Why I Chose to Advocate for Gun Reform

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My name is Kaitlyn Rivera, a freshman student at Penn State University. Gun reform is one my advocacy passions and the reason I created this. I refuse to accept that this climate we live in is normal.

When I was just five years old, the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting happened. I was in kindergarten, the same age as those twenty children who never got the chance to grow up. Today, as I am finishing up my first year of college, the same milestone those children should be celebrating , I carry the weight of knowing that almost nothing has changed.

I grew up with active shooter drills as a normal part of school life. Hiding under desks, practicing lockdowns, wondering if we would be next. It was treated like fire drills as if it were inevitable. And still, year after year, politicians offered "thoughts and prayers" while rejecting common sense gun safety laws.

We see it over and over, the tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. The horror at Robb Elementary in Uvalde. The heartbreak at Michigan State University. Just recently, another tragedy unfolded at Florida State University,  another campus, another community shattered.

Each time, we would hear promises that things would be different. Each time, those promises were broken and now we don't even get the promises, just the "thoughts and prayers". 

I started this website to speak to young adults like myself , the generation that grew up living through this crisis. I believe we deserve better. I believe we have the power to demand it. Here, you’ll find education, advocacy tools, and real actions you can take to help push for stronger, life-saving gun control laws.

Change won't happen on its own. It will happen because we demand it  together.