The vast
majority of Americans have been left reeling in the wake
of the Supreme Court's disastrous ruling that overturned
Roe v. Wade and national reproductive rights.
But sadly, it's not the only horrific decision to come
out of the Supreme Court recently. Just before it
stamped out Roe, the court also went
after states' abilities to enact gun safety
legislation. And it basically said: "No." In a
year that has already seen numerous gruesome mass
shootings, including in a Texas elementary school, we
have to honestly address the unique — and preventable —
tragedy of gun violence in the U.S. We need more
gun safety regulations. And we also
need better social-emotional learning programs for
kids — especially if the Supreme Court won't
let us enact other gun safety laws right now.
Social-emotional
learning (SEL) curriculums help teach young people
healthy, safe ways to express themselves and
de-escalate intense emotions. It involves
teaching kids to feel empathy for others and awareness
of their own feelings, as well as learning tactics to
manage their emotions and interpersonal skills to
resolve conflicts peacefully. The results are
huge benefits all around: SEL helps students
develop strong, vibrant relationships within supportive
communities, improves mental health, and reduces both
self-harm and violence against others. It even improves
academic performance by creating a more productive
learning environment!
It should be
obvious that all children deserve this sort of emotional
training. But strangely, some extreme right-wing
groups oppose both SEL and gun safety
regulations. Instead, they prefer adding
more guns to the equation, by arming
teacher or guards. But as we all saw in Uvalde, Texas,
even police with guns did not stop the mass shooter for
12 minutes while he was gunning down children.
Clearly, police do not prevent gun
violence, in schools or elsewhere. But social-emotional
learning could. We can't let these extreme
right-wing voices drown out the voices of reason: our
voices. Sign the petition to
urge all 50 U.S. states to fully fund social-emotional
learning programs in schools, led by qualified
counselors, in order to prevent more horrible
violence!
