Parkland community created change in wake of tragedy
Just over three years after she was shot and nearly killed at a public meeting with her constituents in Tucson, Arizona, my friend and former House colleague, Gabby Giffords, said, “I’m fighting hard to make the world a better place and you can too. Get involved with your community, be a leader, set an example, be passionate, be your best.”
Today, her words are an important reminder as we pass the one-year commemoration of the tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
Our community will never be the same, but our work together to heal and to ensure that this never happens again is already having an impact around the country and around the world.
Over the course of the past year, Parkland families and young advocates for gun safety piled onto buses and traveled clear across the state to lobby in Tallahassee. These leaders called to action millions of Americans and led them into the streets at March For Our Lives events in Washington, Parkland, and around the world.
The Parkland community created change. Twenty-six states and the District of Columbia took steps to strengthen their gun laws. Florida and six other states have strengthened background checks, banned bump stocks, given law enforcement the tools to remove guns from dangerous situations, increased the minimum age to purchase guns, and expanded community gun violence prevention programs.
These laws were enacted in states led by both Democratic and Republican legislatures and governors, proving that gun violence prevention isn’t a red versus blue issue.
Parkland families have formed multiple non-profit organizations focused on securing our schools, expanding access to mental health care, and strengthening our gun laws. They have met face-to-face with the President of the United States, two Speakers of the House, the Secretary of Education, the Attorney General, and countless other lawmakers and policymakers. They have run for and secured positions on the school board to have a direct impact on school safety policies.
Our community also sparked change in our elections. Last summer, the March For Our Lives students charted a nationwide tour to hold town halls on gun violence prevention policy, register thousands of new voters, and get people to the polls with #TurnoutTuesday efforts that resulted in the largest youth vote in 25 years.
Candidates in swing House districts proudly campaigned on rejecting money from the gun lobby and committed to supporting common-sense gun safety bills if elected. And they were, in what is now an historic gun safety majority in the House of Representatives.
Shortly after the new Congress was sworn in, I invited some freshman members to meet the young leaders from Parkland. As we gathered that evening in a room just off the House floor, I noticed something: This was not an introduction, it was a reunion. All through the summer and fall last year, Parkland students visited swing districts around the country to do everything they could to elect candidates who would make saving lives one of their top priorities in Washington. They succeeded.
Earlier this month, Stoneman Douglas student Aalayah Eastmond testified before the House Judiciary Committee at the first gun violence prevention hearing in the House in nearly a decade. I will never forget hearing her recount the day that her life was saved by Nicholas Dworet. Nicholas’s father, Mitch Dworet, was seated just two rows behind Aalayah. As she testified, he bowed his head and listened to that painful story, surrounded by other Parkland families who support and love one another.
The next steps we take in our community and in Congress must be rooted in that love and support as neighbors and members of a society that refuses to accept mass shootings and daily gun violence as normal.
Together, we can achieve our gun safety goals by embracing Gabby Giffords’ call to action. When we work together, when we show compassion, when we try our best, when we get active in our community, and when we remember, we can change the world.
We are #MSDstrong.