Bill Morgan’s phrase “as nobel [sic] an institution as the NRA” prods me into action. I cannot let his trashing of the noble Parkland students stand without correcting at least some of it.

 

David Hogg is a student at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School and was there during the shooting. As confirmed by reliable news sources, Hogg took videos and interviewed fellow students while in lockdown. 

 

The Second Amendment does not prohibit gun control. For 70 years, the right to bear arms was interpreted to mean that states have the right to have militias. In 2008, Justice Antonin Scalia wrote the Supreme Court’s decision that introduced another interpretation of the Second Amendment—that individuals have the right to own firearms. But Scalia approved of “laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms,” exactly what the Parkland students promote.

 

The National Rifle Association did have a noble history of teaching safe gun use. But in 1977 rebels took over and turned the NRA from a promoter of proper firearm use to a powerful lobby for unlimited sale of firearms. 

 

I admire the Parkland teens for giving the country hope of checking the NRA’s power.