The Fight For Peace
This is the 21st century where great scientific explorers such as the late Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk are discussing humans becoming interplanetary species. I should be excited, but at the same time, I feel like I’m stuck in a time loop of the Wild West in the 1800s.
I’m up at odd hours of the night, deprived of sleep because I’m haunted by fears that I, one of my friends, teacher, or a classmate may be alive one moment and in the next, their life robbed by the gun violence epidemic. Call me a pessimist, but am I really if these incomprehensible tragedies have occurred just 20 minutes away from where I live in Marjory Stoneman Douglas (MSD) where 17 innocent lives were tragically cut short?
This shouldn’t be happening. No student should go to school in fear thinking they may be the next casualty, statistic, or survivor. It’s all wrong. Action needs to be taken, and the situation should be treated like it is: a public health emergency.
Me being a kid, many people say that I’m “too young to be into politics”, “too young to voice these opinions”, “too young to understand climate change”, “too young to understand families at the border being ripped apart”, well I’m too young to die and live a reality that an average of 100 Americans are lost to gun violence every day according to Giffords Law Center.
The issue is also prevalent and seeps into the state of Florida. As of 2017, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention breaks the harrowing news that 2,724 individuals were killed by firearms, and although this number may seem trivial, it is important to note that this number should be greater as there are many unreported, especially in poor communities.
After seeing our legislators ignore the problem, buy into the National Rifle Association’s pocket, and even push inimical sentiments such as arming our teachers, I took it upon myself to become politically involved in the March For Our Lives (MFOL) movement because our legislators refused to act. I played a part in organizing a MFOL rally in the City of Weston on March 24. 2018, and ever since, I’ve been involved in the firearm legislation debate with MFOL Florida, a subgroup of MFOL National, led by our state’s powerful youth, and our future.
On Aug. 21, the MFOL team published their “Peace Plan For A Safer America”, to address this issue plaguing our nation, and recently, MFOL Florida has adopted this legislation and created “A Peace Plan For A Safer Florida” at the state level.
Students across the state of Florida joined arms to rally for this vital plan through a press conference in Tallahassee on Nov. 14 and advocated for six steps of C.H.A.N.G.E.:
Change the standards of gun ownership.
Halve the rate of gun deaths in 10 years.
Accountability for the gun lobby and industry.
Name a director of gun violence prevention.
Generate community-based solutions.
Empower the next generation.
In this event, activists will push legislators to pass the plan, which includes clauses that promote a range of legislation like HB 289 which will require background checks on all sales of ammunition, demanding that Governor Ron DeSantis acknowledge that gun violence in Florida enables racism and bigotry, to placing an amendment on Florida’s 2020 ballot that would ban assault weapons through BAWN.
After all these tragedies, society is striving to create a resolution to prevent gun violence. If politicians listen to our voice and the plan is passed, the facets addressed in this legislation will address the roots of gun violence in Florida and other states will follow suit to create a safer America.
Gun legislation, especially when pertaining to the youth, should aim to discontinue these ordeals.
It would be valuable to implement the Peace Plan so innocents don’t have to perish. Friends and families wouldn’t have to mourn; the news wouldn’t have to report on these events just to forget about it later and people wouldn’t have to live in fear.
We need the Peace Plan for A Safer Florida now more than ever, especially so that we can move on from the Wild West and explore new human frontiers.
