Work on gun control laws, Pres. Trump and Republican lawmakers
PICTURE your self even just for a while, and imagine how you would feel if you are among the grieving family members of a football coach, an athletic director and 14 young students who were killed by a lone deranged young gunman at a high school in Parkland, Florida, on Wednesday, February 14.
Nikolas Cruz, 19 years old and reportedly a member of a local white supremacist group in Florida, carried a black duffel bag and backpack, where he hid loaded magazines, looking like an ordinary student. He arrived at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland via Uber at 2:19 p.m. on Wednesday, Valentine’s Day, and pulled out a semiautomatic AR-15 rifle, then began shooting students that he saw in the hallways and on school grounds.
After executing one of the deadliest mass shooting in modern history, Cruz left the school, walked to a Walmart, and bought a drink at a Subway. He also stopped at a McDonald’s, sat there for an hour, until he was arrested by the police without incident as he walked down a residential street at 3:41 p.m.
Cruz now faces 17 counts of pre-meditated murder and is being held without bond at the main Broward County jail.
That horrific moment changed the lives of the affected family forever, traumatized the students who witnessed the shooting and those whose lives were threatened as well.
President Donald Trump made a public address to the nation, talking directly to students, and reaffirmed his commitment to work with the nation’s governors “to help secure our schools, and tackle the difficult issue of mental health.” The president, however, did not mention anything about guns nor gun laws.
This Florida mass shooting is but yet another tragedy in a string of massacres that has happened in the United States in just this year alone, with the last one happening just early November 2017, when at least 26 people were killed in a mass shooting during a church service in Sutherland Springs, Texas.
On October 1, 2017, Stephen Paddock opened fire on concert-goers at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip, killing 58 people and injuring more than 500 others. There were many other mass shootings that happened in previous years.
Immediately, people expressed their grief, fear, anger and frustration via social media, and television interviews, bluntly cursing President Trump and Republican lawmakers for not doing anything about the problem. They say they are sick and tired of the same cycle of tragedy, public officials pausing for a moment of silence, sending their thoughts and prayers to the victims and the bereaved family, and yet do nothing to end these senseless killings.
On the contrary, President Trump even took pride in repealing an Obama era initiative that would have made it harder for people with mental illness to buy a gun.
The New York Times (NYT) reported on the emotional plea of the victims’ families. One is from Lori Alhadeff, who just lost her 14-year-old daughter Alyssa in Florida.
“President Trump, we need action, we need change,” she said, the urgency rising in her voice. “Get these guns out of the hands of these young kids and get these guns off the streets.”
“If we’re constantly having our children worried about getting shot at, what are we telling our future?” the NYT quoted David Hogg, 17, a senior high school student, who said two of his 14-year-old sister’s friends were also killed. “And that’s what these people are killing, our future.”
Meanwhile, Superintendent Runcie just said what needs to be done: “Now is the time for the country to have a real conversation on sensible gun controls in this country.”
Many Americans ask: Why did did an 18-year old student (Cruz was only 18 when he bought the assault riffle) need a war weapon and how easily could one purchase such deadly rifle? What does this have to do with protection? With the “right to bear arms’ to protect one’s self and his family? Why isn’t Trump and the Republican lawmakers addressing this fatal problem?
One of the answers may be because Trump and the Republican lawmakers are in bed with the powerful National Rifle Association (NRA). According to the public data published by fortune.com, “In the 2016 election, the NRA spent $11,438,118 to support Donald Trump—and another $19,756,346 to oppose Hillary Clinton. That’s over $31 million spent on one presidential race.”
Top 5 senators with the most contributions from the NRA
John McCain (R, AZ) – $7.74 million
Richard Burr (R, NC) – $6.99 million
Roy Blunt (R, MO) – $4.55 million
Thom Tillis (R, NC) – $4.42 million
Cory Gardner (R, CO) – $3.88 million
Top 5 representatives with the most contributions from the NRA
French Hill (R, AR) – $1.09 million
Ken Buck (R, CO) – $800,544
David Young (R, IA) – $707,662
Mike Simpson, (R, ID) – $385,731
Greg Gianforte (R, MT)- $344,630
