U.S. adolescents tackle gun owners

Awave of protest is sweeping through high schools in the United States in the wake of the Valentine’s Day massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. A former student returned to the school with his AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and killed 17 students and staff. Forceful, articulate young women have been especially prominent in the protest movement, demanding gun control measures from a reluctant U.S. President Donald Trump.

In recent months, forceful, articulate women have also been stepping forward to condemn sexual abuse in show business and in other fields, particularly in the U.S., but also in Canada and the U.K.

Now, women of a new adolescent generation have found their voices and are likewise telling the generation of their parents and grandparents to get a grip on the epidemic of gun violence that has been spreading and growing in America for the last half-century. The authorities are on notice: the young women of America are a powerful force; they know their power and they are not afraid to use it.

The gun owners of America, however, may prove to be a tougher adversary than the dirty old men have been. They behave as a disciplined army in the political arena, not fleeing to the shadows like sexual abusers but marching straight at the enemies identified by their national organizations and using their political clout to great effect.

Most American voters care about many things, such as taxes, health care, the deficit and the roads - and the candidates they support on account of those issues include some who are pro-gun and some who are antigun. A significant number of gun owners, however, care more about their freedom to buy guns than about anything else and they focus their voting power on pro-gun candidates, regardless of other issues.

As a result, the elected officials of America tilt heavily in favour of guns, even though polls show that the wide public favours better gun control. The views of the wide public do not matter so much because they are not organized and focused the way the gun owners are.

In these conditions, it may not be enough for the survivors of the Parkland massacre to be forceful and articulate. It may not be enough for them to make common cause with survivors of mass gun killings in Las Vegas, Orlando, Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook Elementary School, Sutherland Springs and a long list of other recent scenes of slaughter.

They will need to dedicate themselves to gun control as single-mindedly as the gun owners dedicate themselves to keeping their guns. They will need to organize the gun-control campaign over a period of many years.

They will need to train their supporters in focused political action. They need to form an organization that will strike fear in the hearts of political candidates in the same way as the National Rifle Association.

Once a movement of that sort takes shape, gun control may become a live issue in America once again.

In the present circumstances, however, a wave of protest in the high schools is in danger of cresting, breaking and vanishing without a trace.