Fla. teens target elex in gun fight
THE STUDENT activists behind a massive march on Washington say they’re just getting started with their push to rein in guns.
“We’re going to be revving up for the election,” Emma Gonzalez, one of the survivors of the deadly school shooting in Parkland, Fla., who helped launch Saturday’s March for Our Lives, said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
“This is not the end. This was just the beginning.”
The focus will now shift to the ballot box — getting young people registered to vote and motivating them to turn out to support candidates who will fight for gun control, and oppose those in the pocket of the National Rifle Association, the teens said.
“Moving forward, it’s all about registering to vote, educating others and starting more conversations so more people get politically involved,” said Cameron Kasky, another of the students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where a gunman killed 17 people last month.
“You see the statistics — it’s an embarrassing turnout,” he said, noting that only one in five voters ages 18 to 29 turned out for the last election.
The students are pushing for an assault weapons ban and universal background checks — and aren’t impressed with President Trump’s Stop School Violence Act, which bolsters funding for school security.
“The Stop School Violence Act doesn’t even mention the word ‘gun’ once,” said student Jaclyn Corin. “Obviously school safety is important, but (gun violence) doesn’t just happen in schools, and people need to understand that. It’s a public safety issue, not a school safety issue.”
Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, stood with another group of students Sunday to push Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to bring anti-gun violence bills to the Senate floor.
Schumer (D-N.Y.) said the Republican leader must allow votes on bills to require background checks for all gun purchases, allow court orders to take away guns from people who show signs of being dangerous, and ban assault weapons. problem? How am I going to do something about stopping bullying within my own community? What am I going to do to actually help respond to a shooter?’ ”
Medical experts and lawmakers also weighed in on Santorum’s statement.
“Dear Rick Santorum: CPR is good for heart stoppage,” tweeted Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.). “Not good for victims of multiple AR-15 bullets, which typically impart 3 times the lethal energy upon impact than a 9-mm. handgun bullet. AR-15 bullets obliterate organs and cause so much bleeding that victims die very quickly.”
Eugene Gu, a surgeon at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and vocal Trump critic, added that Santorum’s argument makes no sense on a basic level.
“As a surgeon, I’ve operated on gunshot victims who’ve had bullets tear through their intestines, cut through their spinal cord and pulverize their kidneys and liver,” Gu tweeted. “Rick Santorum telling kids to shut up and take CPR classes is simply unconscionable.”