President Trump seems convinced that more guns in the hands of more people can secure school and community. In his listening session with survivors of Stoneman Douglas High School Parkland, Florida shooting which resulted in death of 17 young students, Trump suggested arming 20 % to 30 % teachers of a school as a safety measure at a school. Obviously, President is obsessed with the idea of more guns in the hands of more people. I recall how he said he planned to make America great again. One of the ways he suggested was to have more weapons and be the strongest nation in the world. Well, he has a right to his opinion. But so have others.
Many were surprised at his idea. Many were simply shocked. Many pooh poohed the suggestion, as Sen Nelson who described it as “a terrible idea” later in the evening at the CNN Town Hall in Tallahassee. Even one of the most committed supporters of NRA Sen Marco Rubio, at the CNN Town Hall in Tallahassee scoffed at the idea. He said the job of the teachers is to teach, not to carry guns. At the same time, he expressed fear that an armed teacher may just as well cause another tragedy in having a gun in hand, in the event of an attack at a campus and arrival of a SWAT team who are more likely to act fast on seeing a gun in the hand of a person.
They are not going to wait to know that it is ateacher who has been given a gun for protection. A teacher at the Town Hall said it plainly that she could not think of carrying a gun. Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel simply laughed at the idea, saying how could a few teachers secure a large school campus.
What is needed is a common-sense gun control policy. We must respect 2nd Amendment which was passed for the safety and security of people, not for their killing.
Over the decades since it was passed there have been so many situational shifts that a fresh look has to be given with the objective of ensuring that dangerous guns do not get in to hands of everyone and that our schools and neighborhoods are safe.
Raising the age limit for securing a gun, background checks, mental health checks and taking off the shelf guns with high caliber could be some solutions to the problem, to begin with. What is needed is loyalty to people of America, not to NRA.
I will repeat what I had said in an earlier comment, “gun in the hand of a good guy against a gun in the hand of a bad guy” policy does not work. I hope, President of America will listen to the voice of the people.
MINEOLA, NY (TIP): Human Rights Commission of Nassau County organized, February 20th, a vigil for the victims of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Parkland, Florida.
Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder assured residents of police vigilance to ward off any attack on a school
County Executive Laura Curran, Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder, Legislator John Ferretti, Legislator Rose Walker, Legislator Ellen Birnbaum, Legislator Kevan Abrahams, Legislator Rich Nicolello, Legislator Vincent Muscarella, NCHR Commissioners, Executive Director Rodney Mcrae attended, besides Community Political, Religious leaders, and the media.
About a dozen school kids held placards which said schools should be safer for children.
Speakers described the shooting as one of the worst shootings in recent years which took away 17 young lives. In one voice they said there was need to have stricter gun control laws if such tragedies were to be averted in future. Speakers suggested background checks, mental health checks, and keeping dangerous guns off the reach of everyone.
NCHRC Chairman Bobby Kalotee said the outdated gun control laws need to be looked in to make schools and neighborhoods safe.
Prayers were offered prior to address by speakers. Dr. Bobby Kalotee, Chairman of NCHRC conducted the meeting.
SUNRISE, FLORIDA (TIP): Survivors of the massacre at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, took center stage, Feb 21, at a town hall hosted by CNN as thousands of community members cheered on the young people thrust into the national spotlight by a massacre that killed 17 people.
Moderated by CNN anchor Jake Tapper, the Town Hall featured students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, parents and community members. The event was closed to the general public.
The students-turned-gun-control advocates, their teachers and parents asked frank questions of Sens. Marco Rubio and Bill Nelson and Rep. Ted Deutch about whether they would support banning certain assault-style rifles and refuse to take money from the NRA. National Rifle Association national spokeswoman Dana Loesch also participated in the discussion.
Sen Marco Rubio was the only Republican at the Town Hall. President Trump had declined to come. Republican Governor of Florida Rick Scott, too, stayed away as did other State lawmakers. Marco Rubio came in for much attack as did the NRA Spokeswoman Dana Loesch.
