Safety in Our Schools
As representatives of the Democratic Party in Clatsop County, we feel compelled to respond to the continuing violence being committed in our country.
We insist that all students deserve safe, welcoming, and supportive school environments where they can focus and learn and thrive without fear. No parent should send their child to school, fearing that they may never come home.
Principals, administrators, teachers, and other school staff have repeatedly shown their instincts to shield and protect their students in these tragic situations. Their acts of heroism should never be minimized or taken for granted. Many elected officials have looked the other way, ignoring the crisis. They have offered at best rhetorical gestures, and at worst blatant hypocrisy. They have punted to mental health interventions and ignored the role of guns in our society. They have offered empty condolences and prayers.
In the wake of the mass murder of 20 children aged 5 and 6 at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Connecticut, we said: “Never Again”. Since then there have been 239 school shootings, with 438 people shot and 138 murdered. We must find a way to put an end to these senseless and horrible killings which traumatize our children and devastate our families.
The National Rifle Association has blocked any change, using money, threats, and influence to fight any common-sense reform of existing gun laws. They use the protection of the Second Amendment as a block to any effort to ensure the safety of Americans. Their efforts successfully shield gun manufacturers from all liability relating to the sale of their products.
The majority of the mass murder of students, teachers, and staff were committed using a legally purchased AR-15 military assault weapon. These weapons have only one purpose, that of killing other human beings.
We owe it to our children to remove this violence from their school experience and allow them to cherish their years in school and grow.
Current and future children deserve this, and it should not be delayed.
We must set aside our differences. We must go about the sensible job of banning assault weapons, demanding reasonable background checks on the purchase of these weapons of death, and changes in the age at which guns can be purchased.
We cannot continue as though change is impossible.
The Clatsop County Democratic Central Committee
SAFETY IN OUR SCHOOLS
As representatives of the Democratic Party in Clatsop County, we feel compelled to respond to the continuing violence being committed in our country related to gun use.
Whereas; all students deserve to be in safe, welcoming, and supportive school environments where they can thrive without fear, and
Whereas; no parent should send their child to school fearing that they may never come home, and
Whereas; the heroism of principals, administrators, teachers, and other school staff in attempting to protect and shield their students should never be minimized, and
Whereas; in response, many elected officials have neglected to deal with basic measures which would address this crisis. They have offered at best rhetorical gestures and empty condolence and prayers. They have attempted to obscure issues by moving instead to mental health issues or other measures which do not address the role of firearms, and
Whereas; in the wake of the mass murder of 20 children aged five and six at Sandy Hook School in Newton Connecticut we said: “Never Again”. Since then, there have been 239 school shootings with 438 people shot and 138 murdered. We must find a way to put an end to these senseless and horrible killings which traumatize our children and devastate our families, and
Whereas; the National Rifle Association has blocked any change, using money, threats, and political influence to fight common-sense reform of gun laws, using the protection of the Second Amendment to deny any effort to ensure the safety of Americans. The majority of the mass murders have been committed using legally purchased military assault weapons, the AR-15 which have only one purpose, that of killing human beings, and
Whereas; we owe it to our children to remove this violence from their school experience. Our children deserve this at present and into the future. It should not be delayed or passed forward by current officials, and
THEREFORE, LET IT BE RESOLVED THAT: We must set aside our differences and go about the sensible job of banning assault weapons, creating reasonable background checks on gun purchases, and re-thinking the age at which gun purchase is legal. We hold that we cannot continue as though change is impossible; indeed it should not be delayed.