The GOP's attack on personal freedoms and Ron DeSantis is leading the charge

Update 8 11 2023  Consumers are rejecting the anti-woke...a warning to the corporate world: Consumers are rejecting the anti-woke movement to demand CEOs speak out on important social issues: ‘Today, you cannot say nothing’ (msn.com)

If we thought Trump was a threat to our personal freedoms,  DeSantis has just doubled down. DeSantis and Trump both hurt their election chances with their threats to democracy and their attacks on personal freedoms we have enjoyed.  Democracy was under threat by stop the steal lies and election deniers in 2020 and January 6 violence, and CPAC and others fawning over the strong leadership of foreign dictators like Putin and Viktor Orban of Hungary. In 2022, women, younger voters, and independents handed unexpected defeats to the GOP. reflecting, the end of Roe v Wade  That trend is not a one-off. recent polls show. Protection of democracy in 2024 it will take on a different sense of urgency when it is also linked to attacks on personal freedoms, especially important to women and younger voters. Particularly top of women's concerns is the inability of women to control their reproductive health care and the impact of this on family economics, as well as their safety from mass shootings.

DeSantis has moved from advocating banning women's control over their reproductive lives,  don't say gay, and hearing and learning nothing that looks like"woke", to putting it into law so it is now enforced by government action. His state has now gone ban crazy.  The pushback effort to ban the banners has just begun in upcoming local and state elections. DeSantis has also embraced poison pills that very likely ensure he will be the loser if he ever makes it to the general presidential election. Nearly every one of the recent bills he signs addressing cultural issues poll very unpopular outside of Florida., especially for women. The extreme 6-week abortion ban is a loser for DeSantis' hopes and his own self-administered poison pill. Nearly 60% of women polled nationally say they will vote against a candidate that supports such bans in spite of the condition of the economy and inflation.. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/03/08/poll-women-struggling-dread-burnout/11413303002/#Economy%20Concerns%20and%20Financial%20Struggles. 

 That he brags he is a strong effective leader makes him more frightening to those who oppose him because he uses the government to suppress personal rights they once enjoyed, and he makes his right-wing cultural issues enforced by the government in Florida. For those who object, what weapons still left to push back are (quoting Obama), don't get mad, vote  (up and down the ballot), and court constitutional challenges.  The First and 14th Amendment-based lawsuits are just being filed since freedom of speech and anti-discrimination are at issue.

 DeSantis may think the only group he needs to  control are Republican registered primary voters for president, but Florida is no template for much of the rest of the United States. that he needs to support him to become president.  Even if he defeats Trump in the primary.  DeSantis' legislative wins in Florida and support for these codified cultural issues are potential poison political pills in a national contest.  Polls show his agenda is unpopular., from  book banning to  don't say gay, 6-week extreme abortion ban, ensuring he would be near certain loser in the nationwide presidential run if 2022 midterm GOP losses are any indication. With his fight with Mickey Mouse because Disney refused to agree to his don't say gay edicts, he has shown a willingness to use governmental power to force a private business to bow down to his government-enforced cultural edicts. This is as big an anti-business posture as one could imagine.  Disney countered by withdrawing billions of additional investment and jobs in Florida

Talk about governmental overreach and "autocracy"; DeSantis is on steriods. He may not be a narcissistic sociopathic demagogue scoff-law like Trump, but the baggage of his actions in Florida on cultural wars will make him a very likely loser in a nationwide election. His extreme positions on these issues that poll unpopular in swing states and suburban women are on the very visible public records in both his state's legislative success and public pronouncements. This means it will be impossible for him to appeal to independents and women by moderating his dire on-the-record positions should he survive the primary.   I can see the opposition political ads being formulated now.   

 In 2024 not only are personal freedoms at stake but so is a democracy, regardless if the GOP candidate is Trump or Desantis.   Biden had begun the theme of democracy's connection to personal freedoms,   He is on to something and others are beginning to make the connection, too. Not only are businesses' ability to object to government policy under threat of retribution by a control freak-led governor going national but so are women in particular.    It is not just about the freedom for women to control their reproductive health, it is about much more. It includes threats caused by lax gun laws against the lives of their children in schools, and erosion of their own parental control of what their children are taught or permitted to read,  or about health care decisions endangering their own health, family financial stability, and gender-affirming care of their children.  

Democrat Donna Deegan flips the Jacksonville mayor's office in a major upset (nbcnews.com)

Florida school district sued for violating first amendment rights with book bans | Florida | The Guardian

Disney DeSantis Dispute On Dont Say Gay - Bing News

https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/meetthepressblog/new-voter-study-outlines-3-trends-powered-dems-2022-help-biden-2024-rcna84955

This poll was taken before the "chaos at the border' did not materialize as predicted with the end of title 42 and Biden has shown a policy of even stricter enforcement of existing laws and improvements of application methods.  Biden maintains edge over Trump in 2024 US election -Reuters/Ipsos poll | Reuters

Here is what I wrote last month regarding the threat to freedom and democracy by Trump second term,   I am reprinting it here.  

