Memorial Day is a day as a nation that we remember the fallen, many at a young age, who died while serving our country.
But this weekend, Americans thoughts will be on another group of young people who lost their lives in a battle they did not choose or were drafted into. It is a generation who have never gone to school that does not include a drill for an active shooter, huddling in corners and are told to stay quiet for fear of alerting an armed stranger in body armor who is hunting them with an automatic weapon that allows even novice shooters to fire dozens of rounds within seconds.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) spoke for many in the nation when he asked “What are we doing?” on the U.S. Senate floor on the day an 18 year old high school student killed 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary school in West Texas. The shooting comes 10 days after a different 18 year old searched out and killed 10 Black people at a Buffalo supermarket, including the armed security guard.
We as a nation have a gun problem that no other nation on Earth has. Yes, we have a mental health problem fueled by social media and we are willing to hear out the arguments about video games. And, maybe most of all, we have a problem that we are numb to the loss of life, acceptance by some that is the price we pay for an unchecked 2nd Amendment.
The list is endless of what is causing this, but at its core is a failed belief that more guns—and ammunition and now body armor—will better protect us and our children. It doesn’t and it hasn’t.
The argument of taking away guys is just a straw man for those who conveniently pass over the “well regulated” part of our constitution. We are understanding that hunting is a family tradition for some in the same way as going to a ball game or to the theater. The heirloom of a shotgun is as of importance as a piece of jewelry as well. A majority of Americans who are for gun control are not looking to take away these rights.
And we hear the arguments that strict gun law cities and states have gun-involved crimes at rates equal or higher than those in those that do not. But make sure you listen to the leaders in those communities that tell you the guns are more often than not brought in from states with weaker gun laws.
All that being said, there are common sense laws that absolutely have the backing of most Americans. Background checks for any gun purchase, an age limit that is consistent with the ability to buy a drink legally or requiring the passing of a firearm safety test are all logical guardrails.
Unfortunately that does not solve what should be the ultimate goal: getting rid of the machines of war—the AK-15s, the automatic guns that have high volume magazines—that are too easily available today. No sportsman needs an assault weapon with high magazines to hunt.
Our frustrations were best expressed by Golden State basketball coach Steve Kerr, whose father was killed after was being shot twice in the back of his head while serving as president of the American University of Beirut in 1984.
After Buffalo, Rep. Mikie Sherrill stated “I have recently spoken of how our forefathers were concerned about the tyranny of the majority, however…I feel like I am forced to live with the values of an extremist minority.”
Sherrill is right, a majority of Americans want change to end the proliferation of gun violence no other country has while having the same mental health issues, social platforms and video games.
In the end, it comes down to what type of country we want to be. We have tried the good guy with a gun, the police officers at schools and the hardening of campus. The 19 dead kids in Texas and the 10 Americans shot going to the grocery store in upstate New York shows that what we are doing is not working. This time around, more should be done about reinstating the ban on assault weapons and background checks
We will take a moment on Monday to honor those who have lost their lives serving this country. We will expand those prayers this Memorial Day weekend to include the students, teachers and families in Uvalde.
Your article is a disgusting exercise in partisanship. Many other countries have higher murder rates than the United States does. If you were anything but ignorant ideologically blind hacks and flacks… if you were real journalists, all he would have to do is check the statistics and you understand this. There are many other countries that have much higher murder rates and violent crime rates than United States does. Memorial day is about honoring the people who gave their lives to protect liberty including the Second Amendment. For you to turn your editorial into a shameless Partisan diatribe is disgusting.
If the groups of people that control the school system wanted to protect children, They could do it tomorrow. Pretty much every government building, every courthouse, police station airport has metal detectors and armed guards. Any politician or public figure any importance or status always travels around with armed bodyguards. We just spent $40 billion on a pointless for pointless war in Ukraine.
The reason why the people in charge of the school systems wont fortify the schools is because everytime there is a school shooting they can use the tragedy to further their political agenda. They use the corpses of children to advance their ideology.
And thats what you are doing here
Its the definition of evil
You started with a lie (or as your yellow kink calls it “Fake news “). Then you went into useless, baseless name calling. After that you repeat the lie again, that there are other democratic countries with higher murder rate, which is a total BS. Then you suggest that we fortified our schools, give everykids protective gear, station tanks at the school and put metal detector on every door. You forgot to mention adding million of health professional to deal with kids trauma from all this BS militarization of schools. And you, who advocate giving guns to any crazy who want it, say that I scarify my kids for political reason? Go home and pray to your NRA god.
Dirk, you say we need more guns, right? I say we need less guns, so what we need is to research what is the right solution. It is so logical that the NRA and the Republican will jump on it, allocate money for discussion and expert panel to show that they are right, right? Well , why not , what are the NRA so afraid of? WHAT IS THE NRA AFRAID OF???????
Typical sloppy reporting (or is it intentional propaganda?) from the North Jersey News. The U.S. ranks #87 out of 171 countries worldwide in per capita gun murder rate (despite ranking #1–by far–in per capita private gun ownership); not one of the mass killings in the U.S. was committed using an “automatic weapon of war”; and the notion that the 2nd Amendment was put there to protect “family hunting traditions” is beyond laughable. Those are basic facts that take a few minutes to verify, but the “journalists” at the NJN apparently couldn’t be bothered to check. If you can’t get your basic facts straight, why should we trust any of your “solutions”?