The controversial issue of gun control keeps reappearing in the media with each recurring, ghastly event of mass gun violence. It’s a cycle: First, there are demands for action -- maybe even proposals for new legislation. Then, the debate goes back and forth, until both sides are entrenched in a political argument that does nothing to solve the issue of gun violence. Finally, only a few weeks later, people move on. Little to nothing has changed. Except, we as a country grow more desensitized to living in a world where mass shootings are regular events. And then another mass shooting occurs. We can’t let lives lost to gun violence be forgotten.

Gun control is a complex issue and in order to understand it, one must know what the term “Gun Control” entails. “Gun Control” is an ambiguous term that covers any sort of restriction on what kinds of firearms can be sold and bought, who can possess or sell them, where and how they can be stored or carried, what duties a seller has to vet a buyer, and what obligations both the buyer and the seller have to report transactions to the government.

Eradicating guns is the only proven way to decrease death by gun violence, but is an unattainable goal, given the attachment of many Americans to a broad reading of the Second Amendment. What’s a more attainable goal? Stronger gun control and a ban on assault rifles.

The process of getting a gun is not as hard as you may think. At 14 years old, in the State of Minnesota, you can own a long gun but until you are 18 you still need parental consent to go to a trampoline park. Many stores sell guns, and the background check usually takes just minutes to complete. Guns can also be ordered online, with just one click. Many guns are bought second hand or at gun shows and these sales don’t require any information to be gathered about the purchaser, including the buyer’s age. Some of those opposed to stricter gun laws think good guys with guns is the solution to bad guys with guns, but this will not solve our problem. Supplying teachers with guns puts students at greater risk because it introduces more firearms into schools.

Why does no one ask what children or adolescents have to say about gun control when we are those most affected by it? On March 14th, my sister and I, traveled by bus with many of our friends to Washington, DC, to join youth from across the country at the March for Our Lives. We marched to protest gun laws and to demand overdue change. Organized by students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the march showcased impassioned teens calling on Congress to enact stricter gun-control laws to end the nation’s two-decade stretch of campus shootings. The March reminded the nation that young people are the next generation of voters. If stricter gun laws aren’t passed today then our generation will vote for them tomorrow. It shouldn’t be up to high school students to make America safe again.

In school every month students sit silently in the corner of a room during a lockdown drill, the only sound is the whistling of the air vents. What once used to be a time to talk with friends is now a serious matter. At lunch, in the hall between classes, and in the gym, we talk about what we would do if there were to be a shooting. We should be more worried about our grades and college applications than what we’d do if a shooter comes into our school.

This isn’t a matter of whether you are Democrat or Republican, this is a matter of human rights. Every American  has the right to feel safe in their homes, schools, and movie theaters. Every American has the right to live. Despite our many differences, everyone unites over the horrifying image of children being murdered.  During these times of crises we must come together as nation and remember the real values that bind us together. You may forget it, but we, the younger generation, will not forget what it was like to go to school in a time of fear and violence. We can’t let more shootings be forgotten, be desensitized.