I wish to thank the students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., who are going to try to get our gun laws changed. I hope their actions to stop gun violence spread to all our schools nationwide, and all students march on Washington to get assault weapons banned.
It was the students in this country who led the way back in the late '60s and early '70s to an earlier end of the Vietnam war. Now my hope is placed in the arms of today's students to ban assault weapons such as the AR-15.
There is absolutely no reason for anybody other than our military or our law enforcement personnel to own such a weapon. None.
In April 1996, a 28-year-old man armed with semiautomatic rifles entered a cafe in the small Australian town of Port Arthur, shot and killed 35 people and injured 23 others. It was the worst mass shooting in Australian history.
The day after the massacre, the country's prime minister, John Howard, started to put together the most sweeping gun control reforms ever contemplated by any Australian government.
The country passed the National Firearms Agreement, which banned automatic, semi-automatic and pump-action shotguns. It also introduced a stricter system for licensing and owning guns. The agreement is considered one of the strictest gun laws in the world.
It took just 14 days after the Port Arthur massacre for gun laws to be proposed and then passed by the Australian government. The Australian government had the will and determination to get this done. Our government should have the will and determination to get this done.
The only reason why not? The gun lobby, including the NRA. One senator alone - Marco Rubio - has received $3,303,355 in campaign contributions throughout his career from the gun lobby.
As long as these shootings and deaths continue the blood is on the hands of every senator and congressman who does nothing.
Jim Berrigan
Lewes
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