Mass shootings and gun violence are happening way too often

[nausicaa]

@VelociRapture This might not be a popular answer, but one thing I tell people who are unfamiliar with guns (assuming you are) is to learn about them and the existing firearm laws in the U.S. I know a lot of NRA types, and one thing they do  is tune out someone advocating gun control once that person suggests fully automatic weapons are legal or that a silencer makes a gunshot completely silent. The media also drops the ball on this and too often doesn't do its necessary research, providing more impetus in the minds of pro-2A people to block out the other side and close ranks.

I understand that becoming an expert on the history and engineering of firearms is unrealistic, especially if it's a subject you find deeply unappealing. But it helps to learn the difference between an automatic, a semi-automatic and an assault rifle; which types of firearms are already illegal to own; what silencers and bump stocks actually do, that sort of thing. It makes it more difficult for people to dismiss you in discussions, and is going to be much more helpful in actually changing someone's mind. 

[VelociRapture]

22 minutes ago, nausicaa said:

@VelociRapture This might not be a popular answer, but one thing I tell people who are unfamiliar with guns (assuming you are) is to learn about them and the existing firearm laws in the U.S. I know a lot of NRA types, and one thing they do  is tune out someone advocating gun control once that person suggests fully automatic weapons are legal or that a silencer makes a gunshot completely silent. The media also drops the ball on this and too often doesn't do its necessary research, providing more impetus in the minds of pro-2A people to block out the other side and close ranks.

I understand that becoming an expert on the history and engineering of firearms is unrealistic, especially if it's a subject you find deeply unappealing. But it helps to learn the difference between an automatic, a semi-automatic and an assault rifle; which types of firearms are already illegal to own; what silencers and bump stocks actually do, that sort of thing. It makes it more difficult for people to dismiss you in discussions, and is going to be much more helpful in actually changing someone's mind. 

I do find it very unappealing, but I also think you made excellent points. I’m not exactly sure where to start, but I’ll give it a try. Hopefully it helps me understand a bit better because I can’t really be an effective advocate if I don’t know what I’m talking about.

[GreyhoundFan]

[nausicaa]

13 minutes ago, VelociRapture said:

I do find it very unappealing, but I also think you made excellent points. I’m not exactly sure where to start, but I’ll give it a try. Hopefully it helps me understand a bit better because I can’t really be an effective advocate if I don’t know what I’m talking about.

I was hoping to find a good all-purpose source, but unfortunately I am not coming up with anything like that. These are some articles I found that provide a good overview.

Spoiler

 

This is a gun-owning, pro-gun restrictions liberal who lists out some of the major elements people confuse. I don't necessarily agree with all of his points (if someone loathes or is afraid of guns, I really don't think they need to go to a shooting range) but it's a good overview and he seems to grasp the feelings of both sides well:

https://medium.com/@yishan/you-cannot-regulate-guns-unless-you-know-how-to-use-one-d129d0a82974

 

A dense and dry list of U.S. gun stats and laws:

https://www.justfacts.com/guncontrol.asp

 

Here is a list Mother Jones made of some of the most commonly confused aspects of firearms. I'm not knowledgeable enough about guns to verify that all of this information is correct. And I know Mother Jones has in the past used incorrect terminology in regards to guns, so I wish I could confirm the accuracy of this better but the major points at least seem correct:

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/12/semi-automatic-gun-assault-weapon-definitions/

 

This article explains how gun culture is another detail obsessed "nerd subculture" much like video games and comic books and how that informs how its adherents react to things. Some of the comments are actually pretty educational too, if you can filter out the expected name calling:

https://www.wired.com/story/guns-nerds/

 

 

[kacarlton]

Fuck.the.NRA...."Many in legacy mainstream media love mass shootings..you love the ratings. Crying white mothers are ratings gold"
Spoiler  
 

I really, really hate that woman. And I don’t say that lightly.

[fraurosena]

Prime example of a Russian bot at work.

 

[GrumpyGran]

4 hours ago, fraurosena said:

Prime example of a Russian bot at work.

 

Wow, what a rabbit hole that was! This whole twitter purge is fascinating.

