THE SLAUGHTER CONTINUES

Seventeen more. The bodies pile up, families are forever shattered, all the promise of youth squandered, and politicians, gun manufacturers and the National Rifle Association (NRA) put more guns in circulation.

It is always same—protect the gun industry, even if it means mowing down concertgoers, high school and elementary school students, people in movie theaters, nightclub goers, or church worshipers—all targets in this nation turned shooting gallery. The self-proclaimed greatest nation on the earth cannot or will not protect children and unarmed adults.

Second Amendment proponents have pushed gun ownership so far that the Trump administration, on February 28, 2017, signed a bill making it easier for mentally disturbed people to buy firearms. That in and of itself is lunacy. Politicians and gun manufacturers’ greed has blinded them to what they are doing—destroying American families.

The lies coming from the gun manufacturers, the NRA, and many in Congress include: “Now is not the time to discuss gun violence.” Now most certainly is the time! If now is not the time, then tell us when.

Another doozy is, “They are coming to get your guns.” Who is the “they?” Are these people so paranoid that they think someone is out to get them all the time?

And the granddaddy of all, “Nothing can be done to stop the killings, no one can stop anyone’s intent to murder.” They are flat wrong. Of course you cannot stop all shootings, but to make that broad statement is just plain lazy and ignorant. You cannot cure all diseases, but that does not mean we stop trying to cure as many as possible.

Look at what Australia has done to curtail gun violence:

On April 28, 1996, a gunman opened fire on tourists in a seaside resort in Port Arthur, Tasmania. He killed 35 people and wounded 23 more; the worst mass murder in Australia’s history.

Australia’s government acted. Led by conservative Prime Minister John Howard, it announced a bipartisan deal with state and local governments to enact sweeping measures to keep firearms out of the hands of people who are threat to themselves and others. These policy changes have worked well.

At the heart of the push was a massive buyback of more than 600,000 semi-automatic shotguns and rifles. That figure amounted to approximately one-fifth of all firearms in circulation in Australia. The Australian laws also prohibited private sales, requiring all weapons be individually registered to their owners, and requiring that gun buyers present a “genuine reason” for needing each weapon at the time of the purchase. Self-defense was not considered a valid reason to buy a weapon. Polls showed public support for these measures at upwards of 90 percent.

According the New York Magazine, “in the decade after the (Australian) law was introduced, the firearm homicide rate dropped by 59 percent and the firearm suicide rate fell by 65, with no corresponding increase in homicides and suicides committed without guns.” 

Young people, such as those at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, are not buying the argument nothing can be done. Students are fed up with politicians being bought off by the NRA and gun manufacturers, they are organizing and will hold elected officials accountable. All of us need to support their March for Our Lives March 24^th.

If you have no ideas on ways to curb the slaughter of children and innocent citizens, then please get out of the way. Some of us do have ideas, and proof, these measures work—they reduce mass killings. (To be continued)

DANA LOESCH: CRUDE, RUDE, AND ARROGANT

Conservative pendant, Dana Loesch, spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), and just when you think the far right has sunk about as low as it can go, Loesch opened her mouth.

During Loesch’s rant, she asserted, “Many in the legacy media love mass shootings. You guys love it.” Adding, “Now I am not saying that you love the tragedy. But I am saying you love the ratings.” Sometimes you just cannot hide stupid lies.

For Loesch to politicize the deaths of 17 students and faculty members goes beyond disgusting. Indeed I don’t know if there is a word in the English language to describe how repugnant her comments were.

Clearly Dana Loesch appears loves to use the sufferings of others to promote the extreme right’s political agenda. Loesch is a sleazy Ann Coulter. She did, after all, work for Breitbart.

SUPPORT THE FLORIDA STUDENTS

In the more than 16 years since the murder of the mother of my oldest grandchild at the Appalachian School of Law, I have received words of support from people of all political leaning.

That support had given me hope that there is one issue upon which our deeply divided country can unite—the safety of our children, teachers, moviegoers, worshipers in church, and people everywhere. I came to believe the vast majority of Americans were appalled by this senseless slaughter.

However, reaction from some quarters to the mass killing of 17 students and teachers on Valentine’s Day appears to prove me tragically wrong. Some are calling the student survivors paid actors. The Florida legislature voted down a bill to discuss gun violence less than a week after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

When politicians belittle teachers for being overpaid and on a gravy train they ignore the heroism of those teachers who step between the killers and the students, sacrificing their lives to save children. When those hero-teachers die, their families do not get the death benefits our soldiers’ families get--$100,000. Teachers take bullets to save students; they work in combat zones—they deserve combat pay.

All of us need to stand with the students in Florida. We need to put a badge of shame on elected officials who accept money from the NRA and gun manufacturers.

The self-proclaimed greatest nation in the world failed to curb the violence after Columbine, after the Appalachian School of Law, after Virginia Tech, after Sandy Hook, after Orlando, after Las Vegas, and on and on. Perhaps now, the children of Florida will show us the way out of this nightmare of violence.

