According to organizers, an estimate 800,000 people marched on Saturday in Washington DC to protest against gun violence and to demand federal action. To avoid the protests, Donald Trump fled the city for his Florida Mar-a-Lago safe-haven. When he learned this on our way to the Manhattan “satellite” rally, one of 800 worldwide, my thirteen-year old grandson Gideon, a newly aroused gun control activist, declared “What a wimp!”
But Trump could not escape the angry crowds completely. About 2,000 protesters marched five miles from West Palm Beach to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort chanting, "How many more? Not one more!" and "Save children, not guns!" By the way, it costs American taxpayers a million dollars for coast guard security alone each time Trump runs to Mar-a-Lagos to hide from the American people.
Just in case Donald Trump wants to hear highlights from the student speakers he missed in Washington, The Guardian posted a compilation online.
Gideon, myself, and a small group of friends and family got on the “F” train at the next to last stop in Brooklyn heading for the rally in Central Park. Our hand-made sign read “Hey, Hey, NRA, how many kids did you kill today?” At first the car was almost empty, but at each stop more and more people, individuals, families, and groups, all with signs or wearing t-shirts, joined us. Before we crossed into Manhattan the subway car was standing room only. New York City officials estimate that 175,000 people joined the Manhattan march.
Our group exited the subway two blocks south of Central Park just east of the rally point. We wandered through the park a bit until will found the main group. The speeches were winding down and from where we were we mostly heard echoes.
We tried to join the line of march at Columbus Circle but were stopped by police barricades. At first police would not let us through or over the barricades but finally Office Clamp came by and promised that once police security vehicles passed we could enter. True to her word, Officer Clamp returned and let anyone who wanted to join the march through the barriers. Bravo Officer Clamp. I just hope this doesn’t get her in trouble.
We entered the march on Central Park South just ahead of a fifty-woman strong drum corps wearing light blue March for Our Lives t-shirts and led by New York City Ombudsman Letitia James on the cowbell. The drummers were fantastic and I hope Letitia James runs for mayor.
For a while Gideon rode on my shoulders leading near by people in gun control and anti-NRA and anti-Trump chants. The march turned south on 6th Avenue and we passed the office of Fox News. Now the chant became “Fox News, Fake News.”
At one point we were walking with family members of Gina Rose Montalto. Gina, a member of Stoneman Douglas High School’s state-champion marching band, was one of the seventeen students and staff killed in Parkland, Florida on February 14. She was fourteen years old.
After 45th Street the rally dispersed and we headed back to the “F” train and raced home to catch television coverage from around the world.
Stoneman Douglas Student Manifesto
The British newspaper The Guardian invited staff of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School 's high school student newspaper, The Eagle Eye, to write an editorial presenting their proposals to end gun violence in the United States.
The Eagle Eye staff believes they are in a unique platform to participate in the national gun control debate, “not only as student journalists, but also as survivors of a mass shooting.” They were “firsthand witnesses to the kind of devastation that gross incompetence and political inaction can produce.” They now know they “cannot stand idly by as the country continues to be infected by a plague of gun violence that seeps into community after community, and does irreparable damage to the hearts and minds of the American people.” This is an abbreviated version. The full manifesto is on The Guardian website.
These are nine changes students from Stoneman Douglas High School propose:
(1) Ban semi-automatic weapons that fire high-velocity rounds. Civilians shouldn’t have access to the same weapons that soldiers do. That’s a gross misuse of the second amendment.
(2) Ban accessories that simulate automatic weapons. High-capacity magazines played a huge role in the shooting at our school. In only 10 minutes, 17 people were killed, and 17 others were injured. This is unacceptable. That’s why we believe that bump stocks, high-capacity magazines and similar accessories that simulate the effect of military-grade automatic weapons should be banned.
(3) Establish a database of gun sales and universal background checks. We believe that there should be a database recording which guns are sold in the United States, to whom, and of what caliber and capacity they are. Just as the Department of Motor Vehicles has a database of license plates and car owners, the Department of Defense should have a database of gun serial numbers and gun owners. This data should be paired with infractions of gun laws, past criminal offenses, and the status of the gun owner’s mental health and physical capability. Together with universal background checks, this system would help law enforcement stop a potentially dangerous person before they commit a gun crime.
(4) Change privacy laws to allow mental healthcare providers to communicate with law enforcement. As seen in the tragedy at our school, poor communication between mental healthcare providers and law enforcement may have contributed to a disturbed person with murderous tendencies and intentions entering a school and gunning down 17 people in cold blood.
(5) Close gun show and secondhand sales loopholes. Thanks to loopholes, people who otherwise wouldn’t be able to buy firearms are able to purchase them at gun shows and secondhand sales. The existence of these loopholes reflects the ineptitude of state and federal legislators.
(6) Allow the CDC to make recommendations for gun reform. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention should be allowed to conduct research on the dangers of gun violence. The fact that they are currently prohibited from doing so undermines the first amendment. It also violates the rights of the American people.
(7) Raise the firearm purchase age to 21. In a few months from now, many of us will be turning 18. We will not be able to drink; we will not be able to rent a car. Most of us will still be living with our parents. We will not be able to purchase a handgun. And yet, we will be able to purchase an AR-15.
(8) Dedicate more funds to mental health research and professionals. Federal and state government should earmark more funds specifically for mental health services. Those with mental health issues, especially those who express aggressive, violent, suicidal and/or homicidal thoughts should have the opportunity to receive the help they need regardless of their economic status.
(9) Increase funding for school security. We believe that schools should be given sufficient funds for school security and resource officers to protect and secure the entire campus. As a school of over 3,000 students, teachers, and faculty, Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school was only supplied funds to hire one on-campus armed resource officer by the state.
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