KHTS Radio Santa Clarita Radio – Santa Clarita News
Hundreds of students, community leaders and Santa Clarita residents gathered Saturday for the March for Our Lives, alongside demonstrators from across the country, to speak out for stricter gun laws in the wake of multiple school shootings.
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The Santa Clarita March for Our Lives event at Marketplace Park was part of a nationwide student-led political movement born in the wake of a deadly school shooting in Parkland, Florida.
Students, some as young as 10, spoke in front the crowd of almost 1,000 people to call upon lawmakers to pass gun legislation.
“Some people think we are too young to speak out on this issue,” Cassidy Bensko, a freshman at Valencia said. “Gun violence is now an everyday reality for students. This directly affects us.”
Samantha Armitage, a fifth grader at Emblem Elementary, talked about the fear and uncertainty felt by even the youngest students in the country.
“Every day when I wake up there’s a thought in my head: will today be my last?” Armitage said. “Will my school turn into the next Great Mills or Parkland?”
The local march is a part of the national demonstration in which hundreds of thousands of marchers have turned out, in the most ambitious show of force for stronger gun control policy since the Florida shooting.
The speakers called for a ban of “bump stocks” like the one used in Las Vegas, as well as stricter background checks for firearm purchases.
Former Santa Clarita Mayor Frank Ferry encouraged the students to not only pressure the federal government for change, but also local and state officials.
“You have to show the same outrage, the same passion at the local level. Your school boards, city council and state officials,” Ferry said. “That will create the energy and change at the federal level.”
The former teacher and principal also discussed the apathy and “short memories” some people have about the many school shootings in the U.S.
“Politicians want to wait us out, we won’t remember the outage we feel now a year from now, ” Ferry said. “It’s not a Democrat or Republican issue, it’s an issue of humanity.”
Newhall School Board member Christy Smith spoke on the increased security measures in the Santa Clarita elementary schools, and other schools in the valley.
“Every local school district has increased structural efforts aimed at securing our schools,” Smith said. “We have created fortresses we think psychologically makes us feel better, but are completely irrelevant until we control guns in this country.”
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You sure you want to say only 300. That photo says otherwise.
Kudos to Christy Smith for pointing out the huge effort to protect students at school in the SCV.
Frank Ferry tried to convince the crowd that both political parties were equally responsible for the lack of common sense gun laws.This is not true. Had he done his research, he would have learned that Republicans have successfully stopped many attempts by Democratic legislators to regulate firearms. Both parties are NOT the same regarding guns, environmental issues, the right to family planning services, and good paying jobs for the middle class. Ferry encouraged young people to get involved in local politics, all the while knowing that local politics has no ability to create legislation regarding guns; which was the point of the rally. All 3 of our local Democratic candidates running against Knight showed up and spoke. NOT 1 REPUBLICAN SHOWED UP, although they were invited. Where was someone from Knight’s office? The crowd was far greater than 300!! Where did you get that number? The kids know better than that.
According to the NRA, the March For Our Lives rallies across the nation were backed by “Violent Radicals.” Wrong- Violent Radicals is a good description of the murderous blood and money-soaked NRA.
And please do not call them kids. They are no longer kids. They lost that when the first shot rang out.
I am so proud tb in a community that supports keeping our children safe. I hope we never forget.
Anyone got a Dramamine?
WORLD MURDER STATISTICS
From the World Health Organization
The latest Murder Statistics for the world:
Murders per 100,000 citizens per year.
Honduras 91.6 (WOW!!)
