Just like the white-winged dove.
Stevie Nicks said last week’s massacre in a Uvalde, Texas, grade school has left her “dying inside” in a plea to make powerful rifles harder to obtain.
The 74-year-old singer made her call on Twitter and Facebook Wednesday by claiming no honorable hunter would hunt with the kind of weapon 18-year-old gunman Salvador Ramos used in south Texas to kill 19 children and two educators.
“When those guns go into the hands of obviously disturbed people, it gives them a sense of unbelievable power that they have never felt before,” the “Edge of 17″ singer said.
According to Nicks, who struggled with drug addiction earlier in her career, powerful firearms can have an intoxicating effect on some people.
“Once people have felt the power of those guns, they are never the same,” she said. “They are addicted. And then there is no turning back. So don’t give them that power.”
She noted that no one is calling for all guns to be made illegal, but stated there should be limitations in place to keep innocent people safe. She also reflected on growing up all over the Southwest, including the Lone Star State.
“I am dying inside for the loss of those children in Texas and their parents,” Nicks continued. “Five of my most happy years were spent in El Paso, Texas. I loved it there.”
Her father worked for the Greyhound bus company. She referenced him in her social media post and said he always told her to do what’s right, even when it’s hard. The Fleetwood Mac standout called on lawmakers to show that kind of courage.
“Do you want to go down in the history books as being responsible for these school shootings that will inevitably continue, or do you want to be remembered as the people who finally gathered together in unity and empathy — as the people who stopped it?” she asked.
At the end of her open letter, Nicks concluded that it would have killed her father if she had been shot dead just for going to school when she was the age of many of the Robb Elementary School victims. Some lawmakers have pushed for stricter gun laws.
Others, including NRA-supporting Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, have called for mental health screening as well as putting more armed guards outside classrooms and rethinking how doors work in schoolhouses. Cruz, who spoke at a Texas NRA rally days after last week’s slaughter, has been heavily criticized for not prioritizing stricter gun control legislation as a solution.
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