Just Another Day In The United States Of Amnesia: March For Our Lives Demands End To ‘Generation Lockdown’ Following Latest School Shooting

 

As of Tuesday, the 116th mass shooting of 2019 (and counting).

Since 1999 228,000 American students have been exposed to gun violence and 234 schools have been attacked.

[Editor’s Note: Over the past three years the above Commoner Call cartoon has frequently run with stories about the latest mass shooting. It’s depressing to think how often we have run it … and will be running it in the future. The nation and our children are held hostage to the gun cult industry and the bloody NRA. — Mark L. Taylor]

By Andrea Germanos
Common Dreams (5/8/19)

March For Our Lives, the gun violence prevention movement, called for an end to #GenerationLockdown following the latest school shooting.

Two suspects opened fire at the Denver-area STEM School Highlands Ranch Tuesday. Kendrick Castillo, 18, died. He was just days away from graduation. Eight others were injured.

It was the fourth school shooting in Colorado since the Columbine High School massacre on April 20, 1999, the Denver Post reported.

“I know thoughts an[d] prayers are never enough. Something must change.” — Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone

March For Our Lives, which was formed in the wake of the Parkland, Florida mass shooting last year, demanded an end to such violent acts. The group said people must not to “grow numb” to the tragedies and urged political leadership tackle the gun violence epidemic.

The group made the calls in a Twitter thread that included video from local Denver7 News of young STEM students boarding a bus outside the school.

We send strength & support to the state of Colorado & the Highlands Ranch community after today’s .

Nobody should experience this type of fear, not on our streets or in our schools.

We must work together to put an end to .

A passage from a New York Times report on the Highlands Ranch shooting offered a brief encapsulation of “generation lockdown.”

“I heard a gunshot,” said Makai Dixon, 8, a second grader who had been training for this moment, with active shooter drills and lockdowns, since he was in kindergarten. “I’d never heard it before.” (Emphasis added.)

The head coach for the Denver Nuggets, who lives in the community of Highlands Ranch, weighed in on the shooting as well.

“I know thoughts an prayers are never enough,” Michael Malone said at a press conference Tuesday ahead of a game in Denver. “Something must change.”

A candlelight vigil is being held at the school Wednesday evening for those affected by the shooting.

(This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License.)

Link to Story

  • Colorado Dad’s Heartbreaking Twitter Feed Chronicles What It’s Like To Wait To See If Your Kid’s Been Killed In A School Shooting — Father Steve Holley was one of hundreds of parents who was forced to face one of the most horrifying situations any can: his son was in a school shooting. … Read the Rest and Video

(Commoner Call cartoon by Mark L. Taylor, 2016. Open source and free for non-derivative use with link to www.thecommonercall.org )