March for our Lives… and the Recognition of our Rights

I don’t think enough can be said about what young people all across America have been doing to express their disapproval of the current gun laws that we have following the most talked about shooting of this year on February 14th at Stoneman Douglass High School. Chapter 10 talks all about the importance of voting, especially on matters that you, as a citizen, may not be happy with that you would like to change. Although your individual vote probably will not change the outcome of an election, your one vote may inspire others to vote. In turn, all of your votes could change the outcome. Take the March for our Lives campaign, for example. This, as almost everyone knows, is a movement created by the survivors of the school shooting at Stoneman Douglass High School. It is a movement that is focused on forcing law makers to listen to what the people want, with an emphasis on the younger generation who are having to go into these schools every day. Instead of wondering about life after graduation or worrying about a test, they are worrying if they will make it home alive each day.

Millions of people quickly jumped on the bandwagon of support for these students who only want the ability to go to school without fear of losing their lives. These students are making it clear that they do not want to take away the second amendment, ultimately taking away people’s guns, but that they want to make changes that allow them to feel safer and more protected during their everyday lives at school. Changes have already been made, like many stores have banned sales of certain weapons or stopped carrying them, and the age to buy a firearm has been raised to 21. However, they are still trying to get AR15’s banned, stating no one needs to fire at anything so quickly, and it would help make all the students feel safer.

An article was published after the March for our Lives march happened in Washington D.C. this morning that stated students were there today promoting the importance of voting. Students were explaining to fellow marchers that it was crucial that they register to vote so they can get out and vote out officials in office that were not taking the younger generation seriously on what changes they thought were necessary to make. The article explained that there were many organizations at the rally that were signing people up left and right to vote, and many were even running out of voter registration forms. By the end of the rally, Diane Burrows, the vice president of League of Women Voters, who signed up hundreds of voters today at the rally stated, “People are really understanding the power of the vote and that’s what’s really motivating a lot of them. They’re figuring out the importance and power of civic engagement.”

I think that many people are not voting because they don’t understand that their individual voice matters. The chapter does state that some people don’t vote for this exact reason. However, it simply is not true. If millions of people feel the same way and don’t know it and therefore none of them vote, then nothing will ever change. I think rallies like this are important because they allow people to see how similar their views are alongside a lot of the population. The people are helping each other realize the importance of voting in order to maintain a democracy, and I think without this, people would continue not to participate in elections where their votes are crucial to the future of America.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/march-our-lives-pushes-expand-voter-rolls-across-country-n859756

Chloe Blond says:

March 28, 2018 at 11:10 am

Abigail,

Thank you for your blog post. I completely agree with your point that not enough can be said about what young people across America have been doing to show their disapproval of the current gun laws. It has been truly amazing. As you briefly touched upon in your final paragraph, an important consequence of people not voting that should be highlighted is that it diminishes democracy. As we all understand by now (at this point in the semester), a democracy is a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them through a system of representation involving free elections. Many people do not vote because they say they do not care about the issues on the ballot, the outcome of the election, or that they do not know much about the candidates running. However, by not exercising the privilege to vote, those people are undermining what a democracy stands for. Those people are allowing other votes to make decisions for them and other voices to be heard over their own. In order for a democracy to follow the will of the people, to be a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, everyone’s voice must be heard. How is everyone’s voice heard? If every eligible voter is registered to vote and votes.

Although I am happy that marches and rallies are able to allow people to see how important voting is in order to maintain a democracy, it is quite sad that horrific events (like the Stoneman Douglass High School Shooting) have to occur in order for people to truly understand the importance of their vote.