Donald Trump and the NRA should tremble in their cowboy boots, because America’s blindness to school shootings is set to be challenged amid the rise of women in politics, writes Susan Dalgety.
It is Memorial Day weekend in the States, an annual event when the nation remembers all those who have died in battle.
NEWTOWN, CT - DECEMBER 20: Boy scouts salute as a funeral procession for Benjamin Wheeler, 6, enters the Trinity Episcopal Church on December 20, 2012 in Newtown, Connecticut. Benjamin, a member of Tiger Scout Den 6, was killed when 20 children and six adults were massacred at Sandy Hook Elementary School last Friday. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)
On Monday, across the county, the Stars and Stripes will fly at half-mast until noon, when they are raised high again. There will be a Memorial Day concert at the US Capitol, and at three in the afternoon, the country will fall silent as it pays respect to those who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.
Only this year, perhaps other victims of war will be remembered, not just the 58,000 Americans who died in the Vietnam War, or the 13 members of the US military who have been killed so far this year while on deployment.
But perhaps – hopefully – the country will also say a silent prayer for the 27 children slaughtered this year while they sat at their school desks. The Sante Fe High School shooting, where nine students and one teacher were murdered in cold blood by a fellow student running amok with his father’s gun, is the latest tragedy to hit young America.
The response to this carnage is far more muted
