It is tiring to feel compelled once again to bring attention to an issue that should have been addressed before the most recent mass shooting; and long before 26 people were murdered at Sandy Hook School on 12/14.

But this time, we are buoyed by the promise of youth to finally propel lawmakers to make changes to gun laws that will matter. The students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., where 14 of their classmates and three faculty members were gunned down on February 14, are organizing. The nation's young people are rallying to their cry that "Enough is enough," including Newtown students who gathered in solidarity February 16 at a rain-drenched vigil, and who took part in a national 17-minute school walkout this Wednesday; who attended the Jr Newtown Action Alliance-sponsored rally the evening of March 14 at the National Shooting Sports Foundation in town; and many of whom will participate in the Parkland student-generated March For Our Lives rallies on March 24 in Hartford, at the Connecticut State Capitol; at Stonington High School in Pawcatuck; at the Guilford Town Green; and in Washington, DC.

In 1999, when Eric Harris and Dylan Klebod took the lives of 12 schoolmates and a teacher, as well as their own lives, at Columbine High School in Colorado, "school shooting" was still relatively new to our lexicon. We were horrified, but… it was so far away. Every shooting in public places, until December 14, 2012, was so far away. We recognize now the agony as more communities cry, "We never thought it could happen here." We know; it happens everywhere.

Lives have been torn apart because our elected officials will not hear the voices of friends and families affected by gun violence; people are haunted by the knowledge that schools, malls, theaters, and houses of worship are no longer sanctuaries of peace and comfort; no matter the cost: gun violence escalates because the root of the problem - easy access to guns by those who should not have them - is not confronted.

Even as close to 100 percent of the public demands universal background checks for gun purchase, and that new laws for a new era must be enacted, legislators turn a deaf ear.

That soul-shredding deafness threatens once again to move officials to… inaction. Sticking a finger or two in a dike riddled with holes barely contains the flood to follow. Inaction to move this public health issue to a place where the right to life is respected could be the unraveling of "representation" for some lawmakers, however - because there is a new generation poised to vote. Some are already of voting age and the recently launched Vote For Our Lives, an online opportunity to register to vote, is a social media savvy means of reaching a young population ready for change.

We are all ready for meaningful changes to gun laws to save lives. Young people are more than ready for meaningful change. They are vocal, they are empowered, and they will vote.

They are the future.