According to the U.S. Department of Education, about 50.7 million students attend public elementary and secondary schools and an additional 5.2 million students attend private schools.
This means that reports of a school shooting not only terrify and devastate the parents involved, but 56 million uninvolved parents also experience a heart-stopping pang of fear. “What if this happened at my child’s school? Where will it happen next? This has to stop!” Grandparents and all the relatives of the 56 million children…and all empathic human beings on the planet…echo these feelings.
What can I write that hasn’t been said since Parkland? I have long stressed gun safety at home and pointed out how important it is for parents to make sure there are no accessible guns where their child plays. I deplore the wide availability in the U.S. of military guns designed for rapid firing to kill many. I despise the very existence of gadgetry that converts a weapon into a military gun capable of blasting multiple bullets into a body .
It has been estimated that there are 357 million guns in the U.S., 40 million more than our population. The U.S. has 5 percent of the world’s population but 35 percent to 50 percent of all the civilian-owned guns in the world and, as one might expect, we win the gold medal for the highest homicide-by-firearm rate in developed nations.
Let me turn to some of the best of what has been written since the Parkland shooting. Betsy K. Mathews, a retired teacher from Amherst, Massachusetts. wrote the following to the editor of the New York Times: “It’s time for a new Second Amendment. ‘A well-educated citizenry being necessary to the preservation of a free state, the right of children to return home from school shall not be infringed.’ “
Susan Mayhew of Tucson wrote the editor of this paper suggesting that, rather than sending thoughts and prayers, our senators and representatives could donate the money they accepted from the gun lobby to parents of Parkland victims for funeral expenses.
The NRA and the NRA Institute for Legislative Action spent a record $54 million in 2016, much of which went to the presidential campaign. Between 1998 and 2017 lobbying expenditures from gun-rights groups, and gun manufacturers came to more than $156 million. Gun-control advocacy groups? Only $19 million.
Columnist Bret Stephens suggested repealing the Second Amendment. An editorial in the New York Times pointed out, “…the gun lobby’s stranglehold on our elected officials does not need to continue, if candidates stand up to the lobby and voters demand that they commit themselves to the sorts of changes that a vast majority of Americans want.” This is timely, “With midterm elections coming up this fall America has a chance to get that message across.”
Everybody who cares about children should make this a priority issue and start right now seeking such legislators locally and nationally. Enough is enough! Support and vote only for those who are not beholden to the gun lobby and will vote for sensible gun-control measures.
For those who think mental illness, not guns, is the problem let’s do some fact checking. Only 4 percent of all violence is associated with mental illness alone. Less than 5 percent of gun killings were associated with diagnosed mental illness. However undiagnosed or treated mental illness is another of our inadequately-funded problems and is part of the poverty, homelessness, and health-care mess we have in our nation today.
There are two bright lights on the dark horizon. The school children of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School spoke up and spoke out. They galvanized America. But kids can’t do it alone, they need our help. Support their marches and initiatives.
The second light was unexpected. Establishments selling guns also spoke out. Dick’s Sporting Goods was the first to take an important stand. This company will no longer sell the AR- 15 rifle, nor will they allow purchases of guns to those under 21. Walmart also announced the under-21 ban and other corporations are following suit. Some companies are boycotting non-gun products from corporations that make or sell assault weapons or large capacity magazines. Commerce is not against gun ownership but has recognized that the AR-15 is a military weapon, not a gun for sportsmen or deranged mass killers.
My son, a gun owner, resigned from his local gun club when the proliferation of assault weapons turned the club into a place unsuitable to teach his child son target-shooting. This responsible gun-owner went to Dick’s Sporting Goods last week to buy clothing just so he could say thank you!
Will children lead us out of the wilderness of impasse? Will commerce help? Only if we grownups lend ourselves, our dollars, and our votes toward ensuring “Never again!”
Parents and grandparents have another task. We must raise our children, especially boys, to understand the dangers of living in a country that has more guns than people. Teach children how to protect themselves in a dangerous situation. Model and teach non-violent conflict resolution. Explain how important it is to tell a responsible adult if a classmate, or any person, is acting strangely (telling is being responsible, it is not tattling). Also explain the origin of the gun conflict, the Second Amendment, and lobbying. Help every child grow up to be a citizen and voter who cares about our country .
Be sure to thank the courageous corporations who are taking a stand against gun insanity. And let’s support the courageous children of Parkland who set off a spark of gun sanity.
