Gun Violence in America- Thoughts and Prayers are Not Enough

You are seven years old, and the adults around are whispering about the college in your state where thirty-two college students lost their lives. Your mom is horrified by the news while your dad reiterates that things will change. This is the time for action, but nothing changes. 

You are twelve now, and the news breaks that twenty-eight people died in an elementary school called Sandy Hook because of a school shooter. The world is mourning, people are being called to action, and politicians are advocating for stricter gun laws throughout the country, but so many people blame the issue on mental illness and not the lack of gun control throughout the country. People give their thoughts and prayers, others scream, protest, and plead for change, but nothing does. 

You are in your senior year of high school, and you just came back from winter break. You come home from school to find out that in another school just like yours, with kids the same age, who are taking the same classes,  people lost their lives in another school shooting. Over the next few weeks, students at your school stage a walkout, and the students from Stoneman Douglas mobilize people throughout the country behind the idea of Never Again. You see in real-time the creation of the Never Again movement and attend March For Our Lives in Washington D.C. and New York City. This is the time policy will be enacted. This is the time the world will listen. This is the time because never again should a person lose their life for attending school, but policies don’t come, and thoughts and prayers are given without the necessary action to save future lives.

You are twenty-two now, and you have just received your college degree. Yet, again you learn a decade later that another twenty-one people lost their lives in an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, just like the kids at the Sandy Hook shooting that took place when you were twelve. You see the same routine performed again, thoughts and prayers are given, but when Republican politicians are asked about gun control, they discuss the importance of the 2nd amendment and even how Democrats have politicized the issue of school shootings.

This is my story, but it is also the story of so many other people just like me who have grown up doing active shooter drills and accepting the fact that every time they walked into their classroom, it might be their school next. We feel defeated because we repeatedly see children just like us lose their lives, and nothing changes in the wake of these horrifying events. However, we now possess a power that we didn’t when we were seven or twelve, and that is our constitutional right to vote. 

The time for change is now, and we have the power to make our voices heard by voting in the 2022 midterm elections. This year every member of the House of Representatives is up for re-election, one-third of the Senate is up for re-election, and thirty-six states will have gubernatorial elections this year, including Texas. Rideshare2vote exists to help ensure that everyone who wants to exercise their right to vote can by providing a ride to those who face transportation insecurity. Join us in our effort to elect representatives who will fight for gun control legislation this fall.

by Samantha Gutcho