From my April blog postings:

April 24: Biden just did it: For better communication, what do you call authoritarianism in a few words? Biden just did it. .... Joe Biden confirms 2024 re-election bid in video announcement - Bing video    He put democracy on the ballot as an implied contrast with the dark, anti-democratic Trump. He defined what democracy is in terms of personal freedoms and then showed how he was protecting them now and in the future.  It is a context into which so many issues fit, women's choice, voter suppression, a priority of the middle-class well-being, of student debt, Ukraine, and more.

The next Biden task should be to link the issue of personal freedoms to the economy and economic well-being of those who benefit from personal freedoms.  The two easiest, of course, are women's rights to control their reproductive schedules and health in the abortion issue. Women cannot go to work if they are always"barefoot and pregnant" and earn the money they need to help maintain their family's standard of living.   It is particularly difficult when women earn less than men for the same work and doubly difficult if racism interjects the ability to earn equal pay.  Equal rights have serious economic implications. Voter suppression speaks to the loss of political power, which cripples the rights of access for those who need public policies to give them a leg up.  Student debt is the millstone around my flock of grandkids' necks setting back for years their ability to be able to have the freedom and independence to support their families.   Preservation of democracy is what Ukraine is all about, theirs and ours. It is in a way a far lower-cost proxy war than what a full confrontation with Russia would cost us in the Baltics and Poland as we protect our own national security interests.  Yes, gas prices are high, but a stitch in time saves nine. 

From my April 21, 2023 posting: So what is this "democracy" for which so many died? What is "freedom" we claim to want and protect? The American style of democracy means that those who are not the majority still have rights that give them hope they can eventually be the majority, too. Diversity is the real enemy of wannabe tyrants, especially if those in the minority still have rights, the rule of law still rules,  and the ability to be heard remains in place. That is good news for the US. Those who are in the minority still have rights since the rule of laws protecting them is upheld by the judicial system.  It also bodes ill for a vocal minority that supports policies that are wildly unpopular but is attempting to force the majority to accept them, such as extreme anti-abortion laws and ignoring gun safety measures. 

 It seems unbelievable we need to make the case for democracy in order to contrast it with the anti-democracy alternatives.  However, in every generation, the case for democracy needs to be dusted off and rephrased because so many have forgotten how it benefits them. Even with its failures to live up to the idealism of our founders, we can still strive for this more perfect union so long as small d democracy survives.

My own case for democracy is based on the reason for the American Revolution and the ability to be free to pursue life and happiness in a country treated with consideration and fairness even those they oppose. This is the way to live in a stable, tranquil society with the hope staying alive the future can be better. So long as that hope lives, so will democracy. 

The significance of the Tennessee Three: a national political catalyst

Daily Briefing: Two of the 'Tennessee Three' Democrats expelled (msn.com)

The events yesterday were a national political catalyst; they were so raw and so in-your-face obvious and covered live on TV. Tennessee gerrymandered ultra-dominating GOP  State House representatives unintendedly linked multiple hot-button liberal political issues and ripped the curtain back to reveal their ugly nakedness of a southern white heritage. They also gave a gift to the Democratic party agenda, Tennessee Three,..a two-word messaging shorthand for boosting a Democrats' list of hot-button issues at stake in 2024.  When those words are invoked in the future, due to the association of a bundling of issues, voters will be reminded in a few words of  1) gun control, and specifically a ban on semi-automatic weapons,  2) civil rights in the face of overt and obvious racism 3) saving democracy from autocratic, undemocratic behavior and subversion.  The only major issue not highlighted by the GOP Tennessee state representatives was abortion. For suburban women, it means the ability of any woman of childbearing age to control their futures and,  even in some cases, to live to be mothers to the children they birthed.  This Tennessee GOP House action supporting the most radical versions of protecting 2nd amendment rights and expelling critics is just another nail in the coffin of the suburban women's vote.

Tying the Tennessee Three to three issues, racism, guns, and democracy at every opportunity, will add the the potency as a political tool for Democrats. It is a short hand for cluster of more than one negative issue. The connection in this case is that the GOP state legislators were responsible for all three actions.  It is a bit like Democrats referring to January 6  that is more than just the riot that day..In the minds of many people, and prosecutors of the Stormy Daniels payoff saga is part of Trump's  attempt to get elected in 2016 and the Dominion defamation suit against FOX for promoting theories their machines were rigged.   includes the lies leading up to that date about the election being stolen. They are connected because lie told by Trump et al motivated the militia leaders and their followers to commit violence in the name of saving democracy, when what they were doing was subverting and damaging democracy.

