchases of guns. Any such new legislation will leave the remaining guns already owned unaffected, grandfathered by earlier laws. Tinkering on the margins has not and never will work.
There are four core problems:
(1) The Second Amendment
(2) The NRA
(3) There are an estimated 357 million firearms !!! An estimated 31% of households, or one in three Americans own guns.
(4) The NRA enables gun violence by financially supporting Republicans in both houses. The fact remains that NOTHING has been done on the issue of gun related violence.
The solutions:
(1) The Second Amendment must be repealed.
The new law should be called: “The Innocents’ Law.”
(2) The charter of the NRA must be cancelled because it is a National Security and National Health risk adversely impacting all Americans.
Bring peace to America.
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These days it's the late night talk show hosts who seem to be talking more sense than anyone else. A comedian on one of these shows said of the Second Amendment - it's an amendment! So instead of repealing it and upsetting a lot of people.... amend it!!! The British are not going to invade, so bring it in line with the 21st century.
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I eagerly await your solution to (3). Will you use mass confiscation or a 500 billion dollar buyback program?
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“The solutions:
(1) The Second Amendment must be repealed.
(2) The charter of the NRA must be cancelled because it is a National Security and National Health risk adversely impacting all Americans.”
And yet your fellow Travelers keep saying that “no one wants to take your guns,” pretty funny huh? They need to get with the program!
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There is no question that the future of this country is in the hands of our children. I so deeply admire their courage and determination. I've been a professor at Berkeley for years, and am the mother of three, and I know the gifts of integrity, intelligence and concern they bring to our country. To these young people, I want to say: run for office, seek positions of political power and influence. We old(er) people who remember the days of the Kennedys and Martin Luther King Jr, we'll vote for you.
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We will support you. We will stand with you. We will vote for you.
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"We old(er) people who remember the days of the Kennedy's and Martin Luther King Jr. will vote for you.
KS...Yes, we will eventually vote FOR them, for now we (the older generations) need to continue to stand behind them and vote WITH them..
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I am extremely pleased to see children utilizing their First Amendment Rights in such a real American fashion. Whatever your views of this debate, all American's should be proud that our youth's voices are raised based on their sincere belief they will be heard and there will be change. If Congress, the President and State Governments do not listen to these voices and act, then they alone will be responsible for what follows. There is only so much that a generation of young Americans will accept. It is the obligation of elected officials to listen, act and ignore contrary special interests simply to avoid the wrath a small rich minority.
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It's heartening to know that a significant number of these young Americans will be 18 and eligible to vote in November. The wind of change is blowing.
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Having been part of the generation that had a civil rights and peace movement, I'm so proud of these young people. I watched the rally in DC yesterday and was blown away by the fearlessness of those who spoke. My sincere hope is that this will not be then end, but the beginning of a movement.
I'm glad these young people have taken the torch and are willing to stand up for justice and are working to make our country safer and better for everyone. They have the right message; VOTE! I will be voting to oust all those who stand in the way of protecting our people.
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I participated in a sister march in Lansing, Michigan, Saturday on a sunny but cold day. Several young people spoke in front of our Capitol building and all were articulate, passionate and focused. This grandmother of five salutes them and all the young people across our country who are inspired to speak out. I hope each and every one of them votes in every election as soon as they are eligible to do so. As the crowd said in Lansing, Michigan, when Republicans were referred to as objecting to basic gun safety laws, "Vote them out!"
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And offer to take someone to the polls with you to make sure everyone exercises their right.
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