This Saturday, hundreds of thousands of people are expected at rallies for gun control across the country. And no one is speaking louder than those who inspired the rallies and who feel they have the most at stake: teens.
Thea Roland is a high school junior in Colorado Springs, Colorado. She鈥檚 into reading, modern dance, and politics.
She thinks the activism in response to the Florida shooting is amazing.
鈥淚鈥檓 online,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 can see that stuff is happening.鈥�
And she feels part of it too. Last week, she walked out of class and locked arms with hundreds of her peers to honor the victims of the Parkland shooting and to send a message to the world, she says about gun control.
Roland is passionate about this.
鈥淲e matter more than guns!鈥� she says. She feels like she and other kids her age shouldn鈥檛 even have to say that. 鈥淏ut we鈥檙e trying to say that loudly. And with force.鈥�
She says she鈥檚 frustrated that school shootings keep happening and that elected officials aren鈥檛 passing laws to change that. She wants them to pay attention to the message she and other teens are delivering.
Speaking directly to congress she says 鈥淚t is your job, literally, to make this a safer happier world. There鈥檚 a lot more to be done and that鈥檚 your job. That鈥檚 your job.鈥�
But she鈥檚 not necessarily counting on Congress either. Roland is only 17 years old, but she says this movement might factor into what she does with her future.
鈥淚 want to stay angry enough to do something about it,鈥� she says. 鈥淏ecause obviously if my generation is the only one that鈥檚 pushing for this then we have to be a lot stronger than we are even now. We have to keep going.鈥�
For now, though, the march this weekend is a start and Roland is happy that people are speaking up. 鈥淚t鈥檚 my generation!鈥� she says. 鈥淲e鈥檙e doing something! We鈥檙e mobile. And it鈥檚 fantastic.鈥�
Like Thea Roland, seventeen-year-old Ryley White, a high school student in Boise, Idaho, didn鈥檛 plan on becoming an activist.
She says it angers her that the responsibility has been passed down to her generation to 鈥渇ight for the right to go to school.鈥�
White has been thinking about gun violence for a long time. It was Sandy Hook that opened her eyes to the reality of school shootings.
鈥淚 honestly feel like Sandy Hook was my generation鈥檚 9/11,鈥� she says.
She remembers she was sitting in her language arts classroom and her teacher walked in, tears running down her face and told White and her peers about the students that had been shot and killed at Sandy Hook.
鈥淚 remember exactly what I was doing,鈥� says White. 鈥淚 remember exactly how I felt. I remember the rest of the school day everybody could not stop crying.鈥�
White was just thirteen at the time.
She says something like Sandy Hook is hard to think about because she鈥檚 so close with her family. 鈥淓specially my little brother,鈥� she says, 鈥渨ho is still in elementary school. Thinking about that happening is the most terrifying thing that I can think of. Losing my family is just heartbreaking.鈥�
White鈥檚 state of Idaho has one of the highest per capita gun ownership rates in the nation. White says even though she鈥檚 never personally touched a gun, she doesn鈥檛 feel like she鈥檚 missing out on a cultural experience.
She acknowledges that many people have a passion for hunting and they need guns for that. But she says, 鈥渕y life is no less fulfilled or lacking in any way by not seeing or owning or possessing a firearm.鈥�
White says she respects her fellow Idahoans鈥� right to have guns. But she鈥檚 hoping lawmakers will respect American students鈥� rights to be safe in school.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, Yellowstone Public Radio in Montana, KUER in Salt Lake City and KRCC and 萝莉少女 in Colorado.
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