Apropos of nothing, except for the actual topic of this thread, among all of the pure bullshit that has come out the Liar-In-Chief, the Secretary(?) of Education in Florida brought up having more active shooter drills in schools and he told her it was stupid to have active shooter drills.

[GreyhoundFan]

[GrumpyGran]

Now that the Stable Genius has chimed in with the solution to our school shooting problem I have some questions.

Let's say I'm Amy, a 25-year-old who would like to contribute to the stability of my country by becoming a school teacher who makes $35,000 starting salary. I'm going to teach second graders.

Do I choose to be the armed teacher on my hall or hope that Meredith, who is next door, steps up? Do I go to the police academy first or college? Because the situation that everyone is expecting me to handle is the same situation law enforcement considers one of the most dangerous situations a police officer faces, so yeah, I'll need some law enforcement training. Who will pay for that?

If I accidentally shoot little Justin because he panics and runs into the line of fire, will I be liable for the lawsuit his parents file? I can't afford that. Or will we all be insured like law enforcement agencies? Who's going to pay for that? What if I can't go back into the classroom after I kill Justin? How will I support myself?

Maybe we need to be recruiting former military snipers to teach our children. What kind of teachers will they be? Who will pay for their education?

So much for poor Amy who had such good intentions. I bet she'll decide to study anthropology instead.

Don't miss the message in all of the buzzing here. It's simple. The message is from the NRA and it is this: We will get your money one way or the other. Just because YOU don't want to buy a gun doesn't mean you're not going to pay for one.

[GrumpyGran]

How is it possible that the security guard who did not go into the school is named Scott Peterson? I've heard of being born under a bad sign but born under a bad name?

[onekidanddone]

Sitting here unable to stop crying while reading this. A good read, but I'll put it in a spoiler box because it is painful and really hard to read.

A Letter to My Campers After Parkland

I send my kid to camp for a month every summer. This will be her 6th year. It is her world. Her universe where she lives in another life for four weeks with kids she only sees once a year. I can't deny her this, but shit it will be really hard to see her get on that camp bus at teh end of June.

Spoiler

 

After 17 people were murdered at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on February 14th, including one of your fellow campers, I haven’t been able to think of what to say except for “I am so sorry.” I am. I am so, so sorry.

I’m sorry that you lost a friend, and that two of you lost a sister. I’m sorry that some of you were in the school when it happened, and that one of you had to watch. I’m sorry that you do not feel safe. I’m sorry for all of the horrible things that you are feeling. I’m sorry that I can’t get in my car right now and go on a road trip to Charleston, and Atlanta, and Athens, and Tampa, and Miami, and Parkland, so that I can hug each and every one of you and tell you that it will be okay.

I also thought to myself: I’m sorry that we failed you. I’m sorry that at camp, for one or two months of the summer, we were unable to prepare you. I wrote programs for you about self-care, but I talked to you about eating healthy and managing stress, not about remembering to eat when you’re overwhelmed by grief or managing earth-shattering trauma. I’m sorry that I didn’t talk to you about writing letters to your Senators, or talk to you more about tikkun olam, repairing the world.

But you are seventh graders. You spent the summer worrying about who would be color war captain, or who your buddy would be at the water park. During your free time, you traded gum and worked on your friendship bracelets, not organizing a march on Washington or writing poetry in memory of one of your bunkmates. I wrote programs for seventh graders: I wanted to educate you on body image, and Jewish identity as you prepared for your Bar and Bat Mitzvahs. I wanted you to learn how to meditate and see the natural world around you anew. I led all of you to a campfire in the woods so that you could write down your greatest insecurities on paper and then burn them to make them disappear. From the bottom of my heart, I prayed that your biggest fears could vanish as quickly and easily as paper burns in a campfire, providing kindling for s’mores.  

