US : ''TWO DEAD -YOUNG-STUDENT- HEROES''

POLITICIANS fearful of the National Rifle Association have allowed the gun lobby to run amok so  that America now has more guns than people, but -

But there is still true heroism out there in the face of gun violence : students who rush shooters at the the risk of their own lives.

Let's celebrate, and mourn a student named Kendrick Castillo, 18, just days away from graduating in Highlands Ranch, Colo, who one last Tuesday helped save his classmates in English Literature class from a gunman.

''Kendrick lunged at him, and he shot Kendrick, giving all of us enough time to get underneath our desks, to get ourselves safe, and to run across the room to escape,'' Nut Giasolli, a student in the classroom, told the ''Today'' show.

Kendrick was killed, and eight other students were injured.

At least three days in the class - one of them Brendan Bialy, who hopes to become a Marine - tackled and disarmed the gunman.

''They were very heroic,'' Nui said. Bravo as well to the police officers who arrived within two minutes of the shooting and seized the two attackers.

The courage of these students in Colorado echoes last week's bravery of Riley Howell, a student at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Riley, 21, charged a gunman there and continued even as he was shot twice.

As he tackled the gunman, he was shot a third time, in the head, and killed, but he ended the shooting.

Riley was deservedly given a hero's funeral, and the same happened with Kendrick. But their parents didn't want martyrs; they wanted children and grandchildren.

And it is appalling that we as a society have abandoned American kids so they must die to save their classmates.

When New Zealand experienced a mass shooting in March, it took the government of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern just 20-days to tighten gun laws and ban assault rifles.

In contrast, America has had 53 years of inaction since the University of Texas tower shooting in 1966 claimed 17 lives.

Sandy Hook.................Las Vegas................  Parkland...........so many dead; so little done.

Since 1970, 1.45 million Americans have died from guns - suicides, murders and accidents. That's more than 1.4 million Americans estimated to have died in the wars in American history going back to the American Revolution.

This should make us all cringe in a typical year, more American children ages 4 and younger die from firearms - 110 in 2016 - than police officers do in the line of duty [65 in 2018].

This painful tragic research and publishing continues, to part 2. The World Students Society shares  the terrible sorrow, while thanking writer Nicholas Kristof.