OPINION: 4 years after Parkland, students continue to fight for further gun legislation

“Protestors gathered at the March For Our Lives rally in Columbus, Ohio to honor those who died from gun violence and call for gun control legislation on March 24, 2018.” Photo by Julianna Rittenberg.

Julianna Rittenberg is a freshman studying political science and an opinion writer for The New Political.

Please note that these views and opinions do not reflect those of The New Political.

Just over four years ago, on Feb. 14, 2018, the deadliest high school shooting in America occurred at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. 17 people were killed, another 17 were injured and two died by suicide after the fact. 

Fed up with growing up in a generation marked by school shootings and death, students from high schools across the nation took action. The students from MSD High School worked together to create March For Our Lives, an organization that offers support for survivors of gun violence. It provides access to mental health services, lobbies Congress and state legislatures for better gun control and organizes national rallies. 

The first of these rallies took place on March 24, 2018. Students from MSD congregated at the rally in Washington D.C., and students across the U.S. gathered in their home cities to demonstrate the impact of school shootings. 

Children go to school every day worried they may be killed or injured in a school shooting. They live in fear that when they say goodbye to their parents in the morning, they won’t make it home from school. When another school is added to the list of those marked by shootings, the fear grows. Along with it comes the frustration towards adults who refuse to enact change or pass meaningful legislation, the anger that comes with the phrase “thoughts and prayers.” 

Since Parkland, gun violence has continued to plague the U.S. According to Everytown, about 40,000 people die and 85,000 are injured from gun violence every year. The U.S. has the highest gun death rate among the world’s highest-income countries, coming in at 13 times greater than the next highest country, Austria. 

Since 2018, there have been 102 school shootings in which at least one person was injured or killed. Within these shootings, 63 people were killed and 190 people were injured. This data includes the Parkland shooting and was last updated on Jan. 18, 2022. 

95 % of public K-12 schools conduct active shooter drills in order to prepare their students for the worst. They train their teachers in barricading doors and communicating with code words. They tell children that in the worst-case scenario you should run as far as you can and do not look back. We teach children to go sit in the corner, be quiet and everything will be ok, knowing that in a real event their lives could be changed forever. 

These active shooter drills have resulted in a 42% increase in anxiety and a 39% increase in depression among students, according to a 2020 Everytown study. Yet, in the majority of states in the U.S., they are still required. There has to be a more effective strategy.

Another school shooting that greatly impacted Gen Z occurred at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14, 2012. The shooter killed 20 first grade students, six school personnel, his mother and himself.

Just recently, the families of nine of those killed in the shooting reached a $73 million settlement with Remington, a gun manufacturing company that produced and marketed the gun used in the shooting. The settlement is historic in terms of holding gun makers accountable for irresponsibly marketing their guns to young and vulnerable individuals. While they are typically protected by the law, specifically the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, settlements such as these may inspire insurance companies to put pressure on gun makers in the future. 

Many Parkland survivors feel let down by the Biden administration. Democrats have run for years on promises of gun control legislation. Although it takes both parties to enact legislation into law, when one party controls the House, Senate and executive office, it is easy to feel frustrated with the lack of progress on such a life or death matter. 

Cameron Kasky, a Parkland survivor, tweeted, “Four years ago today, when I was hiding in a packed classroom wondering if the next person coming through the door would shoot us all, I genuinely thought to myself that if Donald Trump wasn’t president, we’d be able to fix all this. Learned my lesson. Biden’s not doing it either.” 

Students across the nation are disappointed with their legislators. After nearly every school shooting, words of kindness, “thoughts and prayers” and calls for action flood the internet, yet no real actions are ever taken. Eventually, the frenzy and momentum die down until the next school shooting, until the next child dies. The cycle continues, promises are made and yet nothing ever happens to stop these tragedies from reoccurring. 

My generation is tired of having grown up marked by gun violence. Tired of being traumatized by active shooter practices, waiting in anxious terror for the time when it will not be a drill. Legislators have left us in the dust. The data is in front of them. We have protested and begged for substantial change. What more do they want from us? How many more of us have to die for real, substantial action to be taken?