Don’t Change the Subject
Saturday, March 24th 2018, we saw what youth can do. Hundreds of thousands marched in Washington, and millions more marched across the country. They marched for change and for making their lives and ours, better. They are high school kids and they marched to claim possession of the power to end an American problem, a problem that older generations failed to solve.
Their speeches were articulate and moving. Even in a little rally at the county courthouse in Newark, Ohio, the high school students made their views clear, and asked for simple common sense. They also spoke from their heart, from the fear of a generation taught to bar the door, huddle in the corner, and throw rocks and soup cans against a semi-automatic rifle.
They have made it clear: America should not be a land where mass shootings are commonplace. They see a the way to solve the problem, remove the weapons of war that have strangely been accepted into our society by the older generations. Yes, better mental health care; yes, better background checks; but the real solution is in the guns.
Don’t change the subject. Adults who see the power of the movement are drawn to deflect it for their own needs. Well meaning adults, even teachers. who want to see less bullying in schools, who want to see kindness in place of cruelty, are trying to co-opt the energy of the “revolution.” These adults are acting as a buffer for the NRA, distracting from the raw agenda that frightens the lobbyists. Don’t let them change the subject.
Politicians see a mass of energy, votes, and workers. They may share many of the “revolution’s” views, but they see a path to election through the kids. They want that energy behind them, so they race to lead the students. These kids don’t want or need to be lead. They are not interested in the traditions of transactional politics. Agree, don’t agree, to them it’s how do they get America to change. Politicians: don’t change the subject.
There certainly are adults who are “enabling” these students. As one of the student leaders said, “…I’m seventeen, I can’t make a hotel reservation.” Those adults are doing a great job of coaching, letting the students determine the course, and then helping them find the tools to get to their goals. There are parents and teachers and school administrators behind these kids, but they have found the way to let kids lead. They haven’t changed the subject, and they have kept the movement in the students’ hands.
And the students have expanded their movement to include not just victims of mass shootings. One of the most powerful speeches in Washington yesterday was by a young woman from South-Central Los Angeles. She spoke of the loss of her brother to gun violence, she learned to “duck” gunfire before she could read. We heard from black students from Chicago, where gun and police violence are part of their everyday lives. This is more than just the students who survived Parkland, it’s about kids who survive gun violence everyday.
The National Rifle Association will try to make this about “privileged Parkland kids.” They’ll try to pit rural versus urban kids, and they’ll try to convince America that there are only two choices: semi-automatic weapons or taking away the Second Amendment and all guns. These kids recognize that the subject is much more complicated, they aren’t falling for the NRA bait. Don’t let the NRA change the subject.
How can we enable these students without co-opting their movement? They are really asking for one thing: that our vote becomes our tool for change. We must demand of our candidates that they accept a solution to end gun violence. If they do, then they get our vote, if they don’t, then we vote them out. That’s how we can support this “revolution.” And, we can’t let others change the subject.
If Trump et al decide to up security at schools, that’s going to cost $$. For an administration dedicated to making sure everybody from NATO, NAFTA, China et al is paying their part to help keep the world, and especially the US safe, who should he tap to pay for all this extra school security? Why, gun owners, of course!
So I propose a sin-tax. Not on guns, of course. They’re protected. Besides, when you really examine the situation, guns don’t kill people.
Bullets kill people.
So I’m proposing a substantial sin-tax (similar to those placed on alcohol and cigarettes) be levied on ammunition. Ammunition isn’t protected under the 2nd Ammendment. The revenue generated can be mandated for use in funding school safety programs, gun safety programs, even school counselor incentives.
Comedian Chris Rock proposed this in one of his HBO specials decades ago. He didn’t specifically go into taxing bullets, but he realized controlling access to ammunition can have a significant impact on gun crime. And it’s simply brilliant.