A new website is giving parents the chance to sign a contract with their children to help vote in lawmakers who advocate for commonsense gun control measures.
Parents Promise to Kids (PPTK) is a initiative established by Adam Buchwald and Zach Hibshman, juniors at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, where a gunman killed 17 students and teachers in February. The shooting triggered a wave of gun control activism, culminating in an 800,000-strong rally on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. last Saturday.
“Tragedies such as Columbine, Sandy Hook, the Las Vegas shooting, and Pulse Night Club sent a shock throughout the nation. After these events, people demanded change, but nothing happened,” Buchwald and Hibsham write on the PPTK website. “This ends now! The people and community surrounding Marjory Stoneman Douglas will be the last to endure such a horrific event. Never again will we allow this to happen.”
Attention: We want all parents to sign a contract that promises their children that they will vote for children's safety over guns. We want no children to fear for their lives. CHANGE HAPPENS NOW! Check out our CBS INTERVIEW with @NialaCharles pic.twitter.com/xR32SAQJDv
— Parents Promise To Kids (@ParentsPromise) February 28, 2018
PPTK urges parents to “vote for politicians who will choose your children’s safety over guns” and creates contracts for parents and grandparents to sign so that they can honor their promises to their children.
The website is part of flurry of youth-driven activism that has arisen since the Parkland shooting. While most of the attention was focused on the rally in Washington, D.C. over the weekend, there were hundreds of other marches across the country.
Young activists didn’t stop there. On Monday, a group of students from Shorewood High School in Wisconsin marched 50 miles from their hometown to House Speaker Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) office in Janesville to protest gun violence.
“We are ready to keep the pressure on our nation’s top leaders until gun reform is a priority for Republicans and Democrats,” the students wrote. “We are not afraid. We fear being shot in our own schools and neighborhoods much more than we would ever fear the NRA or the politicians they support.”
These examples show how the student activists leading the calls for gun control have demonstrated their powerful voice and a well-conceived strategy. Not only are they fiercely criticizing the National Rifle Association (NRA) for its rage-inducing apathy on mass shootings, but they’re also going after politicians and corporations who support the NRA. The students are also gearing up for the midterms, where they know that a voter registration surge could create serious problems for politicians who might be supportive of the 2nd Amendment but are also vulnerable to re-election.
This was all clearly seen during the rally in Washington on Saturday. Chants of “Vote them out! Vote them out!” echoed repeatedly, and hundreds of volunteers were on hand helping people register to vote.
“Politicians either represent the people or get out,” Parkland survivor Cameron Kasky said. “The people demand a law banning the sale of assault weapons. The people demand that we prohibit the sale of high-capacity magazines. The people demand universal background checks. Stand for us or beware. The voters are coming.”