.  They also gave a megaphone to a new generation of potentially powerful leaders to carry the message, raising them from the back bench to the national and international stage. The cameras are now on two young black men in their late 20s,  eloquent orators,  who were victims of the most obvious example of racism, being treated differently from the white woman for the same "rule-breaking" behavior.  It was not just a reaction to the injustices done to civil rights that originally motivated them to rise up with "rule-breaking"  disobedience, but they were motivated by a  recent Nashville school shooting by the perp using AK-47s and a desire to control weapons of war that affected white, brown and black of kids and young adults alike. (Pictures of the demonstrators that so riled up the GOP representatives appeared to be made up of mostly white young people and women). Young voters and students like those in that crowd are the new generation now beginning to rise to power. The GOP's state legislature furthered the GOP's political nightmare of more energized angry suburban women watching kids like theirs being slaughtered and voting for Democrats. While the two Black representatives were removed,  the white woman state legislator who kept her seat by one vote had the powerful voice of a teacher, and she shared with the nation her outrage at school gun violence. That same outrage is also frightening to this new generation since they were and are targets. She herself is a survivor of a school shooting.

From a recent Muftic Forum Blog posting:  Age and generation will play a much bigger part in shaping politics than racial identification. What is coming down the pike is far more  "liberal".Younger voters are poised to upend American politics (brookings.edu)  The glue holding us together in our recent history is the peace of stability in governance, and liberty to pursue happiness. When it comes to supporting the kind of "liberal" democracy we have now, the future of democracy as we have known it depends on the generations now coming of age. They are far more "liberal" politically than those in power now, and democracy will be in their hands. This "liberalism" stretches across all racial and ethnic groups.  The change feared by white nationalists is they will be replaced by brown and black people. What they should fear is that they will be replaced by a younger generation.    In the meantime, we are in a noisy, raucous, potentially dangerous, and violent place in transition.  A significant part of our country, a minority still, is looking toward autocracy..  They should be careful what they wish.  Autocracy is what the founders of our country revolted against for a reason.  Protecting democracy and containing autocracy (brookings.edu)

Why semi-automatic rifles like those used in the Nashville shooting can cause so much damage - ABC News (go.com)

Buffalo and Uvalde blew gun lobby reasons to oppose sensible gun laws out of the water..

A related issue of mental healthBuffalo and Uvalde  blew gun lobby reasons to oppose sensible gun laws out of the water..

Updated: June 3, 2022  _124122934_gun_related_crimes_640-2x-nc_updated.png (976×764) (bbci.co.uk)      The US has got twice the gun crime rate as others like us.  This  BBC site is a treasure trove of data  from non-biased sources.

Updated 6/2/22 I  am sick and tired of the gun lobby's reasons to oppose sensible gun laws.  In a Facebook dialog in response to the recent mass shootings in Buffalo and Texas,, and now Tulsa. I got a  typical and nonsensical response to any attempt to fix the problem. " OK, so it was bad but what about Chicago?" Give me a break. Both are bad. The other," the way to deal with bad guys with guns, is to give good guys more guns."  When it comes to many good guys with a pistol, they are outgunned by one with a AR 15 and in body armor.. Give me a break. Another BS "argument: pass what you'd call sensible gun legislation, and the next thing you know the government will take your guns away from you". Colorado and Connecticut passed sensible gun laws and my friends and I still have our guns. Give me a break  Cooling off periods? That may have slowed down the Tulsa killer who bought his AR 15 2 hours before his rampage? "Selling weapons of war to those under 21? That would have stopped the '18-year-old Uvalde killer. "It is all a mental health problem so fix that and all will be fine".  That one assumes much, but so many of the killers had no red flags. Either they were too young or confided in a few or they were not taken seriously and if there were, there were no red flag laws and mechanisms to stop a purchase.   Another responder to a cartoon posted by a friend that showed 19 kids and two teachers at St Peter's gate with an anti-gun message expressed outrage that someone would dare make such an event a political one. Excuse me:.  I replied: .." It is a political issue because the solution lies with the government. ...and politicians have the power to regulate access to civilian use of war weapons. Otherwise, why does the NRA finance so many politicians' campaigns? They know it and you do too. " 

On May 27, I heard a really stupid argument from those who should know better but who want to discuss anything but gun control, one door entry exit for schools:.. Ted Cruz, a Senator prized for his intelligence and education, flat advocated it again and again.. Ted Cruz should have known better.  Here is my May  27 Facebook posting and Cruz's continued advocacy for the one-door stupidity.

One suggestion being made in the case of Uvalde is to have one exit and entry in a school and lock it. Not sure how that works in a multibuilding campus, but certainly having one exit is a stupid idea. Imagine 500 kids running to one door in the case of a fire, tornado, and a shooter with an AR15. ( An elementary school teacher (I know )having trained for shelter in place in the case of an active shooter knows that there must be another way. An elementary school in the Columbine school area(years after the infamous high school incident) had outside doors in some of the classrooms and in another school, all rooms had escape doors. Ironically, her own daughter had to shelter in place in a school shooting incident and it took an hour and more before her classroom "was cleared". The shooter was in the next room and had shot himself. Fortunately, he was not armed with a wall-busting AR15,, but a shotgun. After that experience, she resolved if there was an emergency door to the outside,, and in an upper elementary grade level was inside, she would tell the students to scatter and run like hell. .Not every school can have a door to the outside, but it is instructive of the importance of multiple exits. (A quick reply from someone who read this is that no fire marshal would ever ok the one entry/exit approach anyway).

