Student editors at Parkland high school's Eagle Eye newspaper write gun-reform manifesto

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https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/3/24/1751720/-Student-editors-at-Parkland-high-school-s-Eagle-Eye-newspaper-write-gun-reform-manifesto


Student editors at Parkland high school's Eagle Eye newspaper write gun-reform manifesto
By Meteor Blades
Saturday Mar 24, 2018 · 2:48 PM EDT


The Guardian made some of the student organizers of the March for Our Lives partners in, and guest editors of, the newspaper’s extensive coverage of the run-up to the march and today’s focus on this stirring, gigantic, and hopefully narrative-changing turnout.

As part of The Guardian’s coverage, the editorial staff of the Eagle Eye, the student paper at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School wrote what they call “Our manifesto to fix America’s gun laws.”

Nearly every item in the manifesto represents a direct confrontation with the National Rifle Association, once a group focused on gun safety and sensible gun restrictions long since converted into a right-wing gun lobby devoted to selling more firearms and weakening existing gun laws from coast to coast.

Here are some excerpts [Each of the bullet points includes details at the link]:

We have a unique platform not only as student journalists, but also as survivors of a mass shooting. We are firsthand witnesses to the kind of devastation that gross incompetence and political inaction can produce. We cannot stand idly by as the country continues to be infected by a plague of gun violence that seeps into community after community, and does irreparable damage to the hearts and minds of the American people.

That’s why the Eagle Eye has come together and proposed these following changes to gun policy. We believe federal and state governments must put these in place to ensure that mass shootings and gun violence cease to be a staple of American culture. [...]

The changes we propose:

Ban semi-automatic weapons that fire high-velocity rounds [...]
Ban accessories that simulate automatic weapons [...]
Establish a database of gun sales and universal background checks [...]
Change privacy laws to allow mental healthcare providers to communicate with law enforcement [...]
Close gun show and secondhand sales loopholes [...]
Allow the CDC to make recommendations for gun reform [...]
Raise the firearm purchase age to 21 [...]
Dedicate more funds to mental health research and professionals [...]
Increase funding for school security

All but perhaps that final two items are going to face immense opposition whether the focus is Congress or state legislatures. As those marchers are saying: politicians who don’t get the message today should expect to get a message from voters in November.

[RandomAccess]

1. Ya gotta start somewhere !