Will Gen Z be the generation that takes down the NRA?

I hope so, but doubt it.

Screeching does not talk as loud as money does.

Actually R1 considering how Al Franken was brought down by fake news twitter sensationalism, I would still have hope and will help them fan the flame

I hope so. We failed, guys, but maybe you can do it.

If they can keep momentum, I really think that they can make some legislative change.

More important than legislation though, is a cultural change that needs to happen in tandem with increased gun control.

The nation is awash in guns, including semi-automatic weapons, and we, as a national culture, across demographics, need to face the reality of so many guns - school/place of worship/workplace shootings, gang rivalry/retaliation, domestic violence, accidental death, and suicide.

I hope that centennials can also push for a cultural shift that makes a move toward breaking up the love affair that this country has with guns. Maybe I am optimistic, but I feel like they have the potential, and I hope that their elders, us, can support them.

Gen Z will have a hard time confiscating the millions of assault rifles that are already out there.

Whatever "mess" Millennials inherited, it pales in comparison to the Millennial contribution of Trial by Twitter.

I’m rooting for them.

As a GenXer, we did fail them when it comes to gun control.

And we are the first porn friendly generation...thanks to us, hard-core porn is ubiquitous and easily accessible to children. Teen girls are suffering physical injuries from copying hard core porn acts. We unleashed hell on earth.

Compare trial by twitter to global warming, global poverty, almost 50 years of pointless wars, nuclear weapons... yeah. I’d rather be us. r6

Global Warming - "Gen Z" are part of the generation that made everything disposable.

Global poverty - how much to do suppose the people in factories who built that wonderful smart phone you're probably posting from get paid.

Pointless wars - as of 2015, 40% of the people serving in the military were under 25, another 20 were between 26-30 years old. While they didn't start the wars, it's hard to fight without people enlisting. Do you think we'd be fighting a neverending war in Iraq or Afghanistan if we had a draft?

Nuclear weapons - that's on the boomers, I'll give you that.

I am not sure how we could have already failed if we haven't even broken into Congress yet. Only now are you starting to see the very beginning of some Millennial congressmen. I have seen a lot more elected to city council and state assembly positions, which is about where you expect young politicians to get their start. Like it or not, politics in this country favors those who are older, more experienced, more savvy, and more mature. The majority of voters have misgivings about voting for anybody until they are at least well into their later thirties, with some work and life experience, which Millennials are now entering. A 40-something year old Senator is still considered "young."

That said, I am hopeful for this youngest generation. Our generation was ravaged by shooting after shooting with no action. This is their Columbine, and I hope they get a different outcome in the aftermath.

I’m Gen X and I’ve been fighting the good fight since HS. A lot of us have been fighting the Alex P. Keatons of America for decades. (You will understand if you are Gen X.)

I really blame the baby boomers. The I got mine, you don’t get yours generation. Sold us all out, repetitively.

[quote] Nuclear weapons - that's on the boomers, I'll give you that.

Yep. They're responsible for putting Japanese Americans into concentration camps too.

r12 18-25 year olds enlisting in the military putting their lives at risk because they grew up poor and don't have other options now college is unaffordable and you're going to blame them for the decades of war they didn't vote for? You're a real asshole.

Nope...just like millennials, they will talk the talk on Twitter but won't actually vote on election day.

And OP, after Columbine, it is not like students at the time just did nothing. Kids protested for sensible gun laws, too. This happened in 1999:

[quote] With emotions still raw over the deaths of 15 people at Columbine High School, the National Rifle Association is expected to draw a huge protest at its annual meeting, which convenes in Denver Saturday.

[quote] Hundreds of high school students are expected to take part in forming a human chain around the hotel where the firearms- rights lobbying group is meeting.

[quote] "Our message to the NRA is simple: Your agenda of gun proliferation in our state is not welcome. Not now, not ever," said Ted Pascoe of the Colorado Coalition Against Gun Violence.

There is no nice way to say this, but the problem is that we have far too many out of touch, corrupt, and overly-invested politicians and policymakers making far too many decisions that will not affect them, but will affect generations to come. Very selfish on their part. Consider this wretched old cunt below at link. She is 78 years old and she has been and remains an instrumental lobbyist for the NRA. She is responsible for the Florida "Stand Your Ground" legislation passed in 2005. What the hell business does a 78 year old have lobbying and pushing for laws that will negatively affect children for generations to come?

