Constitution

March For Lives Could Change Politics Forever

As one who witnessed and reported on the civil rights and anti-war marches in the sixties and seventies, I have the feeling the March 24 MARCH FOR OUR LIVES–promoted and coordinated by young people across the USA–could change the face of American politics as did the historic marches.

Boise police estimated more than 3,000 people marched through downtown Saturday in support of the national move. Similar marches were held throughout the nation. –DAVE FRAZIER, editor

Comments & Discussion

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  1. G Alexander Jones
    Mar 24, 2018, 1:00 pm

    What happened across the US this morning shows a renewed commitment to end the perversion of our democracy. I’m with them.
    “Young people speaking their minds…getting so much resistance from behind…” Buffalo Springfield, 1966
    Listen and act. Pouty nasty Jim Risch needs to be the first to go.

  2. clippityclop
    Mar 24, 2018, 2:21 pm

    These incredible kids will be the change and they will vote. I think the old guard has no idea what’s coming. We are in very good hands. Let’s back them every step of the way.

  3. It seems counterintuitive that the marching youth are demanding that the rights of other American adults are to be denied to themselves.

    They have the right to vote at age 18 and to be under the criminal system as adults if they screw up. But, they are too immature to drink a can of beer or own a weapon if under age 21.

    Are citizenship rights a partial right? Should we have a test to determine if any rights should be conferred to young (or old) people on their 18th or 21st birthdays?

  4. Eagle Writer
    Mar 24, 2018, 4:35 pm

    Maybe there is hope that something good will come from it. But I look at the first sign displayed in the first picture above and see a reference to “automatic rifles” and “stop the madness.” None of the recent school shootings have involved automatic rifles, and they are controlled and illegal to most of us.

    If the “movement” is that uninformed on guns, I am suspect of them altogether. Do they even realize they may be exercising their First Amendment rights for the purpose of destroying other rights?

    I am suspect too as it is a bi-George event, funded in part by George Soros and George Clooney, and countless others. It takes much of the authenticity away from the kids and the event, and turns it into a partisan rally.

    The editor rightly compares it to our historic (1960s era) civil rights movement, which resulted in untold good that we benefit from each day; and the anti-war (Vietnam) movement that resulted in the loss of South Vietnam to communism, a national loss of will to resist communism, and an overall loss of grit as a nation. All of which have done untold harm to the U.S., as we shamefully, or shamelessly (or both) trade with the victors.

    The answer to school shootings is expensive but not that complex. A cop on the beat is nearly always a safe bet. We could have that mostly fixed before the next march, or (God forbid) shooting. But of course we won’t, and maybe that is why they march.

  5. Nope, nothing comes from clueless
    Mar 24, 2018, 6:05 pm

    The editor should be careful not to play into the hands of those who divide for political purposes. Race, Gender, Age, Abortion, Guns, Immigration, Income, etc. etc. This entire national production is party politics as usual. Thankfully all will be forgotten next time the kids engross in a violent PlayStation game.

  6. Nope, nothing comes from clueless
    Mar 24, 2018, 6:54 pm

    What are they protesting? Is it…

    -The degradation of the national social norms and values?
    -Or how schools are advertised as unarmed soft targets?
    -Or is it how many of the violent mentally ill criminals were well known to be violent mentally ill criminals, but were allowed to have all their constitutional rights anyway?

    The cop on the beat in Florida was pretty useless standing outside for the duration. Suggest screening the teachers for mental stability and arm those who pass the testing and training. This was done with pilots after 9/11.

  7. It made me join the NRA.

  8. It brings back memory”s of the protest against Vietnam where our parents allowed over 200,000 young kids to be killed. The young kids were the main factor in ending the war. So I say go for it. Stand up and be counted your parents won’t.

  9. Most of these kids miss the point. School attacks form from their own actions in bullying and marginalizing their own peers. THAT is what needs acted on. High school is known as the cruelest period of many kids lives… its time to change that.

  10. clippityclop
    Mar 25, 2018, 9:46 am

    It made me hopeful that high school students will expose the NRA for what it sadly has become. More on that later from the FBI.
    These kids don’t want to take away guns from responsible owners who are part of the social compact that we do not cause harm. They just don’t want to be dead in their place of learning or a concert or in a club.
    Responsible gun owners have nothing to fear from tighter gun laws, in fact they would endorse their legitimacy.
    A panicked teacher with a hand gun is no match for an active shooter with an assault weapon. Please query your local Marine veteran for more details. Also thank him or her for their service.

