Whether teenagers and faculty about to end their day in a high school in Parkland,
or elementary school kids just beginning theirs in Sandy Hook;
Whether churchgoers gathered for Sunday services in Sutherland Springs
or a Bible Study group on a Wednesday evening in Charleston;
we all deserve the right to feel safe in our schools and places of worship.
Whether Concertgoers enjoying live music outside in Las Vegas,
Clubgoers dancing to music inside a nightblub in Orlando,
Moviegoers at a midnight screening in Aurora,
or coworkers at an office Holiday party in San Bernadino;
no American should ever be afraid to assemble at a public gathering.
Whether a campus at Columbine High School or at Virginia Tech,
the Washington Navy Yard or Fort Hood;
we’ve seen that mass shootings can happen anywhere.
And in between these horrific events that have become all-too-common, we continue to see the more frequent casualties of gun violence:
The victim who falls at the hand of someone who decided to use their handgun on a street corner to resolve a conflict.
The victim who falls at the hand of someone they know in an act of domestic violence.
The victim who falls at their own hand after deciding the easy solution to their troubles can quickly be found with the pull of a trigger.
We can do better. This is a complex problem that will require complex solutions, but doing nothing is not an option.
A fix for one problem may not fix all of them, but that just means we need to work harder to enact comprehensive reforms because doing nothing is not an option.
There are those who say this will all die down.
NOT when we continue to see the number of those who die going up.
There are those who say this will all quiet down.
NOT when have seen what our voices can do when we all speak up.
There are those who say this will all just fade away again.
But I don’t see anyone going away.
There are those who say America has become numb to this.
I’m NOT numb. WE’RE NOT numb. We feel it. It still hurts.
We have the numbers. Right now, we’re engaged in a battle of the wills, but I know that our wills, will prevail.
Our will to ensure our children’s safety.
Our will to protect our freedom to assemble.
Our will to do what we have done for over 240 years as a nation:
To identify our faults, address the scourges affecting us, and continually strive to realize the ideals this country was founded on.
To work together, united, to form a more perfect union. For gun violence, that starts today. It starts with us all saying, “NEVER AGAIN.”
