38 THE QUEENS COURIER • FEBRUARY 22, 2018 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
38 The Queens Courier • FEBRUARY 22, 2018 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com
editorial
We’re with the kids. We must do something about guns in America.
Yes, it’s time to talk about it. Yes, it’s
time to confront our problem. Yes, it’s
time to fi nd a solution.
Th e “mindless menace” of gun violence
struck our country again last week
with the Feb. 14 massacre at Marjory
Stoneman Douglas High School in
Parkland, FL. Seventeen victims, both
students and faculty, were cut down by a
19-year-old former student with a history
of mental turmoil who somehow managed
to legally buy his weapon of mass
destruction, an AR-15 assault rifl e. It’s a
device with just one purpose: to kill as
many people as possible, as quickly as
possible.
In the days aft erward, however, we’ve
witnessed something truly remarkable.
Th e survivors of the Parkland shooting
— students, teachers, parents — aren’t
retreating into grief. Th ey’re collectively
angry at what happened, and how their
government failed to prevent it from happening.
Th ey’re taking a lead in a nationwide
movement to fi nally get the federal
government to do something to beef up
our gun laws and keep weapons out of the
hands of dangerous people.
“Every single person up here today, all
these people should be home grieving,”
Douglas student Emma Gonzalez said
at a rally in Fort Lauderdale, FL, on Feb.
17. “But instead we are up here standing
together because if all our government
and president can do is send thoughts
and prayers, then it’s time for victims to
be the change that we need to see.”
Queens cannot let the Parkland shooting
survivors stand alone in this cause —
and, if the letters we’ve received in recent
days from our readers are any indication,
the borough stands with Parkland and
wants to be part of the change our country
needs.
Counterarguments
to gun control
just don’t stick
Still, the naysayers are out there committed
to keeping the bloody status quo
in check. Th ey present the same fl awed
arguments for doing nothing to stop the
next mass killing from taking place.
Here are just a few of their arguments,
sun
PUBLISHER & EDITOR
CO-PUBLISHER
ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
VP, EVENTS, WEB & SOCIAL MEDIA
ART DIRECTOR
SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER
STAFF REPORTERS
CONTRIBUTING REPORTERS
ASSISTANT TO PUBLISHER
CLASSIFIED MANAGER
CONTROLLER
PRESIDENT & CEO
VICE PRESIDENT
THE QUEENS
WWW.COURIERSUN.COM
VICTORIA SCHNEPS-YUNIS
JOSHUA A. SCHNEPS
BOB BRENNAN
ROBERT POZARYCKI
AMY AMATO-SANCHEZ
NIRMAL SINGH
EMILY DAVENPORT
KATRINA MEDOFF, RYAN KELLEY, ANGELA MATUA
SUZANNE MONTEVERDI
CLIFF KASDEN, SAMANTHA SOHMER, ELIZABETH ALONI
DEBORAH CUSICK
CELESTE ALAMIN
MARIA VALENCIA
VICTORIA SCHNEPS-YUNIS
JOSHUA A. SCHNEPS
Schneps Communications, 38-15 Bell Blvd., Bayside, NY 11361
718-224-5863 • Fax 718-224-5441
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and our counter-arguments to them:
1.) “New gun laws won’t work, because
criminals will wind up getting weapons
anyway.” Th e existing gun laws have
some eff ectiveness; even with mass shootings,
gun homicides have dropped over
the last 25 years with the passage of the
Brady Law in 1993. Still, more must be
done to close loopholes that allow those
with mental illnesses, those with prior
criminal records and those under 21 years
of age to legally purchase fi rearms.
2.) “Our country must do more for mental
illness rather than gun control.” We
agree that America tends to ignore mental
health all too oft en, and more programs
are needed to provide treatment
to people in distress. It should be noted,
however, that mental illness is not exclusive
to this country; people suff er from
mental illness across the globe, and mass
shootings aren’t nearly as frequent in
nations with stricter gun laws than our
own.
3.) “What about all those violent video
games? Aren’t they a bad infl uence on our
kids?” We’ll leave that question to parents.
Again, though, “Call of Duty” is played
not just in the United States but also in
nations like Canada, the United Kingdom
and Japan — where mass shooting frequencies
are extremely low. Th ose countries,
not coincidentally, have strong gun
laws.
