Pattye Benson

Community Matters

Enough is Enough — It is Time to Call for Action!

When will the madness end?

Today I grieve for the families who are in mourning. Today I grieve for an angry, violent society that has lost its way.

Since last week, we have seen a horrible surge of sadness and anger from Americans all across the country — another mass shooting. Another one committed by a young man. One of the worst mass shootings in America – Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School – as if such rankings matter. From Arizona to Colorado, to Oregon to Connecticut, to Las Vegas to Parkland, Florida – these mass murders will not end.

Innocent children losing their lives. How many more children must die before we say enough is enough? When are we going to have the responsibility to take care of each other? How can we let this keep happening?

It’s past time to face reality. We, as a nation, need to do better. In the wake of the unspeakable horror of children being killed while at school, now is the time for action and … for sensible gun control laws.

Gun control doesn’t have to mean no guns. Arguments can be made for shotguns and rifles for hunting and handguns for protection. Somewhere, between these moments – the legitimate use of guns for hunting, and the too-easy access to guns by children and the mentally ill – there needs to be a solution. For me, that solution lies in sensible gun control measures.

Sensible gun control, even while keeping the Second Amendment should be easy, but there are many politicians who refuse to act. Reasonable constitutional limits on weapons that have no other use than mass murder are achievable and the failure of our leaders to make this happen is unconscionable.

Common sense would dictate that Congress should act to implement sensible gun control legislation, including a ban on weapons like the AR-15. It’s time to ban assault weapons. We need to make this moment a movement and to actually make changes that need to happen in this country.

Enough … it is time to call for action.

As a nation, as elected officials and as individuals we are obligated to break the log jam against gun reform.

Do you know where your local elected representatives stand on gun control? In Tredyffrin Township, we are about to find out where our locally elected officials stand on sensible gun control!

Newly elected Tredyffrin supervisor Matt Holt is stepping up to the plate on gun control at Tuesday, Feb. 20th Board of Supervisors meeting, 7 PM at the township building. Matt will introduce a resolution calling for state and federal representatives to enact sensible gun control legislation. Although local governments cannot pass gun laws, they can act as a voice for the people to push common sense reform. (Proposed resolution follows the post).

I supported Matt in November’s election for his strong support of historic preservation – now a few months into his new role as supervisor; I know that I made the right decision. Although unclear as to why Matt’s proposed resolution in support of sensible gun control legislation was not permitted on the Board of Supervisors meeting agenda, he will present it under the township’s ‘new business’.

An easy first step to for sensible gun control legislation, it will be important for the public to know how Mr. Holt’s fellow Tredyffrin Township supervisors vote on the resolution supporting sensible gun control legislation.

Proposed resolution to be introduced by Supervisor Matt Holt at Tredyffrin Township Board of Supervisors Meeting, Tuesday, Feb. 20, 7 PM at Township Building:

A RESOLUTION OF THE TREDYFFRIN TOWNSHIP BOARD OF SUPERVISORS URGING STATE AND FEDERAL LAWMAKERS TO ENACT STRONGER PROTECTIONS AGAINST GUN VIOLENCE

WHEREAS, an average of more than 108,000 people are shot and 32,514 people die from gun violence in murders, assaults, suicides and suicide attempts, and other shootings;[1] and

WHEREAS, the Tredyffrin Township Board of Supervisors recognizes the Second Amendment and the rights therein, such as the right to individual gun ownership and the right to self-defense, it also recognizes that said rights are not unlimited and support reasonable measures to ensure greater safety in the ownership, procurement and use of guns in our society; and

WHEREAS, the Tredyffrin Township Board of Supervisors is charged with securing the health, safety, and welfare of the citizens of Tredyffrin Township, yet is not recognized as having legal authority to enact gun safety laws, and

WHEREAS, the Tredyffrin Township Board of Supervisors supports its police force in its ability to protect the safety of the citizens, and visitors to, the Township without threat from assault weapons or armed criminals, and

WHEREAS, this resolution has been considered and passed by multiple local governments in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED by the Tredyffrin Township Board of Supervisors believes additional gun safety laws are needed to protect the safety and health of our residents and urges the Pennsylvania General Assembly and the Unites States Congress to enact laws to reduce gun violence, including:

  1. Preventing known and suspected terrorists, those convicted of violent hate crimes and those with a history of domestic abuse from illegally buying guns.
  2. Funding research into the effect of gun violence and gun safety technology.
  3. Requiring trigger locks on all homes where children are present.
  4. Banning access to assault-style weapons.
  5. Reducing the number of permissible cartridges in a clip or magazine.

