When Will Enough Actually Be Enough?
The never-ending cycle of inaction on gun control
By Maddy Pritzl
The Progressive Teen Staff Writer
The alerts came through one by one. Phones buzzed with the news alerts and Twitter feeds being refreshed anxiously as everyone awaited the reports of the body counts, the victim’s names, and the shooter’s mugshot. Over a week later and still no action. Over a week later and student activists are struggling to find the right plan to solve a solution our current lawmakers have been too lazy to fix themselves.
It seems that the more we demand gun reform, the more legislators shy away from the idea, specifically GOP legislators. Although the March for Our Lives is nonpartisan, many students are beginning to realize the truth: Democrats care more about our lives than Republicans ever will.
The issue of gun violence has become increasingly partisan. Following the Santa Fe High School massacre, Republicans were quick to blame almost anything but guns. The Lt. Governor of Texas, Dan Patrick, blamed the number of doors in schools, NRA President Oliver North blamed Ritalin, and Hugh Hewitt blamed trench coats. In fact, students identified the problem and reacted quicker than the lawmakers did; students organized protests in a matter of hours and many wondered what the next logical step would be.
Making it out of high school alive is no longer an exaggeration or joke brought on by the hours of studying, AP and IB classes, extracurriculars, sports, and whatever else high school students drag themselves through. Making it out of high school alive is more real than ever.
The pleas from high school students continue to go unanswered and many are left without a real solution. The price tags that originated with the March for Our Lives have become our own reality. Legislators have decided that nothing is more important than the NRA funding they receive, and our lives are worth only a few dollars to them in comparison to the millions going towards their campaigns.
Do we organize another march? Do we die-in at our legislators offices and hope that they’ll take just a few seconds to listen to our pleas for our own lives? Do we organize more town halls and register even more voters in hopes of getting the NRA out of Congress in 2018 and 2020?
Yes, we march. We continue the fight for gun control and we remember the victim’s names, their stories, their legacies. By providing more coverage to both the shooters and the NRA backed legislators we provide them more attention and coverage. Lift up the candidates with F ratings from the NRA, lift up the candidates who are vital to the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House and state legislatures across the country. Show America that when candidates who genuinely care about their constituents, America is better. It’s time to put our motivation and frustration into action, and the first step to ending the trend of gun violence in this country is by electing the right politicians in November 2018.
Now, let’s go win this fight.
