Winnie-the-Pooh teaches American children about gun violence

Summarize this content material to 540 phrases No less than they didn’t title the e book, “Winnie-the-Pooh and the AR-15 Too.”Residing subsequent to America is like being next-door neighbours with a dysfunctional household. Why are they at all times bickering? And why is everybody packing warmth? Our neighbours have a gun downside. There at the moment are extra firearms in America than individuals and extra mass shootings than days within the 12 months. Weapons are the main explanation for demise for kids. If plastic constructing blocks had been even one per cent as harmful, LEGO can be unlawful in all 50 states. Kinder Shock eggs are regulated greater than weapons.Earlier this 12 months, Enterprise Insider catalogued the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. historical past. Texas notched six of the highest 15 spots, together with final 12 months’s horror at Robb Elementary Faculty in Uvalde, the place 19 youngsters and two lecturers had been killed.Enter Winnie-the-Pooh. Operating out of the way to dodge smart concepts they’d by no means be prepared to strive, Texas is popping to the beloved A.A. Milne character to show children about lively capturing occasions. Subsequent, perhaps Bugs Bunny can resolve the opioid disaster.Because the Guardian reported this week: “Texas schoolchildren as younger as 4 years previous are being given Winnie-the-Pooh cartoon books, instructing them to ‘run, cover, struggle’ if a gunman enters their constructing.”Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, mockingly shared two pages from the “Keep Secure” e book that was tucked into backpacks like granola bars. In a single illustration, Kanga and Roo, sporting boxing gloves, advise youngsters: “If hazard finds us, don’t keep, run away. If we are able to’t get away, now we have to FIGHT with all our may. Like Kanga and Roo do, it’s higher to struggle collectively.”Oh, hassle.Consciousness, coaching and public schooling are by no means unhealthy concepts. “Run, cover, struggle” is a steered tactic from the FBI. However I’m fairly positive brokers who got here up with the three phrases weren’t anticipating four-year-olds who can’t but tie their sneakers to overpower a homicidal maniac firing a weapon of struggle in a classroom.Is that this actually one of the best our neighbours can do to maintain their children protected? Now that Winnie-the-Pooh is within the public area, you’ll be able to picture future eventualities from the “Keep Secure” sequence. A literal set off warning from Tigger. Piglet strapping on a bulletproof vest earlier than story time. Eeyore hiding in a janitor’s closet. Rabbit studying an Nationwide Rifle Affiliation brochure as Christopher Robin removes a hid Glock from his blue shorts to interact the masked assailant in a shootout close to the snack mats.As one instructor from Dallas instructed the Guardian of the books that abruptly arrived with out advance warning to educators and oldsters: “I discovered it extraordinarily disturbing, and was very uncomfortable with the entire contents of the e book. The truth that individuals suppose it’s a greater thought to place out this e book to a toddler moderately than really take any actions to cease shootings from occurring in our colleges, that basically bothers me. It makes me really feel so indignant, so dissatisfied.”Sure, it’s directly maddening and saddening. However what may be accomplished? How can we assist our neighbours escape this shoot ’em up epidemic? There have been no Bushmaster M4s when the Second Modification was ratified. Joe Biden ought to problem an govt order limiting firearms to what was accessible in 1791: “We should confiscate that Honey Badger. Right here’s a musket. You may take your gun to 7-Eleven if it’s a flintlock pistol.”Or perhaps Chris Rock had the appropriate thought when he jokingly proposed fixing the gun madness by jacking up the worth of bullets. Levy a $5,000 tax on each bullet. Or make the potential gun purchaser pay by means of the nostril for a compulsory background test.Do one thing, something, past hoping Winnie-the-Pooh could be a reincarnated Elmer the Security Elephant as elected officers stick their heads in jars of honey.What’s actually disturbing is how our neighbours are getting inured to the mindless carnage of their yard, how discovered helplessness is obstructing out the noise of rampant gunfire. After the Columbine Excessive Faculty bloodbath in 1999, months of media protection adopted. Now a mass capturing is rapidly adopted by one other mass capturing after which the ideas and prayers all mix collectively inducing mass numbness.On this aspect of the neighbourly fence, it’s incomprehensible. After I drive my daughters to high school, I’m not nervous a few lockdown or lively shooter state of affairs. Gun deaths for Canadian youngsters didn’t rise by 50 per cent between 2019 and 2021, as they did south of the border. A brand new PBS/NPR/Marist ballot on Thursday discovered 40 per cent of Individuals consider “colleges of their communities will not be protected from gun violence.”We love our neighbours. However why are they the one home on the block with this disaster?America, it’s not 1791. This proper to maintain and bear arms that shall not be infringed is killing your children. Biden, to his credit score, has lobbied for reform and customary sense security legal guidelines. However what can he do when the Republicans within the holster of the gun foyer hold easing restrictions because the physique depend soars? If Texas governor Greg Abbott had his means, there’d be a bazooka and howitzer mounted atop each pickup truck.Good luck, Winnie-the-Pooh. Educate the youngsters.Hopefully, you don’t get gunned down.SHARE:JOIN THE CONVERSATION Anybody can learn Conversations, however to contribute, you have to be a registered Torstar account holder. If you don’t but have a Torstar account, you’ll be able to create one now (it’s free)Signal InRegisterConversations are opinions of our readers and are topic to the Code of Conduct. The Star
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