Roberts: After Parkland shooting, maybe students can shame us into taking action on guns
Laurie Roberts: After last week's tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, our children are fed up with school shootings and we should be, too.
Laurie Roberts
Given that adults have failed – miserably – to even try to find a way to stop our schools from becoming killing fields, it is now left to the children to try to save themselves.
Survivors of last week’s school massacre in Parkland, Fla., have called for a March 24 March for Our Lives protest in Washington and across the country. Having watched 17 of their friends and teachers cut down, they’re fed up and fired up and rightly so.
Kids in Phoenix are joining in, with #MarchforOurLives Phoenix.
"This is our time to push for a change in gun laws, mental health education, and security in schools,” their Facebook page says. “We will be heard and things WILL change.''
Of course, these kids are young and idealistic. They have hopes and dreams and a naïve belief that those who call the shots in this country represent them and will fight for them.
For their safety, for their very lives.
Kids v. gun lobby
They haven’t yet run up against the politicians who are chock full of thoughts and prayers but tragically devoid of any desire or ability to go up against the powerful gun lobby that owns Washington D.C. (And 1700 W. Washington in Phoenix, I might add.)
If our politicians worked for us, we would long ago have outlawed high-capacity magazines that allow shooters to boost the carnage before having to stop to reload.
If they worked for us, we would long ago have strengthened our laws to at least try to keep guns out of the hands of those who suffer from mental and emotional distress.
If they worked for us, we would long ago have outlawed high-capacity magazines that allow madmen to boost the carnage before having to stop and reload. And bump stocks that can quickly boost the body count.
Our leaders have done nothing
Instead, they have done ... nothing.
Would arming teachers cut down on the carnage or add to it? We don’t know.
Would allowing armed citizens inside public buildings cut down on the carnage or add to it? We don’t know.
Would making it more difficult to get certain types of guns cut down on the carnage or increase the dead and dying? We don’t know.
We don’t know because our leaders refuse to spend any money researching the best ways to prevent gun violence.
Why no research on gun violence?
In fact, since 1996, our leaders have specifically stipulated that no federal money can be used “in whole or in part, to advocate or promote gun control.”
As a result, the Centers for Disease Control does no research in the one of the biggest public health issues confronting this country.
We have blown it. So please bring on the teen-agers.
The student-led March for Our Lives announced Sunday that it is planning a March 24 march on Washington and other cities to demand what should be their right – safe schools and legislation “to effectively address the gun violence issues that are rampant" across the nation.
"Politicians are telling us that now is not the time to talk about guns. March For Our Lives believes the time is now," the group said in a statement announcing the march. "Not one more — we cannot allow one more child to be shot at school."
Tragically, the rest of us have proven through tragedy after tragedy – and election after election -- that we can.
Reach Roberts at laurie.roberts@arizonarepublic.com.
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These Arizona leaders opposed gun restrictions on the mentally ill