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Letter: Tell your young men it is not OK to kill people

(Mark Lambie | The El Paso Times | AP) A mother and daughter take part in a vigil, Monday, Aug. 5, 2019, outside the Walmart in El Paso, Texas, where a mass shooting took place on Saturday, Aug. 3, 2019.

(Mark Lambie | The El Paso Times | AP) A mother and daughter take part in a vigil, Monday, Aug. 5, 2019, outside the Walmart in El Paso, Texas, where a mass shooting took place on Saturday, Aug. 3, 2019.

Dear white American families with guns in the household,

We have a problem with domestic terrorism in our country. And it is being perpetrated by young white men. Parents, it’s time to stage a family-by-family stand down.

And the topic of this stand down? Don’t use guns to randomly kill other people.

Sounds simple. And it shouldn’t even be necessary, but, with a white supremacist in the White House, parents and grandparents need to make clear to their teens and young adults that arbitrarily killing others with guns is wrong.

Parents need to have a stand down with their sons who are in their 20s or 30s and are out on their own. These young adults may be depressed, feel isolated or motivated by hateful social media or the president, but they need to hear from Mom and Dad that it is not OK to kill other people at a school, mall, church, night club or festival.

I am very serious here. If white adults take the time to talk to their kids and young people, perhaps we can stop this tide of senseless racist killing. White people, this is on us.

Jonna Ramey, Salt Lake City

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