Sen. Ted Cruz proposes one door entry at TX schools, safety experts say it's not feasible | KEYE (cbsaustin.com)

One-door schoolhouses not credible solution, officials and experts say | The Texas Tribune

My response to the Chicago gang violence deflective issue posed by a Facebook responder was this:  

Typical "what about".." deflective issue and answer. . Don't look at that tree, look at this one..So. two wrongs make a right.? Both are connected by one thing: it is easy to get an AR 15 whether you are a gang member or a kid gone loco...but two different sociological circumstances at work and the kinds of victims. are different as well. The best answer is fix them both and the common tie that binds are the availability to those who want to kill with weapons of war..If Uvaldi showed anything, good guys with guns are outgunned...another useless answer. Another stupid deflective answer: institute common sense gun laws and the next thing, the government will take away your guns. Yeh, slippery sloper. Do like we did in Colorado and in Connecticut. Did your guns get taken away from you?

• 9 questions about gun laws in Colorado, answered | Colorado Public Radio (cpr.org)

 "Voters in the state chose to close the so-called ‘gun show loophole’ after the Columbine massacre in 1999, requiring background checks for purchases at trade shows.

More recent gun laws in the Colorado were embraced by Pres. Biden in an address to the nation  June 2. 2022.   Full Transcript: Biden’s Speech on Gun Control - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

• Universal background checks for all sales, including private sales.
• A ban on magazines that hold more than 15 rounds.
• Restrictions on gun ownership for certain domestic violence offenders.
• A Red Flag Law that allows a family member or law enforcement to petition a court to temporarily remove someone’s firearms if they’re deemed a danger to themselves or others. These are known as Extreme Risk Protection Orders.
• A requirement that gun owners securely store their firearms when not in use.
• A requirement that gun owners report to law enforcement any lost or stolen weapons.
• Allowing cities and counties to pass stricter gun laws than the state.
• Preventing people convicted of certain violent misdemeanors from buying a gun for five years.
• Closing the so-called ‘Charleston loophole’ that allowed gun dealers to finish a transaction without a background check if the check wasn’t completed in three days.
• The ‘Vote Without Fear Act,’ which bars the open carry of firearms within 100 feet of a polling location.
• Creating an Office of Gun Violence Prevention."

 Per Wikipedia:Gun laws in Connecticut regulate the sale, possession, and use of firearms and ammunition in the U.S. state of Connecticut. Gun laws in Connecticut are amongst the most restrictive in the country. Connecticut requires training, background check and permitting requirements for the purchase of firearms and ammunition; and a ban (with exceptions) on certain semi-automatic firearms defined as "assault weapons" and magazines that can hold more than 10 rounds. Connecticut's licensing system for open and concealed carry is relatively permissive.

The old order changeth, yielding place to new

A version of this was published in the Sky Hi News March 28, 2018

https://www.skyhinews.com/news/opinion/muftic-the-old-order-changeth-yielding-place-to-new/

“The old order changeth, yielding place to new”

In Alfred Lord Tennyson’s classic poem Morte d'Arthur, these dying  words of King Arthur are his realization that there will be a change in generations with views different from his. This is what is  happening before our very eyes for this is the long term significance of the movement to which the Parkland kids have contributed. The kickoff event was March 24, 2018  March for our Lives. There are good reasons to believe the movement against gun violence begun by the Parkland students will have long term staying power beyond the 2018 and 2020 elections.These are troubling  implications for a GOP that yearns to return to the past.

The impressive turnout, very sophisticated political awareness,  and skills of the speakers left pundits scrambling to predict the near  term effect of the event. Was this the beginning of a movement that would change the makeup of Congress in 2018 or the White House in in 2020, or was it just a flash in the pan that would fizzle? There is a case to be made that this is a contuing  of generational changes and that in the very long term the color of American politics will turn bluer and bluer. The generation that the Parkland kids represent and the ones just two generations older, the millennials, and the Gen Xers, have much in common in their social and political values. They have bucked prior trends to become more conservative as voters  got older. Instead, they have remained or have become more liberal. Older, more conservative generations are dying off.

I am from the cusp between the generation born before World War II and the generation that experienced the cultural revolt of young people against the old order. The Vietnam War protests of the 1960’s  led to the embrace of the multi cultural vibrancy of the civil rights movement , of tolerance and inclusiveness of “others”, economic populism, environmentalism, the feminist movement, and a dedication to peace instead of war.

Like the Parkland kids, the Vietnam War  generation’s participation in politics was sparked  initially by self interest in a single issue. They did not want to be drafted .The Parkland kids are motivated by their experience of finding themselves at the  business end of an AR 15 and grieving for those they knew who met a violent, senseless death they themselves narrowly escaped. They helped the rest of their generation realize that all kids could also be in the same danger unless this epidemic of school shootings and gun violence  was stopped.

