Westlake forum calls for action
Feeling deeply affected by the tragedy of the Borderline shooting, students took action by hosting a gun violence forum at Westlake High School. Families of Borderline victims, politicians, law enforcers and student activists took the stage to spread their words on better gun management, and to advocate for a better and safer nation.
Looking at all the action taken place after the Borderline shooting, young people have proven their determination and capability of making a change. Gracie Perkul, a 17-year-old resident of Simi Valley, shared her painted portraits of the victims of the Parkland School shooting to the audience. A smile on every face of a painting, Perkul captured the beauty of these young lives and revealed the pain of having to lose them to the violence of a bullet.
“I drew these 17 portraits because I wanted the world to see what we lose every time innocent lives are taken from us at the hands of gun violence. I wanted to show their faces and tell their stories and make the statement that you will never be forgotten,” Perkul said in her speech at the forum.
Politicians and lawmakers such as Congresswoman Julia Brownley also delivered a speech at the forum. Brownley called for action from our leaders, for gun violence issues to be addressed in the White House and for legislations to be made on gun safety. In addition, Brownley introduced an agenda of legislations that democrats are working to push forth. The first priority is Bipartisan Background Check Act named the HR8 bill which closes the dangerous loopholes in the background check system. The second priority Brownley introduced was to fully fund and make mandatory gun violence research at the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention.
“It is critically important for Democrats to demonstrate to the American people who are crying for action that we do have common sense solutions and we will put forward an agenda for the American people to see and we will fight mildly,” Brownley said in her speech.
Furthermore, Ventura County Supervisor Steve Bennett touches on the topic of gun show culture in America. To prevent people from seeing gun shows as a normalized culture of America, Bennett calls for the cities of Ventura County to demand the fairgrounds board to ban gun shows from Ventura County fairgrounds. He encourages people to stand up to their wishes and to take a step forward in building up political momentum to demand state legislatures and political authorities to establish gun control legislatures.
“If more guns in our nation would make us safer then we would be the safest nation in the world,” Bennett said, “We are not.”
