Today, February 1, 2018 a 12-year-old girl in a Los Angeles Middle School shot and wounded 2 other students. This marks the twelfth school shooting this year. You have that correct; there were eleven school shooting in January.
The eleventh school shooting (January 23, 2018) took place in Benton, Kentucky and resulted in the death of two students, injuring eighteen. The shooter used a hand gun. It was the 3rd shooting that week. The shooter, whose name has not been released, because of his age, will be charged as an adult with two counts of murder. I do not have a problem with the shooter being charged as an adult with murder. Obviously, he committed the crime. But he is not the only guilty party.
Who else is guilty? First, let’s blame the people who enabled this young man. It might have been his family who failed to lock their weapon. Or the state and Federal Governments which fail to keep guns out of the hands of young people. A law (15 U.S.C. 7901-7903) the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) is a United States law which protects firearms manufacturers and dealers from being held liable when crimes have been committed with their products. The law was codified at 15 U.S.C. §§ 7901-7903. The act was passed by the United States Senate on July 29, 2005, by a vote of 65″“31. On October 20, 2005, it was passed by the House of with 283 in favor and 144 opposed.
Like many, I thought that the shooting at Columbine High School (April 20, 1999) resulting in the death of twelve students and one teacher would wake the nation up to the need to keep weapons out of the hands of young people. I was wrong.
Again, with the massacre of 20 six and seven-year olds in Sandy Hook Elementary School, I felt that the Congress would stop this slaughter. Again, I was wrong.
Maybe the shootings of Senator Gabrielle Gifford of Arizona and Congressman Steve Scalise of Louisiana would cause Congress to want to protect their own. Again, I was incorrect.
How many more children need to be shot? How many other families must grieve the deaths of their young children? What will it take for Congress to take responsibility and say, “enough is enough”?