Gun violence
On March 24, the Democratic Club of Queen Anne’s County sponsored a bus so that fellow county citizens could participate in the Washington, D.C., March for Our Lives rally. We are proud to have joined the 2 million Americans who rallied and marched that Saturday. All of us felt the energy of the group and the sorrow of family members who have lost a loved one to gun violence.
We wanted to send a message that it’s time to address school safety and gun violence in our communities. Simplistic solutions like banning guns will not work. Maryland has some of the most restrictive gun laws, and yet we had the shooting at a high school in St. Mary’s County.
We Democrats[1] are often accused of attempting to take away Second Amendment rights. That is not what Queen Anne’s Democrats are about. Most of our club members own firearms. They hunt or shoot for sport. Rhetoric that dismisses concerns in the name of preserving the Second Amendment is a way to avoid addressing the issue.
Many of our Republican friends would agree that they want safe schools and communities. This is not a partisan issue. It is about assuring a safe environment for our children and even for our grand- and great-grandchildren.
Citizens of Queen Anne’s County have two choices: turn our backs and hope it does not happen here or address the issue. We can applaud our state’s elected officials for recent attempts to provide funding to address the issue, but we all know meaningful change occurs only when it is local. So why are we waiting?
