March For Our Lives

This past weekend we witnessed hundreds of thousands of young people in cities across the country and around the world, lead marches and demonstrations in an attempt to shift the conversation about guns, gun ownership and gun-control legislation in America. Since 1990 there have been 188 school shooting incidents causing 344 injuries and 192 fatalities in America. Not to mention the tens of thousands of incidents, injuries and deaths that happen in our communities every year.

The conversation around these incidents is perhaps the most illogical conversation taking place right now. Because the same people who love to trumpet the fact that we're a "nation of laws", living under the "rule of law" are the same people telling us that gun-control laws won't be effective. We can legislate everything else, including which people can  use which bathroom or who gets to sell (or not) sell wedding cakes to whom. But laws in this case, are inappropriate. The hypocrisy is astounding.

But let's apply this logic to other scenarios. Laws against murder won't stop people from committing murder, so lets just scrap all murder laws. Or sexual assault laws. Or any other law for that matter. Since people are just going to do whatever the hell they want to do, let's retire all judges, lawyers, police officers, investigators and anybody else associated with law enforcement because laws are meaningless. Nobody would make such an asinine suggestion.

Yet, when it comes to gun-control, that's exactly what conservatives are suggesting. And it gets even worse because instead of finding a legislative solution, people are proposing (with a straight face mind you) that we arm teachers to combat school shootings. We can't find money for school supplies, arts programs, or books but we can find resources to arm and train teachers and administrators? And even if we could, the idea would still be the dumbest idea ever because guns in schools is precisely what we're trying to avoid, not encourage. And while we're on the subject of guns in school, do you really want to be a Black teacher holding a gun when the cops show up? I mean if they're killing unarmed black folk indiscriminately because they "fear for their lives" then what fears do you think will be stoked when they pull up to an active shooter situation and the black principal is packing?

The parade of dumb ideas doesn't stop at the White House however. Because former senator and one-time presidential hopeful Rick Santorum has suggested that instead of trying to change laws, students should "take responsibility for themselves, stop looking for somebody else to solve their problems, and learn CPR." The dumbass-ness of that comment doesn't warrant a response, I simply reference it to illustrate the depths to which this conversation has devolved.

And so, as has been the case historically, our children have been forced to take the lead and do what adults have failed to do. Children in 2018 are exhibiting more courage, common sense and compassion than the adults who raised them. Children are finding their voice and refusing to be silenced and I'm ecstatic to see where this leads.