AREENA had intentionally decided to take a break from blogging as we developed our platform and financial plans for the coming year. During that time – about eight weeks – the world continued to spiral out of control.
The other day a teenager managed to get hold of an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle and kill 17 children in a Florida school. And by “managed to get hold of” I mean he legally purchased the firearm at a store called Gun World in Deerfield Beach.
17 kids are dead because of bullets fired from a rifle that is designed to shoot HUNDREDS OF ROUNDS in just a few minutes. Americans own five million of these rifles. Five. Million.
I’m not going to harp on the reasons I’m vehemently against any citizen owning what amounts to a military-grade weapon. Frankly, I can’t believe I have to write that sentence. But shouldn’t it be telling that this is the weapon of choice for mass murderers in the United States? Las Vegas. San Bernardino. Orlando. Aurora. Sandy Hook. AR-15s. All of them. Five of our six deadliest shootings have been executed with this same rifle.
Since the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, one of the darkest days in American history, there have 239 school shootings. 438 people have been shot. 138 have been killed. That’s roughly five school shootings a month; more than one a week.
Where is the rage over this? Thousands marched in the streets over immigration policies but not a single shoe has hit the pavement to stop people from being murdered by guns. Pink Floyd was right. We’ve become “comfortably numb”.
What are the solutions?
- The sane one would be for our elected leaders to stop caving to one powerful lobby, stop politicizing death, and create gun laws that make sense. But sadly we all know that won’t happen.
- The insane solution is just give guns to everyone. Bar Mitzvah? You’re a man, here’s your first handgun! Graduate high school? Rifle! College? You’re ready for a semiautomatic! Advanced degree? Bazooka! Turn the country into an armed camp, a lawless collection of vigilantes that would make Wyatt Earp blush.
What must ACTUALLY happen is we all must act, individually and collectively. We must all make it clear that enough is enough.
That’s what the surviving children of Douglas High School are doing. 17 year-old David Hogg and 16 year-old Sarah Chadwick are not content with “thoughts and prayers” from the adults responsible for their safety. They are demanding action. And they are ready to take their demands to the streets.
It’s not just the current students, either. The shooting has reconnected alumni of the high school across the country, rallying people to the cause. From an NBC New York report:
“Dozens of Big Apple-based grads are banding together to donate to the victims’ families and say “never again.”
“We know a lot of the victims, we know Coach Feis, and the families, and we want to do something to show we are there for them,” said alumna Emily Cohn.
Cohn and her fellow alumni met Monday to raise more than $30,000 for the Broward Education Foundation, with donations going directly to the families affected by the Valentine’s Day shooting…
AREENA doesn’t have all the answers. But our platform is a vehicle for change. It empowers each individual, giving them the opportunity to make a difference in the world directly around them.
If this or ANY issue means a lot to you, reach out to us by responding to this email. Let us know you want to do something. We’ll help you do it. It’s time for all of us to heed the words of these teenage Florida survivors and acknowledge enough…is enough.
Art Gurwitz
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