Perhaps the American "free press" can support Gen Z and others who wish to take down the NRA. I put "free press" in quotes because a vast majority of them rely on ad revenue to make a profit and don't want to risk pissing off supporters of NRA, which there are many. If the NRA can be exposed and brought into the open, that would be our best bet to get rid of the guns. I'd like the U.S. to do what Australia did, but I guess that is asking for a lot.

No Nukes are from WW2 generation. I wasn't even born when Hiroshima happened and I am 68. I was a child when the nuclear buildup happened to have to deal with drop drills and duck and cover drills at 6 years old.

Summer vacation will be upon us soon and the student protests will stop.

Your generation is the reason the two Cold Wars happened r20. Those were your presidents.

To be fair, R22, the Cold War was already in full swing long before Baby Boomers had the chance to vote. Perhaps the most frightening confrontation stemming from those tensions, the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, occurred before the oldest of their generation could vote. Was there a continuation of Cold War policy after they could vote? Yes. But their biggest generational sin was voting in Reagan and all of the mess that his policies brought, but that was also something that most gay Boomers here (I would hope and assume) probably did not do.

Thank you for your service R20

G X here, TAKE THE NRA DOWN GEN Z! GUN CONTROL NOW.

I sure as hell hope they succeed. First it starts with voting. Register yourself to vote. Then vote - local, state, nationwide. Do not vote for any NRA stooge. Inform your friends and family and get them to vote. Call your local representatives and make your voice heard. Volunteer.

If the people in power don't want it, it won't be done. The politicians are bought by the people in power.

The only way I could see it happening would be because we are moving to a society of total control - from computers, "smart" tech that spies on you to driverless cards and microchips in your bodies, etc

It would be difficult and bloody to take them away, though...Maybe they will just crack down on the sales?

In this country, only $$$ defeats $$. Someone on another thread had the sensible idea that there needs to be an anti-NRA, a counterbalance, that will match that group's lobbying and contributions to political campaigns, dollar for dollar, except with the gun control legislation. Surely there are millionaires, philanthropists, and everyday people who would donate to this cause?

But since it is highly unlikely that high school kids have a surplus of money to donate or spare, the best [italic] they [/italic] can do for now is to simply vote when they become of age.

This is more wishful thinking. The NRA has promoted the culture of guns for over 25 years now. In many rural districts across middle America and the southern states, gun culture is just as important, if not more important, than God. The kids grow up with that mentality and have been taught that any ingringement to gun access, such as gun control or banning assault weapons, is taking away their rights. I say as much as 40% of under 21 think this way.

Yeah the time to do it was the late 70s or Early 80s, whenever automatic weapons were coming in.

I doubt anything will change. The US political system is now so dysfunctional nothing short of a new revolution will fix anything.

Good point, R28. And you're correct, R29. Gun culture is prevalent across most of the country. And if their parents refuse to pass along this mentality, the NRA has Disney-style approach to indoctrination. In addition to voting, Gen-Zers and their parents should abrogate the NRA's influential funding for grade school programs. This includes NRA Foundation funded grants to -- wait for it -- freaking elementary and middle schools up to the third grade!!! And I was so looking forward to enjoying lunch at home today...

[quote]Nikolas Cruz, 19, was wearing a maroon shirt with the logo from the Army Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps program at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School when he was arrested Wednesday shortly after the shooting. Former JROTC cadets told The Associated Press that Cruz was a member of the small varsity marksmanship team that trained together after class and traveled to other area schools to compete.

[quote]Records show that the Stoneman Douglas JROTC program received $10,827 in non-cash assistance from the NRA's fundraising and charitable arm in 2016, when Cruz was on the squad. The school's program publicly thanked the NRA Foundation on its Twitter feed. A spokeswoman for the NRA declined to comment on Friday. The top officers of the foundation are all current or former executives of the NRA.

[quote]The NRA Foundation gave nearly $2.2 million to schools across 30 states in 2016, the most recent year for which its federal tax filings are publicly available. Of that amount, more than $400,000 was in cash grants, while nearly $1.8 million came as in-kind donations ranging from equipment for high school air rifle teams to gun safety programs for younger children. A total of 18 schools in Florida received NRA donations in 2016, more than any other state.

