Dear James,
After the slaughter of students and staff in Parkland, Florida, the time for action has never been more urgent. The politicians sit on their hands as our children and their teachers are murdered in their schools. We will be silent no more! The failure to enact rational laws that bar access to guns designed for mass shootings is inexcusable. It is past time to speak out and act.
Pledge your support to stop gun violence here.
We call for mass action on April 20, the anniversary of the horrific shootings at Columbine High School. We urge teachers, families, students, administrators and every member of the community to engage in acts of protest in and around their schools. Create actions that work best in your community. Organize sit-ins, teach-ins, walkouts, marches--whatever you decide will show your school and community's determination to keep our students safe. One elementary teacher suggested that teachers and parents link arms around the school to show their determination to protect children.
It is time to let our legislators know that they must stand up to the gun lobby and enact meaningful reform to protect students and staff.
Advocacy groups including the AFT, NEA and the BATS have already pledged their support.
Pledge your support to stop gun violence here.
We are asking you to take the pledge now and join us on April 20. Be a leader in your own community and develop meaningful activities that show that you stand for safe and peaceful schools. Share your ideas with us.
Sign up here, and then post this link: https://actionnetwork.org/forms/national-day-of-action-against-gun-violence-in-schools.
Sign up your families. Sign up your friends. There can be no excuse for inaction.
Thank you for all that you do.
Diane Ravitch,
President of the Network for Public Education
Carol Burris
Executive Director
Here is a link to this email: https://networkforpubliceducation.org/2018/02/join-us-day-action-stop-gun-violence-schools/
27 comments:
So are we now endorsing the repeal of the 2nd Amendment? Just curious what all this really entails.
Blame guns if that helps you feel smug and safe. But don't forget the other problems that allowed what happened in Parkland and in other places to take place. Don't ignore the fact that violent mentally ill people are allowed free rein in public. Or the unsupervised overuse of psychotropic medications. Or the results of fatherless kids. Or the devaluing of human life in American culture. Or the suppression of faith and morality in public schools. Or the incompetence of law enforcement concerning a known "person of interest." Or the complete lack of preventive measures by schools to deter such people. Or the lack of awareness of the obvious danger of "gun-free" zones. Yes, guns played a part, but as tools. Ignoring every other factor that led to this and previous school shootings is moral preening atop bodies of dead students and faculty.
Yeah, and lets stop suspensions because its blacks getting suspended, making it unjust, or blacks just deserve to be suspended more often than asians.
It should be repealed.
There are many countries like the UK that have similar problems that don’t come anywhere near the amount of deaths from mass shootings. We need gun control, look at Israel as a good example to follow. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/amp/world-us-canada-41488081
DOE will not allow anything to get in the way of a regular day of learning. Expect a bunch of high school kids to skip school that day and maybe some teachers will all wear black. No rallies, no walkouts, no "hands around the school". None of that stuff will fly with Farina.
It's incredibly easy to walk a gun into almost any NYC school. The Post should hire a dozen young off duty cops to play students to walk in and take pictures. That might wake Farina and Bullshit Bill up.
What other country has these mass killings? None. Australia got tough on guns and got a much lower murder rate. Duh.
The NRA and gun lobby make repeal impossible but if that is where negotiations start, then we can settle for some more responsible gun regulations. It is the same as how the city unions do not ask for much in contracts and we get even less. Democrats are so afraid of gun lobby. They should not be. Safety matters.
While we are taking away the rights of the law abiding citizen, let’s get rid of cars or at least severely restrict them to get rid of DWI’S, DUI,S and to stop people from weaponizing them, which is an international problem. I’m sure the readers of this blog can find other ways to punish the responsible too.
Very well put
Very well said
Both of those comments were for 12:09. Not for 12:36.
Let's see: Liberals only want the racist, fascist government oppressors they despise to have weapons? Yep, BLM and antifa rigorous thinking on display.
Hilarious
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.usatoday.com/amp/340345002#ampshare=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2018/02/15/australia-hasnt-had-fatal-mass-shooting-since-1996-heres-what-did/340345002/
Please look at Australia. They got rid of semi automatic weapons and now this sit does not happen there.
The primary purpose of an automobile is for transportation. The primary purpose of a gun is kill.
The primary purpose of a gun is nothing. It can be left loaded in your house for a hundred years and be used as a doorstop if you want to. I have a number of firearms and I use them all for target shooting. I would never fathom taking them out and shooting up a school. I enjoy the shooting sports. It is like darts but louder.
Then why so many mass shootings in the USA? It is in large part because there are lax gun laws and the 2nd Amendment? This does not happen in other countries with similar mental health issues. The easy access to guns is a big part of the problem here. A buyout would work very well like it did in Australia if we ban the assault weapons. It would be a nice start.
How would you 2nd Amendment folks stop the slaughter in our schools, concerts and churches? Arm more of us? Do nothing? You see how well that's working.
Good point James...The same can be said about black kids failing more, getting suspended and arrested more, what has the city done about that? Pass everybody and suspend nobody.
I am a long time NYC school teacher. I am also an NRA member and firearms owner. I do not have any answers on how to stop mass shootings here in the United States. I am against violence in any shape or form and it is horrible to see what some humans are capable of doing to other people. There are no easy answers. People who commit these acts are pure evil.
There a big disconnect between being an NRA member and gun owner and the person you describe yourself to be.
There is no disconnect. Not a single NRA member or fellow sport shooter that I personally know has ever had the slightest desire to do harm to others. Do you automatically assume that just because someone is a member of the NRA and is a gun owner that he or she wishes to commit violence? As the poster above mentions, there are no easy answers to craziness that is going on right now in our society. However, putting blame on those who have committed no ill acts is plainly wrong in my mind. The vast majority of law abiding citizens who own guns take every step imaginable to ensure that they are used legally and safely. That includes locking them up and only using them in a safe manner in locations that are suited for legal firearm sporting purposes.
I’m sure the Nazis said the same thing.
Great. So now all decent, law abiding gun owners who also happen to be public school teachers who abhor violence are now put into the same category as Nazis? Great, just great. What happened to tolerance and discourse. Is it no wonder why the United States is now so divided that it is turning into a tribal country along political lines?
I think most of us just want sensible gun laws. We don't have them now and that is a big reason for these mass shootings. It is hard to argue with that.
Hitler card has been played, so conversation must end now. Fn pathetic.
Who declared conversation over?
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