I’m sorry, instead, for sending you back into this world. At camp, you are safe. You go to bed each night in a cabin surrounded by your closest friends, and you know that your counselors are sitting on the porch, helping you feel protected and loved and secure as you fall asleep. You get to try out new things in a supportive environment, whether it’s auditioning for the musical or playing roller hockey or hiking to a waterfall. I was starkly reminded this week that camp really is a bubble, an out-of-time reality that only exists for two months every summer. When we send you home, we don’t know what’s waiting for you when you get back, and it’s so hard to let you go. I could not have imagined this past August, though, that this is what we were returning you to. Your country has failed you. Adults have failed you. We have failed you. We didn’t make this world safe enough for you.

My hope for you is that your schools will feel as safe as your camp cabins. I want you to be able to run, laugh, play, learn, and grow as freely as you could at camp, where your biggest fear is falling and skinning your knee. I want you to not have to question whether or not the next time you talk to your friends will be the last time you’re able to. I want you to be active and engaged citizens, like we teach you to be at camp, but I want you to do this out of a desire for good, not out of trauma and necessity. Most importantly, I want you to just be kids. I want you to not have to worry. I want you to have a childhood that lasts as long as possible, free from fear, free from pain, and free to always be as happy as you are at 201 Camp Coleman Drive.  

And I promise, that for the rest of my life, I will fight for your safety. I will fight for your freedom from fear. I will fight in memory of Alyssa Alhadeff, and in honor of all of you, her peers who are so precious, loving, and good. I will make make this world better for you.

 

 

[GrumpyGran]

Oh, dear. Rick Scott's not exactly following the NRA memo. Yikes, he's running for re-election, isn't he? He wants drills. But Dumpy hates drills! He wants restrictions on guns. Noooooooo! Good God, where does he think the money for this is going to come from?

Is a state income tax coming to Florida?

[GreyhoundFan]

From the wonderful Alexandra Petri: "Modify my views on guns, or vilify traumatized teens? I have chosen the latter."

Spoiler

I am very concerned about the schoolchildren. For their own protection (too late), it is important to me that they have their microphones taken away from them, stat.

I only wish that in addition to the nightmare they have had to live through and the loss they have had to suffer, someone will lovingly place duct tape over their mouths, so that they will not interrupt those of us who are trying to explain why AR-15s are just like children and deserve to be kept in the home until graduation and then sent off to colleges and allowed to wander wherever their dreams may take them.

It is cruel to these children that we allow them to be seen when they are so angry. It is upsetting (for them, not for me, of course not for me) to hear their voices on the television, demanding through tears that something change. It is unfair (to them, of course to them) that they be allowed to continue to speak about the horror they have experienced. It will only make them sad when nothing changes. Have they not suffered enough (from something I will not specify until this blows over)?

They should be older, if they wish us to listen to them. They should be older, like me, and less traumatized, like me. If they wanted to go on television, they should have had the foresight and presence of mind not to be children when this innocence was ripped from them.

Do not listen to the children. They are not money.

There are certain sorts of people whom we once thought we should give respect and space to. Gold Star mothers. Gold Star fathers. The victims of unthinkable tragedies, in the few days after those tragedies. But that was when they had the grace to be silent and let us determine, for ourselves, the moral of what they had lived through. That was when they did not demand that we take responsibility.

Now, if you don’t want to hear from any more high schoolers traumatized by gun violence, then you either decide to try to create a world where high schoolers are not traumatized by gun violence, or decide to create a world where you do not have to listen to the high schoolers. It looks like we’re picking the latter!

We are not monsters. This burning shame that keeps us awake is their fault. If they were not there pointing the finger at us — We are being personally victimized! We are the real victims here! They have the audacity to point fingers at people for doing nothing! We haven’t done anything!

We are not trying to create a nightmare Catch-22 where people who were recently the victims of gun violence are too traumatized to be taken seriously on the subject of gun violence. That would be the act of monsters, which we, as specified, are not.

I am very concerned about the children. I am concerned that the act of telling the story of the thing they have lived through will be too unpleasant for them. Not for me, never for me! I understand that these things sometimes happen. What is obscene is not that they happen at all, but that they are being forced down my throat like this. If someone who had been burned in a fire came on television, I would be upset that we saw the protuberance of bone and melted skin.

