Considering the horrific tragedies witnessed by Americans in recent months, it's no surprise that the conversation regarding individual gun rights has undergone a sudden resurgence. The heated discussion arose expectedly after news broke of a school shooting in Parkland, Florida that took the lives of seventeen young students and injured many more. This time, however, the controversy is fueled by the empathetic cries of a new generation, with adherents of gun reform relying on the heartbreaking stories of these recent fatalities.
A vocal group of Parkland students, victims themselves of the recent shooting and loved ones of those that passed, has taken their horrific experience as a call to action into the chaotic realm of American politics, their goal being to advocate for stricter gun laws and for restrictions on certain types of weaponry. Additionally, the Women's March Organization has organized for a national student walk-out for seventeen minutes on March 14th to raise our voices against the inactive legislators that have opted to ignore the pressing situation, a nonviolent protest that mobilizes the youth in support of the Florida victims and families currently advocating in Washington.
With these nation-wide protests has come the belief among student leaders that the fight for gun control exists in some sort of nonpartisan bubble. It's become a common belief among student participants that anyone and everyone should agree with the need for stricter gun regulations, and that anyone who disagrees has a complete disregard for the lives of children and his/her fellow students. While I personally recognize major aspects of this struggle for gun regulations as necessary (namely stricter and better-enforced background checks for potentially dangerous buyers), I also possess enough self-awareness to recognize that my stance isn't one that can be supported for everyone, nor should it be.
This idea that gun control as an issue is absent of any partisan influence is undeniably false, and it only helps to perpetuate the massive divide the two-party system has created between Americans. It is entirely unfair to assume that anyone who disagrees with the common agenda (or at least the one you subscribe to) is complicit in any future tragedies, especially considering that a variation of perspective often comes with a variety of potential solutions, the consequences of which should be weighed through an actually objective lens. So while it may be true that the outrageous amount of gun violence in America can be recognized with nonpartisan credibility, the potential solutions for such a complex issue all come with varying degrees of partisan implications.
The Democratic agenda has been fighting for tougher firearm restrictions for years, while the typical Republican response calls those regulations infringements on their Second Amendment right to bear arms. To say that this completely partisan debate should be thrown out the window in order to completely accept your own plan for progress is an overtly malicious way to manipulate the tragedies at hand. Although such tragedies do warrant immediate discussion over methods of prevention (much more than they benefit from thoughts and prayers), they do not justify a complete disregard for others' beliefs on the matter.
While the rekindled passion surrounding firearm regulations in the wake of terrible tragedies has added much-needed traction to the debate over gun violence, the horrid nature of recent events calls for a careful (yet thoroughly impactful) approach to limiting these types of massacres in the most effective way possible. I commend the Parkland students for their extraordinary bravery and for recognizing the need for speedy changes to policy, but this struggle for immediate action should not forego the firearm debate Americans have been split on for years. Doing so both would be unjust and would lead to an even more hateful and damaging disconnect between Liberals and Conservatives, which is precisely the opposite of what the American populace needs right now, especially in its quest to prevent further violence.