An unexpected wild card in the gun regulation debate are the powerful voices of young people from Parkland, Florida who experienced the slaughter of their classmates first hand last week.

From appearances on cable news shows to Meet the Press their presence has been ubiquitous.

And they are translating their voices into action. Today busloads of students, along with teachers from the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School are headed to the State Capitol in Tallahassee to persuade legislators to impose reasonable gun regulators. On one respected ranking of states, Florida gets a D- for its gun control laws, compared to an A- in California. There will be follow-up events on a national level, including a “national student walkout” on March 14 and March for Our Lives gatherings in Washington D.C. and elsewhere around the nation ...

For now, it is impossible to know how their voice will influence the debate. But given that so far nothing else has had any impact on regulating the sale of assault-style rifles, or preventing people who should never have been able to acquire them, or any kind of weapon for that matter, in the first place, we should yield the floor to young people and amplify their voices in whatever way is possible.

Read the full article about young people's voices rising up in the gun control debate by Louis Freedberg at edsource.org.