I was invited by the Brady Organization to speak at the End Gun Violence Rally on the National Mall yesterday. This was in conjunction with the 2022 DC March for our Lives on Saturday, June 11th. Here are my words …

Good Afternoon. My Name is Max Hall and I live in Marshall, Virginia. I am a graduate of West Point and Veteran of the United States Army. I served nearly 9 years overseas in defense of our country. I would also point out that I am a gun owner.

Speaking Out… Something We ALL Must Do.

As a veteran and an American, I am sick of seeing school children murdered. I’m tired of watching people shopping, going to the movies, attending worship services, or just trying to live their lives, being gunned down. Enough!

At West Point and in the military, I was trained on the safe use of both handguns and rifles and how to kill people with those weapons. Having seen the effect of those weapons, I stand here with Brady in support of gun safety. As a country, we MUST do something. Doing nothing is not an option

In today’s environment, where people think everything is black and white, insight and knowledge are often lost. I hope that is not the case here and now. Now is the time to listen to the American people. Now is the time to have courage and act. Now is the time to pass meaningful common sense legislation such as:

  • Universal Background Checks
  • Raising the age to buy firearms to 21
  • Red Flag laws, and
  • Investments in Mental Health

Listen to the American People. The vast majority of Americans, and gun owners, support common sense gun legislation.

At West Point, the Cadet prayer says in part “Make us to choose the harder right, rather than the easier wrong.” I urge members of the Senate to do the same. Do not give in to special interest groups, to pointless platitudes, or the easy route of doing nothing. Choose the harder right, and pass common sense gun legislation now.

Thank you.

My Friend Bruce Shuttleworth (Naval Academy, ‘87) , Senator Chris Murphy (Connecticut) and I were the First Three Speakers.
The Brady team laid out 2,280 schoolbooks and broken pencils around our podium. They represent the 2,280 children that have been killed by gun violence in the past 456 days — or the time that the Senate has refused to bring a vote on background checks.

… Feel free to share this blog …

Addendum:

Thanks to my friends Mike Hammond and Donna Matturro McAleer who helped with some of the wording and theming for this speech.

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15 thoughts on “Speaking out on Gun Violence”

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  4. Max,
    Thank you for having the courage to add your voice to this conversation. You inspire me. Every day that I go in to teach, or send my kids to school, it’s somewhere in the back of my mind that violence like this may touch our lives. We pretend it can’t happen here, even though we know better. Just as

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  5. It is a national embarrassment that we are the only country in the world where these tragedies happen so frequently… yay to date have done virtually nothing to prevent them. Tougher gun control is desperately needed.

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  6. Max,
    Thank you for having the courage to add your voice to this conversation. You inspire me. Every day that I go in to teach, or send my kids to school, it’s somewhere in the back of my mind that violence like this may touch our lives. We drill for it and speak solemnly about it, then we pretend it can’t happen here, even though we know better. Without some meaningful changes in the areas you addressed more of our country’s precious future will be lost to senseless violence. I deeply appreciate your voice and efforts and I am behind you.
    Dawn

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  7. Congratulations on being a part of this event! You express so much of what many of us believe in… We can only hope Congress will “…choose the harder right, rather than the easier wrong.”

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  10. Max, thanks for bringing your credibility to the chorus of reasonable citizens begging Congress for sensible gun laws. I would add that we need to ban automatic weapons. They have no use in civilian life.

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