Illustrator Matthew Armitage visits Florida.
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What students think about school shootings. A Vox video.
More:
“Parkland Students: Our manifesto to fix America’s gun laws,” The Guardian
Follow the March for Our Lives with the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High Eagle Eye
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In the February 14th school shooting in Parkland Florida, 17 people were killed with an AR-15 type rifle, legally purchased by an 18-year-old American citizen too young to legally buy beer. It has long been known that the assault-style AR-15, which the NRA calls “America’s Rifle,” is the mass killer’s weapon of choice. After an assault-style weapon killed 5 children at a school in Stockton California in 1994, Congress passed a ban on the civilian sale of semi-automatic assault-style firearms and high-capacity magazines, but the law was allowed to expire in 2004. Since then, such massacres have increased 183 percent with a 239 percent increase in massacre deaths.
After 2004, U.S. gun manufacturers re-branded variants of the military-derived AR-15 as the “Modern Sporting Rifle” even though the gun is terrible for hunting. It was designed to do maximum damage to the human body. Just ask Dean L. Winslow, MD.
It’s not just this Florida school shooting. Assault-style rifles have been used in recent mass killings in Aurora Colorado (22 dead), Newtown Connecticut (26 dead), Santa Monica California (6 dead), Colorado Springs (3 dead), San Bernardino (14 dead), Orlando (49 dead), Las Vegas Nevada (58 dead), Roseburg Oregon (9 dead), and Sutherland Springs Texas (26 dead).
Is it time to bring back the assault weapon ban? The surviving students at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School seem to think so. The Second Amendment shouldn’t be a suicide pact. The Founding Fathers never saw an AR-15.
More:
“The AR-15: ‘America’s rifle’ or illegitimate killing machine?” Marc Fisher, Washington Post
“Mass shootings are getting deadlier. And the latest ones all have something new in common: The AR-15,” Matt Pearce, Lost Angeles Times
“Nothing in the Constitution Prevents Sensible Gun Rules,” Cass R. Sunstein, Bloomberg
“Laws we used to have on the books could have prevented the Florida school shooting,” Robert J. Spitzer, Washington Post
“No one becomes a mass shooter without a mass-shooting gun,” George Skelton, Los Angeles Times
“Top GOP Donor Cuts Off Opponents of Assault Weapon Ban,” Chas Danner, New York Magazine
“Shooting survivors to press for gun control,” AP via ABC News
“Florida school shooting: Students demand tighter gun controls,” BBC News
“Florida high school superintendent shares calls for ‘commonsense gun laws,’” Josh Delk, The Hill
“Florida massacre: Broward Sheriff Scott Israel’s plea for gun control,” Kyle Swenson, Washington Post
“Ex-CIA chief: Congress must act now to block access to semiautomatic weapons,” Jacqueline Thomsen, The Hill
“A Republican Governor Just Called for a Ban on Assault Weapons,” Dan Friedman, Mother Jones
“At vigil for Florida shooting victims, students who survived the attack chant, ‘No more guns!'” Catherine Garcia, The Week
“Stoneman Douglas survivors are emerging as the sanest voices on gun control,” Karen Hao, Quartz
“Murdoch’s New York Post shifts on assault-weapons ban, after Florida school shooting,” Callum Borchers, Washington Post
“All the things Fox News blamed the Parkland shooting on other than the gun,” Adam Epstein, Quartz
“Florida students protest Trump, NRA,” Morgan Gstalter, The Hill
“Surviving Teens of Parkland Massacre Tell NRA to Shove Its ‘Thoughts and Prayers,’ and Plan March on Washington,” Angela Helm, The Root
“Shooting survivor to NRA: ‘Don’t you dare come back here,’” Rebecca Savransky, The Hill
“Shooting suspect was on school rifle team that got NRA grant,” Michael Biesecker and Collin Binkley, Associated Press
“Outside NRA headquarters, hundreds gather in vigil and protest,” Clarence Williams, Washington Post
“NRA Goes Quiet on Twitter, Just Like After Previous Mass Shootings,” Matt Novak, Gismodo
“FBI investigating whether Russian money went to NRA to help Trump,” Peter Stone and Greg Gordon, McClatchy News
“NRA contributions: how much money is spent on lawmakers?” Lauren Gambino, The Guardian
“Have your representatives in Congress received donations from the NRA?” Aaron Williams, Washington Post
“Lawmakers use campaign funds for NRA dues,” Ben Wieder, McClatchy News
“The NRA’s step-by-step playbook for responding to a mass shooting,” Heather Timmons, Quartz
Updates:
“Five types of gun laws the Founding Fathers loved,” Saul Cornell, The Conversation
“Florida shooting survivor: We should call AR-15s ‘Marco Rubio’ because they’re both easy to buy,” Brandon Carter, The Hill
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17 are dead and at least 15 others wounded at a Florida high school after a former student returned to campus with an assault rifle on Wednesday. This is the 18th school shooting in the first 45 days of 2018. Wednesday’s school shooting in Broward County’s Parkland is the 10th deadliest mass shooting in modern US history. So far. The Republican congress continues working to further weaken America’s gun laws.