El Salvador 69.2
Cote d’lvoire 56.9
Jamaica 52.2
Venezuela 45.1
Belize 41.4
US Virgin Islands 39.2
Guatemala 38.5
Saint Kitts and Nevis 38.2
Zambia 38.0
Uganda 36.3
Malawi 36.0
Lesotho 35.2
Trinidad and Tobago 35.2
Colombia 33.4
South Africa 31.8
Congo 30.8
Central African Republic 29.3
Bahamas 27.4
Puerto Rico 26.2
Saint Lucia 25.2
Dominican Republic 25.0
Tanzania 24.5
Sudan 24.2
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 22.9
Ethiopia 22.5
Guinea 22.5
Dominica 22.1
Burundi 21.7
Democratic Republic of the Congo 21.7
Panama 21.6
Brazil 21.0
Equatorial Guinea 20.7
Guinea-Bissau 20.2
Kenya 20.1
Kyrgyzstan 20.1
Cameroon 19.7
Montserrat 19.7
Greenland 19.2
Angola 19.0
Guyana 18.6
Burkina Faso 18.0
Eritrea 17.8
Namibia 17.2
Rwanda 17.1
Mexico 16.9
Chad 15.8
Ghana 15.7
Ecuador 15.2
North Korea 15.2
Benin 15.1
Sierra Leone 14.9
Mauritania 14.7
Botswana 14.5
Zimbabwe 14.3
Gabon 13.8
Nicaragua 13.6
French Guiana 13.3
Papua New Guinea 13.0
Swaziland 12.9
Bermuda 12.3
Comoros 12.2
Nigeria 12.2
Cape Verde 11.6
Grenada 11.5
Paraguay 11.5
Barbados 11.3
Togo 10.9
Gambia 10.8
Peru 10.8
Myanmar 10.2
Russia 10.2
Liberia 10.1
Costa Rica 10.0
Nauru 9.8
Bolivia 8.9
Mozambique 8.8
Kazakhstan 8.8
Senegal 8.7
Turks and Caicos Islands 8.7
Mongolia 8.7
British Virgin Islands 8.6
Cayman Islands 8.4
Seychelles 8.3
Madagascar 8.1
Indonesia 8.1
Mali 8.0
Pakistan 7.8
Moldova 7.5
Kiribati 7.3
Guadeloupe 7.0
Haiti 6.9
Timor-Leste 6.9
Anguilla 6.8
Antigua and Barbuda 6.8
Lithuania 6.6
Uruguay 5.9
Philippines 5.4
Ukraine 5.2
Estonia 5.2
Cuba 5.0
Belarus 4.9
Thailand 4.8
Suriname 4.6
Laos 4.6
Georgia 4.3
Martinique 4.2
And ………………………… …………….
The United States 4.2 !
ALL (109) of the countries above America have 100% gun bans.
Omitted on your list were 110 other countries.
Also, murder can be committed by means other than guns.
I call BS.
Having a 10 year old kid give a speech oon gun control is ridiculous. The mass shootings are a terrible thing. My son is in high school and I couldn’t imagine any kid going through what the Parkland Fl or any students have had to deal with asst any shooting. However, the outcry against the NRA and semi auto rifles is what leads me to believe this is a misguided effort against the 2nd amendment rights. Why isn’t there an outage over the lack of system breakdown from the school, local, state and federal law enforcement? This shooting could’ve been prevented. The real issue isn’t more laws against guns. We’ve got laws and one id’s that it’s illegal to kill. Did that stop this or any shooting? Name one law that would’ve stopped this shooting? We’ve got laws in place and those with evil intentions will find ways to kill if that’s what they want to do. Taking away my right to own a rifle or handgun doesn’t and won’t stop a thug from doing bad things. Why isn’t the media all over the shooting last week where a gunman got stopped after only 2 victims were shot? They on school officer responded and shot the gunman. He’s the one who died, not 17 others. Where’s all the news and support for the families of the 2 victims that were shot. It doesn’t fit the anti gun movement. How many of you have ever held a gun? How many of you have to hunt every year to provide meat for your family because disability benefits aren’t beneficial enough to provide meat for my family. Ever had your house broke into by 3 guys and threatening to kill you, rape your wife and daughter as long as they’re alive? I have lived that and luckily I was able to get my hands free and got to my weapon in time to prevent my family croon what wad going to be a horrific event. NOBODY got hurt that night and those 3 got 15 years in prison. I had every right to shoot but because I was able to get control of the situation I didn’t have to fire 1 bullet from my AR-15. That comes from training and practicing. Not one gun law would’ve prevented any of these shootings at a school. I’m for safer schools but not against the NRA or any guns being outlawed. CA has some off the toughest gun laws and yet still in Los Angeles still have a very high homicide rate compared to other cities with less restrictions on guns. Dont like guns don’t buy one but don’t try and take awash my right to defend my family and provide for them to the best of my ability. Have better security at schools like metal detectors, have a person at every unlocked gate or door but an open campus is a killers dream. Ever been to Burbank airport? We’re you terrified when you saw at least 2 armed guards at the entrance while you and your kids walked in? Bet the kids and you hardly if at