"This is a sickness that has infected the country: unchecked and unfettered gun violence," Don Lemon said on CNN Wednesday night. The parents and families of the 17 kids murdered at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, "trusted their kids would be safe. Teachers went to school this morning, trusted that they would be safe in their space, in their work environment — the way we all should be safe in our work environments every day, everywhere: in our schools, our churches, our offices, at concerts, and night clubs. Do you feel safe tonight?"
"Every single one of us is just playing the odds at this point," Lemon said. "But with every deadly shooting in this country, the odds get worse and worse and worse. Are you really willing to keep playing those odds?" He suggested America could do better: "Just forget politics here — this is about lives, the lives of all Americans. We need to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people — everyone agrees with that." Now isn't the time to talk about gun control, Lemon said — "the day to talk about it was weeks, months, years, or decades ago" — and if people argue "we have to make mental health a priority," they're right, too, but "we can do both of those things at the same time. If we don't, we have no one to blame but ourselves. This is America, people, don't forget that. I know we are better than this." Peter Weber
The Week
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