4.) “Th e only way to stop a bad guy with
a gun is a good guy with a gun.” Th e infamous
words of National Rifl e Association
President Wayne LaPierre following the
Newtown massacre in 2012 were disproven
in Parkland, FL. As the Daily News
reported, the shooter never encountered
the school’s armed security guard. You
might ask, “Well, why not arm the teachers
or assign more guards?” First, to suggest
that the answer to the nation’s gun
violence problem is to have more armed
Americans is as silly as suggesting that
drinking will cure alcoholism, or smoking
more cigarettes will cure a smoker’s
lung cancer. Second, our schools (at least
in Queens) already have enough guards;
some even have metal detectors. Must our
schools feel like prisons in order to keep
our kids safe? Th at seems to be an unreasonable
standard.
5.) “Any gun regulation is an assault
on our Second Amendment rights.” Th e
amendment itself is vaguely worded, yet
is prefaced by the term “a well-regulated
militia being necessary to the safety
of a free state.” We’re not justices of the
Supreme Court, but nothing in that terminology
suggests that regulation of any
kind is null and void. It should also be
noted that the amendment was written
at a time when the most deadly gun was
a musket that took about 35 seconds to
reload and refi re. Th e AR-15 can fi re 45
rounds a minute.
6.) “Only liberals and Democrats want
gun control.” An October 2017 poll by
Politico and Morning Consult found
that majorities of both Republicans
and Democrats want tougher gun regulations.
More than 8 in 10 of all those
polled want bans on assault weapons,
high-capacity magazines and bump
stocks like the one used in the Las Vegas
massacre. Let’s also note that in 1996, it
was a conservative-led Australian government
that enacted tough gun control
in the wake of mass shootings there.
Th ose laws led to decreases in gun-related
crimes, homicides and suicides in the
years since.
‘Thoughts and
prayers’ aren’t
enough anymore —
and never were
Th e cycle of gun violence in America
cannot go on any longer. We’ve run the
cycle repeatedly over the last 20+ years,
from Columbine to Newtown and all the
other points of mass death in between.
Aft er Parkland, we seemed destined
to repeat it again — the “thoughts and
prayers” tweets from politicians, including
those fi rmly in the pocket of the
National Rifl e Association, were as predictable
as they were revolting.
Th e outrage from Parkland is something
new to the American mass shooting
experience; the attention it’s received
gives a glimmer of hope that maybe, fi nally,
at long last, something will be done.
But we can’t let Parkland become a forgotten
tragedy. Enough gun violence victims
have died in vain.
We urge our readers to not only contact
their local lawmakers to support new
gun regulations, but to also take part
in March for Our Lives activities in the
weeks ahead. You can learn more about
that on the opposite page.
Photo via Twitter/@FatGirlvsWorld
Children protesting outside the White House on Feb. 19.
Publisher & E ditor Victoria Schneps-Yunis
Co-Publisher Joshua A. Schneps
Associate Publisher Bob Brennan
E ditor-In-Chief Robert Pozarycki
VP, Events, Web & Social Media Amy Amato-Sanchez
Art Director Nirmal Singh
S ocial Media Manager Emily Davenport
S taff Reporters Katrina Medoff, Ryan Kelly, Angela Matua
Suzanne Monteverdi
Contributing Reporters Cliff Kasden, Samantha Sohmer, Elizabeth Aloni
Assistant to Publisher Deborah Cusick
Classified Manager Celeste Alamin
Controller Maria Valencia
President & CEO Victoria Schneps-Yunis
Vice President Joshua A. Schneps
Schneps Communications, 38-15 Bell Blvd., Bayside, NY 11361
718-224-5863 • Fax 718-224-5441
www.qns.com
editorial e-mail: editorial@qns.com
for advertising e-mail: ads@qns.com
Entire Contents Copyright 2017 by The Courier Sun
All letters sent to THE COURIER SUN should be brief and are subject to condensing. Writers should
include a full address and home and office telephone numbers, where available, as well as affiliation,
indicating special interest. Anonymous letters are not printed. Name withheld on request.
No such ad or any part thereof may be reproduced without prior permission of THE COURIER SUN. The
publishers will not be responsible for any error in advertising beyond the cost of the space occupied by
the error. Errors must be reported to THE COURIER SUN within five days of publication. Ad position
cannot be guaranteed unless paid prior to publication.
VIctoria Media Services assumes no liability for the content or reply to any ads. The advertiser assumes
all liability for the content of and all replies. The advertiser agrees to hold The Courier SUN and its
employees harmless from all cost, expenses, liabilities, and damages resulting from or caused by the
publication or recording placed by the advertiser or any reply to any such advertisement.