The Mass Shooting Generation

Our kids are armed not with weapons but with the power of their cell phones. They can navigate he web better than any adult. They are dangerous in that they have used their communication powers like no other generation has to change laws already in only three weeks since their vocal demands. They are fed up with having to be the American generation who must live in fear of random gun violence just about anywhere they might want to go. The students of Stoneman Douglas School started the vocal revolt and they already won small steps in the right direction. These kids of this generation can never be just kids for many reasons. Fear, activism, popularity and national recognition ruined their private lives in many ways and now they feel they can never go back to the kids they should still be. It is the adults who are the extreme failures in these times.

One kid is still alive and struggling to be alive after getting shot with 5 bullets. His lung, liver and bones are damaged. Yet he is lucky to not be number 18 of the people that died at the school shooting at his school. His parents are already struggling with the task of having to find the money to pay for his medical bills. Should we have special insurance policies by now to cover the costs of medical bills due to mass shootings? Our lawmakers still don’t address this issue either.

Now the students are stepping forward with their own campaign called Never Again. The shooter at their school will be up for the death penalty but the eventual killing of one sick shooter does not solve the problem of the hundreds of innocent people who were just going about their daily lives who are now dead for no reason other than guns are allowed to be just about everywhere. In just hours after the shooting a group of students armed with just their cell phones sent   off lots of angry Tweets sent to lawmakers. They said yes to almost every news show interview request. They organized protests aimed at the Capitol. In just three weeks they managed to convince Florida’s Republican Governor to defy the NRA and sign legislation to raise the age to be able to buy a gun weapon to the age of 21. The law introduced a three day waiting period on gun sales and it makes more money available for mental  health services.

It is not enough. The President’s Stop School Violence Act is even worse because the bill doesn’t even mention the word gun. The kids want more because these laws wouldn’t have stopped the massacre at their school. They want Congress to ban military style rifles along with the high capacity magazines that were used in the Vegas shooting and at Sandy Hook. Those Sandy Hook parents who lost a classroom full of six year old children couldn’t do as much as these teens have already have been able to do. They call themselves the Mass Shooting Generation. The teens are speaking for those dead six year old spirits.

These 17 year old kids have experienced 17 years of mass shootings. They do not want to challenge the Second Amendment because they have guns in their homes to protect themselves but they do not want weapons of war on city streets.  Three days after the shooting Emma Gonzales the girl with her famous shaved hair style was invited to make a public speech. Instantly it was shared on social media everywhere. She now has more than a million Twitter followers. Ten times more than Florida’s Governor. Why did the schools run out of paper but the government found $400 million dollars to train teachers to arm themselves? Already teachers have had shooting   accidents in the classrooms. What happens to the good student who has to pick up the teacher’s gun after they get killed and have to shoot someone? Will they be protected? There is no law to protect the good guys with the guns who are forced to use a gun with out a license or who are underage.

The activist kids have received death threats. They have been slandered because of their sexuality being gay or a lesbian. Here for once the victims are being represented by the very people who could have been the victims. Can we ever nag a kid that they are on their cell phones too much ever again after they have had to grow up to a dangerous world way too quickly? This generation is used to getting the information they need right away. They are not going to wait for a year for old man Congress to get off their asses to do something. The students have already made $3 million dollars in donations. They are 17. They need help from adults because they can’t book a hotel room, they can’t get city permits for events. Politicians have asked them to endorse their political campaigns but they refuse to be suckered into a publicity stunt for anyone. They have turned money away if it comes with conditions. Back off criticizing these brave kids. Let them do their thing on everyone’s behalf. They never asked for this responsibility. They never knew that their lives would be forever changed by this cause. In one month they have aged years beyond their real ages. After all, they are the Mass Shooting Generation. SAD!