The shame is that we are being forced to see it. Not that it happened. Not that they are begging us for it to stop.

Somehow I maintain all these things at once. The children are being coached, and paid, and also they are too traumatized to be allowed to talk. They should be ashamed, the people who have given them a podium should be ashamed too. I should not be ashamed. I have nothing to be ashamed of. Get them away from me. I don’t want to look at them anymore.

I am concerned about the children.

I am concerned that someone may listen to them.

I'm afraid the NRA will take her column and use it for their talking points.

[AmazonGrace]

2 hours ago, GrumpyGran said:

Now that the Stable Genius has chimed in with the solution to our school shooting problem I have some questions.

Let's say I'm Amy, a 25-year-old who would like to contribute to the stability of my country by becoming a school teacher who makes $35,000 starting salary. I'm going to teach second graders.

Do I choose to be the armed teacher on my hall or hope that Meredith, who is next door, steps up? Do I go to the police academy first or college? Because the situation that everyone is expecting me to handle is the same situation law enforcement considers one of the most dangerous situations a police officer faces, so yeah, I'll need some law enforcement training. Who will pay for that?

If I accidentally shoot little Justin because he panics and runs into the line of fire, will I be liable for the lawsuit his parents file? I can't afford that. Or will we all be insured like law enforcement agencies? Who's going to pay for that? What if I can't go back into the classroom after I kill Justin? How will I support myself?

Maybe we need to be recruiting former military snipers to teach our children. What kind of teachers will they be? Who will pay for their education?

So much for poor Amy who had such good intentions. I bet she'll decide to study anthropology instead.

Don't miss the message in all of the buzzing here. It's simple. The message is from the NRA and it is this: We will get your money one way or the other. Just because YOU don't want to buy a gun doesn't mean you're not going to pay for one.

Hi Amy,  I'm just chiming in to warn you that if the SWAT team swarms the school looking for an active shooter and they see you with a gun, you better duck for cover.

[GrumpyGran]

42 minutes ago, AmazonGrace said:

Hi Amy,  I'm just chiming in to warn you that if the SWAT team swarms the school looking for an active shooter and they see you with a gun, you better duck for cover.

Hi, Amy here. Yeah, I know! Is SWAT coming or is it up to us teachers to take the shooter down? Is there a magic shield that I will have when I come face-to-face with the shooter? Because I'm pretty sure that when he sees me with a gun he's going to shoot at me. If I'm expected to be better at this, faster, harder, as my president says, then who will actually teach my class while I'm out in tactical training. I mean, this kid's been out in someone's back yard shooting at targets all day. I've been, well, teaching. I need some clarification. Or a different President.

[GreyhoundFan]

Yes! "#BoycottNRA: Enterprise car rentals, Omaha bank sever gun lobby ties as boycott movement gains steam"

Spoiler

Two major companies, Enterprise Holdings Inc. and First National Bank of Omaha ended co-branding partnerships with the National Rifle Association Thursday as a #BoycottNRA social media movement picked up steam.

Enterprise is the parent company of three car-rental brands: Enterprise, Alamo and National. The arrangement offered discounts to NRA members.

First National Bank of Omaha, one of the country’s largest privately held bank, announced the end of a credit-card co-branding deal with the NRA. The bank had issued what its ads described as the “Official Credit Card of the NRA,” according to the Omaha World-Herald. The Visa card offered 5 percent back on gas and sporting goods store purchases and a $40 bonus card.

The decisions came as names of companies with NRA associations began circulating widely on the Internet via social media under the #BoycottNRA hashtag in the wake of the attack at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., by a gunman wielding an AR-15. The Feb. 14 shootings claimed 17 lives and drew anguished calls for a ban on assault weapons from students and families.

American businesses have become increasingly aware politically and have participated in boycotts over the past few years against states over LGBT-rights issues. But the NRA is a well-funded membership operation devoted to a single cause — guns — and unlikely to be moved by the actions of companies with which it has such loose and peripheral ties.

The mass killing focused renewed attention on the NRA, which is credited with blocking gun control measures for years through millions of dollars in campaign contributions and pressure from its large membership base.

