Leaders need to do more to stop carnage
By Stephen Wall • Guest Columnist
I was disappointed to read Interim Superintendent Bill Nolte's post on the Haywood County School website (www.haywood.k12.nc.us/blog/2018/03/20/schools-and-political-protests/). I think he misunderstands why tens of thousands of young people have raised their voices to protest the carnage inflicted by the 18 school shooting that have occurred so far just this year, over 200 in the past decade.
Mr. Nolte (who I know and respect) has gone too far when he accused these thoughtful young people of being “pawns” of some secret plot led by a mysterious organization — which he doesn’t care to name. There is no secret plot or secret organization. This is fear mongering and character assassination in the tradition of McCarthyism. Back in the 1950s even President Eisenhower was accused of being a dupe of mysterious and secret “Communist manipulators” in the U.S. State Department.
The truth is there is a conspiracy in this country but it’s not the one Mr. Nolte is worried about. In the 1930s the NRA led the legal battle to ban public possession of machine guns. As late as President Reagan's time the NRA stood for gun safety and limiting access to semi-automatic weapons as well, which were banned until 1996.
But in the past 30 years the NRA has transformed into a lobbying group to ensure that gun manufacturers make lots of cash by spreading the ridiculous lie that the government will soon be taking your guns away, or that people who don’t look like you will threaten and harm your loved ones.
One million and four hundred thousand Americans have died since 1968 from firearms. That’s more than all our wars combined. We have no more mental illness or crime than other developed countries but 5 to 10 times the number of gun deaths. Must be a secret conspiracy behind it, right?
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As my late dad used to say, if you want to know who is behind the mess, follow the money. The NRA has given our two U.S. senators — Richard Burr and Thom Tillis — about $10 million to ensure there are no brakes on anyone’s access to an AR or a 30-clip. And that is even if they are domestic violence offenders or on the no-fly terrorist list. This dirty money flows through Congress and down Pennsylvania Avenue like a polluted stream.
Members of Congress — and our local officials — need to listen to these young people and do a whole lot more than they have to stop the carnage. And, to have our leading school administrator suggest that some of our most thoughtful young people are being secretly manipulated is very sad indeed.
I speak as someone who has been a gun owner my whole adult life. In my medical practice here in Haywood County for three decades I have always encouraged folks who hunt or have guns for sport to make sure their children take an NRA or law-enforcement sponsored gun safety class and learn to respect firearms. But there is something deeply wrong with our society when we fear going into a movie theater or mall or worry about making eye contact with strangers who cut us off on the road. For some sobering facts about gun violence in the USA, visit www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/2/21/17028930/gun-violence-us-statistics-charts.
(Stephen Wall is a pediatrician who lives in Waynesville.)
