Ever since the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, one that left 17 students and faculty dead, gun control has controlled the front pages and news headlines.
Students who attended Stoneman Douglas HS in Parkland, Florida have become focal points of the most recent gun control debate. The most outspoken student-activists have become household names: Emma Gonzalez, David Hogg, Delaney Tarr, Sarah Chadwick, Matt Deitsch, and Cameron Kasky.
They began their movement, the March for Our Lives and #NeverAgain, by declaring across news channels and social media that they did not accept the “thoughts and prayers” that had been offered to them by politicians and celebrities, for they declared that they sought “real change.” This change came, namely, in a political plank that they, along with many of their supporters, believe will seriously address the issue of gun violence, in not only schools, but the entirety of America.
Alongside the mission statement on the website for the march that they held in Washington, D.C. on March 24, their five-point plan reads as follows, “Specifically, we are working towards . . . 1. Universal, comprehensive background checks, 2. Bringing the ATF [Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms] into the 21st century with a digitized, searchable database, 3. Funds for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to research the gun violence epidemic in America, 4. High-capacity magazine ban, [and] 5. Assault weapons ban.”
By stepping into the spotlight that running a political movement entails, the students have become mainstays on cable news shows, radio programs, and social media campaigns, but they have also faced criticism from the National Rifle Association (NRA), conservative news personalities, and self-professed Second Amendment activists. These groups see the increase in gun control measures as an incrimination of their right to bear arms, and other more-fringe groups, have also suggested that the students are tools, actors, or mouth-pieces for members of the Democratic Party.
Regardless of your stance on the increase or decrease of gun control measures and regulations, these students can be admired for their determination to their cause, loyalty to each other, and optimistic view on the future of their movement.
With the mid-term elections beginning to rise out of the proverbial political swamp, the movement spearheaded by the Parkland students seeks to support political incumbents and challengers across party lines to further their gun control beliefs.