On Valentine’s Day, 1929, seven men were gunned down in a Chicago garage supposedly caused by Al Capone.
The latest Valentine’s Day massacre caused the death of 14 children and three educators in Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. The executioner was Nikolas Cruz, a lonely, depressed young man who legally was able to obtain an automatic weapon even though he was only 19.
Chicago, at the time, was considered the “wild, wild, west”. Today, America is considered the “wild, wild, wild” country. 13,286 people were killed in the US by firearms in 2015, according to the Gun Violence Archive, and 26,819 people were injured [those figures exclude suicide].
Nikolas Cruz couldn’t vote, drink or even get a handgun in Florida but was legally able to purchase an AK47 rifle. The crime is being blamed on his mental illness, yet most mentally ill people don’t kill. It is not a mental illness that led to the latest school killings, it is the proliferation of weapons in America and the ease of obtaining them. Why is this happening…because of the National Rifle Association’s politicized donations to Senators, Representatives both in the Federal Government and States. Our politicians have chosen guns over the lives of children and IT MUST STOP!
I propose a day of National Day of Mourning, on Sunday, May 13, Mother’s Day followed by a National March to State Capitals of Parents, Students and Teachers. Maybe they will get the message and answer the question, how many more children must be killed before you act? If you agree, please pass this message around to your friends, neighbors, parents, teachers and students.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!