Like many other organizations, the NRA has benefit deals with companies designed to make membership more appealing. The NRA “member benefits” page offers savings on a credit card, hearing aids, car rentals, travel, car purchases and prescription drugs, among other things.

Hashtags urging boycotts of specific companies involved in the deals sprouted up over the past few days across social media. People then started posting comments on the social media platforms of many of the companies urging them to take action.

The Omaha bank appears to have been the first to respond.

“Customer feedback has caused us to review our relationship with the NRA,” the bank said in a statement posted on Twitter. “As a result, First National Bank of Omaha will not renew its contract with the National Rifle Association to issue the NRA Visa Card.”

Enterprise followed a few hours later on Thursday. “All three of our brands have ended the discount for NRA members,” said a tweet on the Enterprise Rent-A-Car account.

 

The NRA had not commented on the move by late Thursday. The World-Herald quoted Rod Moeller, director of government affairs for the Nebraska Firearms Owners Association, saying that the group will “be giving strong consideration to moving their accounts to a bank that hasn’t bowed to political pressure.”

Boycott movements have become increasingly effective political tools over the past few years. Indiana got hit hard by threatened boycotts in 2015 when then-Gov. Mike Pence signed legislation allowing businesses and individuals to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation. The Indiana legislature and Pence reversed the measure within two weeks.

In 2016, North Carolina was the target of a business boycott after it enacted a “bathroom bill” requiring transgender people to use bathrooms based on their assigned gender at birth. After the NCAA canceled tournaments in the state and PayPal decided not to build a new facility in the state, the legislation was partially repealed.

The NRA claims 5 million members and corporate allies in the gun industry that provide the organization with tens of millions of dollars per year. The group devotes massive resources to fighting gun regulations in the name of the Second Amendment to the Constitution, which protects the right to bear arms.

The organization is unlikely to be swayed from its main mission by boycotts or corporate disaffiliations.

 

 

[laPapessaGiovanna]

A commenter on the WaPo wrote this

Quote

Hey hey, NRA, how many kids did you kill today?

 

[GreyhoundFan]

Sigh: "In my part of red America, no one sees guns as part of the problem"

Spoiler

A week after the Parkland, Fla., school shooting, the note was found scrawled on our middle school’s bathroom wall: I’m gonna shoot up the school on 2-21-18. 

That was the first threat. Within 24 hours, the elementary, middle and high schools in my tiny, rural Kentucky town had all received written warnings of gun violence, and all three schools, approximately 3,700 students, were placed on “soft lockdown” (told to shelter in place) while the sheriff’s office and Kentucky State Police investigated.

I live in Anderson County, Ky. Donald Trump won here in 2016 with 72.2 percent of the vote. We have 38 Christian-based churches to serve a population of 22,000, and lots of talk about God-given Second Amendment rights. When I moved here in 2014, the first question I was often asked was, “Where do you go to church?” Neighbors joked that the elderly man who previously owned my house, a fun-loving, retired military officer, kept a cache of guns in the closets and under the couch cushions. For security.

This is both Trump country and single-issue voter country. People here vote on guns, and people vote on abortion. Every other issue, every other considerable nuance, is nothing but noise.

Guns and gun ownership are sacrosanct here, and people who do not live in rural America do not understand what are and aren’t acceptable topics of conversation. Last Saturday, for example, I’d set up for the morning at our newly renovated library to sign people up for writing classes. A friend who owns a local business stopped to vent about Parkland, but waved off quickly, in silence, noting the group of women elders behind me discussing the shooting, the scripture and the need to get prayer back into our schools.

Talk of church and prayer and getting back to “the good old days” is the norm here; talk of gun reform or gun control is not; and talking openly outside this norm, especially if you are a business owner, can hurt your livelihood.

Shortly after Trump was elected, when I first started writing about politics for the local newspaper, I started getting private emails (no public comments) of agreement that also begged for privacy. This was such a shock the first time it happened that I drove into town and found three such emailers at their places of work, simply so we could meet in person and feel less alone.

