Free Republic

Gina Montalto’s parents simply clutched hands and cried as it was announced Thursday that a Florida jury recommended the Parkland school shooter should not be condemned to death. Tony Montalto, Gina’s father and president of the advocacy group Stand with Parkland, called it “yet another gut punch for so many of us who devastatingly lost our loved ones on that tragic Valentine’s Day at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.” “Seventeen beautiful lives were cut short, by murder, and the monster that killed them gets to live to see another day,” Montalto said in a statement, echoing the sentiments of other...

When Foster the People's anti-gun violence anthem, "Pumped Up Kicks," was released in 2010, it quickly went viral. But not everyone immediately noticed the cautionary tale about gun violence that lead singer Mark Foster relates in the lyrics: "All the other kids with the pumped up kicks/ You'd better run, better run, outrun my gun." Although its tone is jubilant and upbeat -- prompting some fans to blast it during celebratory times -- "Pumped Up Kicks" is about a boy named Robert, who fantasizes about shooting up his school. SNIP With emotions raw after Vegas, Foster said that he and...