A newfound voice of outrage

by | Feb 16, 2018 | Editor's Blog, Gun Control | 27 comments

The horrific school shooting in Parkland, Florida, is bringing out the cultural divide that mars our politics but it also shows the shift that’s happening in our country. On one side state Rep. Larry Pittman of Cabarrus County expressed sentiments that many people see as extreme but probably has more support than most people realize. Pittman called for arming and training all teachers. He also said that he thinks liberals exploit these tragedies “to push for gun control so they can more easily take over the country.” He also blames “communist Democrats” for carrying out most of the mass shootings.

Pittman, who has compared Lincoln to Hitler and proposed implementing a state religion, may go off the deep end with his conspiracy theories, but he doesn’t pay a political price. People in his district agree with the sentiment that we can’t stop the people from trying to carry out these types of atrocities but we can stop them before they do too much damage. It’s no coincidence that Congressman Richard Hudson, who also claims to live in Cabarrus County, sponsored legislation that would force states that don’t allow concealed weapons to accept them if people hold permits in states that do. Unfettered access to guns is a big deal in their part of the world.

On the other side, an emerging group of activists may give the supporters of more gun control laws a boost. Those activists are survivors of this week’s shooting. High School students are taking to social media to call out politicians who have done nothing to restrict access to guns and news organizations are starting take notice.

Cameron Kasky, a junior at the high school, penned an op-ed for CNN calling on Americans to take action to reduce gun violence. The mother of a victim called on Donald Trump to do something in a plea so emotional the reporter broke down.  On twitter, a student owned a right-wing talk show host who said students should learn to “call 911 instead of posting video of it on Snapchat.” Her response of uncensored outrage, “17 people are dead. 17 of my classmates. This is how you fucking respond? How much of a heartless dick do you have to be to tweet something like this. And btw as we were running for our lives we were calling 911 to the point that they told us not to anymore,” had almost 58,000 retweets and she now has over 13,000 followers. She’s using her new-found fame to call out the likes of Florida Senator Marco Rubio for doing nothing. And she’s just one of many.

The kids of Newtown may have been too young to speak out about the deaths of their friends and the terror they experienced, but these kids aren’t. They’re channeling their anger and grief to create a powerful voice demanding change and they’re calling out this generation of leaders that has failed them in so many ways. They may be striking a chord with an America that is fed up with a Congress that passes the buck on problem after problem.

The divide between the Larry Pittmans and Richard Hudsons of the world and these social media savvy teenage victims of the latest carnage is stark. Hudson may only be pandering to hold his base but Larry Pittman is a true believer who reflects the views of a lot of his constituents. Pittman, though, reflects an angry electorate scared because it’s seeing its way of life disappearing. The students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas represent the emerging majority in this country. They’re getting politicized early and they’re not going to stand quietly by while politicians tell them there’s nothing they can do.

27 Comments

  1. Scott

    In an attempt to be constructive I predict the same security applied to airports will be the system applied to schools.

  2. Walt de Vries, Ph.D.

    Thomas: As a strong believer in representative democracy, I support persons and groups having representation in our state legislature and U.S. Congress. I may have been concerned that there was no representation for the truly crazy gun nuts in North Carolina, but no more. Most gun owners I know are reasonable–perhaps more one-issue oriented than they ought to be–but not really nuts. But now, I am relieved that the real crazies opposed to any regulation of guns for safety or any other reasons do have representation in the North Carolina and U.S. House of Representatives. I should say that with Larry Pittman they are, indeed, over-represented.in the NC House and in the U.S. House of Representatives by Richard Hudson.
    We need to reduce that over-representation in the November 2018 election. Peace.

    • Bill

      Do you really think people will take you seriously when you call people juvenile names? What would you call someone who spoke of people with your political beliefs in a negative manner. Most probably a racist.

  3. bob

    Ban assault weapons now. It works in Australia. It worked in the US for 10 years before it was revoked. You can ignore the numbers, but the numbers don’t lie. This is not an either/or.

    • Bill

      You speak of numbers. Give us citations to prove your point.

  4. Christopher

    Of all the stories from Hurricane Sandy, the one that stuck with me most was that if a mother and her two boys trapped by rising waters… the mother tried to hold one but the water ripped the boys away from her, where they died.

    Nature is powerful, and beautiful, but is also uncaring. But you WILL play by her rules, or she will see to it that you won’t play at all.

    The left and their antigun agenda perpetuate the idea that if you have a wolf enter a sheep pen, the sheep should not have to leave, it’s their pen, they were there first, etc.

    The right and their pro gun agenda, are the folks that realize you will never be able to ensure the wolf doesn’t enter the pen, you can only prepare yourself for the time when they do. Predators will always predator, until stronger better predators come around.

