March for our lives
By Habib Siddiqui
Summoned to action by surviving students of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Parkland, Florida shooting that left 17 people dead, millions of teenagers and their supporters rallied in protests in more than 800 cities across the USA on Saturday, March 24, demanding change – gun reform. They are simply fed up with government inaction and the power of the ‘gun lobby’, e.g., NRA (National Rifle Association) to curb gun violence. They came to demand a stop to the culture of gun violence that has taken lives of so many of their friends inside and outside the classrooms.
Summoned to action by surviving students of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Parkland, Florida shooting that left 17 people dead, millions of teenagers and their supporters rallied in protests in more than 800 cities across the USA on Saturday, March 24, demanding change – gun reform. They are simply fed up with government inaction and the power of the ‘gun lobby’, e.g., NRA (National Rifle Association) to curb gun violence. They came to demand a stop to the culture of gun violence that has taken lives of so many of their friends inside and outside the classrooms.
The New York City rally alone drew more than 175,000 people. The DC rally
brought many celebrities to the event showing their support for the legitimate
demands of the students. One person notably absent was the POTUS; but many
lawmakers showed up to lend their support. Large rallies with crowds estimated in the tens of
thousands in some cases also unfolded in such cities as Philadelphia; Boston;
New York; Los Angeles; Chicago; Houston; Seattle; Fort Worth, Texas;
Minneapolis; and Parkland, Florida, the site of the Feb. 14 attack.
Chanting "Vote them
out!" and bearing signs reading “Books Not Bullets”, “Am I Next”, “Ballots
Not Bullets”, "We Are the Change," ''No More Silence", “Gun
Control Now”, “Ban Assault Weapons” and "Keep NRA Money Out of
Politics," the protesters packed Pennsylvania Avenue between the Capitol
and the White House.
In the past 40 years I have never witnessed student rallies
like these in this country. Unlike their counterparts in Asia, Africa and Latin
America, the student community here in the USA always seemed to be too
apolitical. Outside their studies and fondness for the newer gadgets in social
media, most students appear to enjoy outdoor activities, sports, and community services
over the weekends.
During my college days in
the early 1980s, the only protests we successfully held inside the University
of California campuses were organized by progressive student groups that were
affiliated with the CISPES (Committee in Support of the People of El Salvador)
and the Third World Coalition. But those rallies did not attract large segments
of the student community even in some of the most liberal campuses in the USA. At
the University of Southern California, I recall participating in anti-Apartheid
rallies in the mid-1980s, which were participated by students, faculty and staff
members alike demanding divestment from South Africa. Again, however, the size
of the participants was not too large. Most students were either unmindful or
unconcerned about what their government was doing overseas in the third world
countries.
I am told that these March rallies on Saturday
(March 24) are one of
the biggest youth protests since the Vietnam era. I am not surprised.
America needs gun reform
or control. Students need safety and not indifferent public policies that make
them casualties of gun violence. Protesters denounced the NRA and its allies
and complained that they are afraid of getting shot in school and tired of
inaction by grown-ups after one mass shooting after another. They called for
such measures as a ban on high-capacity magazines and assault-type rifles like
the one used by the Florida killer, tighter background checks and school
security, and a raising of the age to buy guns.
"People have been
dying since 1999 in Columbine and nothing has changed. People are still
dying," a student said in the DC rally. "It could be prevented."
The NRA went silent on
Twitter in the morning, in contrast to its reaction to the nationwide school
walkouts against gun violence March 14, when it tweeted a photo of an assault
rifle and the message "I'll control my own guns, thank you."
About 30 gun-rights
supporters staged a counter-demonstration in front of FBI headquarters in
Washington, standing quietly with signs such as "Armed Victims Live Longer"
and "Stop Violating Civil Rights."
The Rev. Martin Luther
King Jr.'s 9-year-old granddaughter Yolanda King gave a rousing speech at the
Washington rally, drawing from the civil rights leader's most famous words. "I
have a dream that enough is enough," she said. "That this should be a
gun-free world. Period."
In Parkland, Florida the
police presence was heavy as more than 20,000 people filled a park near the
school, chanting slogans such as "Enough is enough" and carrying
signs that read "Why do your guns matter more than our lives?" and
"Our ballots will stop bullets."
Since the bloodshed in
Florida, students have tapped into a current of gun control sentiment that has
been building for years — yet still faces a powerful foe in the NRA and its
supporters in the Capitol Hill and many state governments.
Organizers hope the
passions of the crowds and the under-18 roster of speakers will translate into
a tipping point starting with the midterm congressional elections this fall. In
addition to pushing for tighter gun laws, the students have been working to
register young people to vote, and change the entire dynamics by electing those
who would be tough with the gun lobby. After all, only one in five young voters
between the age of 18 and 29 vote in election.
But the struggle for
change will not be an easy one given the gun culture America is addicted to.
Many years ago, while
talking with some of my colleagues, I was surprised to learn that most of them
owned dozens of guns; it’s like a toy collection hobby for them! Later I found
out that 41 percent of White Americans own guns compared to 19 percent Black
Americans. “And attitudes
toward guns remain starkly divided along racial lines,” Patrik Jonsson wrote last year for the Christian
Science Monitor. “Sixty percent of black voters favor more gun control, while
61 percent of white voters seek more gun rights.”