This Resolution shall be distributed to current elected individuals:

The President of the United States
The Speaker of the House of Representatives
The U.S. Senate Majority Leader
The Governor of Pennsylvania
Congressman Ryan Costello
State Senator Andy Dinniman
State Representative Warren Kampf

[1] http://www.bradycampaign.org

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23 Comments

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  1. March 14, 2018, every student and teacher in the District————-WALK OUT

    The event is the brainchild of EMPOWER, the Woman’s March youth branch, and will take place exactly one month after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. It’s scheduled to begin on March 14, 2018 at 10 a.m. in every time zone and last for 17 minutes — one for
    each victim who lost their life in the massacre.

  2. Words from a student massacre survivor:

    “Politicians who sit in their gilded House and Senate seats funded by the NRA telling us nothing could have ever been done to prevent this, we call BS,” Gonzales said. “They say that tougher gun laws do not decrease gun violence. We call BS. They say a good guy with a gun stops a bad guy with a gun. We call BS. They say guns are just tools like knives and are as dangerous as cars. We call BS. … They say that no laws could have been able to prevent the hundreds of senseless tragedies that have occurred. We call BS.”

  3. Why do children have to stand up and fight for their lives??? Where are the adults? Where are the politicians? This is ridiculous and I’m sick and tired of watching child after child get mowed down when it doesn’t have to happen. Let’s stop making this status quo. Stop the madness. It could be our children.

    DO SOMETHING NOW

  4. Pattye.

    For those of us who can’t make the meeting, please let us know the names of the Commissioners and how they voted on the resolution. Thanks.

  5. Some things, among many, for our Supervisors to ponder:

    Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel:
    “If you’re an elected official and … If you want to keep gun laws the way they are now, you will not get re-elected in Broward County”

    Sarah Zhang, Wired Magazine:
    “The bullet from an AR-15 does an entirely different kind of violence to the human body. It’s relatively small, but it leaves the muzzle at three times the speed of a handgun bullet. It has so much energy that it can disintegrate three inches of leg bone. “It would just turn it to dust,” says Donald Jenkins, a trauma surgeon at University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. If it hits the liver, “the liver looks like a jello mold that’s been dropped on the floor.” And the exit wound can be a nasty, jagged hole the size of an orange.”

    Jimmy Kimmel Live writer Bess Kalb:
    “If you feel like you need to own an AR-15, you are not mentally fit to own an AR-15”

    1. Thanks Ray,

      And furthermore, In the days following the attack, students who were caught in the crossfire at the school took politicians to task in the media and online.

      “Politicians and more importantly the American public must take action if we’re going to prevent the next shooting,” said survivor David Hogg, who wrote an essay for “CBS This Morning.” “To elected officials I say this: Don’t lie to us. Don’t make any more false promises, because when you do, children die.”

  6. Before the horrific acts of Feb. 14, 2018, 8 in 10 Americans favored bans on assault weapons, high-capacity ammunition magazines and “bump stocks,” an accessory that allows a semi-automatic rifle to fire like an automatic weapon.

    8-in-10 likewise said they favored a federal database to track all gun sales. On each of these questions, majorities of Democrats, independents and Republicans all were in favor of the restrictions to some degree.

  7. The Daily Local has an article about Matt Holt’s proposed resolution from Tredyffrin Township. http://www.dailylocal.com/general-news/20180219/tredyffrin-supervisor-wants-action-on-gun-safety
    According to the article, Holt ” … expects opposition to the resolution from other board members when he introduces it at the board’s meeting Tuesday. Democrats such as Holt are in the minority on the seven-member board.”

