In the face of local school shootings and threats of violence, AACC students need to take a stand and speak out.

According to The Baltimore Sun, this country has had six school shootings since February.

Last month, a 17-year-old student at Great Mills High School in southern Maryland shot two other students before a school resource officer shot and killed him. One of those classmates–Jaelynn Willey, 16–died.

Just a week before, a ninth-grade student allegedly threatened gun violence at Broadneck High School, just a few minutes from the college. The suspect claimed the threat was a “joke.”

And just a month before that, a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, left 17 people dead.

AACC is a safe campus, and we haven’t fallen victim to such threats and violence, but that doesn’t mean students here shouldn’t react.

According to The Washington Post, after the Parkland shooting, more than 1,000 people at the University of Virginia joined in a protest against gun violence.

The call to action resonated with the students and faculty at Wayne State College, Tulane University, Southwest Minnesota State University and Georgetown University, who participated in a walk-out last month.

By not joining forces with other schools protesting these shootings, AACC students are sending the message that it’s OK for others to feel unsafe at school, as long as we don’t.

Doing nothing in response to these traumatic events is slowly allowing brutality to become normality.
School shootings don’t affect our school in particular, but that doesn’t mean the problem has disappeared.

And while our police officers prepare for the worst, the worst is already happening around the corner.
Change is needed, but the only way it’s possible is if we combine forces so our voices can be heard.

We call on our elected student representatives to step up and organize the campus community.

The Student Government Association has a responsibility to lead the campus response to important issues like these, and what could be more important than the lives of students?

Let’s lead by example on behalf of those we lost. Let’s not let violence become background noise.