March for Our Lives Disregards Opposing View
This past Saturday, I attended and spoke at the March For Our Lives event in Portsmouth, NH. I wanted to change the fact that I am growing up in a generation plagued with mass shootings. If you are not already acquainted with the event, March For Our Lives was a nationwide march that protested gun violence and the lack of effort our lawmakers have put into ensuring our safety.
The fact of the matter is, it will take years before any serious piece of legislation gets passed that would prevent any more of these school shootings from happening again.
A couple of days before the march, I prepared a speech to present to the hundreds of people who attended. I chose not to rile up the crowd by saying what they wanted to hear, but I instead provided them with serious food for thought about the issue. I believe that what I spoke about should not only be heard by the people who went to the rally, but also by everyone who supports gun control.
I chose to discuss the one thing that all supporters of stricter gun laws need to do: listen. We live in a nation so polarized that many make the conscious decision not listen to what the other side has to say. Whether we are talking about social justice, the economy or international affairs, there are always two or more sides to the issue. Yet when we are talking about gun control, the emotions run especially high because of the passion that both supporters and opponents of guns inherently have about the problem.
Gun supporters rightfully believe that the Second Amendment gives them the right to own any type of gun that they want. On the other hand, people who oppose the ownership of firearms believe that the deaths and injuries that guns have caused, especially to children in recent years, are unacceptable and warrant a government-mandated ban on such weapons. So, this issue really boils down to two emotional and compelling arguments: personal liberty versus preservation of human life. Even though talking about gun control with those who disagree with you can be hard and frustrating, there is no point in having this movement if we cannot persuade those who are opposed to gun control.
By paying more attention to what the other side thinks, we will be able to move people from being pro-gun to being pro-gun control.
The fact of the matter is, it will take years before any serious piece of legislation gets passed that would prevent any more of these school shootings from happening again. Look at previous revolutionary movements in American history: the Civil Rights Movement, the fight for LGBTQ+ rights, women's suffrage and equality, etc. What do all of these movements have in common besides the fact that they were ahead of their time? It took years and years of fighting before they saw any true success. We cannot let the same happen to the gun control movement because by then, far too many will have died for absolutely nothing.
This is why it is necessary for all of us to not only listen to the other side of the controversy, but make arguments that appeal to those dissenters. When you strive to get your point across to someone taking the opposing point of view, there is no use to present arguments that make logical sense to you. Instead, we need to get inside the heads of the opposition. In the context of guns, we need to be making arguments about what our rights truly are. One argument that we could make is that the small fraction of liberty that comes with the right to own a gun infringes upon the two natural rights immortalized in the Declaration of Independence: life and the pursuit of happiness. Also, we could present the hypocrisy of our political leaders who argue that they are in favor of guns while simultaneously professing to be tough on crime.
By paying more attention to what the other side thinks, we will be able to move people from being pro-gun to being pro-gun control. If we fail to do this, this movement will be largely unsuccessful for years just like many other American movements in our past.