all noticed them. Why can’t we have trained security at schools? They can get to know the students they don’t have to be robots. Get to the root of the problem line all the failures of the gov’t and school members. Remember, that’s who say they want to protect you and your kids yet they failed at every level. If you have a killer thinking armed security is on campus chances are they’ll choose another target knowing they could be stopped before they kill as many as they want. Don’t take my right away as you’re also giving up your right. Yep, think about that. Every time you take a right you give up a right. Hope you never have thugs threaten you or even worse shoot any kids at school or a mall or any unarmed place. Fix the problem and it’s not more gun laws. Look at how well the anti drug laws are working. Look at history and you’ll see gov’t after gov’t take away guns then slaughter millions. Exactly what gov’t wants, week people too defend against corruption and more gov’t power.
This is not a misguided attempt the undermine the second amendment but to keep people alive and how dare you say otherwise. Also wondering just why there should be an outrage over the “lack of system breakdown from the school…?” And you know damn well the founding fathers never envisioned the type of military killing machines we have today. Assault weapons never should have been allowed off the battlefields. I call BS.
If you’re old enough to be the target of a mass shooting, you’re old enough to have an opinion about it.
Kat, if you have any common sense you aren’t using it….
Thank you Emmett…you saved me a lot of typing. Well said…
Thank You, Emmett.
This is ridiculous! Get back to class ,maybe teach your kids to treat everyone with respect and make friends with everyone that way no kid feels like doing this sort of evil act upon his classmates.”parents ” and class mates are at fault not guns.
I agree about the kids these days, they lack manners these days. You treat people with respect , you get along better. These days you don’t hear manners from more than 50% of the kids these days. You don’t see children respect adults like they did when I grew up (and I’m not ancient), they don’t even respect their parents like they did when I grew up in this city. When I grew up here we didn’t see color or kids with a disability, you just saw kids you want to play with our hang out with. It all starts with the parent. If the parent doesn’t set the respect and manners in very early childhood, they are worse as teenagers and adults.
We need to start the cycle at a very early age, I did even as a single parent of 2 boys and I was always told how well behaved my children were. My oldest son was beaten up pretty bad by 2 young adults while standing up to protect a girl from being treated disrespectfully.
Don’t blame the gun, start at the parents.
We would be much better off having discussions about guns control (control doesn’t not mean taking away all your gun rights), bullying, and mental health….ALL of it. Not blaming parents and classmates like the posts above. But let’s be honest, bullying is not new. Kids having conflict is not new. Kids beating up other kids is not new. Don’t talk about “kids these days” not having manners. “Kids these days” just organized a successful, peaceful protest that included 2000+ community members. Our president should be the ultimate role model and he, an adult, surely does not model respect when he speaks about others. The Las Vegas shooting was done by and adult as were other mass shootings. Instead of placing blame, we need to look at ALL the factors. We need to look at gun access. We need to look at politicians willing to take money from the NRA & then refusing to even entertain the idea of making guns harder to get for people with mental illness, or banning AR style weapons. We need to talk about a national database. We need to talk about mental health. Don’t simplify the issue and state that people want to take away your 2nd amendment while then criticizing students for exercising their 1st amendment rights. No one wants to take away your guns. Banning military-style assault rifles will not leave you defenseless by any means. Keep your hunting rifle. Keep your pistol. If the government ever turns on us and you need to for a militia, you might need then. Then again the govt has nukes so… Guns are part of the problem. We need to recognize that and put laws and protocols in place to protect the people of the United States.
If you think “kids” were the main people to organize theses events you’re foolish