African-American communities have had a
deep resistance to guns, dating back to the civil rights era, when blacks,
often victims of gun crimes, began to see gun ownership as counterproductive
and dangerous. However, that mood has been changing fast since the ‘Black Lives
Matter’ movement, which showed that that unarmed black men are 2.5
times more likely to be killed by police than
unarmed white men. The Second
Amendment is no protector for them, and is unequally applied and abused along the
racial lines.
The Second Amendment to the United
States Constitution was adopted on December 15, 1791, as part of the first ten
amendments contained in the Bill of Rights. It reads:
"A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free
state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be
infringed."
The Supreme Court of the United States has ruled that the right to carry
guns belongs to individuals, while also ruling that the right is not unlimited
and does not prohibit all regulation of either firearms or similar devices.
State and local governments are limited to the same extent as the federal
government from infringing this right, per the incorporation of the Bill of
Rights.
Federal courts have further defined the amendment as not
applying to the states, a collective right, pertaining to the militia, and
protecting only those situations where it can be proved that an individual
possessing a firearm has some relevance to a well-regulated militia. Although
this ruling has been documented, a more recent ruling (2008) defined the right
to bear arms as an individual right.
The controversy revolved around the interpretation of this
right revolves around a few basic questions: Does the Second Amendment
mean that any individual has a right to carry a gun? Does this amendment only
reflect gun control and gun rights of a militia or for the individuals in that
militia? How does this amendment extend towards individual right to carry a gun
with respect to concealment?
As I see it, the second amendment
has raised more questions, controversy, and court rulings than any other law or
right in US history, and the issues surrounding it will not evaporate anytime
soon, esp. with powerful lobbies promoting gun ownership.
America has a gun culture,
probably unmatched by any other nation in the globe. My hope is that with the
student-organized rallies and protests throughout the country, Americans will
not be able to ignore the hideous gun-culture that they inherited, which has
killed so many for so long.
According to a Reuters/Ipsos national poll taken in
early March, a majority of Americans, including Republicans, Democrats and gun
owners want stricter laws on gun ownership and armed guards in schools. That is
a positive development towards a change for gun control.
A new poll conducted by
The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 69
percent of Americans think gun laws in the U.S. should be tightened. That is up
from 61 percent in 2016 and 55 percent in 2013.
Overall, 90 percent of
Democrats, 50 percent of Republicans and 54 percent of gun owners now favor
stricter gun laws.
At the same time, the poll
found that nearly half of Americans do not expect elected officials to take
action. That perception has been a sad reality here in Abraham Lincoln’s
country where more and more electorates feel that democracy is failing them and
that big and powerful lobbies control their lives.
However, judging by the
mood of the nation this weekend after the March for Our Lives, I am sure more
elected reps would find it difficult to either ignore the student demands for
tougher gun-control or back the NRA (that is financed by the gun manufacturers),
esp. those facing reelection this year. They need to earn the trust of the
people and act right to avoid being ignored in the ballot boxes.
In recent weeks several
ideas towards gun reform have emerged, including those from the POTUS. Common
sense, however, dictates that more guns in the schools including arming
teachers, something that was suggested by President Trump, is a foolish idea
that needs be abandoned. Here below are some changes
that make sense:
1. Sensible gun laws: Reduce easy access to dangerous weapons by banning
high capacity magazines and
bump stocks, requiring universal background checks
without loopholes, instituting waiting periods, and reinstituting the assault weapons ban immediately.
2. Establish a culture of gun safety by
– (1) reducing
firearm access to youth and individuals who are at risk of harming themselves
or others; (2) holding the gun industry accountable and ensure there is adequate
oversight over the marketing and sales of guns and ammunition; (3) engaging responsible gun dealers and owners in solutions; (4) insisting on mandatory training and licensing for
owners; and (5) requiring safe and secure gun storage.
Eighteen years ago, hundreds
of thousands of mothers
and other gun control advocates marched on the nation's capital and in several
cities around the country on May 15, 2000, demanding "sensible gun
laws," and chanting ‘enough is enough’, mourning the loss of children to
gun violence and vowing to transform the politics of gun control. The Million
Mom March crowded the grassy expanse of the National Mall, cheering one speaker
after another who assailed the National Rifle Association and its power over
Congress. As noted by Robin
Toner of the New York Times, many of the demonstrators wept at the stories
of mothers who had lost their children, listening transfixed to the families
shattered by shootings from Columbine High School, in Littleton, Colorado,
where 15 died in 1999, to the Michigan elementary school where a 6-year-old
girl was killed by a classmate on Feb. 29, 2000.
Sarah Brady of Handgun
Control Inc., who became an activist on gun control after her husband, James S.
Brady, a former White House press secretary, was seriously injured in the
assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan, told the crowd, "We must
either change the minds of lawmakers on these issues or, for God's sake, this
November let's change the lawmakers."
Unlike the current President
Trump who was nowhere to be found in DC during the march, that spring day in
2000, the then President Clinton greeted some of the marchers at the White
House and urged them to keep fighting. "Don't be deterred by the
intimidation, don't be deterred by the screaming, don't be deterred by the
political mountain you have to climb," he said. "You just remember
this: there are more people who think like you in America."
The teenagers who spoke at
the March for Our Lives this Saturday were no less eloquent and specific about
their pains and demands than those moms that rallied nearly 18 years ago. Perhaps,
this time the nation is more serious and ready for finding a solution to gun
violence. If the federal and state governments fail to deliver against gun
violence America will only see more of the same hurting them in coming years.
Is that the future that they crave for? Surely not!
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