  11. These marches were not organized by students…. they were organized by large leftist organizations who are using the students because the country is tired of listening to the left.

    The kids were bussed and flown in by these groups and celebrities who support them… it was not done on their own. If you see some of the interviews done with participants asking about assault weapons and the 2nd ammendment, you will see that they don’t really even know what they are protesting except the killing of school children… which everyone is against. It’s just that taking away peoples guns (which IS what the left wants to do) is not the solution. In Idaho our gun homicide rate is .07 per 100,0000 population… less than all “civilized” countries in Europe except Germany. Knives are used more often in homicides in US … etc etc etc.. but the left doesn’t want the facts.

  12. According to FBI data for 2016, 11,004 of the 15,070 murders in the United States were committed with firearms.

  13. Dave Kangas
    Mar 25, 2018, 4:49 pm

    It is good to see young people getting involved in issues that will shape the future of our country. We may not agree with them, but it is a beginning. It is too bad that issues like this and many other take protests, riots, marches in order to get the adults, the establishment to listen and move, but that is history repeating itself. We will have to see if the energy carries forward into action at the primary elections which are largely ignored.

  14. Nope, nothing comes from clueless
    Mar 25, 2018, 5:29 pm

    Just wait until these kids figure out what we’ve done to their national finances. Fortunately for us the communist skrewel teachers no longer teach them how to count.

    EDITOR NOTE–If we had “trickle down economics” under Reagan, whaddya call the Trump Tariffs?

  15. $10.00 Bet here with the Guardian…

    1. Many speeches be given by both parties in support of the marches.
    2. Senate and Congress will start hearings on how to stop gun violence. Many young folks will testify.
    3. NRA and other Pro guns folks will give much money to reelection of pro 2nd admendment candidates.
    4. Congress will keep its 90% re-election rate.
    5. Next year at this time most of the students that were at the marches will be in Ft Lauderdale.
    6. Nothing will be done by this time next year, except for a larger budget.

    But I will not take any bets on the Governor’s race….

    And another thing I won’t take a bet on is if Jim Risch will run again in 2021 or bet on that the folks in Idaho will forget what a Horse’s Petute he is.. ( excuse the language Guardian… tried to clean it up)

    Are you a taker?

    EDITOR NOTE–I won’t take the bet, but I do believe you will see more 18-year-olds voting in the future. They really have a strong voice if they only use it.

  16. Consider: Kids who are in high school today weren’t even BORN when those two young criminals went on their carnage spree at Columbine High School (April 20, 1999).

    Because of that, I’m trying to give ’em a pass on their lack of perspective, and I do appreciate their apparent enthusiasm.

    What has changed in the last 50 years? They MIGHT be surprised to hear that it’s not guns! Guns were more readily available when I was an idealistic high school kid, than they are now! Even (semi-)automatic AR-15 rifles! Especially in Idaho… guns were just as much a part of our culture back then, as they are now.

    Our social mores have changed far more than the availability of guns, since I started paying attention.

  17. Ft. Lauderdale!?
    Now, THAT’s a throwback!

  18. Nope, nothing comes from clueless
    Mar 26, 2018, 12:58 am

    clippityclop you are wrong. “A panicked teacher with a hand gun is no match for an active shooter with an assault weapon”.

    You are so very wrong in how you characterize the courage of school staff or the general public for that matter. In many of these murderous shootings teachers and staff have courageously hindered the shooters in spite of being unarmed. Many, perhaps most, of our general population has the right stuff in a crisis. It is not something which only emanates from a uniform. In my life I’ve seen too much senseless death and resulting sadness. I’ve seen big muscled men meltdown under stress and I’ve seen delicate appearing women and children exhibit god-like courage. Don’t judge a book by its cover.

    This is happening so often it is a national emergency. Naturally our national leaders lack the courage to act decisively. Hiding from big issues is after all how they survive in Washington DC. The States need to step up. Immediate actions to perform now are to ask teachers to apply. Screen for psychological stability and suitability. Train them. Arm those who pass and want to carry. This will harden the schools until we figure out and correct the origins of the problem.

