SoapBox We call BS on guns By now, you may have heard there’ll be a nationwide “March for Our Lives” event on Sat., June 11. For Durango’s event, gather at Durango High School parking lot at 2 p.m. to hear a few speakers, and then march at 2:30 p.m. to the Durango Library in time to attend the 3rd Congressional District Candidate Event at 3 p.m. You may hear some folks say that demonstrations and marches don’t change anything, and that our calls and letters don’t change anything. I call BS! You may remember that refrain from Emma Gonzalez, a Parkland, Fla., student who brought everyone to tears with her heartfelt pleas in February 2018, three days after she lost 17 friends to a gunman with an AR-15. Here’s part of what she said: “The people in the government are lying to us, and us kids call BS. Lawmakers who sit in their House and Senate seats, funded by the NRA, telling us nothing could have been done to prevent this. We call BS. They say tougher gun laws do not decrease gun violence. We call BS. They say a good guy with a gun stops a bad guy with a gun. We call BS. They say no laws could have prevented the hundreds of senseless tragedies that have occurred. We call BS. They say that us kids don’t know what we’re talking about, that we’re too young to understand how the government works. We call BS. If you agree, register to vote and contact your local congresspeople. Give them a
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D-Tooned/by Rob Pudim piece of your mind.” Join us to grieve and to march on June 11. Wear orange if you can. – Karen Pontius, Durango
Lessons to be learned The shooting in Uvalde, Texas, shows the need to restrict the sale of assault weapons to just the military and police. The shooting revealed numerous factors contributed to the massacre, including warning signs that were missed on social media, the fact the school was not secured and police showing ineptitude in doing their job. Somehow, social media posts should be monitored for potential shooter comments, and people should report these warning signs to authorities. Schools should have entrances reinforced and locked, and only one entrance should be used. Alarm systems should be installed on all entrances except the main entrance. Weaponizing and training a few teachers/administrators should be evaluated. Why wasn’t the Uvalde school police officer in the school at the time of the shooting? Nineteen Texas police officers stood in a hallway outside the Uvalde school classrooms for about 48 minutes waiting for a tactical police force to arrive. During that time, students made 911 calls while sporadic shots were heard in the classrooms.
These officers should have shot open the door and broken windows to confront the shooter. Local police officers should not be waiting for tactical support but should immediately stop the shooter. – Donald Moskowitz, Londonderry, N.H.
Enough is enough For many years, I have sent postcards and letters, which are likely never opened,
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to the White House about kitchen table topics. Thankfully, my concerns have been responded to, from Biden in March 2013 about the Sandy Hook School mass murder and Biden in May 2022. Hopefully, after more than two decades of mass shootings, desperately needed solutions from both sides of the aisle will stop the gun madness in the only nation on Earth that has tragically kicked the can way too long.
