Who is standing up for those kids?

"Those parents lost little kids. I had 20 years with my son. That's all I'll ever have," he said. "But those people lost their children at 6 and 7 years old. How do you think they feel? And who's talking to them now, who's doing anything for them now? Who is standing up for those kids that died back then in an elementary school? Why wasn't something done? It's outrageous."

Rebel Girl suspects that everyone who works at the colleges has been thinking about those students and their families and friends today - and of course, our own students.

We should, of course, do more than think about them. We need to act.

Among the actions Reb took this morning was to call the local office and the D.C. office of Congressman John Campbell and make the suggestion that now is the time for Campbell to revisit his position on gun control.  She reminded the people who took her call that Campbell, of course, has a UC campus in his district. The congressman, it should be noted, has yet to make any statement.

Call and ask that he do so.  It takes about ten minutes tops.

(949) 756-2244
(202) 225-5611

Rebel Girl is always surprised at how many people have never called their congressional representative.  You should. We pay them after all.  It's supposed to be about US, not them.  Today  make it about us.  Better yet, make it about those students.

When Rebel Girl drops off her little guy at his elementary school, she walks by those parents who still shepherd their kindergarteners and first graders to class - and wait with them for the teachers to arrive.  Reb remembers when she used to do that.  She couldn't leave until she had seen him safely into the classroom.   Once, for a brief time, Reb worked as teacher's aide in a kindergarten and she used to volunteer in her son's.  She knows what those rooms are like, the tiny desks, the bulletin boards covered with the handmade work of young children, the teacher's desk, the floor where the students sit cross-legged gather to hear a story.   Now, every day, when she walks by those classes, she cannot help it, she thinks of Sandy Hook. Every day. Without fail. Sometimes longer, sometimes shorter.  But every day. Flashes. What it must have been like in those classrooms. Sometime she thinks if they had released photographs of the classrooms which had become, within minutes (minutes!) horrific crime scenes, maybe that would help. She knows that would be disrespectful, in poor taste - but she wonders what it will take to move people, a nation to really look at the human cost of gun control policies.

Sandy Hook vigil at Irvine High School. 2/15/12

Consider joining the vigil tonight at Aldrich Park at U.C. Irvine.  7 pm. All are welcome.

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What is Campbell's position on gun control?  Here are the main points of a bill he co-sponsored:
Ban gun registration & trigger lock law in Washington D.C.

Nothing in any provision of law shall authorize the Mayor, or any governmental authority of the District of Columbia, to prohibit possessing firearms by a person who is allowed to possess firearms under federal law.
Denies the District any authority to enact laws or regulations that discourage or eliminate the private ownership or use of firearms.
Repeals the ban on semiautomatic weapons.
Repeals the District's registration requirement for possession of firearms.
Repeals the trigger lock law.
Maintains the current ban on the possession and control of a sawed-off shotgun, machine gun, or short-barreled rifle.
Eliminates criminal penalties for possessing an unregistered firearm.
Specifies exceptions to the prohibition against carrying concealed weapons in the District.

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From the May 22 Lariat:

A review of free speech policies on Saddleback College’s campus

     Two vendors collecting signatures for same-sex marriage and the legalization and decriminalization of marijuana were asked to leave Saddleback College last March, on Senior Day, an event held for prospective high school students….