Parkland massacre parents give Xmas cookies with “bullet holes” to NRA
Miami, Dec 21 (efe-epa).- The parents of students killed in the 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, this week will send Christmas cookies shaped like human figures, but with “bullet holes” in them, to the National Rifle Association.
Venezuelan-US couple Manuel and Patricia Oliver, the parents of Joaquin Oliver, decided to make the gift to the powerful gun lobby group because of a photo message the NRA posted on the social networks in which Santa Claus is shown reading a Christmas list requesting ammunition, the caption on which says “Dear Santa, you give us ammo. We give you cookies. It’s that simple.”
The Olivers have baked 1,700 cookies, one for each child and young person killed by gun violence this past year. The cookies have black X’s for eyes and three or four small perforations – meant to represent “bullet holes” – in them.
At 10:30 Tuesday morning, Patricia will personally take the cookies to the NRA headquarters in Fairfax, Virginia, Manuel told EFE.
“Guac” Oliver was 17 when he died along with 13 other students and three teachers and school staffers at the high school when former student Nikolas Cruz, 19, brought an assault rifle to the site and opened fire on Valentine’s Day 2018.
Cruz had shown signs of having mental problems and had acquired an arsenal of weaponry at the house where he lived.
Their son’s murder motivated Manuel, who is an artist, and his wife to become anti-gun activists, founding a non-governmental organization they called Change The Ref that works to promote legal reform to limit weapons possession by individuals and empower young people to defend and carry forward with such ideas in the future.
On his Twitter account, where he defines himself as Guac’s “father and best friend,” Manuel published photos and a video with his wife in the kitchen of their home with a huge mound of cookies.
Manuel has created 40 murals around the country saying that Joaquin was not a “victim,” and he is also the author of the theater piece “GUAC: My Son, My Hero,” which has been performed in assorted cities.
Before the Nov. 3 elections, the couple created an artificial intelligence version of Guac to urge people to vote for candidates who promised to take measures to limit gun violence.
Cruz, who was arrested later on the day of the massacre and confessed to being the shooter, has been jailed since then awaiting trial in which, if convicted, he could face the death penalty.
EFE
