Congress refuses to pass gun control.  The FBI failed to follow up a tip about Cruz.  35 times the local police were called to Cruz’s home.  The Department of Children and Families closed Nikolas Cruz’s case, stating the “final level of risk is low”.

This man/boy fell through every safety net that was supposed to help him, protect the school, and prevent the needless killing of 17 teachers and students at Marjory Stoneham Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.  The students are rightfully turning their rage into action, and telling it like it is.  They are brave, bright, articulate, and determined.  They are also amazingly social media savvy.

David Hogg, a senior, courageously recorded the assault, and interviewed other students while they were all hiding in a closet.  It went viral, and was picked up by the mainstream media. As he looked directly at the camera, later, he said: “We’re children.  You guys are the adults….get something done.”  At an ABC interview at home today, he said: “If this was my last moment, I was going to die doing something I love.”  How many people can do or say something so thoughtful and powerful?

At a rally three days after the massacre, senior Emma Gonzalez gave an impassioned speech that has also gone viral.  “The people in the government….are lying to us, and us kids are prepared to call  [it] BS.  They say tougher gun laws do not decrease gun violence – we call BS.  They say a good guy with a gun stops a bad guy with a gun – we call BS….  That us kids don’t know what we’re talking about, that we’re too young to understand how the government works – we call BS.”  When interviewed later,  she said: “This is my whole world now.  I cannot allow myself to stop talking about this.”

There were many other brave and articulate students, as well, that I haven’t had a chance to mention here. But it looks like they will form the phalanx of an important gun control movement.  A national march is scheduled for March 24th.

Please contact your congressman and let him know you support gun control, and reference this school shooting and it’s brave kids. You can also donate to: Everytown For Gun Safety, at www.everytown.org.  As of three days ago, they had already collected $800,000.  You can also contribute to the Brady Campaign To Prevent Gun Violence at www.BradyCampaign.org.  Or check out other organizations.  The point, as these students are telling us, is to do something, whatever suits your personality best.

Will the furor die down, as time passes, as congress hopes it will? Yes, I’m sure it will.  But these students are determined, and have no intention of letting things go.  They’ve seen too much, and know too much.  This has legs, and I wouldn’t bet that this is the end of it.  More power to them!