    Even if you completely shut down all schools and did curriculum online only, the spree killers would simply target other areas.

    Don’t live in denial, be pro gun.

  5. Marc

    What should be clear at this point is nothing done to supposedly “control” guns is working. In fact, we have a long history that adequately proves prohibition never works in a free society.

    Background checks will not stop horrific crimes. Even the terrorists have figured out how to radicalize and motivate people with clean records.

    Supposed “gun free zones” have, since 3 years after passage of the Federal Gun Free School Zones act, had the effect of attracting violent criminals and psychopaths since they can be confident that they will not meet effective opposition, and have adequate time to commit their atrocities.

    The choice of weapon is immaterial. Scary weapons are no more or less lethal than ones made with wood stocks. The lethal nature of guns resides in the people that misuse them.

    More emotionally motivated strident calls for controlling guns won’t work any better, and will – as adequately proven – only make matters worse. Prohibition always leads to an increase in organized and violent crime.

    It doesn’t cost a great deal to solve this problem. It does take a considerable change in attitude.

    There is a solution. That is to eliminate laws that prohibit trained, skilled and motivated staff, teachers and parents from protecting our most precious children. While it’s not politically correct or particularly comfortable to think about, knowledge that a lawful person of good will that had the ability to stop this psychopath in his tracks might have prevented the coward from starting the attack in the first place.

    Every culture and nation that has taken away it’s citizen or subject’s ability to defend themselves has suffered as a result.

    My own state North Carolina passed laws to permit qualified permit holders to bring handguns onto school property two years ago, and not a single problem has been documented to date. Utah has passed laws to permit concealed carry on their school property, and they have not had an attack since 1995.

    The type of firearm doesn’t matter. Background checks don’t matter. Waiting periods don’t matter. Supposed “Gun Free Zones” have proven attractive targets that house our most precious children.

    The right to defend yourself and others matters. More important, so does the will, skill, means and ability. Free citizens in this great nation have both rights and responsibility. Ignoring this has lead to the tragedy we’re dealing with now.

    • John Rawlings

      Using this logic, every nation could argue that it quite reasonable for it have nuclear weapons. It is just as nutty to have everyone running around with a gun on their person, and an assault weapon in their vehicle. Insanity.

      • Marc

        Defensive firearms are not nuclear weapons. Preparing to defend yourself is both rational and reasonable.

        Leaving our most precious children exposed as they are now is not rational.

        You may be uncomfortable with the concept of defending yourself, but I can assure you others of good will, competence, training and skill are not.

        The Supreme Court has confirmed that police agencies are not under any obligation to defend individuals from harm.

        There, unfortunately, is only one responsible approach in the face of criminals, psychopaths and terrorists and that is to accept the duty and responsibility of a citizen. Decades of study, observation and measurement and centuries of governance confirm that you’ll be safer even if you don’t decide to defend yourself. So will our precious children.

      • Bill

        Complete non-sequitur. I can’t for the life of me find any mention of nuclear weapons in the US Constitution.

    • Norma Munn

      Then why is the only significance difference in the number of gun murders and mass shootings between the United States and EVERY other industrialized country one thing: the number of weapons owned in private hands. Do you really think that the French are any less free to vote, to choose a life partner, to choose a religion, or have any less rights than an American? They do no. Nor do the British, the Canadians, the Dutch, the Germans, Italians, Spanish, Australians, Swedish, Norwegian, Belgium, the list is quite long. Your logic does not reflect reality. (Just for the record, I do know how to shoot a gun, and I do not oppose guns for hunting, but I do not support ordinary people owing semi-automatic AR15, nor massive large magazines, nor bump stocks)

      • Marc

        We tried banning so called “Assault Weapons” based upon scary visible features in 1994 for 10 years and it made no difference in violent crime.

        Prohibition never works, and never has in a free society. Attempts at prohibition have only guaranteed profits for organized crime, lead to an increase in violence.

        How exactly do you think banning a certain style of firearm would stop crime now? Trying the same failing strategy over and over again is not a good approach. Just one defender in the area of an attack with the will, skill and means to stop it would make a difference.

        In the countries you listed, increases in violent crime followed increasingly draconian bans. The criminals just chose other means of effecting their will and were emboldened because victims could not stop them.

        • Rick HigH

          Marc,

          10 years before assault weapons ban 155 dead in incidents with 6 or more killed.

          10 years of the ban-89

          10 years after ban lifted 302

      • Alex

        Maybe you should look at the countries you’re siting. The Germans for instance are protesting in the streets right now because they cannot defend themselves.

