Unfortunately, 2018 was marked as the worst year in history for school shootings in the United States. By December, nearly 113 students and staff members were killed or severely injured, according to BBC news. On February 14th, 2018, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, was marked as one of the most deadliest shootings that year, which severely impacted America’s viewpoint on gun violence. Nikolas Cruz, suspect of the Parkland shooting, was charged for killing 17 people within the school.

Nearly a month after the Parkland incident took place came the March for Our Lives protest. Millions of people, including students and adults, came together to raise awareness of gun violence and to support gun control. To this day, this protest has broadened the topic of the harmful outcomes of guns.

On February 14th of 2019, nearly a year after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, citizens of America still gathered to honor the deaths of their loved ones. “We are here to honor tonight not only the 17 lives that were lost a year ago at Parkland, but the approximately 1,200 other lives lost, under the age of 18, in the past 364 days,” said Chinaly Chanvong, the executive director of March for Our Lives Springfield and a senior at Sabis International Charter School.

As a student here in the US, I feel that every school member — whether they are children, teenagers, or staff — has the right to feel safe. For the sake of our own safety, America as a whole needs to develop new laws enforcing gun control. Citizens’ voices need to be heard, whether they are students, staff, family members, or even just people who want to seek change.