Friday morning multiple students were gunned down at Santa Fe High School, near Houston, TX, and at least 10 victims have died.
How many times will this happen before our lawmakers finally take action? We need them to act now, not just wring their hands and send their condolences to the families of the victims.
Students are afraid to go to school, a place that should be a safe haven for them; a place for learning, not death.
Earlier this year, HCDP prepared this video in which Horry County students plead with lawmakers to enact responsible gun legislation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0f5cwHFno8&t=10s
The video was prepared following the Valentine’s Day massacre at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL, in which 17 people were murdered. It’s worth listening to their message.
Sadly, the Parkland shooting, while it has mobilized students into a massive movement seeking responsible action to ban military style weapons like AR-15s and bump stocks, was just a string of such events that seems to never stop.
That’s why two months before that occurred HCDP produced another video calling on lawmakers to tighten background check requirements for potential gun purchasers and close what is known as the Charleston Loophole. Here’s a link to that video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3M5tZ6ynhhg&t=73s
But will that happen? South Carolina lawmakers had a chance in the legislative session this year but failed to act.
Texas, like South Carolina, is a hotbed of support for the Second Amendment and gun rights. Yet, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said today, “We need to do more than just pray for the victims and their families. It’s time in Texas that we take action to step up and make sure this tragedy is never repeated ever again.”
The shooter in Texas used a shotgun and revolver that were legally owned by his father, according to the governor. So, background checks and banning AR-15s would not have prevented that tragedy.
The 17-year-old shooter has been described by fellow students as having been bullied, but at this writing authorities were still searching for a motive. However, mental health issues would seem to have been involved, prompting someone to open fire in school and set bombs, all intended to massacre fellow students.
Will this incident continue to raise awareness and increase pressure on Congress and state legislatures to take meaningful action to address all of the factors involved in such shootings?
This was the 22nd U.S. school shooting since the beginning of 2018, and the third instance in eight days in which a gunman was on a school campus.
On Wednesday, an Illinois school resource officer shot and wounded a former student who fired a weapon near a graduation rehearsal at Dixon High School. On May 11, a 14-year-old boy in Palmdale, CA went to Highland High and began shooting a semiautomatic rifle before classes began. One person was wounded, and the boy was charged with attempted murder.
Obviously, both of those instances could have been much worse.
Today, after the Santa Fe shooting, President Trump had this to say:
“This has been going on too long in our country. Too many years. Too many decades now.”
No kidding. The question is what, if anything, will be done?
Contributed by Bob Gatty