    As many of the students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland have repeatedly stated, common sense gun control should not be about party politics! So — do the Rs and Ds on Tredyffrin’s Board of Supervisors understand that message?

    I have been asked if I am going to identify the supervisors and how they vote tomorrow. Easy question with an easy answer – YES!

    Here is the list of Tredyffrin Township’s Supervisors with their party label:
    Heather Greenberg, Chair (R)
    Murph Wysocki, Vice Chair (D)
    Paul Olson (R)
    Kevin O’Nell (D)
    Trip Lukens (R)
    Matt Holt (D)
    Sean Moir (R)

    4 Rs and 3 Ds currently serving on the Board of Supervisors. In the next election cycle, the 4 Rs are all up for re-election — Greenberg, Lukens, Olson and Moir. How they vote tomorrow night on this proposed resolution to support safe gun legislation will be remembered!

  8. The Ballot box is more powerful than a gun. Low voter turn out causes problems. Make gun control a very local issue along with state and federal positions. The men and women of the Valley Forge Encampment trained and developed an army to fight the British who had Philadelpdia under siege. What better place than here to make all of our elected officials take a stand. We are the base who votes. Our ballots will make us free!

    1. Absolutely agree Susan! For those of us who are residents in Tredyffrin Township, tonight’s Board of Supervisors meeting will be a reckoning day for sensible gun control. Everyone needs to read Supervisor Matt Holt’s proposed resolution — it is NOT taking away people’s 2nd Amendment rights, its to support legislation for common sense gun laws! Elected officials need to OWN their conscience — all 7 Tredyffrin Township supervisors are parents and are also grandparents.

      Tredyffrin Supervisors — TE School District parents, grandparents, teachers and students are going to know how you vote tonight! Enough is Enough — it’s time for action!

  9. Let’s see which of our congressional representatives have the fortitude to do the right thing, and vote for gun control.

    And those without backbone, and those in the pocket of the NRA, need to be voted out of office.

  10. It’s about the assault rifle. Keep your hand guns, keep your hunting rifle. Ban assault rifles, especially from children.

    It’s impossible to kill 17 people in 3 minutes with a hand gun, a hunting rifle or a knife.

  11. I’m not a gun owner nor am I in disagreement with Matt Holt’s suggested resolution. However all of these points have been debated in Congress at least since Sandy Hook. Point #1 sounds good but too many regular people or people with similar names are on the Terrorist watch list and it was a logistical nightmare to clean that list up. It’s getting harder to have a rational discussion about this topic. Matt’s resolution would have more credibility if he really wanted to make Tredyffrin safer if he had recruited a Republican Supervisor to be co-author. Failing to do that it feels as if it’s a thinly veiled attempt to posture and capitalize on the Florida horrific tragedy to make political capital for the his party. Perhaps having an open Tredyffrin Board discussion and not coming in with a unilateral resolution would be a better first step.

  12. Just to add one more thought is that none of the most recent school shootings would have been stopped by the points that are proposed in Mr. Holt’s resolution. Nikolaus Cruz would not have shown up on a terrorist watch list. He circumvented the gun safe in which his gun was stored. He had other non-automatic weapons that he would have used. There needs to be some genuine non-partisan thinking on this issue. If Congress under previous Democratic control during the Sandy Hook horror couldn’t pass these initiatives we need to look further than Mr. Holt’s resolution is looking.

