Conservatives, we must act

Re “21 killed in Texas school shooting,” May 25

Recently, I received an automated call from my children’s elementary school notifying parents that students and staff were sheltering in place and Newport Beach police officers were present. Turns out a mountain lion wandered into the neighborhood, a situation that was handled quickly. Every student and teacher went home that night to their families.

A few days later in Uvalde, Texas, I imagine a similar phone call was placed. Unlike our incident, 19 children and two teachers did not make it home to their families.

I think everyone would agree that school should never be the place for such violence. And yet, the mass shooting in Uvalde was the 27th school shooting to take place in the U.S. this year.

As a conservative Christian who grew up safely owning guns, I am finally reflecting and asking myself this: Is protecting the 2nd Amendment more important than protecting than the life of a secondgrader? While I still support the right to bear arms, I believe we can borrow methods from regulated

sectors that deal with other deadly devices. Why is it harder to obtain a driver’s license in many places than it is to buy a gun, especially now that gun violence has surpassed car crashes as the leading cause of death among teens?

While many of my fellow conservatives fight fervently to protect the unborn, I worry that we are failing to protect kids already on the playground. Along with the majority of Americans, I challenge my elected officials to finally do something about this violent and very preventable epidemic.

I believe it’s time to pass sensible bipartisan legislation requiring more checks for people wishing to own a weapon capable of killing kids like this.

Chase Rigby Newport Beach