[quote]Some of the foundation's grants also went to elementary and middle schools. The NRA produces a firearm safety program for students through third grade, known for its "Eddie Eagle" mascot. The program teaches children not to touch guns and to run away from them to prevent accidents.

[quote]Arsu Noorali, a former JROTC cadet at Stoneman Douglas who participated in marksmanship training, said she hopes the program doesn't get a bad name because Cruz was in it. "The program is about discipline, and family and love," said Noorali, 19. "You hang out with these people, getting up at 4 a.m., and going to competitions, and they become your family."

Trolls be trolling. And this article below is not even asking what the younger generation thinks. They may as well be even more anti-gun.

[quote] American millennials are fed up with gun violence.

[quote] [bold] The vast majority of people ages 18 to 35 in the US believe the country has a major problem with mass shootings and most support laws addressing the issue,[/bold] according to a new survey of 1,155 number people from millennial-focused apartment listing site Abodo.

[quote] [bold] Some 78 percent of millennials believe it is too easy to purchase a gun and 59 percent believe that gun violence would decrease if gun regulations were strengthened. Meanwhile, just 55 percent of people in the population at large believe gun laws should be made more strict,[/bold] according to a separate Gallup poll — though 90 percent of Americans favor basic background checks for gun purchases.

[quote] The generational divide in support of gun control could be due to the prevalence of gun violence in the lives of millennials, said Kris Brown, co-president of anti-gun violence nonprofit the Brady Campaign. From the Columbine High School massacre in 1999 to the prevalence shootings in 2017, millennials have been surrounded by gun violence for most of their lives.

[quote] “They are rightly saying this is wrong, I live in America and if we say we are such a great nation, why is this not an issue worth solving?” Brown said.

[quote] What’s more, they’re becoming accustomed to lockdown simulations in school that didn’t exist for older generations. The Las Vegas shooting on Oct. 2, which killed 59 people and injured 527, was the most deadly mass shooting in modern history.

[quote] Still, that doesn’t mean millennials are against banning firearms entirely: 67 percent of millennials surveyed by Abodo support the Second Amendment in some capacity and only 3 percent said they would endorse repealing it “tomorrow.” Brown said this reflects the views of many in the US — including advocates for gun control, who endorse regulation rather than outright bans.

[quote] Most Americans — 79 percent — support a mandatory waiting period for gun purchases, 86 percent support banning the sale of guns to people convicted of violent crime and 64 percent support a ban on high-capacity magazines that hold more than 10 rounds.

[quote] Following the most recent mass shooting in Las Vegas, the public is pressuring legislators to make these changes, Brown said. US Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut introduced legislation on Wednesday that would expand background checks for firearm purchases. Other members of Congress are urging the NIH to renew gun research grants.

[quote] “This needs to be treated like a public health issue,” Brown said.

That post was in response to R29.

Nothing compares to you.

Thanks for posting that article, R33.

The entire premise of OP's post is specious and betrays absolute ignorance of the nature of the problem we face today. In OP's defense, it's the same ignorance displayed by most when this gets discussed.

In 2008, the Supreme Court changed EVERYTHING when for the first time it recognized a constitutional right for individuals to own and bear guns. Prior to that, the Court had always kept in mind the text of the 2nd Amendment which states "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." 'The people' as opposed to 'an individual.' 'A well regulated Militia' instead of anonymous untouchable arms stockpiles, unlimited in their size and firepower, in the apartment next door.

We see an exploding gun problem because it is exploding. It was only 10 years ago that Antonin Scalia wrote this decision in "District of Columbia v. Heller" and it prevailed with a 5/4 decision. One author. Five votes. And look at the death and destruction that have followed.

All the twitter in the world is not going to address this problem until the Supreme Court reverses "Heller" and the law as it was interpreted for 200 years is reinstated. Someone, please, tell Gen Z about the Supreme Court.

