"On an average day, 91 Americans are killed with guns" - Everytown for Gun Safety
"At a rate of more than twice a day, someone under 18 has been shot and killed" - The Trace
"The number of gun related deaths this year is 11,195" - Gun Violence Archive
Reading these statistics should baffle the average American. Reading these statistics should put shame on our country. 91 Americans a day should be alarming. A child being shot and killed every other day should be unacceptable.
I am one of over 320 million Americans asking for change, and I need your help.
What has catalyzed this plea — other than the daily occurrences of gun related incidents in America— is a shooting that happened a little too close to home. A couple days ago, 90 miles north of Austin, a shooting happened near Baylor University. This is a school where a lot of my friends from high school go, a school of over 16,000 students. Learning from Facebook or Snapchat that your friends were on lockdown is a nerve-wracking and unfortunate reality in America.
Some may think that this isn't as big of a deal because it wasn't on Baylor's campus. Yes, I concede that this may not have occurred on their campus, but it doesn't change the issue that people are dying.
Just last year, St. Edward's University was on lockdown after a man ran through campus with a gun. The campus was on full lockdown: students locked inside their classrooms while campus and Austin Police swarmed the campus. Although I wasn't afraid for my own life, instances like these only have me fearing the future safety of the next generation.
I am calling you to action.
We live in a country where the people have the power. We have the power to assemble, to voice our opinions, and to vote to get the proper people, the proper politicians, to pass legislation that will improve the lives of Americans. Safety and death are not "liberal" or "conservative" concerns - anyone, it seems, can walk down the street and end up being apart of America's unfathomable statistics. This is a bipartisan issue, and we need to figure out a solution that will curb this.
It's time for us as people to stand up for what we want.
