Mary Gay Scanlon: “We are failing our youth, and they know it. I rise today to share the voices of our children, the voices of those who…”

“We are failing our youth, and they know it. I rise today to share the voices of our children, the voices of those who attend schools where, once again this week, young lives were lost to gun violence that Congress refuses to prevent. My office runs a Congressional Youth Cabinet, a nonpartisan program that gives high school students the opportunity to learn about our government and share their views. We meet every couple of months during the school year, and they select topics for discussion at each meeting. Last weekend, the topic was gun violence. The next day, six people were slaughtered in yet another school shooting. Three of them were only 9 years old. As I struggled to find words to convey, once again, the urgency that Congress act, I turned to the students in my youth cabinet. I asked them what they would say if they had the opportunity to address Congress. Here are their voices, the voices of America's youth. Claire: ``It is terrifying to see another school shooting on the news, and even scarier that this is an almost normal thing. As students, we just want to be safe to learn and grow. . . . I feel, and I have heard this from a lot of kids, I can't walk down the hall without looking for a safe place to hide in case something happens. It really messes with your head.'' Zeyan: ``Gun violence feels normalized and ingrained.…”