by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls
It occurred to me the other day that in a weird way, one could make a direct comparison between the Vietnam War and our current debate about gun control. With each mass shooting at a school, it hits home that the lives of young people are at stake, much like the draft put the lives of young people at risk.
So, it’s logical that it’s possible, just possible that the Parkland kids efforts at enacting common sense gun control might spark protests similar to what we had in the late 60s, early 70s with the Vietnam War. Millennials are at just the right age, too. They entering their late teens and they’re at just the right age to start to protest.
One difference, of course, is that 18-year-olds can now vote, unlike 50 years ago. So, it’s possible that if the Parkland movement really begins to take off they might be able to get things done more through the ballet box than protesting.
But only time will tell. The historical comparison eerily holds up, the more you think about it. It really does. Let’s hope it plays out that way. I’ve often said that the bad rap Millennials got came more from people my age feeling old and there being a lack of any reason for them to rise to the occasion than them being any different than any generation before them.
Maybe, just maybe, gun control will prove me right.
