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Gun reform activists launch web site demanding motion from the Biden Administration

February 14, 2022

It has been 4 years since a shooter killed 14 college students and three employees members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas Excessive Faculty in Parkland, Florida. And ever since, gun reform activists, survivors, and the scholars’ dad and mom have continued to demand tangible gun reform from their representatives.

To honor this mission, the capturing’s anniversary, and stress motion from President Joe Biden, a coalition of activists have launched a brand new web site, “Shock Market,” which tracks and shares the quantity of gun-related accidents and deaths since Biden took workplace, in keeping with CNN. The web site is a dwell replace of gun violence numbers throughout the nation and reminder of the growing charges of gun-related violence, particularly in colleges.

“Shock Market” was created by scholar gun reform group March For Our Lives, gun violence prevention group Weapons Down America, and political youth advocacy group Change the Ref.

The web site shows a mess of tallies sourced from the Gun Violence Archive, together with the variety of gun deaths, gun accidents, mass shootings, the precise variety of minors killed and injured due to gun violence, and even unintentional shootings. Alongside the startling numbers, the gun reform coalition has listed its calls for for the Biden administration, which embrace establishing a Nationwide Workplace of Gun Violence Prevention, investing in neighborhood violence prevention applications, and the appointment of a brand new director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to control gun producers and sellers.

In a press release concerning the web site’s launch, March For Our Lives wrote that the coalition desires to make sure Biden lives as much as his marketing campaign guarantees. “What we’re asking for is easy: That the President treats the gun violence epidemic just like the emergency that it’s, not a to-do record merchandise to get to when he can,” the group wrote.

The web site encourages guests to take motion themselves, utilizing a easy button to Tweet particular numbers on to politicians. Recipients embrace Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, White Home Press Secretary Jen Psaki, and even White Home Chief of Employees Ronald Klain. 

The numbers are paired with pre-written messages, like: “[email protected], the Shock Market is in determined want of a correction. Please nominate a brand new ATF director to successfully regulate firearm producers and sellers, and information ongoing efforts to scale back trafficking. “

SEE ALSO: Parkland survivor desires a special sort of gun reform motion: One which facilities Black lives

“Survivors and advocates have been clear that prioritizing gun violence prevention means establishing a nationwide workplace of gun violence prevention to coordinate and proactively drive the federal government’s response to this public well being disaster,” wrote Igor Volsky, co-founder and govt director of Weapons Down America, within the web site’s press launch. “It means appointing a pacesetter to the ATF who won’t cozy as much as the firearms business. And it means utilizing the total energy of the presidency to combat for and win neighborhood violence intervention funding. We’re nonetheless ready.”

Not lengthy after the web site’s launch, Biden tweeted his recognition of the Parkland capturing and launched an official assertion, which referred to as on Congress to behave on the “epidemic of gun violence” and go a funds for “confirmed methods we all know scale back violent crime — accountable neighborhood policing and neighborhood violence interventions.”

“We will by no means carry again these we’ve misplaced. However we are able to come collectively to satisfy the primary accountability of our authorities and our democracy: to maintain one another secure. For Parkland, for all these we’ve misplaced, and for all these left behind, it’s time to uphold that solemn obligation,” Biden wrote within the White Home launch.

In the meantime, gun reform activists are calling out the Biden’s gradual progress and demonstrating exterior the White Home in Washington, D.C. “Younger individuals marched, we voted, we did what was requested of us. It is time for the President to ship for us,” stated David Hogg, Parkland survivor and gun reform activist, in a press release to the press.

And fogeys and survivors are mourning their losses alongside them. Earlier within the morning, Manuel Oliver, father of former Marjory Stoneman Douglas scholar Joaquin Oliver and founding father of Change the Ref, demanded a gathering with Biden after climbing to the highest of a building crane. Oliver posted a video of his request in honor of his son.

Fred Guttenberg, father of former scholar Jaime Guttenberg and gun reform activist, additionally shared his personal reflections and calls for on the anniversary by way of Twitter, together with an extended record of “what if” questions that proceed to rack his thoughts 4 years after his daughter died. “It’s now four years since I final had the standard parental worries about you and the way your day was going? What sorts of stuff you had been studying?  Whether or not you had been blissful?  Whether or not you had been secure?” he wrote in a Twitter thread. “What in case you had been sick that morning and we by no means despatched you to high school? What would your day have been like then?”

Utilizing digital instruments like “Shock Market” and social media, Parkland activists, households, and survivors haven’t let up on their trigger, whilst gun violence numbers proceed to extend throughout the nation. As a substitute, they’re demanding much more from authorities leaders and guaranteeing we always remember those that had been killed.