Enough!

 

Enough! 

It was gratifying to read about the national student gun-violence walk out at three schools in East Harford on March 14 (“Synergy Students Walk Out on Guns,” 3-15-2018).  As reported, at the Synergy Alternative School, Delilah Ortiz and Ezra Rayas provided student leadership in an initiative supported by Principle Dr. Craig Outhouse. A similar student protest, consisting of two hundred eighth graders, took place at the Two Rivers Middle School in East Hartford, supported, in part, by social studies teacher, John Limeburner who prepared his students with a two-week study through research topics and debates on issues related to gun violence and gun safety.  With over 1500 students, along with accompanying staff and administration, East Hartford High School was well represented in the national school walkout protest.  Students in the honors Human Rights class, co-taught by Todd Szwed and Christopher Sparks, led the event.  As part of their preparation, class members wrote letters to address gun control, school safety, and mental health issues that were signed by over 1,000 students at the high school and sent to their U.S Representative and Senators.  In honoring those who were killed in Parkland, members of the Human Rights class read each of their 17 names followed by a short statement highlighting one of the three issues addressed in the letters.

Kudos to the student leadership, the supportive staff and faculty of all three schools, and all East Hartford students who participated in this important nationwide event led by our youth across the country.  I am awed by your passionate desire to stand up for common sense gun control and against the inordinate political power of the NRA that has cowered the U. S. Congress to willful inaction against any reasonable gun control legislation in spite of the death of 30,000 Americans annually due to gun violence of one type or another.  Perhaps the student voice, initially aroused by the Parkland High massacre in Florida, and has expanded throughout the nation, is the critical missing piece in the gun control reform movement. 

As reflected in the Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) organization, every social movement needs a leadership focus.  While Parkland High students, Emma Gonzales and David Hogg and their colleagues, have provided the initial leadership, local, state and regional leaders are emerging across the country. Given their energy, commitment to the cause and the existential threat gun violence poses to their generation, perhaps this high school student movement can provide that needed bolt of outrage and passion to infuse the energy of the many millions of people throughout the U. S. who are in support of some needed change.  Many others who have been at this cause for some time are more than ready to lend their voices and talents to a movement now, thanks to the leadership provided by high school students, has been re-ignited.  In this cause, East Hartford is well represented by its students, faculty, and administration.

I close with an essay written by one of my students who gave me permission to share her paper.  She wrote in response to several articles in the Hartford Courant we reviewed on the topic.  

2018

Banning Assault Weapons

Lawmakers and lobbyists continue to debate about assault rifles, especially the AR-15 rifle.  They talk of tougher penalties and the sale of guns.  Lobbyists continue to talk of actions to be put in place.  It’s high time we stop the talking and do something about this gun violence that has taken over our country’s schools. 

We mourned the loss of our children in the massacre at Sandy Hook.  There should not have been another one.

On February 14, 2018, a single gunman stormed the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida and opened fire on all who were in sight, killing 17 and wounding more.  As parents mourned the loss of their children, blood splattering bodies are found in classrooms across the county.  Our young ones are our most valuable asset and to have them being hunted down like wild animals; it’s appalling.  The killing in schools has reached epidemic proportions.  If it cannot be contained, then it’s time to put a ban on assault rifles like the AR-15.

Young people are not allowed to buy alcohol until age twenty-one.  Then why is it so easy to buy a gun?  These deranged people shouldn’t be allowed to buy a gun.  No one should enter a school with a gun unless they are law enforcement persons.  Arming teachers with guns will not solve this problem since the shooter’s weapons are way better than those of the teachers.  All persons entering schools with weapons to kill should stop at security with no chance of getting in schools.

2018