The millennial and Gen Xers are showing  no signs of becoming more conservative as they get older, per a recent PEW poll. The millennials had added more respect of gender diversities  to the trends. The more liberal values of inclusiveness and anti-violence were on display in the multi-cultural, gender diverse, and racial participants of this newest generation in the Saturday march event . Parkland students  were aware they were suburban kids of privilege but that the issues of urban gun violence in Chicago and other cities were closely related. They joined the two together, urban, suburban, in powerful statements, eliminating class, racial  and partisan divisions in a common cause.

Because of the kind of education they had received, training in media, journalism, debate, and stage performance, and their generation’s expertise in the use of social media, the Parkland students had the tools to carry  off the marches. They built on the organizational template of the women’s marches and the protest traditions of Martin Luther King. Their generation has unprecedented skills and experience that will translate into effective political leadership down the road and the continuation of political trends they represent.

Morte d'Arthur

BY ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45370/morte-darthur

http://www.people-press.org/2018/03/01/the-generation-gap-in-american-politics/

http://time.com/5280446/baby-boomer-generation-america-steve-brill/

From the PEW survey….as summarized by: http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/03/new-survey-young-staying-liberal-conservatives-dying-off.

“The oldest voters are the most conservative, white, and Republican, and the Just 27% of Millennials approve of Trump’s job performance, while 65% disapprove, according to Pew Research Center surveys conducted in Trump’s first year as president. Among Gen Xers, 36% approve and 57% disapprove. In Obama’s first year, 64% of Millennials and 55% of Gen Xers approved of the way the former president was handling his job as president.youngest voters the most liberal, racially diverse, and Democratic. There is absolutely no sign the dynamic is abating during the Trump years. If anything, it is accelerating.

“The most recent Pew Research Survey has more detail about the generational divide. It shows that the old saw that young people would naturally grow more conservative as they age, or that their Democratic loyalties were an idiosyncratic response to Barack Obama’s unique personal appeal, has not held. Younger voters have distinctly more liberal views than older voters...”

A warning to politicians: Cross these young adults from Parkland Florida at your own risk

A version was published in the Sky Hi News March 12-14, 2018

https://www.skyhinews.com/news/opinion/muftic-cross-the-kids-from-parkland-fla-at-your-own-risk/

Edited March 11, 2018, again, to include updates and a condensed version of the original post.

Update: https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2018/05/republican-mayor-learns-a-hard-lesson-dont-mess-wi.html

The ability of students from Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida to stand eye to eye, toe to toe with gun rights advocates on the national stage has been jaw dropping.  How could that happen? It has happened because they had the skills provided by their school and credibility untainted by campaign donations and ideology. They were the survivors; they had been on the receiving end of an AR-15,.They channeled their grief and trauma into political action with such fervor and earnestness,  their motivation was difficult to question, as much as Russian bots and right wing conspiracists tried.

The students have held their own  on national television, appearing with professionals and adults on both sides of the  second amendment rights debate.. They have no fear in taking on the NRA and they do it with communications skills that only a fraction ,of adults with media training could muster.  They have also done so with political sophistication and a grasp of the issues. Now those students have called for a nation wide protest march in Washington on March 24. Decades of protest marches, and especially the women’s marches in the past two years , provide their template.  

How did those students  get such media savvy? Their high school’s curriculum  and extracurricular activities enabled them.. Stoneman Douglas provides an active debate program, and by a stroke of fate the November topic of debate was “gun control’. Their trained student speakers  were loaded with knowledge of the issues. In addition, this mega size suburban school has its own television station and the first student on camera was David Hogg, a debater, the television station manager, and news presenter. Let us not discount either that  this new generation of students is accustomed to speaking into cell phones , taking selfies, and texting in sound bites and they can run circles around older generations in the use of social media. Microphones and cameras do not spook them and they are armed with  the skills to communicate with the masses.

Have those students had success so far? Florida was one of the most wide open, permissive states in the union for gun rights. Local governments were even forbidden to establish their own regulations.  Before the students arrived in buses to lobby the, the state lawmakers closed their ears to what the knew would be the students’ goal, to ban assault type weapon sales. The students took to national TV and threatened to take down those legislators in the next election. While sales of assault weapons were not banned, the Florida legislature saw they needed to do something.  They passed legislation that raised the minimum age to purchase any firearm from 18 to 21, imposed a three-day waiting period on all gun purchases, banned bump stocks, and gave law enforcement greater power to commit people who they thought would be a threat,.The law also funded school police officers and mental health counselors, improved tip lines, and, in a compromise bow to the NRA, allowed  local school districts and sheriffs to have the option to arm certain school personnel. Not included, however, was closing the “lie and try” loophole that which still makes it easier for felons to buy guns. The governor, though reluctant to arm teachers or school personnel, signed the legislation Friday. The students and their parents called the legislation “a good first step”, inferring they were not done yet.

