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Kansas City, MO mayor Sly James said he believes students are the future and must take part in discussions on gun control.
Sly James
February 27, 2018
Dear Students,
I’ve been listening and watching the news for several days since the violence in Parkland, Florida and wondering how did we, once again, allow more of you to be mowed down by an apparently disturbed, young man wielding a high-powered, military-style assault weapon with a large capacity magazine. This is especially sad and ridiculous, even infuriating, considering the situation was both predictable and preventable.
Seventeen more of you dead in Florida. Valentine’s Day. 2018.
If this were the only such incident, or at least an infrequent one, it would be immensely sad and tragic. The reality that such massacres are now relatively commonplace, however, is more than
that. It is unbelievably incredible. Undeniably horrendous. It’s totally incomprehensible that these mass murders have turned America’s students into the most endangered group of people in any industrialized country in the world.
According to the New York Times (2/15/18), more than 438 students and teachers have been shot in at least 239 school shootings since Sandy Hook in 2012. There have been 63 people injured or killed in 6 school shootings in the first 45 days of 2018. Education Week, 2/1/18. Although mass shootings have been generally increasing in different settings, schools are unfortunately frequent targets. “The third deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history was at Virginia Tech University in 2007, when 32 people were killed, and the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, which is tied for the fourth-highest casualty shooting, with 26 deaths.” ABC news, 2/15/18.
This carnage is spreading like a raging infection left untreated. The difference between an infection and school shootings, however, is that at least a doctor diagnoses, treats, and tries to
cure the infection. Politicians and other adults who should act like doctors, caring for a nation infected by gun violence, make absolutely no effort to diagnose and treat this disease. In fact,
many argue that if gun violence is a disease, the best way to cure it is to inject it with more guns and bullets. That makes no sense and it does nothing to protect you all – the future of our country.