Pro-gun Parkland survivor rips Obama over essay celebrating student gun control activists
Apr 20, 2018 9:54 am
Kyle Kashuv, a pro-gun survivor of the Parkland, Florida, mass killing, has spoken out against former President Barack Obama for writing an essay in which he celebrates the gun control activist students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
What did Obama say in the essay?
In the essay for Time’s “100 Most Influential People” feature, Obama celebrated the efforts of the Parkland students who have relentlessly pursued gun control in the days after the Feb. 14 massacre.
Obama’s tribute was written for Parkland students Cameron Kasky, Jaclyn Corin, David Hogg, Emma Gonzalez, and Alex Wind — all of whom are gun control activists.
His essay did not include commentary on any efforts made by pro-gun survivors or outspoken conservative students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas.
“This time, something different is happening,” Obama wrote of the Parkland students’ efforts. “This time, our children are calling us to account.”
He also lauded the activist efforts of the “Dreamers” and of those furthering the Black Lives Matter movement.
“This generation — of Parkland, of Dreamers, of Black Lives Matter — embraces that duty,” Obama wrote. “If they make their elders uncomfortable, that’s how it should be.”
Obama even took aim at the National Rifle Association in the essay.
“The NRA’s favored candidates are starting to fear they might lose,” he wrote, but warned that “NRA scare tactics” would likely still be employed.
What’s Kashuv saying now?
After the mass killing, Kashuv, 16, spent copious amounts of time in Washington, D.C., lobbying for school security legislation.
Congress later passed the STOP School Violence Act, an act that funds mental health programs and resources as well as programs for infrastructure safety.
After Time published Obama’s essay, Kashuv — in a reportedly now-deleted tweet — pointed to the fact that no pro-gun or conservative students were mentioned, and called it a “disgrace.”
The 16-year-old also said that the former president was wrong when he lauded gun control student activists for “persuading statehouses and some of the biggest gun retailers to change.”
On Twitter, Kashuv wrote, “This is so rich coming from @BarackObama.”
He later added, “It’s an absolute shame that @BarackObama gives no credit to @rpettyand @AndrewPollackFL who actually got the legislation passed. ‘Already, they’ve [the Parkland students] had some success persuading statehouses and some of the biggest gun retailers to change.'”
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