Inaction Got Us Here. It's Time To Protect Our Children. #NeverAgain

Final signature count: 0

0 signatures toward our 0 goal

The statistics don't lie; **as many as 90 Americans are killed every day** in violent incidents of gun violence \[1\].

Among those, many are school children, not yet old enough to vote or join the military.

Following the Feb. 14 shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School that left 17 dead and 14 injured \[2\], a large number of Americans called for more stringent regulations around assault weapons. But, lawmakers have responded just as they did after Colorado Springs \[2\], just as they did after San Bernadino \[2\], and just as they did after Sandy Hook \[2\].

They did nothing.

The list of tragedies goes on and on, and will continue to, unless action is taken.

One such action is the establishment of the **"Fix NICS Act"** introduced in 2017 by Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas). The bill aims to strengthen the efforts made in researching the criminal histories of those looking to buy firearms, efforts that could have prevented the Texas First Baptist Church shooting \[3\].

Another measure has been introduced by the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The **"Assault Weapons Ban of 2017"** will prohibit the sale, transfer, manufacture, and importation of military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines, if passed \[4\].

Gun violence is a problem wherever it occurs, but the impact of such tragedies when children are involved is undoubtedly much greater. Those who live through violent incidents don't always emerge unscathed. School districts in which gun violence has resulted in one or more deaths are more likely to experience depression among students, decreased enrollment, and lower test scores \[1\].

**Over 150,000 students in the U.S. from 170 different schools** have been affected by gun violence firsthand since the Columbine High School massacre in 1999 \[7\]. In a plea to end years of inaction, survivors, students, and allies of those affected by mass shootings have banded together under the hashtag **#neveragain**.

Their cry for mercy has not gone unnoticed, and hope lies in the passage of measures like the Fix NICS Act and the Assault Weapons Ban of 2017, which would require stricter levels of documentation and accountability, as well as preventing initiatives from those involved in the buying and selling of dangerous weapons \[3\].

**

Sign this petition and stand with the millions of others who believe that violence in schools should not be normalized, and demand a safer life for our children.

**