Children speak up for action to stop carnage in schools

The nation is hearing a voice not often heard from in the great gun debate.

We’re hearing from those with the target on their backs. Students. Our children. In the wake of the latest school mass shooting, this time in Parkland, Fla., which left 17 people dead, most of them students, young people are doing more than mourning.

They are asking questions. Serious questions. They are wondering how this can be allowed to happen again and again.

It has now been more than five years since America’s psyche was shattered by the “slaughter of the innocents,” when a troubled young man with a semi-automatic rifle walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., and opened fire. He left 20 children and six adults dead in his murderous wake.

The tragic history of school shootings goes back nearly two decades, bursting into the national spotlight when two heavily armed students shot up Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo.

Since that time, a Washington Post analysis indicates more than 150,000 students attending at least 170 primary or secondary schools have experienced a shooting in their school environment.

The former student who walked into Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., was armed to the teeth, carrying what has become the “go-to” weapon in so many of these incidents. An AR15 semiautomatic weapon. The gunman fired 150 times in a matter of a few minutes. And he had several more clips of ammo in his backpack.

He had purchased the rifle legally, despite a lengthy history of mental health issues. He could not legally buy alcohol, but he had no problem getting his hands on an AR-15.

Now the students who witnessed that carnage are speaking up.

Many watched their friends slaughtered. Others spent hours hiding in closets, clutching friends and teachers until being given the all-clear.

They are not hiding anymore.

They want to know why this keeps happening, and why adults – including those who represent us in Washington, D.C. – have done next to nothing to prevent this from happening again.

Several students have taken aim at President Trump and the National Rifle Association. They ask a simple question. Why? Why has no one stepped up to take more action to stop this kind of mindless mayhem.

The president, as adept as any adult in using Twitter to deliver his message, may have met his match. Young people are old hands at Twitter and social media.

Over the weekend, the president was Tweeting furiously, but for the most part only on the continued FBI emphasis on the Russian investigation, going so far as to suggest their focus on the probe took precedence over looking into a warning about the alleged shooter in Florida.

Young people were not amused.

“You’re the president. You’re supposed to bring this nation together, not divide us,” said David Hogg. He’s a 17-year-old student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. He was not alone. Emma Gonzalez, another student at the school, addressed a weekend rally and offered a stinging rebuke of the NRA and the $30 million they pumped into President Trump’s presidential campaign. She offered a similar warning to Republican Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Gov. Rick Scott, both of whom also raked in big bucks from the gun lobby.

Hundreds of students, teachers and residents took part in the rally.

Students are planning to march on their state capitol in Tallahassee this week, and are calling for national action by students against gun violence March 24.

They are vowing to create a “badge of shame” for politicians who take money from the NRA.

“We are losing our lives while the adults are playing around,” said Cameron Kasky, a junior at the school.

Their message is being heard loud and clear.

The White House has now indicated that the president would hold a “listening session” with an unspecified group of students Wednesday. Yesterday Trump indicated he supported improved background checks, pointing to a bipartisan bill that has been stuck in the Senate.

Maybe the children can do something adults have not. Lead. And shame those who have dragged their feet into taking action to stop the bloodshed.