Students become teachers on guns
Kids showing most common sense
Watching the inspiring student survivors of the most recent school massacre left me to wonder why these teenagers have so much more common sense than the adults who are supposed to protect them.
Samuel Zeif survived last week’s school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., that killed 17 people. Zeif was among the survivors and parents of children killed in school shootings who shared their heart-wrenching losses and grief with President Trump yesterday during a televised “listening session” at the White House.
Zeif sobbed. His best friend was killed in the shooting by a former student armed with an AR-15 assault rifle.
“I turned 18 the day after. Woke up to the news that my best friend was gone. And I don’t understand why I can still go in a store and buy a weapon of war — an AR,” Zeif said. “How is it that easy to buy this type of weapon? How do we not stop this after Columbine, after Sandy Hook? I’m sitting with a mother that lost her son. It’s still happening.”
Zeif put his arm around Nicole Hockley, whose 6-yearold son Dylan was killed five years ago, one of 20 children shot to death by a gunman at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.
Much of the discussion centered on arming teachers rather than gun-control laws.
“If you had a teacher who was adept at firearms,” Trump said, “they could very well end the attack very quickly.”
Mr. President — with all due respect — we already have armed civil servants. They’re called police officers. Our teachers need to focus on educating, not training for gunfights.
Across the nation yesterday, students walked out of schools in protest. Other survivors of the Florida shooting descended on the state’s Capitol in Tallahassee, where they confronted lawmakers and demanded stricter gun laws.
“The more they don’t act, the more they don’t deserve to be in office,” said survivor Ryan Deitsch, 18. “I can vote and I know who I’m not voting for. These people that I’ve been meeting with, these people that I’ve seen, none of them have really put it into words what needs to be done. I do not know exactly what needs to be done. I just know what we’re doing now is nowhere near enough.”
Survivor Delaney Tarr said they weren’t there to be “patted on the back.”
“We want gun reform. We want common-sense gun laws. We want stronger mental health checks and background checks to work in conjunction. We want a better age limit. We want privatized selling to be completely reformed so you can’t just walk into a building with $130 and walk out with an AR-15,” Tarr said. “We want change and we know how to get this change.”
Change needs to happen to make our schools safe. Our lawmakers have done little to protect students, but I have hope that these kids will bring about the change we all need and deserve.