The day after the Parkland shootings, Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin, knowing better than to use the word “gun” in these parts in the aftermath of a shooting, called for prayer and restrictions on video games and movies. Bevin knows how to hit his mark with his churchgoing, moral-authority electorate, tweeting after the Vegas shooting, “You can’t regulate evil,” and, as USA Today reported last week, stating that “he sees the spree of shootings as a cultural problem, not a firearm problem. And he sees violent entertainment as the root of that cultural problem.” His people cheer.

As all three of our Anderson County schools received threats of gun violence this week, we counted not on Bevin but on the Facebook page of our small town newspaper, as communities do now. Panicked parents left comments and got into the kind of no-filter social media arguments we’ve grown numb to:

“I was so in hopes for a peaceful day for students. Evil is rampent in our little town. We need Jesus now!”

“Schools needs alternative schools for these little bad … kids! Maybe like army style, teach them right from wrong just in case their parents can’t.”

“No slaps on the wrist, prosecute so these little brats learn its no joke and won’t be considered one.”

“Whoever is sayin hold back the lashings needs to get a grip. … Making threats like this is serious and needs to be punished … my kids or your kids doesnt matter. Be A PARENT!”

“All my kids are grown. You people crack me up. You have no idea how many time I was put in cuffs for spanking my children. SO quit blaming me as a parent. Blame liberal schools. Blame government. And shove it takes a village were the sun don’t shine.”

“Maybe if they start prosecuting these little degenerates then people will stop with all that BS!!”

People wanted prayer in schools, more attentive parenting, criminal prosecution of children, a return to corporal punishment, confiscation of kids’ cellphones. I counted 104 comments and replies. There was not a single mention of guns.

In the NRA’s first public remarks on the Parkland shooting, Wayne LaPierre said Thursday morning, “Schools must be the most hardened target in this country and evil must be confronted immediately with all necessary force to protect our kids.” LaPierre is preaching to the firearms choir with talk of “evil,” and I know the men who heed the call. One is my father, who is in his 70s, retired, on a fixed income, living in a small Missouri town with virtually no crime. He tells me he cannot remember the last time he actually shot a gun. But he listens to the NRA and Rush Limbaugh and Fox News, and they tell him he has got to man up; he has to protect our kids; he has to be prepared. So what does he do? He buys more guns.

That’s what life is like here in red America, where the questioning of religion and guns are equally off-limits. Where we have fortified, as evidenced by our own governor, a barbed entwining of church morality and guns. Hence the common refrain, “my God-given Second Amendment rights.”

Trump said Thursday that “we have to harden our schools, not soften them,” in his plea to arm teachers and coaches. The president, like the NRA, looks to guns as the means for demanding respect. Well-meaning Beltway pundits such as David Brooks ask that we show gun owners some respect. But Americans do not need to respect gun owners more, because we already do. We respect them the way we respect a hell-and-damnation preacher or an abrasive, controlling father. We respect gun owners because we are afraid of their guns.

Meanwhile, this week in rural Kentucky, a 13-year-old girl was charged with terroristic threatening at the middle school and was arraigned in juvenile court and ordered held in juvenile detention. An 11-year-old girl from the elementary school was charged with one count of terroristic threatening.

The investigations are ongoing. We are looking to our governor and the president we voted for to lead. We are saying our prayers. And nobody is talking about guns.

Definitely on the "don't move there" list.

[VelociRapture]

22 hours ago, nausicaa said:

I was hoping to find a good all-purpose source, but unfortunately I am not coming up with anything like that. These are some articles I found that provide a good overview.

