On February 14, 2018, a horrific tragedy occurred in Parkland, Florida at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. As we know, 14 students and 3 adults lost their lives in the massacre on that day. The spotlight of the country, and yes, the world shown on the south Florida landscape as students who survived the tragedy began to speak. Their message was one that has been spoken too many times, only to fall on the deaf ears of the power brokers in this country. Since the horrible day in Littleton, Colorado almost 20 years ago, 533 people have been killed in mass shootings. The students who survived have mandated that “enough is enough”. On March 24th of this year these students along with countless others organized a march on Washington to bring to the attention of those sitting in their paneled offices behind strict security that it was time that they act and stop issuing platitudes. Similar marches were organized in cities throughout the country and in other countries.
The above background is presented to lay out a context for recent developments involving some of the young people who have been the face of the movement. Some news pundits have been the voice of the National Rifle Association (NRA) to undermine the efforts of these courageous kids. One of the more celebrated charges was leveled by Laura Ingraham of Fox News toward David Hogg. Apparently, unable to deal with the factual information about the myriad of mass shootings, she picked on his attempts for admission to various colleges, stating that he was not accepted by 4 of the top schools. What this had to do with the issue at hand remains a mystery. In a recent article, Columnist Cal Thomas, referred to Hogg as a coward for his “immature” retort to Ingraham, calling her a “bully”. The NRA has argued that the young people leading this movement are actors and not students at the Florida high school. The difference with this mass shooting is that the students involved have taken a very valiant stand against not only the NRA, but the legislators who have enjoyed significant contributions from the NRA to their campaigns. For example, it has been reported that the U.S. Senator from Florida, Marco Rubio, has received $3.3 million in campaign contributions from the NRA. It is the NRA and their elected pawns who have led the challenge against any substantive reform dealing with assault weapons such as the AR 15, and other weapons that can discharge bullets in milliseconds. It has been these weapons that have been used over and over in the mass shootings in this country. When will reason and common sense prevail? When will we move beyond “our thoughts and prayers are with you” to viable action on limiting what guns can be sold in this country? When will there be action that leads to substantive change? Inaction only leaves open the very likely possibility of the next mass shooting somewhere in this country. Forty-one states and the District of Columbia have witnessed such catastrophic events. No state, city or community is immune. The next mass shooting can occur anywhere. Let us all join these young people and make the commitment that “enough is enough”. Let us join them in holding legislators at the state and national levels accountable for doing what is sensible and right.