The March For Our Lives. You’ve seen and/or heard about it in the news. Many kids across America are protesting the current gun rights that exist. This sparked after the Parkland shooting. Teens of all places in America realized something needed to change, and they are standing up for their beliefs and how things should be. Here is why I stand with the kids that are marching.

First, schools are starting to feel more and more unsafe. Through the age of 18, it is required by law that you attend a place of education, or have an education of some sort. This means every child is going to a school or being homeschooled. A majority of children are in school systems. If the majority of children feel unsafe due to the many different school shootings that have happened over the years, how will they effectively learn?

This country’s love for guns seems to be more than the love of the children. I understand that “taking away guns is taking away self-defense,” but there are many other things that can be done to restrict gun laws. For example, banning all automatic, or semi-automatic weapons. Who truly needs to cause THAT much damage when home, or in public. You can make the process of getting a gun, much, much harder. Do away with all of the ways that getting a gun is possible when you don’t have a background check. No gun shows, or other ways that guns are fantasized as something “cool.”

There needs to be more of an emphasis on mental health. Seriously, we are just now accepting the fact that mental health is the problem on a national level if so many people struggle with depression, and anxiety, why on earth are we not putting more funding and emphasis on mental health? If we start helping kids out with these kinds of problems, there could be fewer school shootings down the road.

Congress cannot sit around and do nothing forever. These kids are standing up for what they believe in, and the countless negative comments from many adults are not deterring them. There is a problem, they see it, we see it, and they aren’t taking no for an answer. It’s inspiring, and what we are allowed to constitutionally.

Lastly, these kids are making the older generations uncomfortable. These kids are not ignoring the problems, or blindly accepting what they are handed in life. They are speaking up in hopes that another school shooting won’t happen, and that they are safe in a place of learning. It’s time that things start changing in this country, and the younger generations are showing they are up for it. Not too long from now, it will be them that are in charge, and not the older people in our country, and changes will happen now, or then.

So that’s why I stand with those brave kids marching for their lives. They are starting conversations that weren’t happening before. They are not giving up. It’s not that they want out of class, or to be on the news. It’s that they want to ensure the safety of their lives, and their friends live. How many times does the same thing have to happen before everyone realizes that these kids aren’t wrong in standing up and actually takes some action?