“We would like to know why do we have to be the ones to do this? Why do we have to speak out to the (state) Capitol? Why do we have to march on Washington, just to save innocent lives?” asked senior Ryan Deitsch, his voice rising with each question.
A face off: Sheriff Scott Israel and NRA Spokeswoman Dana Loesch
The Stoneman Douglas students and parents also confronted NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch, who said the organization feels the system for buying firearms is flawed and too many people who shouldn’t be able to buy guns are getting through the cracks.
The town hall on Wednesday, Feb 21 night followed days of sit-ins, walkouts and demonstrations in solidarity with survivors of the massacre.
Avery Anger, 14, who hid in a closet during the shooting, said she didn’t know what to think after the town hall. “It was more of a debate than a discussion,” she said. She entered the town hall with one question — “is it going to be safe for me to go back to school?” By the end, she still was unsure. “I don’t feel like they answered the question.”
The shooting reignited the passionate national discussion on gun laws and how to keep communities safe, catalyzing a protest movement led by the young students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter Jaime was killed, angrily addressed Rubio, wanting the senator to agree that semiautomatic rifles like the AR-15 type used in the shooting were the problem.
“Sen. Rubio, I want to like you. Here’s the problem. … Your comments this week and those of our President have been pathetically weak,” he said to lasting applause and cheers. “Look at me and tell me guns were the factor in the hunting of our kids in the school this week.”
Guttenberg called on the senator to do something about guns, to work with the people affected by the massacre. Rubio, a Republican, replied, “I’m saying that the problems we are facing here today cannot be solved by gun laws alone.”
Cameron Kasky, a junior at the school, asked Rubio to turn down campaign contributions from the National Rifle Association
Cameron Kasky, a junior at the school, asked Rubio to turn down campaign contributions from the National Rifle Association.
Rubio said he supports the Second Amendment, but he also stood for school safety. He wouldn’t say he would turn down an NRA contribution.
“The influence of these groups comes not from money,” he said, “You can ask that question and I can say that people buy into my agenda.”
Loesch, the National Rifle Association spokeswoman, told the audience she was fighting for them and that people who shouldn’t own guns should be reported by states to a national background check system.
“I don’t believe this insane monster should have ever been able to obtain a firearm,” Loesch said Wednesday night, calling the suspect “nuts.”
While some in the crowd yelled, “You’re a murderer,” Loesch said the system to buy firearms is flawed.
Student Emma Gonzalez, who has been outspoken about her opposition to semiautomatic rifles, asked Loesch what the NRA’s position was on bump stocks and making it more difficult to buy certain weapons.
Loesch replied the NRA is waiting on the Justice Department to make a ruling on bump stocks.
Robert Runcie, the Broward County school system superintendent, told the audience that teachers should be armed with more money, not with guns.
Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel interrupted Loesch, saying he knew she was standing up for the NRA.
“But you just told this group you were standing up for them,” he said. “You’re not standing up for them until you say I want less weapons.”
Deitsch told Rubio he had been doing active shooter drills since he was in elementary school. When he was in fifth grade he had to hide in a bathroom for three hours when his school went on lockdown because there were reports of a shooter in the town.
“Now seven years later, I am in a closet with 19 other kids waiting, fearing for my own life,” he said.
Why do we have to lead the change, he asked?
Rubio said change can come when people on different sides, who have strong feelings, can agree on a way to make progress.
He said he has proposed a concept called a gun violence restraining order that would allow people to go to authorities with concerns about someone who should not have a gun. Police would be able to take away weapons, he said.
“I do appreciate your words there but that feels like the first step of a 5K run,” Deitsch said.
Earlier in the day, President Donald Trump, who declined to participate in the town hall, suggested at a listening session at the White House that part of the solution to preventing school shootings could be having some armed, trained teachers on campus.
None of the politicians at the town hall was sympathetic to the thought.
Nelson, a Democrat said, “I think it is a terrible idea.”
Rubio and Deutch agreed.
Robert Runcie, the Broward County school system superintendent, told the audience beforehand that teachers should be armed with more money.
