The Santa Fe shooting that left 10 dead and 10 injured marks, by some counts, the 22nd school shooting in 2018. Let’s put the fact that this is completely unacceptable aside right now.
Thinking how horrible this is isn’t going to save lives. What can save lives is actually doing something about it.
That’s where Gen Z-ers come in. Call them what you want. Gen Z-ers, iGen because of their overwhelming use of technology or plurals because the majority is non-white. Whatever you call them, they have caused a serious ripple effect when it comes to gun laws.
That’s all thanks to the students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School who survived the February 14 shooting in Parkland. They organized March For Our Lives on March 24 in Washington D.C., with 800 other sister marches across the country to support gun reform and raise awareness of gun violence.
They started the hashtag #NeverAgain, which appears all over Twitter. In lieu of the march, they raised $3 million dollars. Half covered the expenses and the other half was given to the victims of the Parkland shooting.
They’ve affected celebrities from the likes of Mark Hamill, Mark Ruffalo, Steven Spielberg, George Clooney and Oprah Winfrey.
Despite the publicity they’ve gathered, all they have are three simple demands: pass a law banning assault weapons used in mass shootings, stopping the sale of high capacity magazines and restricting the amount of ammunition, closing loopholes in our country’s background checks and creating laws that require background checks on EVERY gun purchase.
It seems the Parkland students’ tenacity has brought the change they desired.
Oregon passed the first gun-related bill after the Parkland shooting that banned people convicted of stalking, domestic violence or those who have a restraining order from owning guns or ammunition.
Rhode Island established a “red flag” policy after the Parkland shooting that keeps guns away from people who are a threat to the public’s safety.
Florida passed a bill that requires a three-day waiting period to buy a gun and raised the age to buy a rifle to 21. Washington signed a bill banning the sale and use of bump stocks.
The Parkland students made great strides in improving our country’s gun laws, but there is still so much more to do.
In a survey released near the Santa Fe shooting this month, 57 percent of teens say they fear a shooting could happen on their campus. The fear for nonwhite teens is even greater, among 60 percent of black teens and 73 percent of Latino teens.
Santa Fe students said they felt a shooting was going to happen at their school and sadly that was the case. There are still states that haven’t had passed any bills preventing violence.
How can the Gen Z-ers, perhaps our savior generation, help that? By voting.
Yara Shahidi, who plays Zoey Johnson on ABC’s “Black-ish” has started a voting initiative called “Eighteen x 18,” which encourages Gen Z-ers like her to vote for the first time in the 2018 midterm elections and even registers people to vote online. You can find more about it here and contribute to the organization.
Come on Gen Z-ers, let’s rock this vote.
