As is the unfortunate reality with every mass shooting, every person with a mouth and an opinion has been shouting/tweeting/skywriting their stance on gun control on every possible platform since the Parkland shooting took place last week. Between politicians, teachers, parents, and a reality TV star the president, Republicans and Democrats are super divided on the issue and are fighting over guns like a couple fighting over who gets to keep the dog after they break up. Coming as a shock to literally no one, the most mature and proactive contributors to the gun control debate have been the students who had to live through the actual horror of hiding under their desks from a madman bent on murder. So yeah, I’d say maybe it’s worth listening to them for a hot sec.
On March 24, the students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and their families will take to Washington D.C. and lead the March For Our Lives to protest gun violence and the silence from lawmakers when it comes to making changes to prevent these atrocities. So far, all that has been offered from many Republican politicians is the load of shit they like to call “thoughts and prayers.” Thoughts and prayers didn’t work when I tried to wing my college finals having never opened a textbook, so they sure as hell are not going to work in preventing another unhinged person with access to firearms from taking innocent lives.
Students who just had their entire high school experience destroyed: So you’re just gonna do nothing to fix the way guns are sold and regulated in this country?
Republicans:
The students in Parkland are also firm that there is no such thing as “too soon” to start talking about enacting change. Less than 24 hours after the massacre, senior David Hogg spoke to CNN saying, “We’re children. You guys are the adults. You need to take some action and play a role. Work together. Come over your politics and get something done.” Translation: get the fuck over yourselves and stop acting like actual teenagers when you don’t even have to deal with things like acne and awkward sexual tension anymore. Oh wait, those never go away? Fantastic.
Other students have been taking to Twitter to demand action and call out the ridiculous and offensive statements made by Trump and human spiked seltzer hangover, Tomi Lahren. In case you also avoid following the orange ball of gas on Twitter for fear that you’ll lose a few brain cells, allow me to direct you to the tweet where he literally blames the victims for not being able to stop a mentally ill classmate from aiming a gun at their faces. And here’s another where he makes the issue about himself by claiming the FBI could have stopped the shooting if they weren’t so preoccupied with the Russia investigation. *slams head against keyboard*
Emma Gonzalez, another student survivor with a badass Charlize Theron buzzcut, gave a powerful speech in response to the lack of action, calling out flimsy statements from politicians and insisting that Parkland will be the “last mass shooting” if the government gets their shit together and enacts change. Emma brings the heat for nearly 12 minutes, literally getting a crowd of people to chant “WE CALL BS” at lawmakers, which is the same strategy I used when I realized my ex still kept in touch with Tinder girls. I can confirm, it’s v effective.
Leading up to the March For Our Lives, the students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas and their supporters have no intention of ending the conversation on gun control, which may be a major shift from the usual cycle of nothing ever changing after mass shooting events in the US. Just like the Women’s March, a bunch of sister marches are being organized in different states on March 24 to show support, which you can officially register for here. I, for one, have already prepared what to write on my sign in response to officials who won’t get off their Second Amendment high horse long enough to remember that children are dying:
Heads up, you need to keep up with the news. It’s not cute anymore. That’s why we’ve created a 5x weekly newsletter called The ‘Sup that will explain all the news of the week in a hilarious af way. Because if we weren’t laughing, we’d be crying. Sign up for The ‘Sup now!
