On February 14, in Parkland, Florida, the students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School left their houses to do the most normal thing in their daily routine- go to class. Their day was supposed to be filled with love and artificially sweetened candies from the drug store. Instead it was filled with hate, trauma and a crime that should have never been able to be committed.
A former, teenage student, Nikolas Cruz armed with an assault rifle entered the freshman building on the school grounds and left 17 dead. Among the deceased were both student and faculty members, some who put themselves in the murderer's line of fire in order to save others. The elephant in the room of it all though; the shooter should have never had access to an assault rifle of that magnitude.
"If people want to get guns, they're going to get guns."
"Why shouldn't I be able to protect my family?"
The answer to question one: This may very well be true. There are a lot of sick people in the world who will do anything to make money as well as fuel people's heinous agendas against the innocent. However, if stricter gun laws will keep just one person from purchasing a rifle that can do such tremendous damage, wouldn't it be worth it? What if that one person had been Nikolas Cruz? What if that one person had been the shooter at Sandy Hook elementary? What if?
This is a question we are tired of asking. This is a question that the parents, friends, and family members of these 17 victims should have never had to ask. Is not one mass shooting enough? Is not one lost life enough? When will it be enough? These victims were not only sons and daughter, husbands and wives, students and teachers but human beings. Where is the humanity in letting their stories be yet another collection just brushed under the rug?
There isn't any.
The answer to question two: No one is trying to take away your right to protect your family. As a girl who was born and raised in the south, I know the security and protection that a weapon can make someone feel simply to have it in their possession. I hear about it all the time, and I very much respect the idea of it. The gun reform laws that are being moved to be passed are not ones that want to strip this right. If you are of sound mind and sturdy background, these laws will simply confirm these things and send you on your way. We are trying to stop the senseless violence, not your old Uncle Simon who sleeps with a shotgun under his pillow in case the coyotes come back again.
Survivors of the shooting, mainly students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas, have begun a movement that is bigger than any our country has seen stemming from one of these horrific acts. It is a stance in solidarity for gun reform laws to finally be put into place in our country's government. It is known as the #NeverAgain movement. The classmates of the victims want justice for their friends who can't obtain justice for themselves. They are screaming out their purpose because they are being a voice for not only themselves but for their fallen friends. They are begging the world to see the pain in their eyes and their hearts and sympathize with not only them, but the victims of all senseless acts of violence that have left someone with no more breath in their lungs. They need the world to see the damage that this does not only to the victims, but to their families, their friends, their entire community. No one should ever have to walk out of their school with their hands above their heads screaming "Don't shoot!"
They are inviting us into the rawest parts of their recovery so that this never has to happen to any of us.
I stand with the students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School because Emma Gonzalez is right. 
"He wouldn't have harmed that many students with a knife."
