Parkland survivors just exposed the NRA’s terrifying plot to silence them

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School seniors, Emma Gonzalez and David Hogg, told CBS News today that the NRA has “basically threatened” them for their leadership on gun control in the wake of the Parkland massacre that killed 14 of their fellow students and three of their teachers.

Hogg said:

I think it just goes to prove exactly what they are. I don’t think NRA members are bad people at all. I think they’re responsible gun owners that want to become politically active and make their voices heard in this democracy . . . I think the problem comes in when it’s people at the top of this organization that don’t listen to their constituents, and continue to scare people into buying more guns, creating more violence so they can scare more people and sell more guns.

Ms. Gonzalez, whose Twitter followers have now surpassed those of NRA, said that, as they have been preparing for the March 24 “March for Our Lives” next week:  “They’ve been instigating things. And then we reply, they shy away. Like they can dish it out, but they can’t take it.”

In response to the national walkout in schools across America last week to protest the lax gun laws that have made the United States the school shooting capital of the world, the NRA tweeted out an inflammatory meme.

Add your name to tell Trump: We don’t need your fascist military parade in the United States of America!

The outspoken students’ efforts have convinced Florida Tea Party Senator Marco Rubio and the state’s arch-conservative governor, Rick Scott, to take another look at gun legislation, with Rubio saying he would reconsider his stance on gun restrictions, and Scott supporting preliminary changes to Florida gun legislation.

Congress, however, has done nothing to address the gun laws that make American gun deaths far outnumber those in any other wealthy nation. 

The White House, meanwhile, has only issued a series of proposals that include training teachers to use firearms, thus enabling gun manufacturers to sell more guns, rather than fewer — a ruse Ms. Gonzalez has called “stupid.”

The children of the nation shame the intelligence of the old folks in charge.  These students’ leadership bodes well for the future of the nation.  If only Republican lawmakers would listen to them now.

The kids, however, may very well galvanize a majority to vote out those who oppose gun control, ushering in a new era in which the next generation can once again feel safe thinking about their “test next period,” rather than if they will survive the school day.

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Lucia Brawley

Lucia Brawley is a Harvard- and Yale-educated writer, producer, actor, and political organizer. She runs the progressive political Facebook group Consenting to Lead. To learn more, please go to luciabrawley.com. Follow her on Twitter: @luciabrawley