GUN violence is no laughing matter, especially at James Hillhouse High School in New Haven, which lost a star footballer to the blight. Yet a roundtable Chris Murphy recently convened there on the issue included this moment of levity. The 44-year-old senator from Connecticut had been asked what he thought of a Republican proposal, endorsed by President Donald Trump, to arm teachers. “Who here thinks it’s a bad idea?” the fresh-faced politician replied, and 200 teenagers were soon rolling in the aisles. It wasn’t just that everyone raised a hand. It was the preposterousness of the notion that issuing stressed-out inner-city teachers with firearms, along with their parking permits and keys to the staff bathroom, could ever make sense. “It’s an idea with no basis in reality,” Mr Murphy said.
Since the shooting of 17 people at a school in Parkland, Florida, in February, many Americans have experienced a similar lifting of the veil on the gun lobby and its self-serving arguments. In response...Continue reading
Source: United States https://ift.tt/2Iw0Grs
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