And go look at the history of "well regulated Militia," the adoption of the Constitution, and the slave posses of the Old South.

well, that didn't help, but there were mass shootings before 2008, like Columbine

The mass production and easy access to automatic weapons was the big factor, and of course the bought politicians

I could see some tech billionaire, or billionaires getting behind the anti-gun cause since their goal is control of society. But they only want to control society if they can profit and gain power from it.....So they may not bother..

Vote!

That's the only thing that will stop the NRA tyranny.

Tell candidates their "A" rating from the NRA has cost them your vote.

I have to say I am really impressed by the students that have been featured. I really hope they keep their momentum.

R22 is an idiot. Read a history book.

And excuse me but as a baby boomer we had other important problems to tackle: civil rights, women's rights and the FUCKING WAR.

Nothing is going to change at all.

This is just a hot button right now and everyone's jumping on the bandwagon because it makes headlines.

Which one, r41? I’m trying to think of one the Boomers didn’t cause.

No. This is for tv only. Once the media stops, so will they.

Yeah, I am not sure exactly why it is so hard for some to believe that two, back-to-back generations who have been devastated by mass shootings maybe aren't quite so fond of assault rifles? These kids may be young now, but they will grow into adults who certainly won't forget Sandy Hook, kids getting gunned down at the Ariana Grande concert, or this shooting. My generation has certainly never forgotten Columbine, Virginia Tech or the Aurora shooting. Unfortunately, I think it might take at least another 15 years, until these kids are all adults, until you start to see a collective change in the psyche of how guns are viewed. The NRA, and the republican politicians who have enabled all of this bloodshed, [italic] will [/italic] get their day of reckoning.

If Big Tobacco could be taken down, the NRA can be taken down too. Don't give up. Keep fighting.

R45, if it takes another 15 years, problem will be exponentially bigger. Can we have more security at schools in the meantime?

Us Gen xer and xys took the lead on environmental issues, econmic disparity and the like. We were ready to take on the world, and then we couldnt get a word in or find a job thanks to baby boomers refusing to retire and consuming everything in site. we are dwarfed in population by them. We are only now beginning to obtain leadership positions at work and elected into congress. Like the generation in the 1930s we are the ones who will have to clean this shit up and then millenials will come along and take credit for it. Another vicious cycle.

We tried to tell you all... "some of those who work forces...are the same that burn crosses."

No one listened.

Gen x

I sure as fuck like them better than Millennials.

Nobody gives a shit what you like, R50.

[quote] Like the generation in the 1930s we are the ones who will have to clean this shit up and then millenials will come along and take credit for it. Another vicious cycle.

I certainly think it will help if Millennials mentor, lend a hand, come together, and root for the succeeding generation after them, instead of inexplicably pitting them as some sort of generational adversary only worthy of high school-level derision, blame, and criticism.

R23 I grew up in LA and Reagan won for governor before I was old enough to vote. We hated him in CA. When I was a teen a bunch of us went to his house and threw rocks at his windows. I think we managed to break one or two of his windows.

Trump did ban bump stocks.

[quote] Trump did ban bump stocks.

And amazingly the New York Times did not take the opportunity to cry how Trump was undoing Obama's policies where the device had been ATF approved since 2010.

[quote] "The stock has no automatically functioning mechanical parts or springs and performs no automatic mechanical function when installed,"

Bump stocks harness a weapon’s recoil to cause the user’s finger to squeeze the trigger repeatedly, not eliminating the need to squeeze the trigger for each individual bullet fired. Overpriced garbage almost guaranteed to jam the rifle.

sorry kiddo but gen z is going to be a cannon fodder generation. but don't feel too bad, we're ALL screwed. tick tock.

Without much fanfare, Trump did this a little over a year ago..

[quote] Us Gen xer and xys took the lead on environmental issues, econmic disparity and the like. We were ready to take on the world, and then we couldnt get a word in or find a job thanks to baby boomers refusing to retire and consuming everything in site.

Sorry but you aren't the first. What do you think the civil rights movement was about? It also included income disparity and poverty which equal access to employment, housing and education helped a great deal. And the first Earth Day was in 1972 or thereabout.

And so your complaint is it's our fault cause we won't retire? Please. What kind of excuse is that? Do you know how many of us had to create our own jobs, our own businesses? And I'm sorry I ate the last potato at the supermarket.

Grow up.

