ANALYSIS: March for Our Lives could define politics for new generation

[The Barbarian]

NRA finally pushed it too far, it seems.

The march comes in the immediate wake of further disappointment.

Congress this week is wrapping up work on a massive spending bill that includes only a few modest fixes to the national gun-buying background-check system – essentially closing the door on major congressional movement on guns this year.

But Thomas said that won’t deter participants. Much like the Women’s March shaped the national dialogue early the Trump presidency, young people are now looking to do the same.

“There was no specific piece of legislation that was passed specifically because of the Women’s March, and I don’t know if the same will be true with the March for Our Lives,” she said. “But it is about more than that. It is about changing the culture and changing the conversation.”

Rep. Khanna said what sets this moment apart is that young people aren’t merely being asked to mobilize on behalf of an older generation of candidates.

“In the past, the message has always been, ‘We want you to get involved, we want you to vote, we want you to knock on doors, we want you to volunteer,” he said. “Now, it’s very different. The students are saying, ‘No, we’re in charge. You guys have messed up.’ ”
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/analysis-march-lives-define-politics-generation/story?id=53944187

 

[jgarden]

ANALYSIS: March for Our Lives could define politics for new generation

History will record that while America's youth were marching across the nation for common sense measures to reduce gun violence, this President, in his infinite wisdom, was playing golf at Mar Largo and/or meeting with his NRA friends!

In 3 years, most of these high school students will of voting age and what do you think their response will be when President "Donald J," if he's still in office, and congressional Republicans come asking for their votes and those of their parents - ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ (Matthew 7:23)

 

[The Barbarian]

In St. Paul, 20,000 rally for gun control
In a T-shirt emblazoned with the words “Voice, power, change,” the lanky teen stepped up to a crowded podium on the steps of the Minnesota State Capitol on Saturday and took a deep breath as he looked out at a sea of people that stretched beyond his view.

As a 16-year-old student organizer from Roosevelt High School in Minneapolis, Ben Jaeger had rehearsed the speech he hoped would rouse his fellow students to push lawmakers for more gun control, but he hadn’t expected a crowd of 20,000 people in front of him. He found the moment electrifying.

“We must demand a safer state and a safer nation,” Jaeger said. “We the students and we the youth are the future.”
http://www.startribune.com/thousand...-march-for-our-lives-demonstration/477818643/

 

[The Barbarian]

Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators gathered in the nation’s capital and cities across the country Saturday to demand action against gun violence, vividly displaying the strength of the political movement led by survivors of a school massacre in Parkland, Fla.

Organized by students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where a gunman killed 17 last month, the March for Our Lives showcased impassioned teens calling on Congress to enact stricter gun-control laws to end the nation’s relentless, two-decade stretch of campus shootings.

Hundreds of “sibling protests” took place across the world, from New York City — where demonstrators spread across 20 blocks — to Jonesboro, Ark., a small city marking the 20th anniversary of a middle-school shooting that left four students and a teacher dead. Gun rights advocates mounted counter-protests in Salt Lake City, Boise and Valparaiso, Ind., where one sign read “All Amendments Matter.”

Although the D.C. march was funded by Oprah Winfrey, George and Amal Clooney and other celebrities, Stoneman Douglas High students have been its faces. Their unequivocal message to legislators: Ignoring the toll of school shootings and everyday gun violence will no longer be tolerated.

“To the leaders, skeptics and cynics who told us to sit down, stay silent and wait your turn: Welcome to the revolution,” Cameron Kasky, a Stoneman Douglas student, said to a standing-room-only crowd that packed at least 10 blocks of Pennsylvania Avenue. “Either represent the people or get out. Stand for us or beware. The voters are coming.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/loca...706877db618_story.html?utm_term=.b7b9f98556b7

 

[The Barbarian]

Social Media Has Revolutionized How Americans Talk About Gun Violence
Due to the fact that these students used tactics uniquely enmeshed within modern culture, reactionary pundits along with bought and sold politicians cannot use slight of hand to continue lying to the American people about gun control. The fact remains that gun violence reduced significantly during the decade-long assault weapons ban spanning from 1994 – 2004.

The facts about gun control’s effectiveness, partnered with the ease at which information is spread virally, are key to winning the gun control debate. Indeed, the most influential component to the dialogue was the initial Snapchat video that led the nation to heel in horror at the evil perpetrated on the fateful Wednesday afternoon.

Due to this new form of activism, real changes appear to be taking effect. Leaders in Florida, a historically red state that favors lax gun laws and the NRA, are beginning to write up new gun legislation that would make it more difficult for young and mentally ill people to access a gun.

Information about both the NRA funding politicians and corporations were so readily available via blogs and social media, as well as information about NRA being funded by gun manufacturers. As a result, powerful corporations like Hertz and MetLife have cut ties with the NRA.

It is projected that politicians are soon to follow. The NRA is losing its influence over policy and the voters; we can thank the innovative activism of some brave kids for these accomplishments.

The efforts of these students have been effective and amazing, especially after all they have endured. Social media helped connect these kids; the impact they made, as a result, was remarkable.
https://studybreaks.com/news-politics/gun-violence/

Students are going around politicians, going around the gun lobby, and putting the debate out in public. NRA is shaken and their leaders don't know what to do.

 

[jgarden]

ANALYSIS: March for Our Lives could define politics for new generation

True and False Disciples (Matthew 7:21-23)

21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’
23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
*********************************************************************************
This President, the congressional Republicans and the "gun lobby" think that based on past history, they can wait this out with a minimum of concessions and then carry on with business as usual - just wait for the reception they're about to receive in 2018 and 2020!

As older white males in suits, they fail to understand the political power of social media to organize at the "grassroots" level, coupled with the inevitability that more mass and school shootings will only galvanize the commitment of these students and their parents!

The "Washington swamp," where the powerful "gun lobby" has emerged as its most feared creature, will realize much too late that they, in their infinite wisdom, have effectively alienated most of America's younger generation!

Like Civil Rights, the Sexual Orientation Revolution and the Weinstein/Cosby "Me Too" Revolt, Gun Reform is on the "cusp" of becoming one of the major social/political movements of our time - America's business community is already positioning itself for this eventuality by cutting its ties with the "gun culture!"

 

[rexlunae]

Columbine was 19 years ago this spring. It was a bit of a turning point for gun violence. It wasn't the first school shooting, but it was the first time it seemed like it had become normal. The children who are graduating now have lived their whole lives receiving the message that their lives matter less than the hobby of a portion of the country. They've experienced active shooter drills, and some of them have had to cower in classrooms, movie theaters, shopping malls, and their own homes. And the gun rights absolutists never seem to have any interest in doing anything constructive about it. Well, they've made a huge mistake. Those kids who they didn't care about are reaching voting age, and they won't take inaction forever, and they don't care about the hobbies of the gun owners who didn't care about their lives.