February 15, 2018
Dear Mr. President,
In the wake of yesterday's school shooting in Florida, you
took your thumbs off of Twitter long enough to address the nation in person on
camera. Well, as a member of this nation
I would like to address you right back.
Here's the conversation that I wish I could have with
you. Your words are bolded in quotes and
mine are not (just so you can follow my imaginary discourse with you.)
"Today I speak
to a nation in grief."
We're not
really in grief. We are numb because
this is the eighteenth school shooting just
since January. That is only 7
weeks and it is twice as many as this time last year. This is our
new normal. We went
through grief years ago.
"Our entire
nation with one heavy heart is praying for the victims and their
families."
Actually
there are millions of us who are not praying.
We are screaming. We are writing letters. We are calling our Congressional representatives. We are holding vigils and marching and making posters and getting angry. It's not that we don't feel the pain of the
victims and their families, it
is just that we want to stop their pain and suffering and we
realize that praying will do nothing
to end this very preventable violence.
"We are here for
you whatever you need. Whatever we can
do to ease your pain."
What we really need are gun laws that will keep
semi-automatic weapons out of the hands of children!! Don't give us your pity. Just enact legislation that will protect
us. Our pain
would be greatly eased if we knew that these weapons
were not out there on the streets and
that anyone...and
I mean anyone...can have one.
"We are all
joined together as one American family."
We are
absolutely NOT joined together. We are
splintered, fractured, and dysfunctional.
There are those who support the
NRA's position that anyone can own as many weapons
as they like, of any type with absolutely no restrictions or
even oversight. Then there
are those who
think that weapons designed to
be used in combat and to kill as many people
as possible as quickly as possible should be banned or at the very
least registered and
controlled. A
school shooting tragedy such
as the one in Florida yesterday does not unite us
as one family. It deepens the anger, resentment and divisiveness that is so ever present in
our
society and that you often exploit
for personal and political gain.
"No child, no
teacher should ever be in danger in an American school."
Are you
joking?! Public schools are, literally,
the most dangerous places in America.
There
are reams and reams of
data showing this. Where have you been
for the past 10 years?!
There have been 18 school shooting is just the
past 7 weeks. More people have died in a
public school shooting in the
past year than in all of our armed forces combined, even those
serving in
active combat areas like
Afghanistan. Every student in every school
is in danger
every single day.
"No parent
should have to fear for their sons and daughters when they kiss them goodbye in
the morning."
I agree but
the questions is this, what are you going to do about it? How do you propose to alleviate their fears? Overstating the obvious is a useless waste of time and doesn't help
anyone.
anyone.
There have been approximately 325 mass shootings since you
assumed the office of President last January.
You have made public remarks about only 4 of them. You did, however, speak to the NRA conference
in April and vociferously assured them that "the assault on gun rights was
over" and that you would "come through" for them because they came
through for you.
You actually have the power to put an end to this
madness. You could enact legislation
that would limit ownership of these weapons but you don't. I am disgusted by you, your party, and the
maniacs that are unwilling to protect the lives of innocent Americans.
Sincerely,
Amy Beaton
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