Wednesday’s alleged high school shooter, a former JROTC member who was on the school rifle team, showed obvious signs of instability while he was still a student, according to former classmates: “All he would talk about is guns, knives and hunting.” “I’ve seen him wear a Trump hat.”
More:
“Florida School Shooting: ‘No Words’ as 17 Die in a Barrage of Bullets,” Audra D.S. Burch and Patricia Mazzei, New York Times
“17 People Died In The Parkland Shooting. Here Are Their Names,” Laurel Wamsley, NPR
“Trump, Who Made It Easier for Mentally Ill People to Buy Guns, Blames Mental Health Issues for Florida Shooting,” Inae Oh, Mother Jones
“Trump Calls For Mental Health Action After Shooting; His Budget Would Cut Programs,” Vanessa Romo, NPR
“President Trump’s Victim-Blaming Response to the Mass Shooting in Florida,” Amy Davidson Sorkin, The New Yorker
“White House refuses to release photo of Trump gun law repeal,” BBC News
“American Carnage,” Conor Friedersdorf, The Atlantic
“Student who survived Florida shooting pleads with Trump and Congress: ‘Please, take action,’” Kristine Phillips, Washington Post
“Teacher who survived school shooting breaks down in tears calling for gun control,” Rebecca Savransky, The Hill
“School safety money would be slashed in Trump budget,” Kimberly Hefling, Politico
“Report: Florida Shooting Suspect Nikolas Cruz Passed Background Check for AR-15,” Daily Beast
“Most Americans can buy an AR-15 rifle before they can buy beer,” Lois Beckett, The Guardian
“The AR-15: ‘America’s rifle’ or illegitimate killing machine?” Marc Fisher, Washington Post
“All the things Fox News blamed the Parkland shooting on other than the gun,” Adam Epstein, Quartz
“Laws we used to have on the books could have prevented the Florida school shooting,” Robert J. Spitzer, Washington Post
“It’s time to bring back the assault weapons ban, gun violence experts say,” Christopher Ingraham, Washington Post
“Shooting suspect was on school rifle team that got NRA grant,” Michael Biesecker and Collin Binkley, Associated Press
“After Sandy Hook we said never again. And then we let 1,607 mass shootings happen.” German Lopez, Ryan Mark and Soo Oh, Vox
“After Sandy Hook, More Than 400 People Have Been Shot in Over 200 School Shootings,” Jugal K. Patel, New York Times
“The normalization of America’s school shootings, in one chart,” Ana Campoy, Quartz
“After Sandy Hook, More Than 400 People Have Been Shot in Over 200 School Shootings,” Jugal K. Patel, New York Times
“This is America: 9 out of 10 public schools now hold mass shooting drills for students,” Alexia Fernández Campbell, Vox
“‘No Way To Prevent This,’ Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens,” The Onion
“Before FL Shooting, NRA Posted Valentine Featuring Guns And Bullets,” Cristina Cabrera, TPM Livewire
“The NRA Is a Terrorist Organization,” Michael Harriot, The Root
“The gun lobby: See how much your representative gets,” Tyler Fisher, Sarah Frostenson, and Lily Mihalik, Politico
“The NRA’s step-by-step playbook for responding to a mass shooting,” Heather Timmons, Quartz
Related:
“Five types of gun laws the Founding Fathers loved,” Saul Cornell, The Conversation
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In an anti-immigrant rant during a meeting with members of Congress, serial bankrupt, racist isolationist, and U.S. President Donald Trump referred to Haiti and African nations as “sh*thole countries.” Mr. Trump then left Washington for his private Palm Beach resort (membership fee: $200,000). This season that Florida club, Mar-a-Lago, hired 70 foreign workers through the H-2B visa program. Where are many of those Mar-a-Lago workers from?