      • Bill

        I can’t find the right to hunt in the US Constitution, perhaps you could enlighten us. I personally don’t support ordinary people being able to own airplanes, after all they could fall out of the sky and kill many people. I also don’t support the ownership of gas guzzler, fast cars. There is no NEED for them. I also can’t find the BILL OF NEEDS that apparently you believe in attached to the Constitution.

    • Amanda

      So why isn’t this a problem anywhere else in the Western world? They have prohibition and it works. That’s an immediate refutation of your entire argument. Oh, and their governments haven’t tried to take over, and the people haven’t “suffered” as a result. There are basic steps we could take that WOULD make a difference. And then there’s total prohibition (with exceptions) which would be tough to enact but which would make a huge difference.

      • Marc

        Fortunately, I don’t live in a fantasy world… You should try dealing with reality too…

        For starters look at Central American countries and Mexico..

        • Amanda

          Western world, dude, Western world.

          • TY THOMPSON

            “The 15:17 to Paris.” Heart of the western world. And some of the most stringent gun control laws in any non-authoritarian country.

          • Bill

            Planes leaving for your western world utopia daily.

      • Alex

        Well you’re wrong, and haven’t studied. Here is a chart of the date the gun control bills were enacted, and the date of the genocide, from JPFO.org

        http://jpfo.org/filegen-a-m/deathgc.htm#chart

  6. Gailya Paliga

    Powerful responses from the people directly hurt by the latest school murder rampage – the survivors, this time high school students, and their parents. Unlike the children who survived Sandy Hook, High School students are plugged into social media, and can be very articulate. There are no excuses to let this continue – it is a disgrace upon our nation that we allowed it to continue at all, must less so long. As per the article, “The students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas represent the emerging majority in this country. They’re getting politicized early and they’re not going to stand quietly by while politicians tell them there’s nothing they can do.”

  7. Scott Day

    My own profile often fit me as dangerous. There was my “Shedman” existence in the Unabomber profile I heard of. I’ve feared some anachronim my whole life. Small changes in my experience have meant the profile of a dangerous individual. Maybe they weren’t that small.
    So anyway I’ve wondered why I’m not a murderer when I broadly fit the profile?
    Mostly in the end I attribute how I turned out to the grandiose ambition to do as much good
    as Hitler did bad, meaning I have a range of heroes. Mostly it is Ulysses S. Grant, Ben Franklin, Charlie Chaplin, and my Great Uncle Bob.
    For my feminine side I wanted to integrate some of Susan Sarandon.
    While there is no doubt that the availability of combat style weapons contributes to mass murder, what is more overall the explanation for why these people act out as mass murderers is what is heroic to them.
    Those that combine leaders of the American Civil War on the Confederate side with their ideals & Nazism, Scientific Socialism are a powerful segment of the mass murderer pool. There were others of recent history who
    were motivated by admiration for Islamist mass murderer heroes.
    Next to combat rifles has been the use of motor vehicles.
    Either way and for whatever reasons the main thing to look for in the mass murderer is whom they regard as heroic. What makes a flawed human being a hero is their goals, as we are now too sophisticated to have demigod heroes, and during my lifetime of confusion & nihilism as rose the anti-hero leaving many in society essentially flapping in the wind.
    As much as will be new vigor in the aims of reducing the availability of combat weapons it is not likely that there will be a campaign to put before youths & the general public a list of acceptable heroes.
    We can have fictional heroes & real people heroes.
    Gene Roddenberry created for Star Trek a world of Fictional heroes & retold Greek Myths.
    (He himself was a heroic Pacific world pilot for Pan Am). We do not find a pool of
    mass murderers with Phasers from Cosplay Trekkies.
    For every discipline as say in Science or the Arts there are real heroes. Some get big noticeable prizes.
    Those who have Bob Dylan as a hero are not doing so bad.
    So I am done with my comments as regards why our culture produces mass murderers, & partially what is wrong with them.

    • Dillon roberts

      We the People have just two things in our power, our voices and our votes. The people we elected to represent us in the US Congress and our state General Assemblies already ignore our voices, and in N.C. and some other states they are trying to take away our right to vote.

      Maybe some high school students are old enough to vote in the midterm election in November. Their’s are the voices we need to hear from; they are the future.

      I am old, but my voice and my vote still count. As long as I am able both will be used as the founding fathers intended.

      • TY THOMPSON

        And that third right, self-defense, aka the right to bear arms. It helps maintain the first two rights.

        As for this and the last major mass shooting in that Texas church, two different federal agencies have been shown to bear the blame for enabling the perps. So the government screws up repeatedly and everyone starts yelling for the government restrict one of our rights. Logic has been redefined.

      • Bill

        Perhaps those elected don’t represent your liberal views. But they DO represent the majority of sane people in NC.

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