In yesterday's blog, I reviewed each candidate's plan for education. Today, I'll take a look at another issue that is important to me. I urge you to visit each candidate's website and consider the issues that are important to you.
One oddity I'm noticing is that when I Google "Kemp" his governor page is the first on the list. When I Google "Abrams" I have to scroll through some randomness, including the Wikipedia link to the M1 Abrams tank. I cannot even pretend to understand how Google works, but I feel that it's odd one candidate's page would be buried under assorted links, while one is at the top of the list. Whatevs...
Let's jump right in to gun control. I'll begin by stating plainly...I am a gun owner. I took an NRA sponsored gun ownership course to learn about gun safety and maintenance a few years ago when I first received my handgun as a gift from my husband (which is actually kind of a funny story, but I'll save that for another post). I come from a family of gun owners and married into a family of gun owners. I learned from an early age that guns are NOT toys and should always be treated as if they are loaded. This is common sense and was reiterated in the NRA safety course. Here's a little snip from the NRA website:
Notice that first handy tip..."ALWAYS keep the gun pointed in a safe direction." In other words, AWAY from living things.
Now, take a look at this infamous picture from Kemp's ad where he quizzes a potential suitor for his daughter on why he's running for governor. "A healthy respect for the 2nd Amendment," says the teen in the ad at which point Kemp snaps the gun shut and says that they're going to get along just fine. Google the ad if you're curious.
One oddity I'm noticing is that when I Google "Kemp" his governor page is the first on the list. When I Google "Abrams" I have to scroll through some randomness, including the Wikipedia link to the M1 Abrams tank. I cannot even pretend to understand how Google works, but I feel that it's odd one candidate's page would be buried under assorted links, while one is at the top of the list. Whatevs...
Let's jump right in to gun control. I'll begin by stating plainly...I am a gun owner. I took an NRA sponsored gun ownership course to learn about gun safety and maintenance a few years ago when I first received my handgun as a gift from my husband (which is actually kind of a funny story, but I'll save that for another post). I come from a family of gun owners and married into a family of gun owners. I learned from an early age that guns are NOT toys and should always be treated as if they are loaded. This is common sense and was reiterated in the NRA safety course. Here's a little snip from the NRA website:
Notice that first handy tip..."ALWAYS keep the gun pointed in a safe direction." In other words, AWAY from living things.
Now, take a look at this infamous picture from Kemp's ad where he quizzes a potential suitor for his daughter on why he's running for governor. "A healthy respect for the 2nd Amendment," says the teen in the ad at which point Kemp snaps the gun shut and says that they're going to get along just fine. Google the ad if you're curious.
Ya'll...I get it. It's supposed to be a joke. Call me a liberal snowflake, but I was taught from a very early age that guns are not jokes. They are weapons. I am so confused as to how someone can claim to be in support of the 2nd Amendment and then make a "joke" like this.
Here's Abrams' plan for common sense gun legislation (notice...she doesn't say anyone is taking away guns):
Kemp does not have information related to gun control on his page that I could find. I Googled "Kemp and gun control" and turned up several articles that reported on things he has said. In this article from our local news station, Kemp is quoted as saying that gun control doesn't necessarily have anything to do with improving school safety. He suggests "new camera gear, mental health counselors, and more armed school police if the local systems want them." I'm okay with these suggestions, but I whole-heartedly disagree on gun control not being integral to school safety. At least both candidates are suggesting increased mental health services - this is an important starting point. Certainly people who decide to commit mass murder aren't mentally sound.
In general, as I click around on each candidate's website I'm noticing a couple trends. Abrams' pages lay out the issues and for each one states what she will do as governor and gives a list of related experiences/achievements. Kemp's pages are less organized. For example, the landing page for his "issues" is a 4 point list with subpoints. Some of the subpoints have links, some do not. On many of the links, there is an "article" about something Kemp has said or done. When a person scrolls to the bottom of the page, there are three links to additional articles, two of which are negative articles regarding his opponent.
One of the subpoints on Kemp's issues page is to "Protect our Georgia values." I clicked on the link, interested to find out what my values are. What I found was an article about some random charter school in Atlanta that isn't saying the Pledge of Allegiance every day. Reading the article could lead people to believe that the Pledge is under attack in our public schools. Let me fall back on my 20 years of experience as a public school teacher in 2 states, 3 districts, and 6 different schools. We.say.the.Pledge.every.day. I have never even heard anyone suggest that we not say it. Even when the intercom was broken and we didn't have morning announcements we would just say it in our rooms with the students. Beyond an inflammatory article about some school not saying the Pledge, there were no additional points about Georgia's values.
Honestly, just the ad of Kemp pointing a gun at a kid is a deal-breaker for me, but I am determined to keep reading and studying. I hope you will too. Our democracy depends on us all being informed voters.
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