By Riona Mackey-Wood If you heard about a 78 year old woman living in Florida, you’d think nothing of it. Many people retire to Florida around that age. In the case of Marion Hammer, retirement is not on her mind. Making $206,000 in 2016 for 5 hours/week is seemingly too good an income to just retire. Hammer was the NRA’s first female president from 1995 to 1998. Over the past four decades, she’s been a Florida gun lobbyist writing laws behind the scenes (which isn’t actually legal). As the most influential gun lobbyist in the country, she continues to use her influence to reject any and all attempts at gun control. Despite the recent Parkland High School shooting, Hammer is seeking to block attempts to raise the minimum gun ownership age to 21, as well as a three-day waiting period before the buyers can take possession of their guns. Florida already has some of the loosest gun laws in the country. Hammer has written parts of most of these loose gun laws, such as the 2005 law giving a person the ability to use deadly force if they are “afraid of their safety.” As well as working towards laws that are favorable to the NRA, she also silences oppositional voices. Marion Hammer is not the president. Marion Hammer is not a senator. Marion Hammer is not a lawmaker. So why does she have so much influence? Her web of influence has been somehow weaved so intricately into the Floridian state system that any type of gun control almost immediately gets shot down. Despite her somehow growing influence, the Parkland shooting victims refuse to be silenced by the extremely loose gun laws or the NRA. Many companies since February 14th have cut ties with the non-responsive NRA in favor of stricter gun laws. As Emma Gonzalez said, “All we are aiming for here is stricter gun laws that make it harder for people to get guns (because it shouldn't be easier than getting a driver’s license) and the removal of Military Grade Weapons from Civilian Society.” In any case, Military Grade Weapons shouldn’t be available to civilians, let alone civilians that have been flagged by the FBI. Nikolas Cruz legally bought an assault rifle and killed 17 people, despite being flagged. Fighting for gun control is what we all need to do in order to secure our own safety in school. Parents are responsible for the safety of their children, and as they are the ones that send us to school, we should be guaranteed to be safe there. Boycott the NRA! Photos Courtesy Of: Flickr.com
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Elena Caputo
Hi! My name is Elena, and I'm a senior at Wilson and one of the Editors of the Editorial section. If you have any questions or ideas or if you want to write, email me at [email protected]! Olivia MonosHello! My name is Olivia and I'm a junior this year, and one of the editors of the Editorial section! I'm really excited to write for the Paw Print again this year!
Archives
December 2019
Categories |