Letter: Think of shootings as you go to polls

Thirty-three weeks, 234 days, or roughly 5,000 hours ago, 17 people were gunned down in Parkland, Fla. In these seven months since, no meaningful gun legislation has passed.

I didn’t see friends die that day in Parkland. Nor was I a parent at Sandy Hook over six years ago when an entire classroom of children was slaughtered. What I can’t seem to understand is why I would have to be. Empathy is a language. Why then, does nobody seems to care enough to listen? With multiple shootings in the Tri Cities over the past summer alone, it won’t be long before a more heinous mass event strikes our community.

Months ago, my peers and I decided to act. We participated in multiple school walkouts, wrote letters, and made calls to our congressman, Dan Newhouse. The ping of his answering machine echoes the lack of response that my letter has received in months since.

With election day on the horizon, I ask that you remember these tragedies as if they happened yesterday. Vote your conscience.