Before the event, Israel fired up the crowd in the arena, saying, “My generation, we did not get it done. You will get it done.”
Runcie told the Stoneman Douglas students that they have started a movement.
“These are the young people that are going to change the world for the better. And let me tell you, our students are ready for this moment. They have been preparing for this moment,” he said.
Some of the student participants came straight from the state Capitol in Tallahassee after lobbying state lawmakers for tougher restrictions on weapons like the one used to kill their friends and teachers.
A view of the gathering Photos / CNN screenshots
The evening closed with poignant moments, one involving the words of Alex Schachter, one of the students who died.
Read by his dad, Max Schachter, the poem was about roller coasters. Alex loved them.
“He wasn’t writing about his life and had no idea his poem would become the future,” Max Schachter said.
In the poem, Alex compared the ups and downs of life to a roller coaster.
“It may be too much for you at times. The twists, the turns, the upside downs, but you get back up. You keep chugging along,” he wrote.
The program closed with a song, “Shine,” performed by members of the Stoneman Douglas drama club.
The song was addressed to the shooter, who is in jail.
You may have hurt us
But I promise we are not going to let you in
We’re putting up a fight
You may have brought the dark but together we will shine a light
And we will be something special
We’re going to shine, shine
Different students said these lines between verses:
We refuse to be ignored by those who will not listen.
There are so many things you can do to become involved.
Reach out to your congressmen, mail, call and tweet.
The smallest of words can make the biggest difference.
Be the voice for those who don’t have one.
The President pledged to go to work after the meeting ended. “We don’t want others to go through the kind of pain you have gone through. It wouldn’t be right,” he said.
The father of Meadow Pollack, who was killed last week, said he was speaking at Wednesday’s session because his daughter couldn’t.
“We as a country failed our children,” Andrew Pollack said.
TALLAHASSEE (TIP): A Marjory Stoneman Douglas school resource officer has been suspended without pay after Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel said video shows him taking up a defensive position during the shooting but never entering the school.
Israel announced Thursday that the decision to suspend Deputy Scot Peterson was made after reviewing video from the shooting and taking statements from witnesses and Peterson himself, Israel said.
“He should have went in, addressed the killer, killed the killer,” Israel said.
Trump mulls arming teachers, increasing age for gun purchases
WASHINGTON (TIP): A week after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland in which 17 students were killed, President Donald Trump hosted a listening session with a group of survivors, parents and teachers. On hand were Vice President Mike Pence and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.
Trump held an emotional, hour-long meeting with students who survived the Florida shooting and a parent whose child did not. He said arming teachers and other school staff could help prevent future mass shootings, voicing support for an idea backed by the powerful National Rifle Association gun lobby.
Trump sat in the middle of a semi-circle in the White House State Dining Room. Photographers captured images of his handwritten note card with questions and responses such as: “What would you most want me to know about your experience?” and “I hear you.” Trump said he wants to hear suggestions for addressing the issue, saying, “After I listen, we’re going to get things done.”
Trump listened intently to ideas from about 40 people, including those from six students who survived the Florida shooting.
The students, many weeping, described the trauma of the shootings and pleaded that the government bring an end to gun violence.
The Republican president, who has championed gun rights and was endorsed by the NRA during the 2016 campaign, said he would move quickly to tighten background checks for gun buyers and would consider raising the age for buying certain types of guns.
He said he had “many ideas” and promised, “We’re going to be very strong on background checks.”
Trump spoke at length during the televised White House “listening session.
“If you had a teacher … who was adept at firearms, they could very well end the attack very quickly,” he said, while acknowledging the proposal was controversial. Some of the meeting participants indicated support. Others were opposed.
Mark Barden, whose son was killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut, said his wife, Jackie, a teacher “will tell you that school teachers have more than enough responsibilities right now than to have to have the awesome responsibility of lethal force to take a life.”
“I don’t understand why I could still go in a store and buy a weapon of war,” said Sam Zeif, 18, sobbing after he described texting his family members during the attack. “Let’s never let this happen again, please, please.”
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