https://www.thetrace.org/2018/03/florida-lie-and-try-loophole-background-check-denials/

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/07/us/florida-shooting-gunman-indicted.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/09/us/florida-governor-gun-limits.html

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/education/article201678544.html

https://www.npr.org/2018/02/21/587731730/russian-trolls-are-flooding-social-media-with-messages-meant-to-increase-tension

Edited to include a discussion of solutions, 2/22/18

https://www.orlandoweekly.com/Blogs/archives/2018/03/08/florida-house-passes-gun-restrictions-plan-to-arm-certain-teachers

March 7, 2018 : Florida Senate pass and goes on to House who passed the bill. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/politics/political-pulse/os-gun-bill-final-vote-20180307-story.html

Cross these young adults at your own risk. They have the tools to lead these movements and high school seniors reaching 18 can vote in November 2018, millions of them nationwide.The rising American electorate including, those newly turning 18 , millennials and others, number eight million. . Missing has been a motivation to register and turnout to vote. These school massacres putting students' lives personally in jeopardy will provide unprecedented motivation.and presents an opportunity for this movement. https://www.voterparticipation.org/2017/09/2966/ http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/03/new-survey-young-staying-liberal-conservatives-dying-off.htm

What Columbine, Sandy Hook, and Parkland have in common is that these are suburban type of schools, ,with well educated articulate parents , and demographics similar to suburbs elsewhere. Whether the trend to losses of the GOP in the suburbs will be intensified by the sympathy toward stricter gun control is not yet measured. However, it is possible. parents and grandparents in suburbs around the country can easily imagine what happened in Parkland could happen to them and their children and translate that into large election day turnout and votes for supporters of stricter gun control.. This could be an additional motivation for those suburban women who are already inspired by the women's marches, #me too, and the issues they highlighted.

I know it is hard for us older folks to believe students have the ability to articulate and lead a movement. So much so, the pro gun radical fringes have invented a conspiracy theory that some deep state and outside forces or paid crisis actors are leading them. This 3000 student school , Marjory Stoneman Douglas, is like many large suburban type schools near large metro areas. .It is the top ranked academic school in Broward, County. Schools now provide video and TV training as part of their academic courses.Marjory Stoneman Douglas even has its own TV station. Its student manager, David Hogg, was the target of a right wing conspiracy smear, claiming he was a "crisis actor".He is a bonafide student and runs the highschool's TV station. Yes, they have one...Two of my granddaughters participated in debate or journalism in their high school in Centennial, Colorado.. Debate clubs , stage performance opportunities were offered in the Parkland school.The school district places heavy emphasis on debate. Hogg was also on the debate team and the debate topic in November was gun control. The students in that high school were well prepared to be advocates. Use of video social media keeps kids from being camera and microphone shy and its forces them to speak in sound bites. . Those are communication skills this young generation has that many before them did not have a chance to develop, but they are key to providing leadership. Some of the student spokespersons/survivors interviewed on TV shortly after the Parkland massacre were JR ROTC members, also products of great leadership training. Unlike my day, the internet makes keeping up with current events so much more pertinent, in their face, and easier. to access leaving them with a level of political sophistication generations before them did not have . They are no one's fool. They also have templates to tap of successful mass rallies and marches. The women's march for the past two years provide methods and strategies Expect them to use them.

The Florida House cut the high school crusade off at the knees before they even listened to the students by refusing to bring their issues up for debate at the outset. This is a great civics lesson. The answer, my friends, is blowin' in the wind. The high school students  have  public opinion and sympathy filling their sails. 2/3 of voters favor an assault weapon ban per the most recent poll.  When a movement is stonewalled like this, change lies in voting out state and federal representatives district by district and replacing them. 

Waiting for more God in our lives or reversing our culture to old fashioned ways is not a solution to an epidemic happening now.  So what could the students  ask legislators to do?    One approach  alone is not  the answer. Each proposal I have heard has some weaknesses as well as some advantages  The answer  lies in "many of the above".from improving mental health services, tip lines, background checks, even metal detectors, more uniformed and armed guards in school. 

Above all, banning assault weapons and enhancements  to increase their deadliness within a few minutes and with minimal skill would be the single most effective policy. If the latter is done, raising ages required to buy such weapons or even expanding and improving background check data bases to include court determined  extreme risk individuals known to be violently  angry or mentally ill, and arming teachers would be less necessary to defend against young adult or teenage males bearing AR-15.

 Both the shooter in this case and the Aurora theater killer had access and sought mental health care, but  there are very strict laws to protect their rights and law enforcement failed to follow up even when they could. Even mental health professionals tell me they cannot always spot a potential mass killer and not all killers are mentally ill. Some are just consumed with anger. That illustrates the weakness and room for improvement for   relying solely  on mental health services . Tip lines certainly need to get  more serious attention. Expanding  those eligible to be included in universal round checks may help. 

