The March for Our Lives took place earlier today in Washington, D. C., and in cities across America, including Detroit, where hundreds of high school students as well as adults gathered a couple of blocks from the south terminus of I-375.
Then they marched north to Campus Martius, and then back south, to the Renaissance Center, very close to the Detroit River, to hear speeches by students, parents and legislators.
State Rep. Stephanie Chang (D-Michigan House District 6) went to the podium with one of seventeen boxing gloves Jabs Gym in Eastern Market will send to Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School.
Chang mentioned her young daughter, not yet old enough for elementary school, and that her husband is a responsible gun owner.
I was a little surprised to hear that, but I shouldn’t have been. The National Rifle Association (NRA) does not represent the typical law-abiding gun owner.
Most law-abiding gun owners understand that commonsense gun laws are not a prelude to total gun confiscation, which is an unrealistic scenario for a silly slippery slope argument.
A bit later on, U. S. Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-Michigan) took to the podium. She started by acknowledging that most of the young people at the march hadn’t even been born when the shooting at Columbine happened.
Back then, much like now, Republicans were eager to blame everything but guns. Like those violent video games. Or how about that surreal movie, The Matrix, that had just come out?
Don’t blame the AR-15, which allows lousy marksmen to fatally wound several people in a matter of seconds by simply pressing the trigger and pointing in the general direction of people.
Stabenow teared up a little as she spoke, not as much as Chang, but her message was just as sincere: “Enough is enough.”
Both Stabenow and Chang, despite being in the minority in their respective legislative bodies, are doing everything they can to prevent another school shooting from happening.
U. S. Rep Brenda Lawrence (D-Detroit) also spoke, sending an F. U. to the NRA, as well as State Senator Robert Wittenberg (D-Michigan Senate District 27). Each legislator who spoke was introduced by a young person.
A common theme among many of the protest signs was that thoughts and prayers don’t do much. But I seriously doubt Republican lawmakers are doing any thinking or praying on this issue.
How is it that with all that praying and thinking Republicans haven’t at least come up with some toothless baby step bill? Even that would be a lot more than what they have actually done, which is, of course, nothing at all.
The young people are sending Republicans in Congress a clear message that doing nothing is no longer an option. Democrats and independents will also be held accountable on this issue.