At 10 a.m. on Wednesday, students across Ohio walked out of schools to pay tribute to the 17 people killed — 14 of them teenagers — in last month’s gun massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
In this same hour, a National Rifle Association spokeswoman sent an email to Ohio journalists with this subject line: “OH — pro-Second Amendment HS students to counter gun control protests.”
Here we go.
Amy Hunter’s email began:
“Hi Ohio reporters– “With all the protests today, I wanted to make sure you all had contact information for some high school kids in Ohio who feel strongly about protecting the Second Amendment. They are happy to talk to reporters.”
She provided the cellphone number for the father of a girl, as well as the number for a father of “two teen age kids.” She also included her cell and office numbers, both with a northern Virginia area code.
Her email arrived within minutes of my return from covering the peaceful student walkout at Theodore Roosevelt High School in Kent, Ohio. I responded with a simple question: “Ms. Hunter, how are the nationwide student protests threatening the Second Amendment?”
Her response: “Hi Connie — I didn’t say that they were. These are just the names of two students in Ohio who feel strongly about protecting the second amendment. The protests are covered extensively, so it’s timely.”
Where to start.
In her response, Hunter changed the number of students available for interviews. First it was three; then it was two. She also failed this time to capitalize her beloved Second Amendment. I’ll cut her a little slack, as these were likely mistakes of haste. That can happen when you’re so busy trying to undermine tens of thousands of teenagers, state by state, one time zone at a time.
What I won’t overlook is Hunter’s failure even to acknowledge why these high school students were protesting and her attempts to mischaracterize their mission.
As a columnist, I’ve been writing about the need for better gun safety laws for 16 years now, so I’m accustomed to the dishonest tactics of the NRA. Trying to discredit protesting teenagers, however — and only a month after 14 of their own were gunned down — exposes a new low of desperation. It also illustrates why the NRA is increasingly denounced as a terrorist organization. If you’re going to try to demonize kids speaking out against gun violence, you’ve lost whatever bit was left of your collective soul.
Their mission is apparent with even a cursory review of media coverage of Wednesday’s student protests. Students are scared and angry, and they are unwilling to be silent anymore for the simplest of horrible reasons: We have failed to protect our children, for decades.
On Sept. 16, 1963, the Ku Klux Klan bombed the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, killing four little black
