I sure would like to think that all this activist energy means that things are different this time.
Hundreds of Houstonians gathered near City Hall in downtown Saturday for the student-led March for Our Lives, one of dozens of events planned across the nation today to rally for stronger regulations on guns.
The protest comes almost three weeks after 21 were killed in a mass shooting at a Uvalde elementary school. In Houston, demonstrators marched just over a half mile from City Hall to outside the office of Sen. Ted Cruz.
Some explicit chants broke out as demonstrators called for voters to oust Cruz in the next election.
The event followed a demonstration of about 150 people in The Woodlands, where advocates also worked to register voters.
Katherine Chen, high school senior and executive director of MFOL Houston, said her experience as a student has included three instances of gun violence.
“The first time I had a brush with gun violence was the community college across the street from my middle school had an active shooter,” she said, remembering the sounds of helicopters and the commotion of the scene directly facing her classroom.
“That’s not something that should happen to kids at school. Especially not when you’re 12 years old.”
[…]
MFOL started in 2018 following the shooting at Majory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., and rallies in support of new gun safety laws.
Among MFOL’s sought reforms: banning assault-style weapons or raising the age to purchase one from 18 to 21; outlawing high-capacity magazines that can hold many rounds of ammunition; implementing “red flag” laws to temporarily remove firearms from individuals deemed a danger to themselves or others; expanding background checks to include all gun sales; and establishing a “cool-off” period for someone seeking a firearm.
There were other rallies like this one around the state and around the country. The next step is to turn this into action at the ballot box, for all the reasons we have discussed a million times before.
I hesitate to be optimistic, because we have certainly seen this kind of outrage and emotion in other public rallies, and we know how they all ended up. But maybe this time it is a little different. It feels a little different, though I admit that may just be extremely wishful thinking on my part. But then, this part is actually different.
A bipartisan group of senators on Sunday announced a deal on framework of legislation aimed at reducing gun violence that includes funding for mental health and school security. Thus far, 10 Republican senators stated their support of the deal.
The agreement is currently in principle as legislative text has yet to be drafted. The deal comes in the wake of a series of mass shootings nationwide, including the tragic elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas late last month.
The deal includes enhanced background checks for buyers under the age of 21, funding for the expansion of mental health services and school security, and state grants to implement so-called “red flag” laws championed by Republicans that permit law enforcement to seek temporary removal of firearms from those who pose threats to themselves or others.
The deal closes the so-called “boyfriend loophole” in order to prevent a domestic abuse from purchasing a gun if they are convicted of abusing their partner.
Additionally, it seeks to crack down on illegal straw purchasers and firearms dealers without a license.
It’s still not enough – the House bill that passed included banning the purchase of these weapons by anyone under the age of 21, which really should be the starting point – but we’ve not gotten this far on anything like it in the filibuster-everything era. It still needs to actually pass, and it may face resistance from the more progressive wing of House Democrats, who have some leverage here, but it would be something. That’s almost shocking, which says a lot of other things about where we are. But it’s something. The Trib has more.
The news here isn’t telling us everything about mass shootings. There was just a shooting that killed 28 people at a church in Nigeria. In parts of Nigeria it is not uncommon for gangs on motorbikes to attack churches and other targets. The idea that the US is the only country where there are mass shootings is just wrong.
insert ‘spit take’ emoji here.
The proper comparisons on gun violence are done vs peer nations- Canada, the UK, members of the EU, Japan, S. Korea, Australia, New Zealand. And we are exceptional all right, just not in a good way.
Flypusher, so you are saying that the people of Africa are lesser, savages perhaps, not a peer to us superior EU and North American folk? They are prone to run around and shoot each other due to skin color?
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