Put parenting and gun laws to the test

On Sept. 7, 1964, I saw a television ad of a 3-year-old girl plucking daisy petals in a sun-dappled field. It was accompanied by a mission-control countdown, followed by a massive nuclear blast with a mushroom cloud darkening the landscape.

It was aimed at Barry Goldwater, who gave the country the message that "Extremism in the defense of liberty was no vice," interpreted by most Americans that nuclear war was on the table.

Lyndon Johnson was forecast to win the election, but not by much. His polling numbers skyrocketed after the airing of the ad and gave him a landslide victory.

Why not run such an ad today since most Americans want more comprehensive gun control laws? Why not frame one similar, but with a grammar schoolgirl removing petals from the daisy and saying to herself, as she counts down, "When will the next school shooting happen? Will it be here?"

It will put parenting to the test to see which is stronger, their ideology that continues to stifle reasonable gun control or the love for their children.

James D. Cook

Schaumburg