Editorial:
Not One More! was the message that Richard Martinez wants to spread from Isla Vista to Washington DC to move politicians toward passing stricter gun control laws.
Unless you have been in the mountains camping with no means of communication for the past week or so, you know that Richard Martinez’ son, Christopher Michaels-Martinez, was one of six students tragically killed when Elliot Rodger went on a killing spree in Isla Vista community near the University of California at Santa Barbara. At the time of the shooting, Christopher was standing in a deli.
On the day following the shooting death of his son, Richard Martinez went before the media and stated: “Our family has a message for every parent out there: You don’t think it’ll happen to your child until it does. His death has left our family lost and broken. Why did Chris die? Chris died because of craven, irresponsible politicians and NRA. They talk about gun rights. What about Chris’s right to live? When will this insanity stop?”
Elliot Rodger had enough ammunition for a massacre — 41 magazines with 10 rounds each.
Will the politicians do anything in the wake of this tragedy? Mostly likely not!
This tragedy follows on the heels of the Sandy Hook killings, Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who was severally wounded in a 2011 assassination attempt, the Mall in Columbia, Md., the infamous Columbine High School massacre. All these and many others have done very little to change the attitudes or gun laws in our nation.
Closer to home, a week ago at Hilltop High School in Chula Vista, a student walked onto campus with a loaded hand gun, showing it off in class, and said he could use it to shoot someone at school. That came on the heels of an 11 year-old who brought a gun, in January, to Feaster Elementary.
Fortunately, there was no shooting in either incident, but it is disturbing the ease with which these children are able to get their hands on guns and bring them on campus. In the case of the Hilltop student, he brought the gun from his father’s house. The father is a convicted felon, and police found several guns in his home that the student had access to. It is illegal for a felon to be in possession of a gun, but this didn’t seem to be much of a hindrance.
As Richard Martinez stated: “There’s no playbook for this. We don’t know what we are doing [in speaking up against gun violence]. I just know I have to keep fighting until something changes. The most precious thing in the world has been taken from me. What else can I do?”
Martinez is urging the public to join him in demanding “immediate action” from members of Congress and President Obama to curb gun violence by passing stricter gun-control laws.
“Today, I’m going to ask every person I can find to send a postcard to every politician they can think of with three words on it: ‘Not one more.’ I’m asking people to stand up for something. Enough is enough.”
That is the least we can do, send a postcard to your elected representative, maybe, just maybe something will change!