 .  Putting in metal detection at entrances might work, but it could be difficult in open campuses and multi building schools such as the one in Parkland, Florida. Restricting open campuses and hardened building entrances may help.  There was active shooter training and community police officers in the Parkland school .It was not enough..Arming teachers? A teacher armed with a concealed  handgun is supposed to outgun a person armed with an AR15 without killing  innocents in the crossfire? A first responder may mistake a gun wielding teacher for the perp  and shoot him, too. This idea  is one where the cure could  be worse than the disease  and it may wither away for lack of participants. There are no teachers I know  or teacher organizations who would participate. More uniformed, trained security guards would make more sense so hang  the expense and do it..  

Banning future  sales of assault weapons  or raising the age to 21 to buy an assault weapons with  long enough cooling off periods to do a background check would make it harder  for teenagers to get weapons that can kill seventeen people in 6 minutes.  Banning bump stocks or reducing the size of clips can  also reduce the numbers killed.  With a nation awash with AR 15s, and taking them away from  current gun owners  is a non-starter. for me. However,  a voluntary buy back program might reduce some of the existing stock at risk for theft and misuse by criminals and family members.

https://www.snopes.com/2018/02/20/right-wing-media-david-hogg/

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/education/article201678544.html

https://www.yahoo.com/news/parkland-survivor-melania-trump-stop-021214298.html

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/12/5/13842258/pizzagate-comet-ping-pong-fake-news

http://www.newsweek.com/millennials-baby-boomers-voters-who-voted-2016-644746

https://www.voterparticipation.org/2017/09/2966/

https://www.usnews.com/news/the-report/articles/2017-12-01/democrats-must-focus-on-minorities-women-and-white-men-to-win

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/18/us/politics/house-control-2018-suburbs-trump-republicans-democrats.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marjory_Stoneman_Douglas

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/20/voters-support-tougher-gun-control-after-florida-shooting-quinnipiac-poll.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/selfless-service-jrotc-remembers-three-slain-in-florida-high-school-shooting/2018/02/19/1e3138f2-158b-11e8-8b08-027a6ccb38eb_story.html?utm_term=.d42eb6eb974b

Also see prior blogposts: Reflections on the Parkland shooting and a Facebook debate between a pro gun advocate and me.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/02/22/does-the-second-amendment-really-protect-assault-weapons-four-courts-have-said-no/?utm_term=.3c5a248ab6ad

Footenote: David Hogg was accused of being a “conspiracy actor’ in part because his post shooting interviews were well spoken, but he runs the highschool TV station and produced an  video of the event. You Tube and Trending yanked the conspiracy postings and apologized. Fact checker Snopes did a thorough investigation of the conspiracy postings and debunked them.https://www.snopes.com/2018/02/20/right-wing-media-david-hogg/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/we-studied-thousands-of-anonymous-posts-about-the-parkland-attack---and-found-a-conspiracy-in-t

El Paso and Dayton: My thoughts on mass shootings updated

The horrors of the mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton have been so difficult to watch on TV that I felt a need to re-examine my views on gun legislation. What can be done to stop future carnage? No single approach will work because there is no single cause motivating shooters. It will take a multi-pronged approach. What techniques employed in recent mass killings involved the use of weapons of war; that is what those shooters had in common, so I will focus on that one commonality, knowing that was the most obvious factor: easy civilian access to weapons of war provided the enabling hardware.

Do I need to re-examine my prior thoughts on the issue of sensible gun legislation? I have gone back to my February 2018 posting inspired by Parkland and updated my thoughts in bold italics. I have not addressed Donald Trump's role in inspiring the El Paso shooter or the commercials running those paint immigrants as an invasion, invoking racial tropes, because in these two incidents over the weekend the motivations of the shooters appear to be quite different.

What was very striking was that in the two incidents, shooters used weapons of war and had the ability to kill so many so quickly. Weapons of war are what put "Mass" in the death toll and tagged the designation of the two events as"mass shooting". In his initial response to the weekend carnage, President Trump ignored the obvious. In condemning white nationalism, the left has not ignored the obvious. Weapons of war are the tools of both the emotionally disturbed and terrorists of any ideological stripe.

For sure, we cannot end racism, the core culture of white nationalists, but we can dim the voice of the inspirers and enablers with political pressure and elections. Cracking down on "domestic terrorism" does give the FBI more human and legal resources and tools to prevent ideologically motivated wannabe mass killers. Every bit of that will help. The problem is more widespread than just domestic terrorism, but every bit of harnassing FBI attention to domestic terrorism may be a positive outcome of the El Paso tragedy.
"
To reexamine my views on sensible gun legislation, I added comments to a blog posting published on 2/16/18 in which I reported on a dialogue I had with a gun rights advocate. The original posting is in regular type and my updates this August 2019 are in italics, bold. I tackle the NRA's slogan answer to mass shootings that guns do not kill people, people kill people. the second amendment, and putting guns in the hands of good guys to stop bad guys.