    Gun free zones are in fact the most violent dangerous places in America. So violent in fact our military is training MASH units in the Chicago hospitals.

  19. Bikeboy, Social mores are much the same and mental illness is still the cause.
    There is no ‘social more’ changing to induce or encourage these terrible actions.

    Another thing that hasn’t changed– OUR short memories and lack of perspective.

    PRIOR to Columbine:
    5 dead 10 wounded at Westside Middle School shootings: 13-year-old Mitchell Johnson, and 11-year-old Andrew Golden, killed a teacher and four students, and wounded ten others, as Westside Middle School emptied during a fire alarm intentionally set off by Golden.
    13 and 11 years-old!

    1985. At a school in Spanaway Washington, 14-year-old Heather Smith, killed 15-year-old Gordon Pickett, who was her ex-boyfriend, and 14-year-old Christopher Ricco, in the gymnasium at Spanaway Junior High School. She later took her own life.

    1966. University of Texas “massacre” 17 dead, 31 injured.

    Las Vegas 2017 or Austin Texas, 1966.

    Pick a year, it’s been going on for a long time- even before the 60s:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_school_shootings_in_the_United_States#1950s

    Another history reminder- “going postal” since 1986.

  20. Nope, nothing comes from clueless
    Mar 26, 2018, 2:24 am
  21. Note to editor from Porcupine

    Mr Guardian
    In 2014 the voter turn out in Idaho was about 16.5 % of all registered voters. My guess is the majority is from your older voters…

    In my experience younger folks will stand in line for hours for a new iPhone… and post a facebook picture while they are in line. But they don’t have time to vote.

    https://www.onenewsnow.com/culture/2018/03/26/only-25-of-expected-turnout-attend-dc-student-gun-protest

  22. Civil Liberty Thieves
    Mar 26, 2018, 12:21 pm

    They want to ban guns, except those held by our oppressors.

    They want to ban “weapons of war”, but AR-15’s are not weapons of war, M16’s are.

    They want a new “sensible gun law” every time there is a mass shooting event, which will eventually lead to no guns in the hands of citizens.

    They are against killing machines, but would never consider giving up their cars which are the worst killing machines.

    They are a phony protest movement, being funded by those who are protected by mercenaries with guns.

    Judges, politicians and the rich are protected by men with guns, but our children are protected by “no gun zone” signs which has never stopped a criminal, but keeps good peoples guns at home where they are useless.

    School Mass Shootings are actually not nearly as common now as they were in the past, but they are being hyped by the media as the biggest problem in America.

    The Mainstream Media endlessly focuses on Mass Shootings, which creates copy cat crimes, perpetuating the situation.

    Our government has become a crime syndicate that wants us stripped of the last effective means of protecting ourselves from overt tyranny, the rifle with a high capacity magazine.

    When we are disarmed, we will become slaves of the rich. Don’t let it happen. Fight back. Now.

  23. Clippityclop
    Mar 26, 2018, 12:56 pm

    Nope, nothing comes from clueless,
    Have you queried a Marine vet yet?
    You’re right, unarmed citizens are courageous and can hinder an active shooter. That is exactly what these young and very committed students are doing. And yes, this generation will vote. I will happily take that bet,Porcupine.

  24. Easterner… pardon me if I gave the impression that I thought “Columbine” was the first of the school shootings! I was just pointing out the limited perspective of kids who were not yet born in ’99!

    As the “post mortems” of mass shootings are done, it’s amazing how many were perpetrated by disturbed individuals who gave prior warning signs, in antisocial words or behavior. More disturbing is the occasional perp who gives NO advance warning – the Las Vegas shooter, for example. Or – Charles Whitman, the guy who shot people from the U-Texas tower. He was an “all-American” kid – well-adjusted, normal family life, Eagle Scout, for cryin’ out loud! Eagle Scouts don’t shoot innocent people!

    Easterner says, “social mores are much the same.”

    I’d disagree with that.

    Just one example… I can remember the first R-rated movie I saw. Dad took me. “Bonnie and Clyde.” It was shocking at the time (1967) for the graphic way it portrayed gun violence. Fifty years later, you see similar graphic violence on family prime-time network TV. (Has it made a difference? At the very least, I’d say it has desensitized us.)

    EDITOR NOTE–And don’t forget all those video games that encourage shooting.

