March For Our Lives unveiled their sweeping gun control proposals in a plan they have called “A Peace Plan for a Safer America.”
The group, which was created by survivors of the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School mass shooting, released the plan on Wednesday and urges the next president to declare gun violence as a national public health emergency. The shooting in Parkland, Florida, resulted in the deaths of 17 students and school staff.
“Gun violence is destroying our generation. This is simply unacceptable. That’s why, as survivors and students of March For Our Lives, we believe it’s time for a Peace Plan for a Safer America,” the group states.
To take on this crisis, we need to think big.
To take on corrupt powers that be, we have to be strategic.
To take on violence, we have to be pro-peace.
Introducing: A Peace Plan for a Safer America. Created by survivors, so you don’t have to be one.https://t.co/cDryRiWLta— March For Our Lives (@AMarch4OurLives) August 21, 2019
Elements in their plan include:
- A national licensing and registry system for guns and ammunition.
- A ban and mandatory buy-back program for “assault weapons”.
- A ban on high-capacity magazines.
- Raising the age for all gun purchases to 21.
- A federal version of Extreme Risk Protection Orders, commonly known as “red flag” laws.
- A limit of one firearm purchase per month.
- A ban on all online firearm and ammunition sales or transfers, including gun parts.
- The creation a “National Director of Gun Violence Prevention,” who will report directly to the president.
In their plan for the licensing and registry system, which will be a “multi-step approval process, overseen by a law enforcement agency,” potential gun owners will have to undergo background checks, in-person interviews, personal references, rigorous gun safety training, and a waiting period of 10 days for each gun purchase. Licenses will be renewed every year after completing the “annual refresher requirements.”
There will be fees in order to obtain the licenses, with higher fees on bulk purchase of guns and ammunition. In their buy-back program, they hope to reduce the estimated 265-393 million firearms in circulation by at least 30%.
The “National Director of Gun Violence Prevention” would manage multi-agency coordination to combat gun violence, with the goal to reduce firearms deaths and injuries by at least 50% over the next 10 years.
The group also wants the next president’s administration to commit to “reexamining the District of Columbia v. Heller decision,” which was decided by the Supreme Court in 2008 in a 5-4 decision. The court ruled the Second Amendment protects an individual’s right to have a firearm without having to serve in a state militia.
In order to help make these changes become a reality, March For Our Lives is also advocating for automatically registering eligible American voters when they turn 18 and creating the “Safety Corps.” Modeled after the Peace Corps, the “Safety Corps” will be a federal program that will put 10,000 young people per year to work on paid, one-year engagements to work in communities and nonprofits focusing on gun violence prevention.
Policymakers have failed, so survivors are stepping up.
The #PeacePlan is written by the generation that’s only ever known lockdown drills. But we WILL be the last.
We’re not just fighting against the status quo, we’re fighting for real change, for justice, for peace.
— David Hogg (@davidhogg111) August 21, 2019
“We don’t have to live like this: in fear for our lives and our families. The federal government has failed in its responsibility to protect the safety and well-being of the public with regard to the nation’s gun violence epidemic. The time for comprehensive and sweeping reform is now,” the group said.
