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| 1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| 2 | WHEREAS, On February 14, 2018, 17 people lost their lives | ||||||
| 3 | at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High
School in Parkland, Florida in | ||||||
| 4 | the 9th deadliest mass shooting in modern United States' | ||||||
| 5 | history; and
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| 6 | WHEREAS, In the aftermath of the shooting, survivors banded | ||||||
| 7 | together to exercise their first
amendment rights and call for | ||||||
| 8 | action to prevent similar tragedies from occurring; and | ||||||
| 9 | WHEREAS, In response to Parkland survivors exercising | ||||||
| 10 | their first amendment rights, some have
gone beyond policy | ||||||
| 11 | disagreements with the survivors and resorted to ad hominem | ||||||
| 12 | attacks; and | ||||||
| 13 | WHEREAS, Breibart collected and published memes comparing | ||||||
| 14 | survivor and activist David Hogg
to Hitler; and | ||||||
| 15 | WHEREAS, National Rifle Association board member Ted | ||||||
| 16 | Nugent claimed Parkland survivors are
liars, poor mush-brained | ||||||
| 17 | children, and soulless; and | ||||||
| 18 | WHEREAS, Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones created a video of | ||||||
| 19 | survivor David Hogg's March for
Our Lives Speech dubbed with an | ||||||
| 20 | Adolf Hitler speech as well as another video comparing
Emma | ||||||
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| 1 | Gonzalez and other March for Our Lives attendees as Hitler | ||||||
| 2 | Youth; he has pushed theories that March for Our Lives | ||||||
| 3 | organizers are being given scripts, insinuating that
they are | ||||||
| 4 | actors; and | ||||||
| 5 | WHEREAS, Congressman Steve King of Iowa posted a meme | ||||||
| 6 | mocking survivor Emma Gonzalez
for her Cuban heritage; and | ||||||
| 7 | WHEREAS, A photo-shopped image of Emma Gonzalez ripping up | ||||||
| 8 | the constitution has gone viral
on the fringe websites of the | ||||||
| 9 | internet; and | ||||||
| 10 | WHEREAS, There have been countless other attacks on | ||||||
| 11 | Parkland survivors including, but not
limited to, calling them | ||||||
| 12 | crisis actors or skinheads; and | ||||||
| 13 | WHEREAS, Fox News host Laura Ingraham mocked David Hogg for | ||||||
| 14 | getting rejected by
universities; and
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| 15 | WHEREAS, Parkland is not the first time conspiratorial and | ||||||
| 16 | character attacks have been directed
towards victims of mass | ||||||
| 17 | shootings which is reflected by a defamation lawsuit filed by | ||||||
| 18 | parents of
Sandy Hook victims against Alex Jones; and
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| 19 | WHEREAS, These attacks on victims and survivors of mass | ||||||
| 20 | shootings not only inflict psychological
pain, but also may | ||||||
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| 1 | compromise the safety of those involved; and
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| 2 | WHEREAS, Conversations regarding policy disagreements | ||||||
| 3 | strengthen public discourse, and ad
hominem attacks on victims | ||||||
| 4 | of mass shootings have no place in civilized discourse; and
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| 5 | WHEREAS, As a nation we should support victims and | ||||||
| 6 | survivors of mass shootings in their time of
suffering; | ||||||
| 7 | therefore, be it
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| 8 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE | ||||||
| 9 | HUNDREDTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we | ||||||
| 10 | express our deepest
condolences to the victims and survivors of | ||||||
| 11 | the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School
shooting and their | ||||||
| 12 | families; and be it further | ||||||
| 13 | RESOLVED, That we condemn those who inflict undue suffering | ||||||
| 14 | on them through ad hominem
attacks which go beyond the realm of | ||||||
| 15 | reasonable policy disagreements; and be it further
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| 16 | RESOLVED, That it is the opinion of the Illinois House of | ||||||
| 17 | Representatives that this type of
discourse has no place in | ||||||
| 18 | civilized society.
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