  25. Yossarian_22
    Mar 27, 2018, 5:48 pm

    Using children that are still under adult supervision for most of their lives (if their parents are even qualified adults), that are easily suggestible and manipulated, without being presented facts on the ground that are contrary to the perceptions being created for them, is wholly disgusting and evil. No one knows how to discern actual events anymore. People merely believe every media soundbite they hear. There is no more critical thinking. No more working knowledge of how things and systems work. We have truly reached an Orwellian era of pure media/govt lying, especially with this issue.

    And the parallels of blaming the NRA for all of these acts is synonymous with pointing at Saddam Hussein as a reason to invade Iraq. It’s like painting “This is for you Saddam” on a bomb. The real victim is an innocent Iraqi. Attacking the NRA bogeyman is an excuse to pass legislation that will eviscerate the 2nd Amendment, bit by bit (Iraqi by Iraqi) until there are no more legal gun owners (Iraqis). Legal gun owners are the REAL target of the deplorable adults hiding behind these misinformed children.

    They will create as many events as possible to force the end of the Bill of Rights. 9-11 destroyed the 4th and 6th Amendment. The end of America is at hand.

  26. The above comment from so named, “rubberneck” is wrong about Charles Whitman- including his documented visits with psychiatrists, admitted and recorded domestic violence, a court-martial for violence while in the Marine Corps (or Core for the idiots), newly divorced parents, anger at his father, and a documented brain tumor which likely caused biological and psychological impacts- mental illness!

    1966.
    First, he killed his mother and his wife; done with planning. And then planned the shooting. He told his doctors he had evil thoughts including shooting people with a deer rifle. He was prescribed Valium. He wrote a suicide note.
    Sound familiar? Sandy Hook, 2012?
    So what has changed since 1966?

    Social mores for the last 50 years?
    I suppose someone back then in Texas said, “Hey, y’all, the ‘social mores’ have changed since 1916”.

    The National Firearms Act of 1934 was passed after gangster shootings peaked with the Saint Valentine’s Day massacre of 1929; Chicago gangs, gun violence. Social mores?
    “Hey Mr. Capone, you know these murderous kids of today have just changed. They’re not like we were. It must be that music they’re listening to.” Bonnie and Clyde were young too.

    Any claim of “social mores” or “video games” is a lame denial of the cause.
    It is mental illness! And not enough is being done to address the real issue because the social NORM has been to deny the issue and blame something else.

    YES! Eagle Scouts can shoot innocent people when they suffer from mental illness!

    And EVERYONE is susceptible to mental illness- which is exactly why we should all be clamoring for funding mental screening and treatment.
    Maybe the next 50 years will be more about brain illness instead of spending our resources on self-induced lung and heart illnesses.

    That can start with more state funding of the Idaho Suicide Hotline.

    Now, I have to get back to my Xbox.

  27. I agree with much of what Easterner says. (Sorry! The “rubberneck” was a faux-pas… I use that moniker at some web-stops.)

    I appreciate his illumination of Charles Whitman. So – maybe Whitman COULD have been identified as a potential problem, before he went on his spree.

    I believe that social mores have changed, and continue to evolve.

    Normal, well-adjusted people who have a “moral compass” do fine with those changes. 95% of kids can watch violent movies and TV, play violent video games, listen to “death metal” music, and never act out in antisocial ways. For a few, those influences probably “trigger” psychotic behavior, and in a very few cases, they victimize innocent bystanders.

    Regarding gun control, I saw an interesting and timely analogy.

    “Smart phones” are ubiquitous nowadays. The vast majority of “smart phone” owner/operators – like gun owner/operators – use them in ways that don’t cause problems for their fellow citizens. A VERY FEW use them while driving, and end up killing and maiming innocent bystanders. Would it make sense to illegalize “smart phones” for everybody, because those few end up hurting us and our loved ones?

    (Notice “smart phones” is in quotation marks! Personally I think the world was a better place PRE-SMART-PHONE, so I’d be in favor of illgalizing them. haha)

  28. “Social mores are much the same”

    No they are not. They are not even close to what they were even 15 years ago – let alone 30 years ago.

    If you believe this statement it shows how uninformed you are on “social mores”.

