20 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • APRIL 2018
By STEVE ISRAEL
Chairman of the Global Institute
I grew up in Levittown in the 1960s
and 1970s. Like most gray-haired
baby boomers, I remember the “airraid
drill.”
It entailed being escorted out of my
classroom, lined up against the cold
brick hallway walls, and told to put
my hands atop my head so when that
nuclear fireball erupted, incinerating
anything and everything for miles
around us, we’d be okay. I also
remember seeing those little yellow
signs posted on the exterior of public
buildings: FALLOUT SHELTER.
I wasn’t sure what Khrushchev and
Brezhnev had against Levittown. But
it seemed as if we were a target. Was
it our shopping centers? Was it Mr.
Gateson, my fourth-grade teacher?
Or was my father really not a “sales
rep” and instead, an agent of the CIA?
As alarming as those drills were,
I remember goofing off in those
hallways. Even at a young age,
something told us not to worry. Thirty
thousand nuclear missiles pointed
right at us seemed a distant threat.
Compare that to the threats our
children must constantly process:
the very clear and present danger of
a shooting in their school. So grave
that the president of the United
States has endorsed training old Mr.
Gateson to carry a weapon into a
fourth-grade classroom.
Gun lobbyists chant that the best
way to stop a bad guy with a gun is
with a good guy with a gun. Whether
that applies to gym teachers I’ve had
is debatable. What is not debatable
is that the best way to reduce
gun violence is to make it harder
for people with mental illnesses,
criminals and terrorists to get guns.
Facts are facts. This is irrefutable: In
the U.S. and around the world, where
there are sane gun security rules, far
fewer children are murdered in their
schools. It’s the exception to the rule,
not the weekly “Breaking News.”
Please don’t tell me that’s fake news
or alternative facts. People throw
out that canard when they have no
intellectual leg to stand on.
Why doesn’t Congress stand up to
the gun lobby? More than 80 percent
of Americans support universal
background checks and “No Fly, No
Buy.” Republicans and Democrats
alike. Even most NRA members.
Here’s why: After votes on gun
security measures in Congress were
defeated, a moderate Republican who
voted against each measure confessed
to me how embarrassed he was.
“So, why’d you vote that way?” I
asked. His answer: “Going back
home with a bad vote on guns is
politically nuts.”
When members of Congress
are more concerned with nuts
with guns, our children and
grandchildren will be safer.
Steve Israel’s next novel “Big Guns”
may be ordered at repsteveisrael.com
or directly from your local bookstore.
POINT OF VIEW
TAKING AIM:
NUTS WITH GUNS
Colloquium
Join us for the 4th Annual Earth Day Colloquium:
Friday, April 20:
“Ocean Acidification & Sea Level Rise” Speaker
Series Morning Session begins at 9:00a.m.
Afternoon Session begins at 1p.m.
at the Molloy College Rockville Centre Campus
Barbara H. Hagan School of Nursing, Room 339
& Saturday, April 21:
Natural History Films & Lecture on Horseshoe Crabs
@The Explorer’s Club in NYC starting at 9:00 a.m.
There will also be coordinated field experiences and
all-day activities at various locations, TBD.
For more Information and to Register,
Contact: Regina Gorney
rgorney@molloy.edu or 516.323.3594
Attend one or both days / Open to the Public /
Register Early / Seating is limited
SAVE THE
DATES APRIL 20 & 21
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http://connect.molloy.edu/earthday2018
link
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