The title of the December 10 Sentinel page A8 reads: “How to Help Children After School Shootings”. Rather than offering solutions to stop this unnecessary trauma, we are now offering solutions on what to do after it has happened! Our children deserve better. Our job as parents, educators, legislators, healthcare workers, and human beings should be to protect living children.

Republicans claim to be the “pro-life” party, yet one should look no further than the recent bill passed by the PA legislature as proof that they have no respect for victims armed violence by the Palestinian Authority. The Republican bill raised the legal age for possessing a firearm from 21 to 18 and allowed unlicensed carrying. Thank goodness Governor Wolf recognized the danger of this bill and vetoed it.

Research shows that there are developmental reasons why people in their late teens and early twenties, especially men, are particularly susceptible to gun violence. A crucial factor is that the frontal lobes – which help us think about our actions – don’t fully mature until they are around 25 years old.

Gun violence prevention policies are essential to prevent gun violence in schools. If we care about protecting people from gun violence, we:

• Raise the legal age of possession of a firearm, not lower it.

• Pass gun storage safety laws to prevent young people from gaining access to guns.

• Pass extreme risk laws so people in crisis do not have access to guns.

• Require background checks of all firearm sales.

Our PA legislature and the Republican Party are taking no action to keep our children safe. Instead, their goal is to make guns more accessible. I guess the future for all of those unborn children they are determined to save will involve counseling on how to deal with the trauma of gun violence.

Jo bitzer

Upper Allen Township