March for Our Lives is not an anti-gun march; it is an opportunity for United States Americans to demand a change from the government regarding gun violence. It is a simple request: We want people to feel safe from gun-violence in this country, and without the publicity that this march brings, such things will not be put on the agenda of our government. The mission of March for Our Lives, as stated on their webpage, is to, “Assure that no special interest group or political agenda is more critical than the timely passage of legislation to effectively address the gun violence issues that are rampant in our country.” They state, “We demand morally-just leaders to rise up from both parties in order to ensure public safety.” This request to protect our public from gun violence is legitimate but is not necessarily an attack on guns themselves.

Personally, I do not use guns but I understand the importance of the Second Amendment and I certainly advocate for our Bill of Rights. However, some amendments have issues that impact our safety. For example, while the First Amendment provides the right to freedom of speech, there are requirements that one cannot just yell “fire” in a crowded room as a joke. This is a public safety issue. Similarly, it is important that people’s right to gun ownership is protected, but someone with a criminal background cannot own or use a gun because it poses a threat to the public. There are many ideas in circulation about what regulations should be put in place to protect people from gun-violence, but not all of them are legitimate or feasible in this country. That is why we have policy makers who are paid very well to do extensive research on solutions that would be most effective in solving this problem.  

Above, in Figure 1, is an image of the results of research conducted by Boston University School of Public Health. It shows that the states with fewer laws regarding firearms tend to have higher rates of firearm deaths than states with more laws on firearms. The fact is, more laws make safer states. This does not mean “take away guns.” It means improve gun safety training, improve background checks, hire more people to enforce the laws already in place, etc. I know everyone wants a safer country to live in, but the moment people start arguing about it, the most extreme measures from both sides become the central topics and it stops us from coming to a conclusion. Many people start fearing that they will be losing their freedoms, but really, if they are responsible users of guns, then they are not the ones who will be losing their freedoms. People always say, “guns don’t kill people, humans do.” EXACTLY the problem. The wrong humans are getting access to guns and using them to kill people. That being said, I have no solutions and I am not going to be the one to come up with them. I trust the ability of our law makers to find a reasonable compromise on the matter that will, most importantly, protect our citizens from these terrible mass shootings that keep occurring across our country. 

For more information on the March please visit: https://marchforourlives.com/mission-statement/  

For more information on the research, please visit: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/27/states-with-strict-gun-laws-have-fewer-firearms-deaths-heres-how-your-state-stacks-up.html 

For more information on CDC statistics, please visit: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/sosmap/firearm_mortality/firearm.htm