Pain of Parkland: Students mobilize against gun violence

I am writing to point out a few things to people who either don’t know or don’t understand a lot of the issues around firearms.

Despite BlackRock’s overtures, it has stopped short of saying it will commit to an outright ban on investment in gun manufacturers.

Parkdale was a tragedy that could have been averted with the common sense that all parents should em-ploy. The AR-15 is a weapon of war and it’s outlandish how powerful it is and maybe it should be banned from sale. There is no “magic bullet” solution to gun violence.

A larger percentage of voters than ever backed tougher gun restrictions in Quinnipiac’s national polling this month – only 47 percent did in December 2015. Assault weapon deaths declined but the ban expired in 2004, as there was little public resolve to renew it.

We can not and should not accept tactics by the NRA that blame media or justify tragedies as abstractions. We can’t let this moment pass.

In Maine, the Legislature will debate beefing-up school security, but not restricting gun sales. It’s been reported that four Broward County law enforcement officers waited outside while the shooting was ongoing inside the school.

Putting guns in teachers’ hands would increase fear, paranoia and gun sales. Maybe if the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other law enforcement agencies had actually done their job in Florida.

How have the current White House and Congress been doing on solving the problem of our schoolchildren being used as easy prey for the unstable or enraged or bullied? History says no. numerous shootings at schools in the United States are done by adolescents with guns obtained from other people, not guns that they bought themselves.

But the biggest thing that I and activists want to happen, is something. “All too often in the aftermath of these tragic events, there is knee-jerk reaction to attack the Second Amendment rights of our citizens rather than to address the root causes, which often center around mental illness”, she said.

Twenty-two years ago beginning in 1996, every government bill in regard to funding has what is known as the Dickey Amendment. “We’re going to take a stand and step up and tell people our view and, hopefully, bring people along into the conversation”. Getting to 2/3 consensus might prove hard if not impossible.

A significant amount of news coverage has centered around the fact that many of these retailers have chosen to stop selling “assault-style” rifles and to raise the minimum age to purchase firearms to 21.

We should not forget that Trump is a Republican and his party and the NRA are firmly linked. A bad idea. Maybe we should have told all those fearless young men and women that gave their lives for our country (in any of our wars) at the age of 18, 19, or 20 that they were too young to handle a gun.

Everyone has opinions, and everyone has the right to those opinions, but we are obligated to make sure those opinions are grounded in reality.

Since taking office, the president has weakened background checks, backed away from Obama-era regulations created to limit those with mental health issues from buying guns, and proposed grievous cuts to mental health-the exact opposite of what he claimed he wanted to fix during the recent listening session he hosted on the issue of gun violence, in response to the school shooting in Parkland, Florida. Look, either make it 18 or 21 across the board, but make up your mind.