Sorry. Trump can't ban bump stocks via regulation. The Congress has to legislate. No doubt those cute kids are gonna bring down the NRA. They're gonna force the GOP to pass new laws. I mean, they are so mad!

Nobody here is saying that change is going to happen overnight, simpleton R59.

Those kids are drawing a line in the sand. Assault rifles? They call B.S!!

R61 is triggered by high school kids. Sad!

I'm rooting for those kids. Hey gun owners, that girl called BS on you! You better kiss your private arsenal of military grade assault weaponry good-bye!

I have great hope that they are the driving force behind change. Not the whining millennials and their misplaced social justice warrioring but these kids who are afraid to go to school. The surviving elementary school kids in Newtown were too little to do anything but this group of kids have found their voice. It makes me proud of them.

R64, if you don't already know that they are on track to becoming even bigger social justice warriors than millennials, then you have not only not been paying attention, you are in for a world of hurt and disappointment.

Not so sure r65. Today's SJWs are navel gazing, inexperienced blowhards. These kids have had enough and I am glad they are responding. I support them 100% and hope they don't blow all the public support by doing something stupid.

These kids make me proud

The right has no answer to well spoken, intelligent young people with a positive message. All they can do is spew venom at kids that survived a shooting. Pretty pathetic

The right has no answer to well spoken, intelligent people.................

The only thing the right knows to do is to try and divide people. Here and elsewhere. Generation vs. generation, different races against each other, etc. That is their whole entire game.

Seems the " everything wrong in the world is the fault of the boomers" Dl posters are doing a pretty good job of dividing, R70.

I believe in those kids! Look at them tweeting! Kiss your assault rifles good-bye, gun owners! These kids are gonna make you give them back!

Let's not forget that the NRA is as powerful as it is because it has LOTS of supporters.

Whatever, R73. Those guys haven't met these amazing kids. They call BS on the NRA!

They are going to tweet away the guns

A couple of them look like they keep clean holes.

And you don't think a lot of those people are trolls, R71? I do. I think they're the same people starting the anti-Millennial threads, or the anti-GenX threads, or whatever else. I think wherever they see an opening for divisiveness, they try and take as much advantage as they can to sow further discord, to distract from discussion of the actual issues.

Fortunately, most of the trolls are lowbrow morons. Just look at puerile R72 - R76 who all posted within 60 seconds of each other.

The world is changing. The younger generations are becoming more and more tolerant of other cultures. Every generation has its members of society who deserve credit for getting us to this point, but it has finally starting to pay off in spades over the last ten to fifteen years. They're openly questioning the straight white conservative male dominance that has been permeating this country for ages, and why things have to constantly adhere to their viewpoints when the country is such a melting pot of vastly different cultures.

Plus a lot of the older 30 crowd is just becoming plain fed up. Fed up with the business as usual bullshit of politics. Fed up with taking one step forward (Obama) only to take a GIANT leap backwards (Trump). It's 2018. Why are we still fighting for gay rights, abortion rights, gun control measures, blatant policies of discrimination and racism? When can we finally move on from such basic tenets of society?

MeToo, and the gun rights debates are just the beginning. And the ardent racists can hide behind Trump and his ilk all they want, and try to institute all the destructive policies they want, but you cannot stop progress. You cannot stop tolerance and acceptance of others. You're just leaving more of a mess in the way that people will eventually clean up anyways.

Gen Z? The kids that eat Tide pods? LMFAO

Your worldview is on the ballot in November. If he keeps the House, then the struggle for your notion of progress get harder. I can't wait to find out how it all turns out!

Sure, you're "concerned," R80.

Keep keeping "concerned." So far, your endless "concern" about a vast number of topics has translated to satisfying and even unexpected victories for Democrats all over the country.

[quote]Sorry. Trump can't ban bump stocks via regulation

I find it completely hysterical that all the people who were calling him a fascist dictator two weeks ago are now...cheering the fascist dictator-like maneuver of banning something via the circumvention of the democratic process. I mean, can we at least PRETEND to have some moral and ethical consistency as a constituent base? Because this is just way too stupid for words and far too easy to dismiss as hysteria.

This is when you do it. When you have little to lose. So go kids!

Well, R82, that comes from a Dianne Feinstein tweet as read on MSNBC. I thought it was interesting.

