MARCH
FOR OUR LIVES
David
Cariens
March 24, 2018
Kilmarnock, Virginia
Thank
all of you for coming today in support of the Parkland students’ initiative to
stop gun violence and the horrific epidemic of school shootings plaguing our
nation.
The
students at Parkland are inspiring; they are showing us the way. The students
at Parkland are right; we have failed to keep our schools safe—we have failed
miserably. Time and time again, we have wept, we have wrong our hands in
disbelief, but we have done little to keep guns out of the hands of those who
are threat to themselves and others. As a result, the bodies pile up—students,
faculty, concerts goers, and moviegoers—the carnage continues and the
self-proclaimed greatest nation on earth sits on its hands seemingly paralyzed
and incapable of action.
From
Columbine, to the Appalachian School of Law, to Virginia Tech, to Sandy Hook,
to a nightclub in Orlando or a concert in Las Vegas, and now a high school in
Parkland, Florida, the killings multiply.
While
gun manufacturers and the National Rifle Association buy our politicians and
stifle laws to make our schools safer, other nation’s act. Australia, Canada,
and Great Britain all have laws to keep guns out of the hands of those who are
a threat to themselves and others, to keep weapons away from terrorists—and
make no mistake about it—shootings in schools or any public place are a form of
domestic terrorism. The countries I just mentioned are not dictatorships—their
citizens have the same rights we have. And most important, these countries have
a fraction of the gun violence we have.
Don’t
believe the lies spouted by the Second Amendment extremists. Sensible gun laws
are compatible with our freedoms. I would remind you, all the Amendments to the
Constitution have limits—we are guaranteed freedom of speech, but I cannot
stand here and swear like a drunken sailor—the law does not permit it. Nowhere
does the Second Amendment give anyone the right to take someone else’s life
just for the hell of it. Nowhere does the Second Amendment give anyone the
right to take a gun, and because of real or imagined insults, go into public
spaces and slaughter people.
Furthermore,
other Amendments to the Constitutions are not used to guarantee profits for any
industry—only the Second Amendment is exploited to spur gun sales and make
wealthy gun manufacturers richer.
There
is an unhealthy obsession with gun rights in this country and after each
massacre the media concentrates on the rights of citizens to own guns. Rarely
is there talk about the rights of those who have been killed. What about their
rights? If you want to talk about the rights the founding fathers gave us, then
ok let’s talk. What about the opening line of the Declaration of Independence
laying out the rights we all have, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that
all men are created equal, that they are endowed by the Creator with certain
unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of
Happiness.”
There
is a saying, “Thinking is hard work, that is why so few people do it.” Those
words fit people who want unbridled access to guns, especially automatic,
rapid-fire weapons of war. How can the Wayne LaPierres of this world ignore the
anguished cries of the parents at Sandy Hook and elsewhere? How can people
ignore the fact that almost 100,000 Americans are wounded or killed by guns
every year? How can any thinking person ignore the fact that since the
assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963, more Americans have died by
American gunfire than perished on foreign battlefields in all of the 20th
Century?
I
would like to specifically address the men listening to me. Men commit over 95
per cent of the mass killings in this country. This epidemic of gun-related
violence is a male problem and men need to fix it. Gentlemen, you manhood is
not measured by the size of your weapon; it is measured by the size of your
backbone and your willingness to stand up and be counted in the effort to help
stop this carnage.
To
paraphrase a Parkland student, regardless of race, religion, or ethnicity, we all
bleed the same red blood; we suffer and feel pain equally. Yet we have failed
to come together stop gun violence. If you are a Democrat, a Republican or
member of the Tea Party, remember we all share important things—among these is
our love for our children and respect for their teachers and school
administrators. No matter what your party affiliation I ask you to think and
think clearly about what is happening our nation and our families and to join with
others to stop the killings.
I
know first-hand what it is like to lose a family member in a school shooting, I
still hear the hours of cries and screams of my then seven-year-old
granddaughter when she was told that her mother had been gunned down at the
Appalachian School of Law in Grundy, Virginia; I have talked with and felt the
pain of the Virginia Tech families; I have listened to the lies of school and
elected officials while they cover up incompetence and inaction. I have had
enough! The young people of Parkland are right, now is the time to act, now is
the time to take steps to stop the killings.
Students
at Parkland, we hear your cry and we will not remain silent. You inspire us,
you are giving us courage; we are responding to your call and we are demanding
change. And if our elected officials will not pass common sense gun safety laws
and increase spending on mental health, we will vote them out. We have an
election this November, how many more have to die? We are tired of waiting for
action. If no meaningful steps are taken to stop the slaughter, then it is time
to vote them out! Vote them out! Vote them out! Let me repeat, vote them out!
Thank
you for listening to me. Now, let’s get to work and elected people who will
help stop the slaughter.
