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Page 18
May 16. 2012
What a Difference a Gun Makes
dren were victims of gun violence
during a three-week period in Feb
ruary
and
March.
A
three-
year-old died
after shooting
himself in the
head with a
gun left under
the front seat
of the car while
his
fam ily
stopped for gas. The seven-year-
old daughter of a police officer
was shot and killed by her younger
brother after he found one of their
father’s guns in the glove com
partment of the family van. And
an eight-year-old girl was criti
cally wounded at school when her
nine-year-old classmate brought
in a gun he found at home that
accidentally went off in his back
pack. Would this have happened
without a gun?
In Chicago there already has
been a rash of shootings this year
Have we learned
anything?
by
M arian W right E delman
Our nation suffered its dead
liest shooting incident ever by
a single gunman on April 16,
2007 when a student killed 32
people and wounded 25 oth
ers at Virginia Tech before
committing suicide. Five years
later, have we learned anything
about controlling our national gun
and gun violence epidemic?
A look at just a few of the sad
headlines across the country so
far this year suggests we haven’t
learned much or anything at all.
In February, a 17-year-old high
school senior, who other students
described as an outcast who’d
been bullied, shot and killed three
fellow students and injured two
more at Chardon High School in
suburban Ohio. Would this have
happened without a gun?
In Washington state, three chil
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including the especially violent
weekend in mid-March when 49
people were shot and 10 were
killed. One of the victims was a
six-year-old girl who was sitting
on her front porch with her mother
getting her hair brushed before a
birthday party when she was killed
by shots fired from a passing
pickup truck. Would this have
happened without a gun?
And in Florida, unarmed teen
ager Trayvon Martin was shot
and killed walking home from the
store in February after being fol
lowed by self-appointed “neigh
borhood watch captain” George
Zimmerman, who contrary to all
generally accepted N eighbor
hood Watch rules was patrolling
his gated community while armed
with a gun.
Would Trayvon’s death have
happened without a gun? Now
that George Zimmerman has been
arrested and charged with sec
ond-degree m urder, Trayvon
Martin’s family is finally moving
forward in their quest for justice.
As a nation we can’t afford to
keep waiting for common-sense
gun control laws that would pro
tect ourchildren and all of us from
indefensible gun violence. It’s
time to repeal senseless gun laws
like the “Stand Your Ground” laws
enacted by 21 states that have
grabbed so much attention in
Trayvon’s case and allow people
in Florida to defend themselves
with deadly force anytime and
anywhere if they feel threatened.
More than two million people have
signed online petitions saying
they want to repeal these laws.
It’s time to require consumer
safety standards and childproof
safety features for all guns and
strengthen child access preven
tion laws that ensure guns are
stored safely and securely to pre
vent unnecessary tragedies like
those in Washington state. And
in a political environment where
the too secretive and powerful
advocacy group American Legis
lative Exchange Council (ALEC)
pushed “Stand Your Ground” laws
in other states along with other
“model bills” that benefit some
corporate bottom lines or special
interests like the NRA, it’s time
for all of ALEC’s corporate spon
sors to walk away from enabling
or acquiescing destructive laws
that protect guns, not children.
It’s a tragedy that five years
after Virginia Tech so little has
changed. How many years must
we wait until tragic headlines
about school shootings, children
dying, and people using the
“shoot first and ask questions
later” defense to take the law into
their own hands go away? When
will we finally get the courage to
stand up as a nation and say
enough to the deadly prolifera
tion of guns and gun violence
that endanger children’s and pub
lic safety?
Marian Wright Edelman is
President of the Children's De
fense Fund.
Abusing the Poor with Religious Lip Service
The GOP’s food stamp foolishness
by
J im H ightower
Maybe you thought
the lowest possible
point of Republican
m iserliness
was
reached when Ronald
Reagan's Secretary of
Agriculture proposed that ketchup
be counted as a vegetable in the
school lunch program. If so,
you've not taken a peek at the
GOP's astoundingly penurious
budget proposal recently pasted
together in a fit of ideological
extremism by the party's budget
guru. Rep. Paul Ryan.
Of all things, GOP lawmakers
hacked $8 billion from next year's
food stamp funds — a well-run,
widely popular, and effective pro
gram that helps millions of hard-
hit American families stave off
some of the pain of pov
erty. Maybe so, concede
Ryan & Company, but the
program is out of control,
having added some 13
million people in the last
three years. Well, gosh,
Paul, welcome to the real America
— where joblessness is rampant,
wages are down, and the middle
class is tumbling into poverty.
Food stamp use is supposed to
increase in such times. It means
the program is working.
Still, retorts a Ryan henchman,
everyone must sacrifice to lower
the deficit, so these cuts are merely
"reflecting the budgetary times
we're in." Really? Then why does
your budget give an average of
$265,000 a year in more tax ben
efits to millionaires? And why, in
your demand for severe austerity
in government, do you not cut a
dime from the Pentagon's bloated
budget — even handing it an in
crease?
Finally, Ryan asserts that his
food stamp cuts are for poor
people's own good. Citing his
Catholic religion's doctrine of
"social magisterium," Paul the
Pious says he's preventing poor
families from the moral horror
of being "dependent on govern
ment."
Just imagine their gratitude!
And imagine Ryan's embarrass
ment that the U.S. Conference of
Catholic Bishops dared to contra
dict his divine rationalization,
bluntly calling the cuts "unjusti
fied and wrong."
Jim Hightower is a radio com
mentator, writer, and public
speaker.
Joyce Washington
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Obama’s Firm Stand
As chair of the Multnomah
County Democrats, a lesbian
and a longtime LGBT activist, I
am thrilled and proud that our
President has taken a firm stand
for marriage equality. Especially
now, in a political atmosphere
that is toxic and sharply di
equality and further enshrined
discrimination in their state law.
The next day, our President
buoys not only the LGBT com
munity, but all Americans who
believe in equal justice and lib
erty for every American.
vided, President Obama's cour
age in announcing his support
of full equality displays extraor
dinary statesmanship.
Members of the LGBT com
KC
Hanson,
chair,
munity were handed a severe
blow from North Carolinians, Multnomah County Demo
who the day before rejected cratic Party