Young people lead the way to change

By Susie Lee

Thursday, March 29, 2018 | 2 a.m.

My children, Cody (13) and Nevada (18), told me last week that they planned on participating in the Las Vegas March for Our Lives at the Smith Center this past Saturday, one in a series of nationwide marches led by students across the country to protest inaction on gun violence. When they asked if I would be joining them, my answer was simple.

On Saturday, I marched with my children and with students throughout southern Nevada. I marched because this issue is so important. I marched because it’s time for our leaders to take action to stop gun violence. I marched because my generation has so much to learn from the courage of these young people.

I have spent my career working with students and schools in our community, trying to ensure access to opportunity for all of our young people. Whether it was my role as Founding Director of After School All Stars, which provides over 7,000 students with safe and educational activities every day after school, or as Board Chair of Communities in Schools of Nevada, a successful and growing dropout prevention program, my passion is for ensuring stability, safety, and opportunity for kids throughout the state. Student and school safety is a critical component of that work.

With all of the enormous challenges facing our students and schools, it breaks my heart that students throughout this country carry the very real fear of shootings each day that they walk into their schools. According to the Washington Post, a staggering 187,000 students in our country have been personally exposed to gun violence in their schools since Columbine.

I am encouraged that students across this country are holding their elected officials accountable for the lack of action on gun safety. It has been nearly 6 months since 58 people were murdered and over 500 more injured, right here in our own city, in the worst mass shooting in modern American history. And yet, Congress has not even passed legislation to at least ban the sale of bump stocks, the device that helped a gunman effectively convert his semi-automatic guns into fully automatic weapons.

Gun safety measures like universal background checks and bans on sales to domestic abusers and stalkers have broad public support, with the approval of over 80 percent of Americans. Despite this widespread support, neither measure has been passed by Congress. Furthermore, Nevada voters actually passed a strengthened background check law, but our leaders have not bothered to implement it.

Young people are rightly asking why our elected leaders have so thoroughly failed to enact policies widely supported by their own constituents that would make our communities and schools safer.

Sadly, the answer is the influence of big money in politics. It might have something to do with the fact that, since 2016 alone, the NRA has spent over $60 million on lobbying and campaign expenditures. This kind of unchecked spending is a result of lax campaign finance rules in our country, and it needs to be reined in.

I am hopeful that our youths are building a real groundswell of support for gun safety measures, a groundswell that will be able to overcome the paralysis gripping our leaders. The challenges we face may seem daunting, but if there’s one thing we’ve learned from the outpouring of student activism around this issue, it’s that there is a real desire to find solutions.

We can reform our campaign finance system and pass a constitutional amendment to ban the reckless, unaccountable special interestmoney that floods into our electoral system every November. We can respect the rights of law-abiding gun owners, while taking common sense steps to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous criminals and to make it more difficult to stockpile enormous arsenals of military-grade weaponry.

We can bring fresh leadership to the halls of power in this country that will find real solutions. The cynics among us might say it’s not possible, but bold, courageous students across the country are proving them wrong every day.

I am proud to have joined my kids today like so many other students and families from every walk of life. I will be part of the solution. I will listen and learn from the next generation of leaders, who are spearheading a nationwide movement for reforms that will save lives and change our country for the better. I will learn from their experiences, their fears, and their hopes. Most importantly, I will fight to ensure that their voices are heard.

Susie Lee is an education advocate and nonprofit leader, and a Democratic candidate for Congress in Nevada’s 3rd Congressional District.