by Jeanne Marie Schnupp |
I’m not a rabble-rouser. I don’t run from one protest march to another.
So why did I take the first nice Saturday afternoon after a series of snow storms to go to Patchogue and join a group of people I don’t know to walk around Main Street chanting slogans?
Because there comes a time when you just can’t sit back and shake your head in disbelief. At some point you have to speak up, because to not do so makes you complicit.
As a former teacher, I was charged with following various guidelines for emergencies. With each successive school shooting, the rules changed – window shades up; then down. Kids huddle under desks; then in a corner.
Use secret code words; then not. What didn’t change each time was that I was preparing my students not to learn and grow, but duck and hide to try to survive a crazed person or people with a gun.
In all the years of lockdown/lockout drills since Columbine, that preparation hasn’t saved students in schools at Sandy Hook or Parkland. And what also hasn’t changed is that assault rifles and guns are still getting into the hands of people they shouldn’t.
Right after Parkland, I was stopped in my car for a school bus picking up young children. I looked at the parents and saw anxiety. I thought back to when I sent my own children off to kindergarten. Back then, the thought never crossed my mind that they might get shot while sitting at their desks.
They never worried about it either.
So I made my sign, put on my sneakers and off I went. I was surprised and encouraged by just how many others felt the same way as the crowd outside Congressman Lee Zeldin’s office grew and grew. People of all ages and walks of life; people who wanted to say out loud that enough is enough, and it’s time to take some action.
No one asked if you were Republican or Democrat. No one cared.
What we all agreed on is that our lawmakers must care, not about what their donors want, but about what their voters want — to end such violence by taking responsibility and common sense steps.
Assault weapons have no place in a civilized society; ban future sales of them. People considered too young to buy alcohol or cigarettes are too young to buy guns.
Before getting a license to drive, you have to be tested to prove you are responsible and capable enough to drive safely.
If people want the privilege of owning a gun, they should agree to a background check to show if there’s any reason to think they may not use it safely. Simple steps. No radical amendment changes, just employing common sense moves to protect children and American citizens.
At the rally in Patchogue on March 24, a young girl said, “I shouldn’t be afraid to go to school.”
No, she should not.
Top: Marchers outside Congressman Lee Zeldin’s offices on Oak Street Saturday. (Credit Jeanne Schnupp