SEAN POHLE--MISSING

My friend’s son, Sean Pohle, is missing. Please share.

Missing Pieces Network

ANTHONY BORGES

Anthony Borges, 15, a high school student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. He is a hero. 

He used his body to hold a classroom door shut, protecting 20 other students inside as the gunman fired through the door, hitting him five times. 

Let's spread HIS name, NOT the killer's name ....

FLORIDA POLITICIANS TAKING MONEY FROM THE NRA

Here is a partial list of Florida politicians who have accepted money from the National Rifle Association (NRA) and the amount they accepted.

1.  Representative Carlos Curbelo               $2,500

2.  Representative Ron DeSantis                 $1,000

3.  Representative Mario Diaz-Balart          $2,000

4.  Representative Neal Dunn                      $1,000

5.  Representative Matt Gaetz                      $1,000

6.  Representative Brian Mast                      $1,000

7.  Representative Tom Roonig                    $2,000

8.  Representative Dennis Ross                    $2,000

9.  Senator Mario Rubio                               $9,900

10. Representative John Rutherford             $1,000

11. Representative Daniel Webster               $1,000

12. Representative Ted Yoho                        $1,000

MARCH FOR OUR LIVES ON MARCH 24TH

Support the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School “March for Our Lives” on March 24^th as the young people of that school fire their first salvo in trying to stop school shootings and other gun violence.

Mission Statement

Not one more. We cannot allow one more child to be shot at school. We cannot allow one more teacher to make a choice to jump in front of a firing assault rifle to save the lives of students. We cannot allow one more family to wait for a call or text that never comes. Our schools are unsafe. Our children and teachers are dying. We must make it our top priority to save these lives. 

March For Our Lives is created by, inspired by, and led by students across the country who will no longer risk their lives waiting for someone else to take action to stop the epidemic of mass school shootings that has become all too familiar. In the tragic wake of the seventeen lives brutally cut short in Florida, politicians are telling us that now is not the time to talk about guns.  March For Our Lives believes the time is now. 

On March 24, the kids and families of March For Our Lives will take to the streets of Washington, DC to demand that their lives and safety become a priority. The collective voices of the March For Our Lives movement will be heard. 

School safety is not a political issue. There cannot be two sides to doing everything in our power to ensure the lives and futures of children who are at risk of dying when they should be learning, playing, and growing.  The mission and focus of March For Our Lives is to demand that a comprehensive and effective bill be immediately brought before Congress to address these gun issues.  No special interest group, no political agenda is more critical than timely passage of legislation to effectively address the gun violence issues that are rampant in our country. 

Every kid in this country now goes to school wondering if this day might be their last. We live in fear. 

It doesn’t have to be this way. Change is coming. And it starts now, inspired by and led by the kids who are our hope for the future. Their young voices will be heard. 

Stand with us on March 24. Refuse to allow one more needless death.

MARCH FOR OUR LIVES!

SCHOOL SHOOTINGS, SEX CRIMES, COVERUPS

My last posting on school shootings dealt with a school’s reasoning that it is cheaper to hire a new professor than intervene with a potential shooter and risk a lawsuit. That sort of reasoning strikes at the heart of problem of mass school shootings. The anecdote in that posting appears to be under-the-table actions by a school administration whose main goal apparently is the protection of the school and its reputation—at all costs.

But it is not just shootings. Look at Penn State. There were no deaths at State College, but young boys’ lives have been scarred forever; they have been psychologically and physically damaged. And how did Penn State’s leadership respond? The school thought of the institution first and put protecting the university’s reputation ahead of the safety of children. The following is a direct quote from the findings of the Louis Freeh report investigating Penn State sexual abuse scandal:

 Our most saddening and sobering finding is the total disregard for the safety and welfare of Sandusky's child victims by the most senior leaders at Penn State. The most powerful men at Penn State failed to take any steps for 14 years to protect the children who Sandusky victimized. Messrs. Spanier, Schultz, Paterno and Curley never demonstrated, through actions or words, any concern for the safety and well-being of Sandusky's victims until after Sandusky's arrest.

It appears that Penn State responded with a wink and a nod, an incomprehensible willingness to turn a blind eye to child abuse. Both schools—Penn State and Virginia Tech—put the reputations of their respective institutions ahead of taking action. Neither school took the correct course of action when confronted with crimes—Virginia Tech at the double homicide in West Ambler Johnston Hall, and Penn State when confronted with eye witness accounts of child abuse.  “Protect the school and its reputation” appears to have been the mantra of these administrations bent on shielding their inactions from review and recriminations.

The Appalachian School of Law, Virginia Tech, and Penn State; in all three cases, the inaction of school officials struck at the heart of common sense and human decency. In all three instances, at all three schools, the words “mediocre” and “incompetent” leadership describe the actions of the schools’ administrations. (To be continued)