GO KIDS! Make this right!

Hi R81, I didn't say I was concerned. I said I was curious. It's a topsy turvy world right now.

NRA is powerful, but over time they can be defeated. Times will be changing. It only takes 2 or 3 generations. As someone above mentioned, the cigarette industry was brought down by mass involvement from the medical field and people who did chose not to partake. It will take another couple of generations for their guns to become obsolete. I just wish it would happen in my lifetime,

We could make a dent on it all if we followed Chris Rock’s advice: “Let them keep their guns. Just sell bullets for $100 each.”

Already 300 million guns in USA. How many 2-3 generations from now? Think these Trump supporters are gonna line up to give them back?

Gen Z is growing up in the selfie-centered, gun culture of America. They are not going to get rid of the guns, sorry toots. This dog & pony show is proving to be a massive failure for the left.

Trump endorsed background checks 15 minutes ago. Tell me more about how bad the left is losing

LOL all of a sudden we're trusting Trump when he endorses something!!!! Oh I just can't lolol

Point is he feels enough pressure to make appeals to the Dem position, not the republican one.

Or he said some words today. Then will say different words tomorrow.

The NRA and the Republicans they buy can't be shamed.

Bowie said

[quote] the fucking mess Gen X and the Boomers have left us in.

It was satisfying F&Fing you and Ignoring you!

[quote] have done a bad job standing up to the fucking mess Gen X [...] have left us in

Seeing as the majority of Democratic votes belong to Gen Xers. I don't see how you can blame us for anything. Under Gen Xers there were strict controls. It was until Millenials started voting 2002 that everything went to shit. Millenials are the reason we are in this mess to begin with asshole.

Actually, it should read 2000, that's when Millenials started voting and right after everything went to shit. Gen Xers gave you Clinton wins and strict gun control laws.

Thank good Gen Zers are similar to Gen Xers and not Millennials.

Wait a minute... gen z are inspired and trained by gen xers. Gen xers by Vietnam and foreign policy activists. Remember, You stand on the shoulders of GIANTS, OP.

In any case, take those NRA, child-killing fuckers DOWN!

We are all with the Greatest of Activist, Noam Chomsky.

Pure troll thread.

[quote] Here for this

What does that mean? You only came to DL to start a thread about a generation stopping gun violence?

[quote] us millennials

Oh, dear.

[quote] I think us millennials (born in 92 here)

No, you're not. You wouldn't need to go out of your way to identify yourself as a millennial.

[quote] have done a bad job standing up to the fucking mess Gen X and the Boomers have left us in.

You sound nothing like a millennial.

[quote] It was until Millenials started voting 2002 that everything went to shit. Millenials are the reason we are in this mess to begin with asshole.

Oh shut up, you stupid asshole. You must either be incredibly stupid or heavy on the juice tonight with your misspellings and completely wrong and bizarre timeline of events. Blaming us for how the vote went down in 2000 when only 3% of Millennials were eligible to vote? That's some revisionist bullshit history right there.

Have another drink, dear.

R102, R97 is obviously a troll. Nobody could actually be that glaringly stupid and think people will buy it.

R102 = Troll trying to revise history

Quit while you're ahead cunt, you're embarrassing yourself. Millennials flopped in 2000, 2004, and then 2016 when you were voting at full capacity.

Thank god Gen Xers raised a lot of those Gen Zers. Gen Zers and Gen Xers will carry the Dem part to victory in 2020.

Meanwhile, R204, the only thing you should be carrying is a copy of a remedial English textbook or a "Hooked on Phonics" audiocassette to help you spell out complete words and sentences.

*R104^^

Somebody should teach basic math to R104. I feel embarrassed for him.

Take your medications r101 and read up on today’s lingo before we put your ass in a home and leave you there to rot.

Well, the troll did manages to do one thing. This thread is now about the troll not the intended title.

This generation finger pointing is so foolish. Boomers protested the Vietnam war, supported civil rights and women's rights. The younger generations need to organize against ignoring climate change and military weapons. Let's not forget who the real enemy is, huge corporations profit from all this. We need to unite rather than be divided.

You guys have pointed every finger at us you could r110. I wish there was a list of the things you people have said we have ruined or destroyed.