After the atrocities in Parkland, Florida this past February, the movement towards gun control laws resonated with a new group: teenagers.
Of course, with any new political movement, there is always critique towards the people who direct such political movements. This time, the critique has been directed towards high school students, the direct opposite of any older, adult politician; therefore, it is very important for critics to correctly phrase and word their critiques because anything can be taken out of context and scrutinized.
However, I want to make myself clear when I say that I do not support the March for our Lives being held in support of the lives lost through gun violence and mass shootings. And before you ridicule, deride, or attempt to call me cruel names and slurs, hear me out.
The reason why I cannot support the March for our Lives is simply due to inconsistency.
I cannot specifically blame one group-the Democrats, liberals, the media, etc.-because this is not a political issue, it is a human rights issue. And yet, our society constantly fails to respect the sanctity of all human life, it lacks the consistency that we need in this generation.
I cannot attend the March for our Lives when its name bears nearly the same resemblance to the March for Life, though that name is rarely reported in its news coverage because of its controversial views regarding abortion.
Both marches present the same argument: to respect human life.
Additionally, it is ironic how people will condemn the NRA yet not Planned Parenthood. If the NRA is presumed to "buy" Republican politicians, then how come no one has ever mentioned that Planned Parenthood equally "buys" Democratic politicians? According to a study, Planned Parenthood donates $102,947 to politicians with 96% being Democrats and 0% being Republicans.
Also, no one has ever mentioned that the NRA donating money to politicians who support their association is completely constitutional. In 2010, a Supreme Court case titled Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commissionruled that "political spending is a form of protected speech under the First Amendment, and the government may not keep corporations or unions from spending money to support or denounce individual candidates in elections."
Because the NRA is completely legal in its proceedings, the fact that political organizations donate money towards politicians who support those organizations is a reasonable concept to understand.
And, once again, if you criticize the NRA for excessively lobbying Republicans, you should consistently draw attention to Planned Parenthood's lobbying of Democratic politicians.
I say this with no harm or bad intentions, I am simply pointing out obvious facts about societal hypocrisy that surrounds us every single day. And yet, so many people do not bother to look up the facts themselves. That is the reason why I cannot support such a movement.
People can criticize me all they want, saying things such as "I bet she just loves guns" or "She hates children". But these ad hominem attacks fail to recognize that just last year, I was the same age as the teenagers affected in Parkland, Florida.
They fail to acknowledge that I once was a child, I currently am a student, and that in the future, I hope to become a mother who will send her children to school. These people will disregard the fact that I have never held a gun in my life, and out of personal decisions, never want to.
They forget that because I am a student on a college university campus, I, too, have to live in a world fearful of mass shootings and violent threats. They do not pay attention to the fact that aside from being an academic undergraduate, I am a friend to so many others who attend universities across the country.
Do these people not understand that I am affected by this all too?
Or, are they simply ignorant? Are they the ones who will protest on March 24 for gun laws and the safety for life but then disregard the unborn as "not people...yet"?
Will they rally behind teenagers who claim to fight for "bipartisan change" on gun laws but then yell at politicians who affiliate with a different party or viewpoint than themselves? Will they chant, "What do we want?" "Equal Rights!" "When do we want it?" "Now!", for issues that they inconsistently pick and choose?
Will they rally for the sanctity of student lives but then yell for the shooter to be sentenced to death?
These are the questions that I need to have answers for before you can count on me to rally behind a movement that hypocritically claims that it is for the equality of all human life.