In the wake of the Valentine’s Day shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas (MSD) High School in Parkland, Florida, the students are not just grieving. These students are going out of their way to do something about the gun laws in the United States. They’ve held rallies, organized marches and they are calling out politicians on the current gun laws. The gun law aspect is not the most amazing thing about this wave of activism; it’s the high schoolers who are spearheading a revolution.
News articles and tweets show these future leaders calling out President Donald Trump and congresspeople, attending important congressional votes and organizing events to raise attention to their cause. They lost friends and teachers, but they won’t let them die in vain. As the survivors of the shooting, they have a national stage and are taking every ounce of attention that they can get to make sure these mass shootings don’t happen again. It’s an ambitious goal that I believe they can achieve.
Young people are looked down on as being naive and inexperienced, but these kids were there. They have the most experience you could have with gun violence, and they demand to be heard. Although politicians can bring change, it is only at the will of their constituents. Young adults and teenagers are the fire behind change, and they should keep politicians on their toes. Many of the protests and movements for change were initiated by young people who were underestimated at first, like the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War protests, women’s rights and LGBT rights. Political science professor Dr. Laura Wiedlocher said, “It’s amazing, but I think the question is: Is it sustainable? Changing and passing new laws is a slow process that takes continued attention.” She has a point, but the biggest advantage that young people have over politicians is the amount of time they have. They have the energy and the fire, but they have the time. The civil rights movement didn’t happen overnight and teenagers, and young adults fueled the fire behind it.
MSD senior Emma González attended a town hall and talked to her representatives and senators about her experience and challenged their stance on gun control directly
So far, these students have not only organized protests and approached politicians, but they’ve also attacked the National Rifle Association (NRA). Within 48 hours, their activism has caused several companies to sever their ties with the NRA. One of the main faces of this movement is MSD student Emma Gonzalez, and she now has more Twitter followers than the NRA profile. This movement has largely been on Twitter, but it has extended beyond that. MSD senior Ryan Deitsch said through a Twitter direct message, “I am a busboy from a local restaurant. Now I have meetings with freedom marchers. It just shows you the power of a message fueled by passion and social media.”
There have been many mass shootings in the United States’ history, but this is the first one to incite this much conversation and change. Republican politicians are proposing gun-control legislation, such as gun restraining orders, and even President Donald Trump has suggested a ban on bump stock gadgets that give semi-automatic guns the ability to fire at the same speed as an automatic gun. There has also been talk of changing the age limit to get a gun from 18 to 21. These are suggestions that never would have been made if it weren’t for the activism these students have started. Gun control has always been a partisan issue, but the Parkland shooting and these incredible students are making it something that needs to have bipartisan attention.
Some of these student activists are of voting age, and the ones who are not will be soon. They are threatening to vote people out of office, and this threat should be scaring politicians. This has turned into a movement and should be a sign to young people still in high school, but also young adults in college that they can influence change. This movement started on Twitter and will hopefully end in legislation.
Although tragic, these events show that young people don’t have to sit idly by waiting for politicians to make the right decisions, but instead, you have to go out and make change happen yourself. Write letters, show up to rallies and protests, participate in walk-outs, even tweet if that’s all you can do, but most importantly, vote. It’s the voters who give politicians power. Senators, representatives and presidents, even, only get to be where they are because we put them there. Whether you agree with gun control or not, this movement is remarkable and nowhere near finished. There is no more room for apathy in teenagers and young adults. Students need to take things into their own hands and shape the world they
live in.
MSD senior Ryan Deitsch actually showed up and attended the Senate hearing along with his classmates
Midterm elections are coming up, and if you are not registered to vote, you should register as soon as possible. The elections take place on Nov 6, but in Illinois, you have to register online or through mail at least 28 days before election day. You can register online at vote.org. If you prefer to register in person on election day, you can do that at your local election office.