The bodies of the the kids and adults murdered (murder is illegal) at a school in Parkland, Florida weren’t even cool when the Usual Suspects started clamoring for gun control. NBA coach Steve Kerr (who is protected by armed security) had a meltdown. Chelsea Handler (also protected by armed security on-set) railed against the NRA. All sorts of elected Democrats immediately went on Twitter to say we need to Do Something and grab guns. Even a sports reporter got in on the act. Senator Bill Nelson (D-Fla) has been repeating the talking point that automatic assault rifles need to be banned (they actually are, and it seems the guns used by Nikolas Cruz were semi-auto)
And then there was the Sun Sentinel, a paper out of Florida’s Broward County covering South Florida news. Parkland is in Broward County, and the Editorial Board immediately jumped to gun grabbing rather than sympathy
Heartbreak of Parkland school shooting must bring action | Editorial
Students hiding in classrooms. Police officers surrounding a school with guns drawn. Parents racing to the scene, fearing the worst.
The national epidemic of mass shootings came home to South Florida on Wednesday afternoon, when shots rang out at a high school in Parkland.
This time, the heartbreaking images of children on stretchers and others scurried to safety with arms raised were broadcast from a community we know.
The wailing ambulance sirens and flashing police lights headed toward a school, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, we trusted as a safe place to send our children.
Many are recommending that schools have armed security, that some teachers be allowed to be armed. Instead of keeping schools as gun free zones, otherwise known as easy targets of opportunity.
Protecting gun lovers’ ability to buy assault-style rifles and high-capacity ammunition magazines proved to be more convincing than the rising number of dead students.
Even requiring tougher background checks for people trying to buy guns wasn’t considered a political fight worth facing for elected leaders unwilling to defy the wishes of the National Rifle Association.
Outside of schools, the 2016 killing of 49 people at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando wasn’t enough of a body county to prompt tougher limits on rapid-fire weapons or high-capacity magazines.
It’s not the fault of “scary looking” guns. The NRA has no problem with background checks. It likes background checks. It doesn’t want guns in the hands of those who shouldn’t have it. Interestingly, the editorial board blames the guns, rather than the religions, namely, hardcore, gay hating Islam, responsible for the Pulse shooting. Which, BTW, was against the law, just like the shootings at Parkland. Strange how criminals refuse to follow the law, eh?
Amid the despair, we can also expect to be uplifted by stories from survivors of heroic acts that helped others live through the gunfire.
Then, perhaps most importantly, it will be up to us as a country to decide whether we will take action ourselves.
Take action to finally stop these mass shootings from becoming so routine that we sometimes just change the channel when reports of more deaths come from yet another town.
It’s not “politicizing†someone’s death to do something to try to prevent even more deaths.
OK, what are their ideas? Because it seems that the gun grabber ideas are always aimed at the law abiding citizens, rather than the criminals.
Maybe we could pass a law where it’s illegal to shoot people in a murderous manner.