  Reveal hidden contents

 

This is a gun-owning, pro-gun restrictions liberal who lists out some of the major elements people confuse. I don't necessarily agree with all of his points (if someone loathes or is afraid of guns, I really don't think they need to go to a shooting range) but it's a good overview and he seems to grasp the feelings of both sides well:

https://medium.com/@yishan/you-cannot-regulate-guns-unless-you-know-how-to-use-one-d129d0a82974

 

A dense and dry list of U.S. gun stats and laws:

https://www.justfacts.com/guncontrol.asp

 

Here is a list Mother Jones made of some of the most commonly confused aspects of firearms. I'm not knowledgeable enough about guns to verify that all of this information is correct. And I know Mother Jones has in the past used incorrect terminology in regards to guns, so I wish I could confirm the accuracy of this better but the major points at least seem correct:

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/12/semi-automatic-gun-assault-weapon-definitions/

 

This article explains how gun culture is another detail obsessed "nerd subculture" much like video games and comic books and how that informs how its adherents react to things. Some of the comments are actually pretty educational too, if you can filter out the expected name calling:

https://www.wired.com/story/guns-nerds/

 

 

Thank you! I had already started researching and taking notes when you posted this. I was glad to see what I had already written down matched up pretty much with the links you gave. 

And yeah, I agree with you. He makes very good points and does a good job explaining things, but I am not at all a fan of forcing people to try to use guns if they honestly they don’t want to.

[fraurosena]

Owwww... this boycott thing has got to hurt so bad. It’s hitting the NRA where it hurts the most: their pockets.

 

[Ozlsn]

On 23/02/2018 at 2:18 AM, VelociRapture said:

Question: I live in Connecticut, where my politicians are reasonable and decent humans. They support gun control. They don’t accept NRA money. They work hard to keep the people here and across the nation safe.

How am I supposed to help? I can’t donate money to state politicians due to my husband’s job (conflict of interest because they do work on behalf of certain state entities.) I have anxiety, so participating in marches or rallies could very well cause a panic attack (that happened after I attended a local rally to show support for Charlottesville with my infant.) I also have a 14 month old who is with me all day, every day and who’s safety I genuinely worry about a great deal. She’s also a bundle of energy, so volunteering my time could be tough to juggle with her needs. 

I want to help. I really truly do. I just don’t know what I can personally do other than possibly toss money towards politicians in other states or towards gun control advocacy groups. 

Can I just add writing to your politicans to say how much you support their stance on gun regulation - they will get a lot of mail abusing them about it, and knowing people took the time to say thank you can help.

[onekidanddone]

5 hours ago, laPapessaGiovanna said:

A commenter on the WaPo wrote this

 

That was one of the many things kids down on the Mall and in front of the White House were chanting. 

ETA: The kids who walked out of my local high school had a police escort all the way to the subway. The cops blocked off streets to allow these young people to cross safely. 

[CaricatureQualities]

Was looking at #Boycott NRA and saw this tweet from@BenShapiro:

"How in the world is #BoycottNRA trending above half the Broward County Sheriff's Department standing around outside a massacre?"

So apparently  this whole movement (and the left and the liberals behind it) are all stupid because what everyone should focus on is this one Sheriff and his dept. and their alleged inadequacy  in responding to this.  Okay,great.  Lets demonize this guy, get him to resign. Blame him for not running in when clearly any NRA member would have, guns blazing. Okay, so it's all the fault of the Broward County Sheriff's Department. 

What about next month when it happens at another school? What about the month after that? 

This movement, which includes the March for our lives campaign and #Boycott NRA, is much bigger than the tragedy in Florida and it is much bigger and more important than a right vs. left issue. This is something the WORLD cares about. It's about the 17 lives taken in FLorida last week but it also about Sandy Hook, Vegas, it is about Columbine. It is about people just being totally sick and tired of mass shootings happening ALL THE TIME.

How can people make this issue so small? Sorry, but are they not missing the point in thinking that this latest mass shooting in itself is the issue? It is not, it is the straw that broke the camels back and all I can say is thank you to those students for opening their mouths, organizing the march and not letting us forget about this.  

 

Also, a lot of people are responding to #BoycottNRA by becoming a member and I wonder if it will result in a spike in NRA membership? I do think it is important in terms of mementum for the movement even if the NRA doesn't in fact lose that much money because it. In terms of social awareness this is good and I hope the social pressure does not let up

[louisa05]

First National of Omaha holds our mortgage. And Enterprise is the only rental car company in town. Since we drive older cars we rent for long trips.

I was so glad to see both of those companies respond so quickly and end their affiliation with the NRA.

[onekidanddone]