Jason Crow
Last night, gun control activists and the teachers union held a vigil in the aftermath of the Highlands Ranch STEM school shooting. The vigil was meant to honor 18-year old Kendrick Castillo, who died a hero trying to stop a gun man in his school, but instead turned into a student protest demanding that they be allowed to grieve. For example, They invited just about everyone to speak except the students themselves.
Here’s who was invited to speak: Democratic U.S. Senator-turned-presidential candidate Michael Bennet and Democratic Rep. Jason Crow, who spouted support for gun control legislation. According to USAToday, students in the crowd pushed back yelling “political stunt” and “we are people, not a statement.”
We’re not going to take this post to a political place by arguing whether gun control or mental health is the solution. But what kind of world do we live in where high school students have more emotional intelligence than a group of adults?
The gun control activists, the Brady Campaign for Gun Control and Moms Demand Action, held a political rally disguised as a grief vigil in honor of the victim before anyone had even had a chance to grieve. These people are allegedly parents. How could they have not known this was a terrible idea? When did pushing a political agenda become more important than addressing the emotional and mental needs of a community in shock and devastated by the loss of life?
Words cannot condemn strongly enough how poor a showing this was. Regardless of where you stand on gun control, every adult should be able to condemn a group of parents – and politicians (looking at you Michael Bennet and Jason Crow) – who use kids to advance a political agenda at a time like this.