“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”
“Changes” – David Bowie
In response to yesterdays “walk out” by HS Students all over the country, protesting gun violence in schools, and the refusal of legislators to do anything to prevent another school mass shooting, some folks decided that kids should have, instead, had a “walk up.”
The idea was, instead of walking out to protest the fact that adults have failed them, the same adults who elected a bully into the oval office, believe that kids should have walked up to kids who were bullied, or who were loners, or otherwise ignored, and befriend them.
It’s a nice notion, and should definitely be promoted by schools on a daily basis. The fact that bullying is wrong and harmful should be taught all the time, not just as an expedient distraction from a recurring national tragedy.
Of COURSE we should do everything we can to prevent bullying. That should be a no-brainer. But it is a discussion completely separate from the mass-shootings we, as a country, have experienced over the past few years, in schools, churches, malls and movie theaters.
Shootings that had very little, if anything, to do with people who were bullied in school.
Put it this way, none of the school shooters were victims of school bullying.
– The guy in Florida was expelled for threatening violence against his classmate, and he beat his ex-girlfriend. He was actually a bully.
– The guys in Columbine bullied all the classmates they later killed.
– The guy in Sandy Hook was diagnosed with emotional issues and instead of seeking medical assistance for him, his mother took him to a gun range and gave him virtually unfettered access to her stockpile of guns.
Clearly, bullying is a problem, and it needs to be addressed. But the fact is, most bullied children end up committing suicide. They don’t kill others.
Mental illness is also a problem, and it definitely needs to be addressed. But it is only part of the problem, when folks with mental illness, or violent backgrounds, are still able to purchase guns with little to no background checks. And the fact that the current President, in his effort to get rid of any progress made by his predecessor, got rid of the regulation that would have helped prevent those with mental illness from purchasing guns, doesn’t help.
And then there’s the Second Amendment – The NRA’s favorite tool by which to instill fear in gun enthusiasts. But have any of these ‘protectors’ of the Second Amendment ever read the whole thing?
“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”
Regulation IS a part of the language, and since most states don’t have a “well regulated militia,” (The National Guard is as close as most states have to anything that qualifies) all you gun owners are subject to the laws of the individual states. It’s not your God-given, or Constitutionally-given, right to own a gun without anyone regulating said ownership. Sorry. Read it. Read it over and over and over again until you let it sink into your brain.
Just like my First Amendment rights don’t allow me to shout “fire” in a crowded theater, your Second Amendment rights aren’t absolute.
And that should be common sense, no?
We live in a society made up of people and laws made to protect us from those among us who may not have the best of intentions, or who may not have the mental capacity or responsibility needed to carry something that, in the wrong hands, can be dangerous to innocent people around them.
What most people, including most responsible gun owners, want, is for some form of unity in the law that would make it equally as difficult for, say, a mentally unstable 18 year old to get a gun in Virginia as it would in New York.
And, for the record, I really don’t give a shit about the semantics or the differences between guns and rifles and semi-automatic, or high caliber blah blah bullshit. A gun is a fucking gun and every single one of those things was created to kill a living being. So before you give me some bullshit about cars, or whatever distracting, irrelevant, nonsense argument you’re about to try and throw at me, shut it.
Seriously. I’m done debating this shit. It’s all a bunch of semantics and deflection. And doing nothing about the issue hasn’t helped anyone except the NRA and gun manufacturers.
I’m sure that if someone really wants to get a gun, they can. Just like someone who REALLY wants to buy drugs, will always find a way. Just like someone who REALLY wants to rob your house, or your place of business, will find a way.
So we should make it easier on them by not even TRYING anything to stop them?
Why bother having any kind of laws at all if everyone who wants to do a bad thing will find a way to do it?
And please, give me a break with the nonsense about needing the Second Amendment so we can rise against tyranny. Are you kidding me? Does that mean, by your definition, you should also be able to buy a tank, or a nuke? Because you’re not going to do much damage with your AR-15 against the full force of the US Military. Besides, that is exactly what the National Guard is for.
The kids who marched yesterday said it. Adults have failed them.
And those ‘adults’ who are coming up with every excuse to disregard or discredit these kids, guess what?
Roughly a quarter of HS kids will be eligible to vote in the mid-term elections this year.
Roughly three-quarters of todays HS kids will be eligible to vote in the 2020 election.
So please, do continue to disregard their concerns. Maybe they’ll finally make the changes we need to truly make this country great again – Starting with ridding us of the plague of NRA-purchased legislators in DC, and then ridding us of the pestilence currently spreading his vile, putrid, stench throughout the White House.
For the first time in 15 months, I see a light at the end of the tunnel.
Ms. Houston said it best… The children are the future. And the best thing we, as adults can do, is either get on board and help them make a better world for them, or get the hell out of the way.
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