  29. Killing People
    Mar 28, 2018, 3:20 pm

    We have people protest when 17 people are killed by someone with a gun.
    No one seems to be protesting the HUNDREDS that are killed in Chicago every month or the THOUSANDS that we kill through abortion and drunk driving.

    This entire effort is to take the focus off the really problems the media will not, and does not cover.

    Just one example that our society have changes dramatically over the years.

  30. clippityclop
    Mar 28, 2018, 4:41 pm

    Responsible gun owners would have nothing to fear from tighter gun laws. It’s time, citizens.

  31. Nope, nothing comes from clueless
    Mar 28, 2018, 4:44 pm

    Killing People. YES!!!!! It is part of the Commie subversion of America.

    Uproar at Trump for banging a professional for $50k/hour, but no mention of Bill Clinton and the teenagers. No mention of the 18 yo JFK was banging in the White House.

    This entire anti-gun event was locked and loaded just waiting for an opportunity. All prepaid and prearranged by Bloomberg, Soros, and the teachers union. They refuse to look at true culprits of bad parenting and vicious social climate in the schools. Social media. Violent gaming. The schools look like, feel like, and are operated like prisons.

    Recommend the typical parent pull their head out and force changes in the anti-American school agenda. The kids are coming out of school dumber than ever with a very liberal/commie bent and inability to work even the simplest of jobs… such as take the trash out son.

  32. bikeboy, “with much”? So,,, all, since it’s all correct?. 🙂

    Whether or not one “could be stopped” is not as important as recognizing mental illness (of all sorts) “could happen” to anyone. Just like cancer.

    We should all take a vested interest in solving the issue- for the sake of Eagle Writer, at the least. 🙂

  33. As a licensed federal firearms dealer (FFL)i have yet to see an AR-15 jump off the shelf and kill someone in my store.

    It is the way we are raising our children. Almost all the school shootings are young men aged 20-30.

    Likely few from homes with both a mom and dad.

  34. FFL,
    For real,,, here’s a great read for you:
    https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/owner-killed-three-shot-attempted-robbery-gun-shop-n283326

    And then this anecdote for the home security fans:
    https://www.myleaderpaper.com/news/police_fire/gun-shop-owner-shot-to-death-at-hillsboro-area-home/article_0cbc6438-8450-11e7-8d61-4ffe823196a3.html

    As for your credibility FFL, (since you have an FFL) “most all” of the shooters in recent years are actually UNDER age 20. Depending on how you want to use the data for ‘school shootings’ and how many years you want to use, you are still “almost all” incorrect.

    Of the 12 shooters in year 2018 that I count, ALL of the shooters are/were UNDER 20 or unidentified. So, there. Facts are a bitch compared to barstool chatter, right?
    Okay, sure, gun violence happens everywhere. So the 2 major school incidences this year, Parkland & Marshall County, Kentucky, the shooters were 19 and 15.
    See? Not 20 -30.

    15 year olds!
    Parkland Florida- a 19 year-old.
    Columbine- 18 and 17.

    I suppose some reader will now propose those ‘shooters’ this year are just part of a leftist conspiracy to take away guns. They were paid by Hollywood, right?

    1999
    Notus, IDAHO
    15-year-old Shawn Cooper,
    A 15-year-old!!!
    He fired two shots from a shotgun near the FRONT DESK at Notus Jr. Sr. High School.
    There were no serious injuries, but some students were close enough to the blast to be grazed by shrapnel from the tile floor.
    Cooper had been undergoing treatment for bipolar disorder.

    Dear FFL,
    How does a 15 year-old with a mental illness have access to unsupervised firearms?
    Must be divorced and bad parents, right?
    Fine. But if it’s YOUR kid attending that Notus school, you might consider a different solution for the next Shawn Cooper.

    Notus. The town right to Guardian’s bird tour today!

    Notus just isn’t what it used to be!

    FFL,
    I have a sign for your shop’s front door: “I don’t know sh!t, but I’ll sell you some guns”

    Mental illness has little to do with the way “we are raising our children”.

    So,,,,, you might actually try to know decent information about the topic before you krap misinformation on the World Wide Web or in your store.
    Cuz if you said ‘that bit’ while I was in your store shopping for my next $1,000 item, I would walk the f out! Disclose the name of your store and I won’t waste my time- because that’s the way I was raised. 🙂

    EDITOR NOTE–Looks like we will have to close comments before someone gets shot.

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