A former National Rifle Association President was tricked by the parents of a boy shot dead at a senseless school massacre to give a speech before thousands of empty chairs representing victims of school shootings.
Vides posted online show David Keene addressing a makeshift field in Las Vegas. Keene thought he was practicing his speech to the graduates of James Madison Academy, but he was in fact speaking to 3,044 empty chairs representing students who would have graduated high school this year had they not been killed, according to the parents, Patricia and Manuel Oliver.
“This year you focused on one of the most important of [James] Madison’s amendments, the Second Amendment,” Keene said to the rows of empty chairs.
“There are some who will continue to fight to gut the Second Amendment, but I’d be willing to bet that many of you will be among those who stand up and prevent them from succeeding.”
“An overwhelming majority of you will go on to college, while others may decide their dream dictates a different route to success,” he added. “So my advice to you is simple enough: follow your dream and make it a reality.”
Mr and Mrs Oliver, co-founders of the gun safety organization Change the Ref, organised the fake graduation. Their son Joaquin Oliver was one of 17 students killed when a former student went on a killing spree at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in 2018.
Students from Stoneman Douglas were instrumental in changing Florida law, on March 4, 2018, to raise the legal rifle-owner age from 18 to 21, with a three-day wait after they had helped to organize nationwide student protests following the shooting.
The gunman in the school shooting was arrested and is due to go to trial for first-degree murder in September.
As of May 2021, there had been 247 mass shootings in the US, with 283 dead and 1,005 injured.
We have to be thankful for the actions of former Prime Minister John Howard, who in 1996, banned all semi-automatic rifles and semi-automatic and pump-action shotguns here in Australia.