  13. WHAT OUR SCHOOLS CAN DO RIGHT NOW

    Of course no guns and gun control are good ideas BUT
    RIGHT NOW RIGHT HERE do this:
    Build safe rooms in schools made of bullet proof metal, locked, cell phones, headphones and locks.
    Think of a bank vault.
    Hiding in place or evacuating can be dangerous strategies for challenged students especially in elementary schools.
    They are not safe at all.
    Safe rooms like bomb shelters are already in use.
    Along with panic buttons, video, audio and frequent uniform and non uniform officers, SAFE ROOMS slow down down the carnage.
    Second, the use of frequent checks by officers should be the assistance of OFFICER DOGS.
    Whether you like dogs or not, Officer Dogs can hear, smell and see far better than their human counter parts.
    Like in the AIRPORT, the dogs are working dogs and huge deterrents.
    BUILD safe rooms, add random visits from undercover police and officer dogs with video capability.
    The first four minutes is critical.
    Panic buttons, shelter in place, bullet proof windows, special locks doors and practice won’t stop an armed person as well as the SAFE SHELTER.
    Teachers can’t keep throwing their bodies on students and hiding in fear.
    Legislation, Marches and crying families are necessary but won’t stop murders today.
    One more thing, mental health records and previous arrests, convictions and background checks are all helpful but have many risks and simply fail.
    Stop the killing NOW and BUILD SAFE ROOMS today!
    Use our police force and their companion dogs now.
    Dogs and cops do random drug sweeps at the school smelling lockers SO train working dogs to do what they love to do-Save our Children today. Play the political game on your time. Keep children safe in school now.
    Shame on us for not building safe places for kids similar to safe places for Judges.

    1. Good ideas but how long would it take to scurry kids in a vault once the shooter enters the building? What if the vault is in the path of the shooter?

      It took the shooter 3 minutes to kill 17 people and injure more than he killed, some critically.

      The best place to start is the assault rifle. Ban the assault rifle. If the shooter used a hand gun, knife or hunting rifle, the devastation would be less by far.

  14. SAFE SHELTERS with officer and officer dog checks help now.
    This is the lives of teachers and kids not the sheer empty promises from political parties.
    Any death by any weapon is senseless mustard.
    It is about real solutions to really protect students with real officers and dogs.
    All the monies for facilities and contracts are meaningless if you don’t protect the kids.

  15. Dear Joe,
    That is a side show.
    Spend the tax dollars to make kids safe.
    Develop a better strategy.
    If my kid dies teaching special kids and protecting them from harm, I really don’t care about the politicians.
    Moms want their kids safe.
    Moms want their kids to come home safe.
    The political stuff does not stop murderers.
    I want to see the politicians come and rescue our kids.
    Walk the Walk don’t just talk the talk.

  16. The only hope and “safety” our children have now is the police response time to these horrific acts.

    The police have this down and respond to school shootings very quickly. They got to the school in FL in 3 minutes and it was then that the shooter successfully blended in with students scurrying out the door to escape the mayhem. Without the quick response time, the death count would have been much higher. The police respond quickly. A hand gun, a hunting rifle or a knife will not inflict near the carnage of the assault rifle.

    It’s about the assault rifle. Get rid of it.

  17. Vote the gun lovers out, and the children lovers in. Our nation is the developed world’s pariah.
    Enough is enough.

  18. All the focus seems to be what can be done to prevent a shooting inside a school. If someone wants to wreak havoc on one of our schools, they need only show up ouside during any recess, arrival or dismissal time. Have you seen the hundreds of children standing outside of Valley Forge Middle School in the afternoons waiting for the buses with few, if any, adults present? The fences that created so much controversy a few years ago are a useless waste of taxpayers money. Anyone can access school grounds, and our children, any time of the day. These tragedies will continue until we address the mental health issues that plague our young people, get the NRA out of our politicians’ pockets and until we enact common sense gun control legislation.

    1. Bertha,

      It’s about mental health, but it’s mainly about guns.

      The Fl shooter sight help for mental issues many times. He wax diagnosed and under care of professionals until last fall. Law enforcement was at his house 38 times. Neighbors reported him over and over and over again. The school expelled him. All signs were there yet our laws allow almost anyone to apply for a gun and get one. He purchased 10 guns in the last year. The family he was living with was fine with locking the guns up when he moved in their house recently. They even knew he was depressed but didn’t see anything like this coming.

      Politicians have to vote in laws that restrict gun ownership, especially assault rifles.

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