Firearms are facing more heat right now than ever before in the history of the United States of America. Over the next few days, we are jumping face first into the fire and taking a serious look at this hot topic. This is part 2 of ?: The News Today.
The Parkland, Florida school shooting has forcibly rocked the nation. The stories of Nikolas Cruz murdering seventeen people, including a gym teacher who died protecting students, are circulating everywhere. Aside from being one of the worst school massacres in modern American history, it is closely following the Las Vegas massacre, where a man opened fire upon a concert and killed 59 people, and injuring more than 500.
Victims of the Florida school shooting have not been silent about it, either. It is clear they have been permanently afflicted and shocked into action. Mere high school students have been organizing rallies and leading nationwide walkouts. They have gone on news stations to call out United States politicians, expressing their desperation and determination that the adults actually do something about this epidemic.
The video, for those who are asking. pic.twitter.com/KCCfuiFhQK
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) February 15, 2018
David Hogg is the one driving home the students’ message in the video above. Despite his claim about this being the 18th school shooting this year being wildly inaccurate, his call to action is emotional.
Mainly due to the worrisome fact that all of the guns involved were purchased legally, the adults listened to David’s plea. Politicians in all parties are coming together to talk about stricter regulations. Many people are also appalled by news that a bondsman, and many others, had reported Nikolas Cruz to the FBI in the past. Cruz was obviously stricken with severe depression and unusual quirks, yet was able to purchase a semiautomatic weapon at only 19 years old.
President Trump himself was moved by this recent occurrence of events. He has proposed a ban on bump stocks, has suggested we all take a look at violence portrayed in movies and video games, and has even spread word of raising the gun-purchasing age requirement from 18 years to 21 years. Trump has also been promoting an “If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em” philosophy with his idea to give weapons to teachers.
Speaking to local and state officials on gun violence, Trump says we have to look at
• the internet
• video games
• movies pic.twitter.com/OJ1MgJZJWi— BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) February 22, 2018
Apparently, a private school in Albuquerque, New Mexico has already been arming their teachers. The principal is never without a gun in her purse, several of the teachers have concealed carry permits, and students of all ages go through mandatory rigorous training in hopes of being prepared for any scenario.
Donald Trump Jr. has even joined the battle, on the side opposite his father. Young Donald has been reportedly liking and sharing Twitter posts accusing Parkland’s student victims of being crisis actors. There have been many other prominent figures doing the same. The theory has gained so much momentum that a proponent news video managed to get featured as YouTube’s top trending video until YouTube manually removed it from the list.
The Hogg family has suffered great discomfort and harassment over the last few weeks. Things got so bad that David Hogg’s younger sister actually called out Melania to reign in her son.
&created a safe space for people all over the world to call me and my family horrific things that constantly re-victimizes us and our community. I’m 14 I should never have had to deal with any of this and even though I thought it couldn’t get worse it has because of your family.
— Lauren Hogg (@lauren_hoggs) February 23, 2018
Marco Rubio opposed gun control at a CNN town hall with the Stoneman Douglas community… and things did not go as he planned.
Rubio says: “you would literally have to ban every semi-automatic rifle” as if it were a bad thing….
Instead, crowd goes wild. Oops. pic.twitter.com/cWi6uzK0gW
— igorvolsky (@igorvolsky) February 22, 2018
Completely banning semi-automatic rifles may not be a viable option at the moment, but the news is definitely revealing that a majority of citizens are in favor of stricter regulations. Trump has repeated his desire to ban bump stocks many times, and it looks like it may happen. Who knows what is next?