Parkland students unveil gun violence prevention plan: 'Policymakers have failed, so survivors are stepping up'

The plan calls for sweeping legislation, and hopes for bipartisan support

(Getty Images)

March For Our Lives, the group formed by the Parkland students in the wake of the mass shooting at their school in February 2018, has unveiled a new plan for gun control.

The Peace Plan is a six-step proposal focused on changing gun laws in America to prevent mass shootings, which continue to ravage the country. The students call their steps C.H.A.N.G.E., with each letter spelling out a goal.

Those are: changing the standards of gun ownership, halving the rate of gun deaths in 10 years, holding the gun lobby and industry accountable, naming a director of gun violence prevention, and generating “community-based solutions” for gun violence.

“Everywhere we look, gun violence is decimating our families and communities,” the plan reads. “Whether it’s the mass shootings in shopping malls, concerts, schools, and places of worship, the retaliatory gun violence in urban neighbourhoods haunted by the legacy of economic disinvestment, racism, and poverty, or the solitary suicides committed nationwide with increasing frequency, gun violence adds up: over 100 Americans die from it every day. 100 lives lost every single day.”

David Hogg, a former Parkland student who has become a powerful voice for gun violence prevention, wrote in a tweet sharing the new plan: “Policymakers have failed, so survivors are stepping up.”

“The #PeacePlan is written by the generation that’s only ever known lock-down drills. But we WILL be the last,” the tweet continued. “We’re not just fighting against the status quo, we’re fighting for real change, for justice, for peace.”

He also addressed the tweets to both the Democrat and Republican parties, further emphasising his long-standing wish to stop gun violence with anyone willing to help.

But even with the terror of the recent El Paso and Dayton shootings, the majority of Republicans are standing firmly with the National Rifle Association, as is the president.

“We started March For Our Lives to say, ‘Not One More,’” the plan concludes. “No more school shooting drills. No more burying loved ones. No more American exceptionalism in all the wrong ways.

"But we cannot do this alone. We need leaders – in the White House, in Congress, and on the Supreme Court – who care about the future of our children and our nation.

"We call on every Presidential candidate for the 2020 election to endorse our Peace Plan for a Safer America.”