Editorial

On Sunday March 15, gun supporters rallied in Bala Cynwyd Park, sporting handguns on their hips, protesting the ambiguity of the township ordinance regarding gun laws. They were arguing that state law, which says that no municipalities can pass gun laws, supersedes the Lower Merion township law that prohibits guns in public parks. The ordinance reads: "No person except authorized members of the Police Department shall carry or discharge firearms of any kind in a park without a special permit, unless exempted." However, the law also says that if your firearm is licensed, you are exempt. Frankly, their protest was senseless and without reason.

The protestors defended their actions by saying that public parks which are gun-free zones are more vulnerable to gun attacks, therefore allowing people to arm themselves would greatly decrease the threat that these attacks pose. But how can we be so sure that everyone with a licensed gun knows how to operate it? What if he or she accidently misfires and shoots the child they were trying to protect? In a town such as Lower Merion, where shootings are almost non-existent, the argument of unsafe public parks is completely irrelevant, making it seem as if they’re trying to make a problem out of nothing.

They now are also suing the township to overturn the ordinance mentioned above. “The gun group is seeking damages, legal fees, an overturning of the ban and an injunction to prevent the township from passing any future laws regulating guns,” says Philly.com.

We, as an editorial board, are not the only people who feel threatened by the rally and the legal action that is ensuing. Many Lower Merion citizens were disturbed to hear that people who don’t even live in the district came into our town to protest something that doesn’t necessarily concern them. Who knows if all of the people at the rally are experienced with firearms and could fire it safely and accurately? This concern alone is enough to condemn the rally.

But we, as students, know all too well the threat that gun violence brings to schools.

It seems as if we are often hearing about tragedies at schools not so unlike ours, where students pack their backpacks with handguns instead of textbooks, or mentally disturbed strangers kill helpless kindergarteners for no apparent reason. The issue could not be more serious, and to hear that people are protesting for their right to carry these destructive weapons only three miles from our school is insensitive and counter-productive.

The protestors do not and will never have our support when it comes to gun rights in public parks or any other place that children occupy. Protesting something as trivial as an ambiguous law should not trump the safety of children who play and learn in the area. Their rights are not in jeopardy—our lives are.