Gun Violence [Response to Parkland Shooting]
.JPG)
17 people were killed on Valentine's day in a massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
Facebook and twitter has been flooded with information regarding what happened that day.
I'm assuming you have seen it and if you haven't, go to your news provider for more information.
I hold back tears watching the videos, getting a glimpse of what students went through.
In one video you can see police carry a girl out while another is laying on the floor dead.
Students run out, past the dead bodies of fellow classmates and faculty.
Every single student will never be able to forget what happened. They will forever have haunting memories.
17 people lost their precious lives to an act of violence that perhaps could have been prevented.
How many more mass shooting does there have to be before something changes?
Now I write this post because there is something that needs to be addressed.
I am disgusted by the fact that people were pushing their political agendas on the matter in Florida not even an hour after it happened.
17 people died, and what people are focusing on is the politics of gun control.
I don't give a shit about whether or not you want to give up you AR-15. I don't give a shit in you think its a gun problem or a person problem.
17 people are dead. It's no longer time to argue your side of the coin. What we are doing, IS NOT WORKING.
Things can't stay the way they are.
We need to take action.
But first, we need to mourn the loss of every single person who lost their life.
We need to reflect and listen.
I am sick of seeing people turn a blind eye and tuning out everything others have to say.
Don't Dismiss Young Minds
Teens across the US are protesting. Teens are calling for action because guess what, they don't want this to happen again. They do not want to fall victim too.
During the 4 years of high school, I saw security dramatically change.
By senior year, all doors in the school were closed and locked. By senior year, we had started doing active shooter drills.
Teachers would casually discuss with students what they would do if an active shooter would come. I had one teacher who had access to a closet in the upper level boiler room through her classroom and she asked for a key so that she would be able to hide students there.
What I am sick of seeing hearing, is grown adults dismissing the concerns and voices of students.
They dismiss them as if they are too young to have a real opinion or know anything about the world.
And that pisses me off. That lights a fire in me. Because guess what, the most RELEVANT and IMPORTANT opinions and concerns are those of students.
Stop dismissing millennials! Stop dismissing youth! They matter. What they feel matters.
So no, I don't really care about how much you need your AR-15 and how it isn't a gun problem.
It is a gun problem and it is a person problem. IT IS BOTH.
Mentally unstable people shouldn't own guns. Maybe, an AR-15 doesn't have any real practical use to us?
We have a right to bare arms to avoid an over-controlling government. To avoid a monarchy or dictatorship. Having the right to bare arms is apart of insuring our freedom. It is an insurance.
YOU DO NOT NEED an AR-15 to hunt or even to protect yourself.
I know that if someone broke into my house, the first gun I would go for is a pistol. Maybe for you, it's your shotgun.
I believe we should have the right to bare arms. I believe we all should have the right to protect ourselves.
I'm not sure many would disagree with wanting the right to own a gun for protection.
But things need to change. Maybe it starts with what type of weapon we can own.
Maybe it starts with a more in-depth background check and assessment of whether or not someone is mentally stable enough.
Maybe we should have to take a class. Maybe it should be a process similar to getting your driver's license.
We need to propose new ideas and take action, instead of arguing back and forth.
I'm not saying I have the right answers or that I am right and you are wrong. I just want conversation and action.
And please, take more notice of what others post on social media. Take more notice of the quiet ones. Sometimes, all the signs are there, but no one acknowledges them. You could help save lives, just by being more aware.
Below I have shared a PSA from the parents of Sandy Hook. It's powerful. Take a look.
Students are scared that the next school shooting could be at their school.
Hell, I am scared.
I go to a public university with over 40,000 students. At big universities, it's easy to miss things. It's easy to become recluse and to seclude yourself from day-to-day life. Professors and students won;t notice if you aren't there one day. What if a student at my university is planning a shooting?
Students aren't allowed to have weapons on campus, but will that stop someone from having a gun?
Gun violence isn't just about mass shootings. There are so many young kids who have access to guns or have a gun and probably shouldn't.
I have been in a room full of people when someone started shooting. You don't know where it's coming from, who's shooting, or where it is directed. Flight responses kick in and you run. I can still feel the panic. I held on to two door frames and pressed myself against the wall to avoid being trampled. When I finally got out and ran across the street, the young man was running and shooting in the air. I'll never forget that night.
Parents, adults, please listen. Your children are scared. And they have right to be.
Please attempt to relate to those surviving mass shooting.
Your Opinion
Your opinion is not always right.
If we refuse to acknowledge that an answer is wrong, how do we ever learn?
How do we ever grow?
Times change. What worked then, isn't working now.
"How it's always been" isn't always the right way.
So hear others. Hear them out. Listen.
