Gun violence. The NRA. The Never Again movement. These words have been covering up our prefacing memories of 2018. Yet there does not seem to be much change in our country, even through the persistent calls of its youth.

And just a few days ago on May 18, the Santa Fe High school shooting in Texas awakened our efforts again.

Students protested for gun control both on March 14 and April 20, the National School walkout days. But how much of an effect did these walkouts really provoke? Thousands of students have written letters or sent videos to legislatures, hoping for change. Yet there seems to have been no real action from our federal government.  

David Hoggs, a student gun-control activist from Parkland, Florida, has spoke his thoughts clearly; he wants a law that enforces a ten percent tax on all firearm sales, raise legal age to 21, increase spending for mental healthcare programs, as well as ban assault weapons. Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut and a few other states have agreed to these plans. Washington, Oregon, Indiana and other states have established a policy to take away guns from people who might pose danger. However, as of May, the federal government doesn’t intend to take any action as they should. It seems as though the larger the level of government, the more insolence is displayed. Evidently, some states have started to step up to some action, but when it came to a larger level of government, they only seemed interested in averting the topic or redirecting the focus of gun control entirely.

If California, currently the state with the strictest gun laws, experienced a school shooting this week, doesn’t that mean gun control won’t stop these shootings? Although many people of the opposing side argue with this point, they do not understand that just because a law is broken, it does not mean it is ineffective. Even though there is a law against murder, there are still murderers on the loose. Does that mean that the law isn’t necessary?

The opposing side also argues that the second amendment protects their right to be armed. And just like thousands of other people, we too counter by stating that the amendment was written in a time where the world was completely different. We are living in a day and age where almost every day there is a shooting. In 2018 alone, America has experienced a shaking amount of 41 school shootings in only five months. We are literally killing ourselves in the name of “the right to bear arms”.

We need change. It’s as simple as that. With the passing of the right laws, the government can avoid the future murders of innocent students. All it takes is the country to step up and make a change, instead of passing blame. We as students have done our part, and will continue to do as much as we can, but ultimately it needs to be up to Washington and the state government officials to listen to our pleas.

What we expect from our nation is more action. We’d like to see some laws that define the state of gun control once and for all. We expect the installment of programs to make it as difficult as possible to get a hold of a gun. We need thorough checks to repeatedly make sure those with a gun are being responsible. Crudely put, stricter gun control laws are a must. And as the youth of this country, we are going to use the first amendment to see that a moment of silence for those victims will turn into a moment of action.