BRONX NEWS: Dead son's mother hopes tragedy will curb guns

Monday, December 31, 2012

Dead son's mother hopes tragedy will curb guns

By Michael Horowitz

BRONX, NEW YORK, December 31- Civic activist Marlene Smith, whose son, Rohan Simpson, was gunned down in street violence in 1986, hopes that the tragedy of last Friday's murders of 20 innocent children in Connecticut will lead to enactment of laws that restrict the use of weapons of mass destruction on the nation's streets.

“We've had street violence in the nation's inner cities for years, and little has been done to stop the sale of weapons of mass destruction that have been used to kill young people in our neighborhoods,” Smith stressed.

“It is a tragedy when people, especially young people, are innocent victims of murders that cut their lives short before their time,” Smith added.

The civic activist asked, “How many more innocent people have to die before our country passes laws that limit the spread of weapons of destruction in our neighborhoods? How many more tragedies will we have to endure before we, as a country, are brought to our senses, as far as the premature deaths of our young people are concerned?”

Echoing Smith sentiments, Rev. Robert Smith Jr., the long-time pastor of the Church of the Savior, stressed, “We need to limit the Second Amendment, which is the rationale for people to own guns. We are no longer the frontier society that we were when our nation was founded.”

Rev. Smith (no relation to Marlene) added, “We're no longer a burgeoning country; we're a technological society. We need to do something to honor the memories of the children and the school professionals who lost their lives in Newtown, Connecticut.”

The minister stressed, “My heart is broken from what happened in Connecticut. We, as a nation, are shedding tears for the angels who were taken from us. Their parents had dreams for them that will never be realized.”

Rev. Smith noted, “In the midst of the tragedy at the Sandy Hook Elementary School, our hearts were lifted by the heroism of the six adults who sacrificed their lives at the school to save the lives of children who were under their care.”

The minister added, “The crazy young man who committed these insane murders seemed to suffer from a pathology that mass murderers have shared in recent decades. We need to find ways to keep high-powered weapons of mass destruction out of the hands of people like Adam Lanza.”