On Wednesday, thousands of students marched out of class to protest the country’s inaction on gun control, marking one month since the Parkland, Fla., shooting that left 17 people dead.
The event, summarized by the hashtag “National Walkout Day,” attracted big-name speakers like House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.
Sanders, in particular, literally got mobbed by the sea of young people screaming and cheering his name.
“it’s bernie fucking sanders!” pic.twitter.com/WomyJSJ0gx
— Emma Roller (@emmaroller) March 14, 2018
Ironically, Sanders had armed security guards escort him through the crowd so he could make a speech about gun control legislation.
“We are very proud of what you are doing. You, the young people of this country, are leading the nation,” Sanders told the crowd. “All across the country, people are sick and tired of gun violence, and the time is now for all of us together to stand up to the NRA and to pass commonsense gun legislation.”
During the 2016 presidential election, Sanders separated himself from would-be Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton by being more pro-gun between the two. During a primary debate in March 2016, Sanders rebuked the proposal that would allow individuals to sue gun manufacturers if they purchased a firearm legally and it was then used to commit an act of violence.
“If they are selling a product to a person who buys it legally, what you’re really talking about is ending gun manufacturing in America. I don’t agree with that,” Sanders said to Clinton.
Sanders’ comment even earned him praise from the same organization that he is currently fighting, the National Rifle Association.
Sen. Sanders was spot-on in his comments about gun manufacturer liability/PLCAA https://t.co/nDjEerjkgB #DemDebate pic.twitter.com/jEScbMDFt4
— NRA (@NRA) March 7, 2016
Sanders isn’t particularly vilified by the NRA. His rating with the organization has ranged from an F to as high as a C-. His most recent rating is a D-. Obviously, it’s not a great rating, but it shows that he has no problem bucking the Democratic Party line on gun control.
Still, National Walkout Day protesters certainly had no problem with Sanders’ fluctuating NRA rating, probably because this is one of the first political protests they’re taking part in.
Most importantly, with respect to selective outrage over guns, Democrats and gun control advocates come out of the woodwork anytime there’s a mass shooting whether it’s at a school or a nightclub, etc.
However, the problem with only being outraged over mass shootings is that they’re incredibly rare. According to FiveThirtyEight, out of the 33,000 people who are fatally shot every year in the United States, two-thirds are from suicide.
Six thousand men between the ages of 15 to 34 are killed in gun homicides each year – two-thirds of them are African-American. In 2017, there were over 600 homicides and 2,700 shootings in Chicago, which was better than in 2016.
Where is the outrage over gun deaths that come from suicide, domestic violence, or even street and gang violence? There are far more people who die from these particular acts of violence than people murdered in mass shootings. Yet, gun control advocates seem to be uninterested in the acts of violence that never get wall-to-wall coverage.
It’s good that young people are getting civically engaged for the first time, but it shouldn’t take a mass shooting for thousands of students to walk out of their classrooms outraged over the level of violence in our society.
