Show the bodies. Show the scene.
This is not an antiseptic debate about differing ideologies.
Show the scene. On television. Show the dead. If high school students have to see it, then so should the rest of the country.
Show the bodies. Then talk.
Lawmakers Reject Bill To Ban Assault Rifles In Front Of Student Survivors
“Survivors Warned Governor Will Shoot Them Himself If They Ask Again.”
Yes, that was so disgusting even Rubio had to say so.
Gee. Why was he fired? Beavis liked it.
Also, if these guys think they’re safe, they may want to check which way the wind is blowing. Dems just took another special election in a district that Trump won by 49 points.
Repugs: Pffft! Kids! Can’t vote, no campaign contributions. To hell with 'em.
Well, kiddies, you just got your first lesson in american politics. As long as republicans control things, nothing willever be done about gun control. Lesson is vote out all republicans if you want something done.
There are no words to describe the disgust I feel at this (in)action.
Those young people have the boundless energy and burning desire to do something to turn this around. I hope they organize against everyone of those lame a$$es who just voted this down and make sure they are all kicked out of office.
That’s taking their future into their hands. And we need to support them in every way possible.
HS Student Emma Gonzalez made an excellent point.
Australia, Canada, Japan and the UK have people with mental health issues.
The US has people with mental health issues.
Australia, Canada, Japan and the UK have very strong gun regulation.
The US has very weak gun regulation.
Australia, Canada, Japan and the UK have almost no mass killings of any kind.
The US has mass killings on an almost daily basis.
You do the math.
That one is huge. Its a freaking 86 point swing since 2016. In Kentucky.
The reports that drift out about republicans becoming “bullish” on 2018 are just so much whistling past the graveyard.
Pretty shocking, but then again we’re talking about “The Gunshine State”.
I truly hope the harsh reality steels their resolve, but the truth is young people will age, and become affected by less interested people who are more of the local gun nutty variety. Voting is a habit and many young people don’r acquire it until they are older and their views tend to change. Then of course many become frustrated when progress is slow or a favored candidate turns out to be a gadfly, or somehow “unpure”. It just takes a few losses to lessen the determination of the group we see today and then the status quo becomes easily explainable…but I hope that doesn’t happen.
Ok, I’ll bite and throw out a very controversial issue in the process
Australia, Canada, Japan and the UK don’t have a 2nd Amendment that has been interpreted by the SCOTUS to say that everyone has a constitutional right to bear arms.
Ultimately, every gun control suggestion runs into resistance based on the 2nd Amendment. (Yes, I know Scalia even said himself in the Heller decision that the State has a right to regulate guns).
So if we really want to seriously curtail gun violence in this country…repeal the 2nd Amendment.
Let’s face it, the concept of militias died long ago in this country. This was conceived along side the notion that we should not have a standing army. Today we have the biggest military in the world…bigger than all the rest of the world combined. So the standing army argument lost out long ago.
So why hold on to a antiquated notion that we need an armed citizenry so states can call up minute men to repeal foreign invaders? (and militia were hardly an elite fighting force when we used them ).
The 2nd Amendment was interpreted until about 2002 to mean that states had a communal right to allow their citizens to own guns, based on the militia clause. That’s literally centuries. The idea that there is a constitutional right for individuals to bear arms is an extremely new concept.
The 2nd Amendment has essentially be taken over by the NRA and used as a method to promote a business…the business of selling guns and ammo. It no longer resembles its original intent (which as I stated, no longer applies). So to me, the solution, despite the political opposition (which would be monumental) is clear…repeal the 2nd Amendment.
Australia is the best example because they had similar levels of access to guns before repealing them.
There’s also reason to believe that at least some elements of their policies could be implemented here without amending the constitution. We already outlaw machine guns without a federal firearms license. We’ve banned assault weapons in the past too, and both have survived numerous court challenges.
Of course there are. But both the legal and cultural argument against them always starts with the 2nd Amendment. So go to heart of the matter. Start this particular fight. We will probably lose it of course, but if we made serious progress about it, I think we would suddenly see the NRA and NRA pols very willing to discuss other gun control avenues.
My point is just that we don’t necessarily amend the constitution to start controlling guns. There’s broad public support for re-instituting the assault weapons ban. That should be a battle we don’t have to lose. And there’s not one legitimate sporting or home defense argument to be made for why anyone needs to own one either.
I’ve been around guns my whole life. I was raised to hunt and fish and target shoot and all that stuff, but I would give up my guns in a hot second if it meant that even one more person didn’t have to die by gun violence. I think there are a lot of other reasonable people out there that can be swayed to support or already support stricter control on what, where and how we treat guns in this country without having to go all in on repealing the 2nd.
All saw it was the Republicans who voted this down. I hope the spokesmen for this group stop saying both sides are at fault.
And we need to put autoloaders with external magazines on the same Schedule, or maybe a similar schedule – an FFL Lite, if you will. Put a grace period in place for people who currently own them to get them registered, and create an affirmative duty to notify the ATF when these tools of death are transferred. Let’s require some demonstration of basic competence, while we are at it.
Hey, the legislators and been bought and paid for. If they had broken their contract, they could’ve been sued.
(Other thought: Despicable knows no bounds.)
As much as I hate this idea, I think you are exactly right. Show the bodies, release the crime scene photos.