https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8syQeFtBKc
The regularity of school shootings have made the term “gun violence” a typical household phrase. It should not be normal for me to look up off my computer screen while writing an English essay and see two prime-time anchors on the television reporting on yet another school shooting. It is unacceptable that while I am learning about momentum in physics thousands of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students, who
just like me go to school with the expectations to extend their knowledge, are fighting for their lives. We are a generation
of students born in a post-Columbine era; a period riddled with a gun violence and political turmoil. However, we fail to comprehend the magnitude of danger caused by these mass shooting epidemics. Despite these atrocities becoming far too common, we are still not doing enough to recognize and report the signs.
To educate the public, The Sandy Hook Promise, a foundation created in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook School shooting in 2013, published a video to raise awareness about the signs of gun violence. The video titled ‘Evan’, follows the light-hearted life of Evan, a typical high-school boy who is getting ready for summer. The twist is that throughout the clips that display his normal life, a fellow student demonstrates obvious signals that he is plotting a school shooting, but is ignored. Evan is so immersed in his own life that he neglects the troubles of someone he sees everyday at school.
So, I must ask what seems like the unsolvable question to most politicians in D.C., where do we go from here? Sending ‘thoughts and prayers’ is simply not enough. Posting condolences on social media will not keep another assailant from causing harm. Who do we decide to upset, the National Rifle Association or survivors? Do we preserve the Second Amendment or the lives of students nationwide? Following the recent shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL, millions of students are leading a March For Our Lives movement across the nation in attempt to cease the desensitization of firearm violence and advocate for gun control. To save this world from any further pain, we, as a community, must learn to say something if we see something. To keep our neighbors, family, and kids safe we must destroy this blindness to the perils of firearms To stop these senseless, horrific events, action must be taken.
