Alabama’s Repuiblican Governor Kay Ivey: CNN

By Glynn Wilson –

Students across the country walked out in a symbolic protest on Wednesday to focus the nation’s attention on gun violence one month after a gunman killed 17 people inside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

Students in a number of schools across Alabama participated in the protest. When asked about this before a Computer Science Education Summit in Montgomery, Alabama’s Republican Governor Kay Ivey appeared condescending to the students, saying protesting and exercising one’s First Amendment rights of free speech and assembly may be a “noble thing,” but: “We need our children in school to learn so they can advance their own careers.”

The reaction to her comment took off on social media from those who support the students and hope the #Enough movement may make a difference in bringing about reasonable government regulations of guns at the national, state and local level.

“That’s actually significantly less stupid than I’ve come to expect from her,” one commenter said on Facebook. “It’s still completely tone deaf though.”

Another said: “Guess she doesn’t know that dead children have no careers. Life should always trump guns, ignorance, and politics.”

“The walkout and the events leading up to today taught those students more than they will ever learn in class,” another commenter said. “Missing 17 minutes of class to fight for your right to live is far more than noble. It’s being what we all should strive to be.”

Another said: “I can’t imagine a better way to advance their own careers than to participate in a real life civics lesson!”

“Careers are worthless if you are, you know, killed in a mass shooting,” another commenter said.

President Donald Trump has also been blasted for his suggestion that teachers should be armed, a proposal that is actually being taken seriously and picked up by state legislatures in places like Florida and Alabama.

The Alabama House Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee voted 5-4 on Thursday for a bill that would allow some teachers to carry or access firearms in schools. It could come up for a floor vote next week.

Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox is running for governor and leading the field as a Democrat: Glynn Wilson

One potential opponent of Ivey’s, if she were to win the Republican nomination for governor June 5, is Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox. He is running for governor and expressed his strong opposition to arming teachers while speaking to Democrats recently in Daphne.

On Trump’s suggestion to arm teachers, he said: “That is the most insane thing I’ve ever heard in my life. I am a child of the public schools. Both of my children are in public schools. If they start arming teachers I will pull my children out.”

If he is elected, he said: “I will veto the hell out of any legislation that brings this to my desk. No way are we going to put more children at harm because we don’t have the guts to do what’s right and take on this issue head on.”

Mobile Congressman Bradley Byrne is also now being quoted by Fox 10 News anchor Bob Grip on Twitter saying the students should stop protesting and stay in school.

@RepByrne believes students should stay in class, not walk out #StudentWalkout #alpolitics pic.twitter.com/fz1roxNIqG

— Bob Grip (@Bob_Grip) March 14, 2018

“I appreciate hearing students’ voices,” Byrne said. “But students need to stay in school. They need to stay in class. The most important thing we can is to make sure we don’t let the people that perpetrate these acts win. And every time a child is out of class, they win.”

—
Thanks to the digital editor at WIAT, the CBS affiliate news station in Birmingham, for publishing this clip and sharing it with us.

Gov. Ivey reacts to National School Walkout: ‘We need our children in school”