Thoughts and prayers must be met with policy changes
More than 200 days have passed since the U.S. House of Representatives passed bipartisan legislation to prevent gun violence, and the U.S. Senate has yet to take action. On Sept . 18, the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force held a forum on the impact of gun violence on children and the need to pass universal background checks. Ray McMurrey, the secretary-treasurer of the Texas American Federation of Teachers and a former Texas public school teacher, joined House Democrats and gun violence prevention advocates to share why he believes it’s time for the Republican leadership in the Senate to take up this bill and sign the legislation.
I taught in the Texas public school system for eighteen years. During those eighteen years and since, I have seen the impact of gun violence on students and educators.
From the shocking and gruesome Columbine experience, to what seems like countless episodes of innocent lives mowed down in cold blood.
Educators, students and families have seen their schools turned into violent crime scenes in terrifying and unacceptable ways. In my home state recently, we witnessed domestic terrorism at the hands of a white nationalist perpetrating a hate crime resulting in mass murder. Weeks later, police officers and innocent citizens were killed cruelly and unnecessarily at the hands of a sick individual who should not have been able to access a firearm.
AFT colleagues from Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut and countless schools across the nation — where gun violence doesn’t make the nightly news — all agree that the trauma and anxiety that gun violence creates will not simply vanish. Nor will it be stopped with gimmicks like calling for armed teachers.
More must be done now to provide mental health supports to students who have experienced trauma. More must be done to invest in programs like community schools, peer counseling, wellness programs and schoolwide practices to reduce bullying behavior. More must be done to prevent dangerous individuals from buying firearms.
Congress can help, or it can continue to do nothing and allow children across this country to live in fear of, and die from, gun violence. We must work to pursue and implement commonsense solutions to reduce violence and provide students with support after traumatic experiences.
One of the most commonsense solutions is expanding the background check system. This system stopped the shooter in El Paso from arming himself in 2014. Perhaps an expanded background check system might have stopped him from buying the arms to slaughter Texans last month. I know some members of Congress have already helped to pass legislation out of the House of Representatives. So really, when I say Congress needs to do something, I’m speaking to my home-state senators.
Every elected official in this country takes an oath to protect and defend its people, but too many of them have fallen down on the job. We demand they do better. My senators need to understand that teachers and educators refuse to believe that nothing can change. We will continue to demand that thoughts and prayers be met with policy changes, and we will hold accountable every single legislator who stands in the way. It is time for Sens. Cruz and Cornyn to exhibit true leadership on this issue.
There are common sense, rational policy changes that can reduce the chance of guns getting into the hands of the wrong people, while still protecting the integrity of the Second Amendment. For the record, I’m a seventh-generation Texan. My family has roots in the Texas Revolution. I do firmly support the Second Amendment as an integral part of the Bill of Rights. I’m a gun owner and concealed carry permit holder in my state. However, I also know that my Second Amendment rights are not threatened by expanded individual background checks. There is a path forward to better protect society, and I’m here to ask our senators to get it right.
Ray McMurrey is the secretary-treasurer of the Texas AFT, which represents teachers, paraprofessionals and support personnel in Texas. He taught in the Texas public school system for 18 years
