Congressman Encourages Student Action
March 27, 2018
11th California District Congressman Mark DeSaulnier visited campus to discuss gun control with students during 5th period in the CPAC on March 26 .
A local representative to the national House of Representatives, DeSaulinier spoke to students about the privilege of American citizenship and its attendant responsibilities. Guns hit close to home for the congressman, whose speech touched on how his father committed suicide with a gun he would likely not have had access to under stricter gun restrictions.
As DeSaulinier highlighted, the role guns play in American suicides far exceeds the roles either knives or pills play, with 97% of attempted suicides with guns being fatal and only 3% of other forms of suicide having the same results.
He also urged students to “keep doing what they are doing,” listing marches, walkouts, and collaboration with administration as viable avenues through which to effect change.
The congressman concluded by asking for both a “gun safety board” to implement research “to save lives” and for average American students, like those at Campolindo, to understand and share “how important it is to be a citizen of America” who is engaged in their political reality.
