Hi, my name is Charlie Mirsky. Ever since the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglass, I have been heavily involved in the efforts to make changes in gun legislation. I work closely with the leaders of the movement; therefore, I have a contemporary account of what is going on. It all began the night after the shooting when my childhood friend, Cameron Kasky, called me and told me that my 5th grade teacher, Scott Beigel, had been shot and killed. He told me that he did not want this shooting to be just like all the others and that gun control was the answer. I, already being quite interested in politics and an avid New York Times reader, agreed that legislation was the only solution to gun violence. At this time, we had no social media presence and the gofundme page didn't even exist. Two weeks ago, I was a highschool student who really annoyed my Spanish teacher because I would talk too much in class. Now, I travel around the state, have spoken to dozens of lawmakers, and have constantly been on the phone with various organizations, supporters, and the media. All of this feels like a school project to me, because the fact that I’m just working with my friends makes me feel like what we are doing is small scale, even though I am fully aware of how much of an impact all of this is having on the country. In the end, my biggest stress right now is finding time to make up all of the school work I have missed due to traveling.
I also thought it would be interesting to give an update on what is happening with #marchforourlives. The gofundme page for the march is nearing the 3.5 million dollar mark. Also, something that I found really interesting are the hundreds of sister marches which are taking place on March 24th as well. Our petition already has over 200,000 signatures. I posted the link to the petition down below. We have been asked many times what we plan to do after the march and what our end goal is. Well, the short answer is mid-term elections. Personally, I am well aware that there is no chance that any meaningful legislation will be passed in congress today. With republicans controlling the house and senate, as well as a president who publically withdrew his “support” for our cause this morning, it may seem hopeless for any change to occur. However, we plan on really focusing on grass roots. Many of us have traveled around the country speaking to various communities, trying to inspire young voters, and I truly believe that it will make a difference. I would also like to apologize for whatever grammatical errors I made while writing this.
If you want to see more updates and just my personal rantings, you can follow my twitter twitter.com/…
petition- marchforourlivespetition.com
