New generation will act

Generation "Z" has grown up in the shadow of complacency and selfishness of the Boomers and Gen X. We have seen the Millennials turn their back to norms of prior generations for personal reasons. Generation "Z" is ready to take Millennial torch of bucking norms, only with a purpose of greater good.

Since the expiration of the "Public Safety and Recreation Firearms Use Protection Act" expired in 2004, banning assault style rifles and large magazines, mass shootings have increased in frequency and quantity. The shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary (2012) and Parkland (Stoneman Douglas, 2018), our most vulnerable (my Generation at the time) became targets and victims.

A landmark U.S. Supreme Court Case, DC vs Heller (2008), established that the Second Amendment does support personal vs militia gun ownership for personal protection. However, Scalia's opinion supports gun controls limiting access to dangerous weapons and limiting where one can carry or in some cases who.

"Nothing in our opinion should be taken to cast doubt on long-standing prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings, or laws impos- ing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms," he wrote.

If the Boomers, Xers, and even Millennials fail to do the right thing to protect our greatest resource, My Generation "Z" will ...

James Paul Johnson

Barrington