There were 307 mass shootings in 2018 with 25 of them occurring in schools. Bullets flying through schools taking the lives of the youth across the country. The adults in our country have sat by and watched this happen for too long and students are calling for change. This has become our nation’s new “normal.” Our news is constantly flooded with the tragedies of more and more acts of violence and we as a society have become numb. 39,773 lives were taken by gun violence since 2017 and that number is only growing.
This idea of violence isn’t new in this generation, and stems back to the mid 1900’s. We as a nation ignored this growing trend of violence for so long which is shown by the growing number of casualties each year. California, Texas and Florida are the top three states in the U.S. with the most massacres. Florida alone has experienced 130 shootings since 2014, already there have been 5 mass shootings in 2019. These growing numbers are frightening to the sanctity of the United States.
Students across the country have decided to start taking a stand against the violence sweeping across the nation. Whether it’s wearing custom t-shirts or attending protests, students want to make a change in our society. Teens all across the country have worked hard to change the problems that are spreading involving violence. Most of the Parkland survivors focused on the National Rifle Association as a main problem for military grade rifles ending up in the hands of the wrong individuals. Students have been sparked for change because they are the ones being targeted by these deadly weapons. They are the ones being seen through scopes of the guns. Adults have tried on continuous occasions to silence student protestors, but their voices are being heard, they can’t be silenced. “I believe that we should encourage these movements, but not force them. Encourage the ones that have good messages and good standing in the rest of the world, so no student is put in risk of something that they don’t need to be.” says Eva Wisniewski. The real question is, what are the adults and leaders of our nation doing to stop these violent attacks.
“I believe that we should encourage these movements, but not force them. Encourage the ones that have good messages and good standing in the rest of the world ” – Eva Wisniewski
The United States is the global leader in gun violence when compared to other countries. Why is it taking our nation’s youth to really try and enact change on our society? Where are our nation’s adults? This has become a culture for us as a country that we have let simmer and grow into an immense issue for the future of our nation. “ Adults don’t take kids very seriously because they feel like that they are too young and they haven’t had enough experience or they don’t trust them enough with these situations, but I feel like that is not appropriate. The student are usually the ones that are being targeted the most and have the most experience, because it happens to them or their friends or people they see on the news that they can relate to because they are the same as them.” says Wisniewski.
These walkouts seem pointless to many and appear to be ways of getting out of class, but why should kids be sitting ducks waiting to be killed.“ The parents don’t know how it really feels, having to worry about coming to school some days, they don’t feel the same fear as we do that someone could come in and shoot.” says Emma Sullivan. Kids want the opportunity to be heard, no matter what the cost. If they sit silent they may end up losing their lives. Teens are the future of America, the ways adults are dealing with issues now directly affect the next generation. The adults are not the ones who have to sit in class terrified of death.
“ The parents don’t know how it really feels, having to worry about coming to school some days, they don’t feel the same fear as we do that someone could come in and shoot.” – Emma Sullivan
“Why would they (care), it’s not really there problem to worry at this point, if the students are gonna take action, they are gonna take action. It really is not on their shoulders anymore. They can’t really stop it, even if they wanted to.” said Wisnieski. This epidemic of violence has spread across the nation. The voices that are backing these ideas have begun to be called out by the youth. The violence still continues and until it ceases, the teens won’t stop fighting. This nation is theirs too, no matter what adults say. The leaders in this nation have laid the foundation that sparked the violence so, why should the teens trust them to fix it? No longer. Enough is enough, it is time for adults to open their eyes to the problems in our society and stand side by side with the students of our nation.
