The kids from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the Parkland survivors, are organizing a march in Washington, DC in favor of gun control, the March for Our Lives. There are events being organized for other cities by and for people who want to participate but will be unable to get to DC.
I believe this is important. I believe it is important to address this problem and address it in a substantive way, and I intend to be marching on that Saturday to convey that message.
I’m not waiting for the next inevitable mass shooting to get off my ass; I’ve made and I’m going to help these marches be successful. Because there WILL be another, and one after that, and on and on, unless and until we do something about it ourselves: no one is going to save us from ourselves but us.
In Parkland, 17 children lost their lives just a couple of weeks ago. That number should be too many, should give anyone pause, IMO. In Las Vegas, my city, just a couple of miles from my home, 58 people were gunned down in moments (and another 851 injured). All total, since the Sandy Hook shooting 6 years ago (20 children & 6 adults killed), there have been “at least 1,607 mass shootings, with at least 1,846 people killed and 6,459 wounded” (Cite). That’s a lot of interrupted lives and a lot of pain and suffering that innocent people are going thru, innocent families are going thru, and it doesn’t have to be this way.
This has to stop. It has to stop before every American has a personal story about one of these incidents, before a majority of Americans personally know someone who’s lives are affected by these incidents.
I’ve had enough and I intend to spend that Saturday with my family, friends, neighbors and others in my community helping show political leaders, business leaders and the world that we will no longer tolerate our children, our citizens, and yes, our police having to live in fear and possibly die in a hail of bullets.
Enough is enough; many of us are marching for our lives on March 24, 2018.