"Our children are meant to be dreaming, but they're wide awake."
Today, people all over the United States marched to support gun law reform in the March for Our Lives. The main march, located in Washington D.C., sparked hundreds of marches across the country and around the world.
Here in Lancaster, people of all ages marched from Clipper Magazine Stadium to Binns park where speakers took the podium to share their experiences with gun violence.
Angel Colon, a survivor of the Pulse Nightclub Shooting in 2016, was the keynote speaker for this event. Other speakers included Janice Ballenger, a first responder at the Nickel Mines shooting in 2006; Danene Sorace, Lancaster city mayor; and Rick Gray, the former Lancaster city mayor to name a few.
Students from local high schools spoke out about gun reform, showing solidarity with the students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School (the original student leaders after the high school shooting in February.)
"Enough is enough"
No matter what side of the gun rights argument you're on, one thing in our country is very clear: too many children are impacted by gun violence.
Our country is in the midst of a debate on how to protect our children, but one side refuses to acknowledge the weapon. The marches today represented that these lives are all too precious to wait until the next attack. Change needs to happen now.
One of the speakers, Rev. Dr. Stephen McKinney-Whitaker of Derry Presbyterian Church spoke about the danger of protecting an amendment that causes fear. The Bible says we must not fear, but how can we be fearless in a culture of school shootings? It is important for us to prioritize human lives before a flawed system.
There are three common phases that continue to pop up after ever shooting that I would like to challenge:
1. Guns aren't the problem, people are the problem
Perhaps people are the problem. Obviously a gun can't function without a person to pull the trigger, but the gun is one of the most efficient killing machines (that is also legal to purchase.) I've heard people argue that a person willing to kill others can't be stopped by banning guns. A killer could use any number of weapons to murder, but this argument is weak.
It isn't about a dangerous person's weapon of choice,
it is about which weapon can kill and injure hundreds of
concert goers in a matter of 10 minutes.
A gun is the easiest and most efficient way for any person to commit a mass murder, that is a fact.
2. Good people need guns to protect themselves from the bad people with guns
This is inherently flawed. Although our country experiences more mass shootings than any other place on Earth, the crime rate has decreased in the last two years. More guns does not mean lower crime, it means the exact opposite. Here is more information regarding gun statistics at www.vox.com.
3. This is about mental health
Perhaps there is truth in this statement, but we live in a country that does not value assistance with mental health. What is incorrect is that we have a corrupt, godless culture that fosters gun violence. If that were true, wouldn't we see the same statistics in other countries? People in Australia share some of the same musicians, movies, games, celebrities, and studies that we have here in the US, yet Australia has some of the lowest stats in gun violence around the world. This "coincidence"could be a result of the gun legislation enacted after the country experienced one mass shooting.
There are mentally ill people all over the world, in every country on the chart above, yet the United States is the only nation dealing with this level of violence.
The gun statistics and the first hand experiences with gun violence are things kids and teenagers now know too well. I added a quote that resonated with me during the march today, "Our children are meant to be dreaming, but they're wide awake."
Kids shouldn't be faced with this reality. They should be daydreaming about what they could grow up to be or what creative project to achieve next. They shouldn't be corrupted by the possible threat of violence in their everyday life.
Whether you feel you need a personal defense weapon or not, you can appreciate the brave teens banning together to fight for life today and the days to come.
Here are some more links to gun information and the marches:
Stand up for what you believe in!
- KB