The addition and changes to the 2018 facebook and blog posting debate between a gun rights advocate and me:
"...any answer I give will change no minds of those who believe otherwise, but I could not help myself but engage. The Parkland, Fla massacre was my inspiration. Perhaps it might help if you are at a loss for words, but here it is, reproduced from Facebook.(Clarification added later in parentheses)

Gun rights advocate: “Guns don’t kill people; people kill people” That similar phrase often used by the NRA was invoked by Pres. Trump in response to the El Paso and Dayton mass killings when he tried to put the blame on mental health and divert attention to other methods of mass killings. The use of fertilizer to bring down the Oklahoma City federal building in that domestic terrorist attack and pressure cookers in the Boston Marathon attack are valid examples, but both were later curtailed by requiring or encouraging or crime solving when sales of those items got the attention of law enforcement. Sensible gun regulation legislation on the federal level has not resulted in any action and in many states. A federal approach is needed to deal with states that have taken no action and to eliminate the alternative of going to a permissive state if a person's home state has taken action.

Me:..semi automatics kill people more, better, faster...it is the weapon of such peoples' choice because it is a machine geared for killing lots of people at once. I am tired of the slogan " guns don't kill people;people kill people". It is an ignorant and deceptive one. Yes people kill people and they use a weapon that should not be in their hands...or any other civilian's.

Gun rights advocate:Guns don't work unless someone is holding it, aiming at people, and pulling the trigger with intent to kill.

Me: And it enables them to kill without much skill and without much reloading quickly. (or much aiming, either) Get real. If you do not intend to kill a bunch of people...why have them?  To show your weapon is bigger than someone else's?  To help the gun manufacturer's make more money?  To keep gun control from going down a slippery slope?(semi automatics are unique and easy to define and control; we did it already a couple of years ago)

Gun rights advocate: There are other methods to kill a bunch of people. Guns are not the problem.

Me:They are the ones that appear in nearly every mass killing since the assault rifle ban was lifted. The numbers of mass killings have accelerated at a huge pace since then.AR-15 style rifles were used during mass shootings in California, Connecticut, Florida, Oregon, Texas and Colorado and Las Vegas. And now add many more...including El Paso and Dayton. I have lost count.

The Dayton shooting produced some astonishing statistics: Law enforcement brought down the shooter in 39 seconds, yet using an assault rifle, nine people were killed and over 40 shell casings were found. He had the capacity for many more rounds and we can imagine the death toll if he made it into the bar itself. We will never ever see a law enforcement response any faster than the one in Dayton because enforcement was already in the immediate vicinity. The problem is a hardware problem and whether white nationalists inspired by the internet and a pandering president or inspired by something else, including mental health issues, suicide by cop, soul-eating hatred of a sibling or a lover, or loss of job or life's disappointments, the weapon provides the mass destruction without the skill of aiming.

To protect the 2nd amendment? Even a Supreme Court justice..a conservative..believes you do not have an unlimited right. From the Heller decision, Justice Antonin Scalia:: “Nothing in our opinion should be taken to cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings, or laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms.”

The late justice also more generally offered the belief that “like most rights, the right secured by the Second Amendment is not unlimited.” It is “not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose.”

..Your last picture of a warning on a school that those inside are armed to deter wannabe shooters is a strategy rejected both by school administrators and law enforcement because it would catch innocents in the crossfire and would make it impossible for the first responding to know who the bad guy was if everyone was carrying a weapon. Friendly fire is not friendly. It is as deadly as a bullet from the bad guy.

Gun rights advocate: Ok so let's just let the guy keep shooting until he runs out of ammo. Great idea.

Texas is an open-carry state and friendly to concealed weapons. During the event in El Paso, there was a fear that those civilians who carried weapons might be mistaken for the shooter himself...but small arms turned out to be no factor...as well as no deterrent... and the shooter lived to tell his story.

Another commenter:  When President Reagan was nearly assassinated, he was surrounded by professional sharpshooters. They couldn't stop the assassin. You think you can?

Me, later: (Better idea, gun rights advocate: Stop sales of assault rifles, semi-automatics and their large clips of ammo.) No change in my thoughts about this as the result of El Paso and Dayton. Mental health services might help, but in the wake of the Aurora Colorado theatre shooting, the shooter had been under the care of a psychiatrist who did flag him, but restrictions kept anyone from acting. My psychologist friends (I am a supporter of mental health system improvements and access to counseling through a faith-based organization) tell me even then they have only a 50-50 chance of predicting which of their patients will carry out mass shootings or kill someone. Mental health is a factor, but in courts of law, the insanity plea is rarely successful. Should we improve our mental health services? Yes. Every little bit will help, but it is not a panacea or even a major deterrent. Without red flag laws permitting reporting of people may be a threat and without universal background checks, improved mental health access still hamstrings the ability for mental health professionals to prevent mass killings.

http://bigthink.com/risk-reason-and-reality/the-supreme-court-ruling-on-the-2nd-amendment-did-not-grant-an-unlimited-right-to-own-guns