Live chaotically!!! - March for our LIVES! #neveragain #enoughisenough

Chattanooga Strong!!!

In the United States, almost 4 of every 100,000 people die due to gun violence each year.  That is a rate 8 times greater than that of Canada and 27 times the rate in Denmark.  You are less likely to die from gun violence in Myanmar, India, Yemen, Pakistan, Turkey, Libya, Iran, Jordan, Palestine, Ethiopia, and the Central African Republic than you are in the United States of America!  To experience a HIGHER rate of death from gun violence you will need to travel to El Salvador, Venezuela, Columbia, Brazil, the US Virgin Islands, Jamaica, South Africa or Iraq.
For more horrifying data on gun violence in our country, check out this report:  February 2018 - NPR - Deaths From Gun Violence: How The U.S. Compares With The Rest Of The World

If the tragedy of the general population dying from gun violence is not sufficiently disturbing...here is an extremely abbreviated list of SCHOOL shootings:

1999 - Columbine High School - 15 dead/21 injured
2007 - Virginia Tech - 33 dead/23 injured
2008 - Northern Illinois University - 6 dead/21 injured
2012 - Newtown Connecticut - 28 dead/2 injured
2017 - San Bernardino - 3 dead/1 injured
2017 - Rancho Tehama - 6 dead/18 injured
2018 - Parkland Florida - 17 dead/14 injured

For all the lost lives I did not report - here's the whole story:  List of school shootings in the United States

But...there is also this ~ SINCE Parkland ~ there have been 4 additional school shootings in MARCH of THIS YEAR!!!!  In Michigan, Alabama, and Maryland - leaving 7 dead and 4 injured!!!  And I have not even touched on Orlando and other places that are forever tainted with deaths due to gun violence.   Enough is enough!!!  Never Again!!!  Pay teachers?  YES!!!  Arm teachers?  NO!!!!!  

So...today....we marched...we yelled...we demanded  that our leaders enact common sense gun laws!

In our capital.....

.....Washington D.C.

In New York.

In Paris.

In Chattanooga, TN!!  On the steps of the Hamilton County Courthouse!
CHANGE STARTS WITH US, WE ARE THE FUTURE!

Arm me with books, not bullets!!!!

How many more????

Guns do KILL!!!

I have the right to feel SAFE at school.

Not. One. More.

Ban Assault Weapons!!!  Background checks for all gun sales!!!

We need reasonable gun laws....and I'm a proud gun owner!

My mom is a TEACHER.  Would you want your MOTHER to have to carry a gun to work?  Pencils - YES!  Guns - NO!

REMEMBER in NOVEMBER - VOTE!

There's no point in surviving melanoma if we fail to keep our kids alive and thriving!!!!  I am grateful that these eloquent, beautiful, energized young people are leading the way!!!
Come on, America!!!  We can do better.  WE MUST DO BETTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Lets live and love chaotically, while keeping our children safe. - les

If this video doesn't impress you....I don't know what will:  Emma Gonzalez - Her March on Washington speech

And then there's this video:  A message from Dunblane to Florida school shooting survivors