Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School senior Emma Gonzalez revved up the crowd at a rally just days after a teenager’s reign of terror.
“They say tougher gun laws do not decrease gun violence,” she shouted. “We call BS! They say a good guy with a gun stops a bad guy with a gun. We call BS! They say guns are just tools like knives and are as dangerous as cars. We call BS! They say that no laws could have been able to prevent the hundreds of senseless tragedies that have occurred. We call BS!”
Young survivors of the Parkland tragedy have transformed the debate over gun reform, and our leaders in Washington appear to be listening.
Days after that rally, President Donald J. Trump staged an emotional gathering at the White House.
“It’s not going to be talk like it has been in the past,” he said. “It’s been going on too long. Too many instances, and we’re going to get it done.”
The meeting showed we’re still a long way from consensus.
Cary Gruber recalled the messages he received from his 15-year-old son as the young man wondered whether he would live or die. No parent should experience that, Gruber said, and no teenager should be able to buy an assault rifle.
“If he’s not old enough to buy a drink, to go and buy a beer, he should not be able to buy a gun at 18 years old,” Gruber said. “That’s just common sense.”
Another Parkland survivor, Samuel Zeif, fought back tears as he described the loss of his best friend. “I don’t understand how I can still go in a store and buy a weapon of war — an AR,” he said. “How are we not stopping this after Columbine? After Sandy Hook? I’m sitting with a mother that lost her son. It’s still happening.”
That mother, Nicole Hockley, held Zeif’s hand as he spoke. She has been pushing for reform through an organization called Sandy Hook Promise since that terrible event six years ago.
“I implore you,” she said. “Consider your own children. You don’t want to be me. No parent does. And you have the ability to make a difference and save lives today. Please don’t waste this.”
At one point during the meeting, the president seemed to endorse the idea of arming teachers and other school staff members.
“If you had a teacher who was adept with the firearm, they could end the attack very quickly,” he said.
Hockley said she’d rather focus on prevention.
“There is so much we can do to help this person before we reach this point,” she said.
One reform that seems to be gaining support from both sides of the debate is a so-called “red flag law” that would allow law enforcement to seize the weapons of individuals deemed a threat to themselves or others.
One thing is clear. Americans are ready for change.
A poll conducted this month by Quinnipiac University found that 66 percent of respondents want stricter gun laws. That’s the largest number recorded since the university began polling in the aftermath of Sandy Hook.
Sixty-seven percent of respondents said they supported a ban on assault weapons, and 97 percent supported universal background checks. Eighty-three percent supported a mandatory waiting period for gun purchases.
The trick comes in transforming those generalities into specific restrictions. It’s one thing to say assault rifles should be illegal. It’s another to draft legislation that will make that ban a reality.
Still, change is coming, and it’s time for those on both sides to join the discussion.
We must solve this problem. Our children insist.