Oui, Haiti.
More:
“Trump asked why the US needs more Haitians. Mar-a-Lago may hold the answer,” Christina Wilkie, CNBC
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“Florida Christian School in Miami put a few order forms on its website to make school supply shopping easier. Parents can purchase their children T-shirts bearing the school’s logo or some snugly winter wear. Or, for $120, they can buy them bullet-resistant panels designed to slip into their backpacks in case of a school shooting.”
— “Florida school lets parents buy bulletproof panels for students to put in backpacks,” Travis M. Andrews, Washington Post
More:
“It weighs less than a book and can stop a bullet. It’s a backpack option at Miami school.” Alex Harris, Miami Herald
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Republican Bettina Rodriguez Aguilera, a former Doral city council member, is running for the House seat of retiring Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. Ms. Rodriguez Aguilera is uniquely qualified to represent the Sunshine State, as she has secret knowledge telepathically transmitted to her by the tall blond-haired space aliens who took her aboard their spaceship when she was 7 years old.
Palm Beach County gave Donald Trump tax breaks when he bought Mar-a-Lago, but his weekend trips to the “Winter White House” are breaking the county’s budget. A typical Donald Trump visit costs the county more than $60,000 a day for police overtime, and the county estimated its costs for Trump’s visit with Chinese President Xi Jinping at over $250,000. That’s why County Commissioner Dave Kerner is proposing a tax on Mar-a-Lago to cover the costs. It’s that or increased taxes for local residents, whose lives are already disrupted by the president’s weekend golf jaunts.
Of course the Trump Administration could reimburse the county and add that to the $3 million in federal tax dollars each Mar-a-Lago trip costs all of us.
More:
“‘He’s baaaack!’: Trump’s visits to Mar-a-Lago are stretching Palm Beach’s budget and locals’ patience,” Abby Phillip and Lori Rozsa, Washington Post
“Palm Beach official proposes Mar-a-Lago tax to pay for Trump visits,” Brooke Seipe, The Hill
Related:
“Trump has spent one out of every five minutes of his presidency in Palm Beach,” Philip Bump, Washington Post
“GOP Senator: ‘I Do Wish’ Trump Would Host State Visits In DC, Not Mar-A-Lago,” Esme Cribb, TPM Livewire
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In Florida this month, members of President Trump’s pricy Mar-a-Lago club got some extras in the dining room‘s kitchen: Fish parasites, unrefrigerated raw meats, and more. Mar-a-Lago was cited for a total of 13 health code violations.
But Palm Beach is no Las Vegas. The Trump steakhouse there, DJT, was cited for 51 health code violations in 2012.
More:
“Undercooled meat. Dangerous fish. Health inspectors ding Trump’s Mar-a-Lago kitchen,” José Lambiet, Miami Herald
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Spending weekends at a private Florida club is “part of being president,” according to White House spokescreature Sean Spicer. Each weekend of presidential golf and steaks with ketchup at Mar-a-Lago is said to cost U.S. taxpayers about $3 million. For what Trump’s trips have cost to date, Meals on Wheels could feed 5,967 seniors for a year.
