For as long as I’ve gone to school we’ve practiced for a school shooting. Before I could understand how the government worked, before I could write a paragraph, before I could spell democracy, I was preparing for a day that someone might barge into my classroom and try to murder me.
I’ve grown up in a world where having a gun is more important than children’s lives. And while I’ve grown up afraid to go to school because I don’t want to be shot, there is no way for me to change it. I am too young to vote so the decisions made by the generations older than me govern my life.
I want to be safe when I go to school. I don’t want to have to worry about making it home alive, I want to live in a world where school is a place to learn, not a place to die.
I hope the voters of this country care about their children enough to vote for stricter gun laws so that we feel safe enough at school to learn and so we will be ready to take on our future roles in society.
Tory Peters, Salt Lake City
Donate to the newsroom now. The Salt Lake Tribune, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) public charity and contributions are tax deductible