Digest their feelings, their words.
Don't be so easy to invalidate student's feelings.
Often I see people choosing to ignore the message students have and continue to push their agenda, without really listening and hearing the other side. Seems like child's play to me. It's sad that students even feel the need to protest for their safety. But here we are.
You might one day feel different if you lose a loved-one, a child, to a shooting.
You might feel what other parents have felt. You might respond in way that the students and parents have responded in Parkland.
Start listening,
Truthtalks
@truthtalks
https://steemit.com/@truthtalks
February 22th, 2018
To prevent Tyranny is why we have 2nd amendment. I acknowledge the fear media put in people. But in reality what your generation is asking is for people to give up freedom and liberty for so called safety. More people were murdered by knives in 2016 than by guns according to the FBI website. Why are the lives of those vicitims not matter? Per capita we rank number 11 in gun violence. 10 countries with tough gun laws has more gun violence than we do.
Be careful of allowing media to create fear, asking for things you do not fully understand the reprecussions. Stalin, Hilter took the guns and that did not end well.
The 2nd amendment was written to prevent tyranny not for hunting or personal protection, though that right is implied. And you know an AR does not stand for Assult Rifle it stands for armlite rifle and it shoots the same ammo as other rifles. It looks scary because of the stock. A shot gun will do more damage than a bullet from an AR the military uses them because you can survive a shot with one. The Geniva convention and all.
I understand why we have the second amendment. As I stated in my article, it is an "insurance".
And to say the media has provoked fear doesn't quite capture the real fear that students, including myself, face everyday going to classes.
We aren't asking for no guns. We are asking for better gun laws. We are asking for better precautions and a better system to owning a firearm.
If the laws we currently had was enforced we wouldn't have these issues. these laws you guys are asking for are already on the books. Assault rifles are already banned, without a specialized permit. And it is nearly impossible to get. Mental health services and reporting is where the cracks lie. This is what the demand needs to be for. Bringing back funding for mental health services, and fines for the medical industry for not reporting mental health issues that should ban one from getting their hands on a gun legally. That still will not stop the theft of weapons from getting in the hands of criminals or the mentally ill. But it would stop how easy they get into the hands of those people.
The other issues is psychotropic drugs use in children. The one things these shooters all have in common is the use of psychotropic drugs. We are the only country in the world that gives them to our children. The rest of the world has banned them in the use of children, because of violent outbursts. American's also consume 85% of psychotropic drugs. You have to ask yourself is there a link? Specially since these school shootings by kids didn't start happening till after the of usage of these drugs in our children and the mass closing of mental health faculties.
@truthtalks One other thing to consider, the Democrats made schools gun free zones; fully understandiing that it would get some of our most precious assets (our children / our future), killed! They intended then, as they do now, to use these deaths, to disarm this country! There is a Historic Precedence for this same plan, from another Socialists Government. In the 1930s, the National Socialists Party in Germany followed the exact same plan, but they did Not have to deal with the Constitution, or the Bill of Rights! Their BLM equivalents were called Brown Shirts; and supplied the same divisive violence then, to break down the society for the same reasons. Once Germany was disarmed, the government killed everyone who opposed them. This is History, please look it up!
You remind me of My Daughter, she is an Artist, and now a Pharamacist. Your Mother is a friend from Steemit, she Loves you, and values you HIGHLY, and is quite proud of you! I like your artwork, it is a window into the soul. So, please forgive me, if I talk to you like you like you are my own Daughter; since you are kindred spirits.
In answer to your question on home defense; I keep an M14 (308 Nato) next to my bed. My Wife backs me up with a 357 Mag. An AR15 is much too weak for me to rely upon for my safety. That said, we must NEVER allow ANY firearm to be limited, or every firearm will, by illegal political means; become that firearm, and we will begin to see murder, from our own government, on a stunning scale. More people were killed, By their own governments in the last century, than in all the wars in that same century!
SO study the past (look at what the National Socialists did in 1930s Germany, the Socialists here are following the same game plan), and do NOT believe all you are told! THOSE Socialists also outlawed guns, to "Protect the children"...then they murdered Millions of those same children!
Our future is Kids like YOU who can study, THINK, and tell them NO!
What makes my heart cry about Fl, is that we had TWO armed Guards At that school! One refused to go in, to protect his worthless life. The second was inside, and HID in a janitor's closet, and allowed those precious children to be Murdered! BOTH were paid to stand in the gap, and both were Cowards; and that breaks my heart! Either one of those individuals, could have stopped this, with Minimal loss of life! All they had to do was take their worthless carcass in body armor, inside, and do their JOB, SMH!
Remember this over all else: Our future is Kids like YOU who can study, THINK, and tell them NO!
:'(