We can demand change
As a high-school teacher for 10 years, I have been in actual emergency situations twice. I’ve tried to calculate how fast we could get to a window to get out if we desperately needed to. And I’ve considered what I could do during that time to keep someone distracted long enough for the kids to get there.
I’ve thought of these things and more because our nation is in crisis. We are facing problems we refuse to admit, and until we admit they exist, we will not move forward. So, I will begin my day by entering my classroom and making sure the door is locked.
That’s my part. I urge others to do theirs. We have the power to change this path. Admit there is a problem. Take steps to solve it. Allocate funding, support and resources for mental health for individuals in need. Change the laws so people who are a risk do not have access to firearms. Action is long overdue.
From this point forward, I cannot vote in good conscience for any candidate at any level who has not spoken out and taken meaningful action to protect our nation.
Give money to families
Many politicians have received “blood money” from the National Rifle Association. Are they going to give some of this money to the families of the slain, innocent schoolchildren? All the blood money should be given to the families.
Who controls this country? The government, the NRA or Vladimir Putin?
Join NRA to change it
Since most Americans support common-sense gun control, there may be an answer in democracy. If a few million of us joined the National Rifle Association, our voting power could change the culture there, which changed 40 years ago from an organization to provide firearms instruction, according to their website, to one dedicated to fighting for the right to bear arms.
The Second Amendment reads, “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” A Google search of the word militia reveals that it is a military force raised from the civilian population to supplement a regular army in an emergency. The NRA focuses solely on the last part.
We don’t need a militia, clearly. And there is nothing well-regulated about guns in our society. The Centers for Disease Control is not even allowed to conduct research about gun deaths. The cost to join the NRA is fairly affordable; perhaps if the majority of Americans who want something done about gun control join, we could outnumber them.
David Lloyd and Emily Balsam
Lexington
Gun is the problem
Gov. Matt Bevin thinks that gun violence is