On February 14, 2018, a mass shooting was committed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Seventeen people were killed and seventeen more were wounded, making it one of the world's deadliest school massacres. According to gunviolencearchive.org, it was the thirtieth mass shooting in the United States in 2018. Since that time there have been twenty more, and the gun violence continues. Students from Parkland have decided that enough is enough and they began holding walkouts and protests to demand action on gun reforms. Students across the country have taken up the cause and they are sending a message, “Either join us or get out of our way. We are here and we are coming.” Not since the 1970s protest against the Vietnam War has there been such a show of solidarity from the youth demanding change.
Those protests have spread to Canada with students across this country. Last week Souris School students marched through the streets of Souris as a show of support for their sister students in United States.
The Souris School Middle Year’s Leadership and Social Justice Fighters used their March 21lunch hour to bring awareness and to promote safety in schools. “As it stands right now,” wrote Bev Sobry in a letter to parents. “Students all over America are afraid to go to school and are trying desperately to make their voices heard. We’ve heard them and we too are raising our voices to say, ‘enough is enough.’”
One mass protest was held in Washington, DC. More that 800,000 people attended that event and it’s one that lawmakers will be unable to ignore. Taking words from her famous ancestor, the granddaughter of Martin Luther King spoke and sent a powerful message. “I have a dream that enough is enough, and that this should be a gun free world, period.”
Other marches were held throughout Canada and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau commented on the movement, “For those of you who marched here in Canada, we hear you and this week we introduced a plan for common sense gun control that will keep our communities safer.”
As the gun deaths mount and amid pressure for greater gun control, the oldest gun maker in the United States, the Remington Arms Company, makers of the Bushmaster AR 15 rifle used in the Sandy Hook Massacre that left 20 first graders and six educators dead, filed for bankruptcy March 25.
Since the Parkland shooting and subsequent protests, change seems to be coming. Some local governments in the United States have already tightened gun control laws or passed legislation aimed at improving school safety. Dozens of other states are also looking at proposals in response. Companies have changed their policies in response to the Parkland shooting that will directly affect consumers. Some businesses have cut their ties with the National Rifle Association, ending discount programs they offered to members and other benefits. Change is in the air and it’s the students that have decided, “enough is enough.”
