Dead School Children Do Not Reflect Our Values

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Two recent mass shootings, one at a predominantly black grocery store in Buffalo, New York, and the other at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, have lit the fuse on nationwide anti-gun protests that are happening today.  The group, March for our Lives, which was formed after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on Valentine's Day of 2018, will be sponsoring the demonstrations in many of America's larger cities, with the focal point being a protest at the Washington Monument in Washington, DC, that is expected to draw more than 50,000 attendees.

Large anti-gun protests seem to have become part of the standard response to the almost regular horrific shootings that plague the United States, one of the easiest places in the world to buy almost any type of weapon, in any quantity, basically unimpeded by any government restrictions.  Many states allow the "open carry" of firearms into almost any venue, and some have eliminated all requirements for gun owners to undergo any form of gun-safety training.

So mass shootings happen, anguish and grief cycle through carefully co-mingled with thoughts and prayers, protests happen, legislation gets talked about and then often disappears - especially at the federal level, and then everyone sits back and starts focusing on other things - until the next mass shooting happens.

But this time some feel that things may be different.  One of those expressing that point of view is David Hogg, a Harvard underclassman who was a student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas during the shooting 2018.  Mr. Hogg and several of his fellow students at that high school helped to form the group, March for Our Lives, which is leading today's protests.  In an op-ed  yesterday which was printed by Fox News, David Hogg had this to say:

"Attitudes are changing for what feels like the first time.  Gun owners, even former gun industry executives, are demanding action because tragedies like Uvalde do not reflect their values."

We must hope, for the lives of our children - and grandchildren - and for the sake of our nation, that Mr. Hogg's instincts are correct and that change may finally be at hand.  No child should have to live with the fear of being murdered anywhere, and especially in the warm and nurturing environment of a school.

May today's demonstrations and protests remind all of us that dead school children do not reflect our values either.  

Stand tall, protesters, and talk hard!