By Ellison Brown
My name is Ellie Brown and I go to West High school in Iowa City, Iowa. I love school and I love learning, but everyday I wake up terrified to go to school. I tell myself that nothing could happen in a little old town in the middle of Iowa, but I have to face the terrifying fact that my school could be the next school that we hear about on the news, being sent thoughts and prayers.
I won’t pretend that I have answers or know what needs to happen but I do know that something needs to be done. We can’t just sit by and watch as this keeps happening, without at least trying to do something to prevent it. We need tighter gun laws. Registrations, like what people have for cars. A higher age restriction. People aren’t allowed to drink until they’re 21, and yet we feel comfortable allowing them to buy and use a weapon that can kill with the twitch of a finger. We need to ban assault weapons — I mean, it’s in the name, assault weapon. You don’t need 45 rounds a minute to hunt or to practice target shooting. There is no reason for these weapons to be out in the market. Something needs to change, because we can’t just let this keep happening.
We are the next generation of voters and we are sick and tired of feeling like we have a target on our back and constantly worrying about being shot. Prayers and thoughts are nice, but we need action. And if you can’t act then you’re out. We will not be voting for you if you take money from the NRA. We will not be voting for you if you don’t make gun control/restrictions one of your top priorities. Stop saying these school shootings are terrible, and do something to prevent the next one. When are you guys going to realize that we need change? How many more innocent students are going to die before you decide to do something about it?
This article was originally published in Little Village issue 238.
