By ANGELA ROBERTS
CAPITAL GAZETTE |
AUG 01, 2019 | 6:43 AM
Finding common ground: March For Our Lives organizer asks leaders how to bridge gun debate
Mackenzie Boughey was buckled into a car with her mom, making the long trip home from visiting family in Connecticut, when she announced that she wanted to hold a rally.
“My mom was like, ‘What?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah,’” Boughey recalled, smiling and bobbing her head.
It was February 2018, and students at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, were dominating social media feeds and the news cycle as they challenged politicians to confront gun violence.
Their dedication to pushing through change rather than wait for lawmakers to step up to the plate on their own is what really captivated Boughey — because politicians weren’t about to do that, and “that was the honest truth,” she said.
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But more than a year after the March For Our Lives packed the streets of Annapolis, Mayor Gavin Buckley stops to chat with Boughey when he sees her in the city. She’s met with politicians at all levels of the government, from Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to state Sen. Sarah Elfreth.
Now that Boughey feels like lawmakers are listening to her and her friends, the rising senior at Severn School has a new goal: to help people with different backgrounds and attitudes toward guns listen to each other.
On Wednesday night, at the third roundtable discussion Boughey has helped host since last year’s march, she threw that question out to the five leaders in attendance.
“Whenever I try to talk to people who are very much pro-second amendment and all that, they are often like, ‘You are too young, why do you care?’ or, ‘You cannot change the second amendment,” Boughey said. “Do you guys have any advice on how to reach a middle between these two sides, or at least start a conversation about it?”
The leaders who were present — two state delegates, a state senator, County Executive Steuart Pittman and Maryland State Education Association President Cheryl Bost —encouraged Boughey and spoke from their own experience of finding common ground with folks.
Elfreth, who represents Annapolis, started off by telling Boughey she was asking the “million dollar question,” and one that holds special significance where so much talk about divisive issues happens in quick, fiery messages launched over social media.
“There is no easy answer to it,” she said. “These are going to be really tough, difficult conversations that happen one-on-one, probably over a drink, late at night, trying to get to that common ground and whatever commonalities you have with that person.”
State Del. Eric Luedtke cut in: “Not over a drink at your age,” he said, getting a laugh from the audience.
Luedtke, who represents Montgomery County, later told Boughey that the conversations had to be built on a foundation of trust.
“It’s hard to cold call anyone on any issue and start a productive conversation, and frankly because the gun debate is so divisive, I think a lot of people do tend to shy away from talking about it,” he said. “But I think it’s worth continuing to talk.”
For her part, Boughey tried to open the panel discussion to more viewpoints. In the past, the questions put to lawmakers had been written up by Boughey and her friends with the Annapolis March For Our Lives chapter, but this time, they asked for the input of folks over social media.
With all sides watching, Anne Arundel gun violence task force begins work »
Boughey also told the panel’s audience that she had invited six Republican lawmakers to join the discussion, but they weren’t able to make it — drawing a scoffing laugh from some in the audience.
“No, no, it’s okay!” Boughey called, adding that all of them were nice in their responses, except one who didn’t respond.
In the future, Boughey said she wants to get together with people who typically oppose the work of Pittman’s Gun Violence Task Force, which she’s a part of. She recognizes that she knows a lot of research about guns and how they technically work, but she’s never actually shot one before.
Del. Vanessa Atterbeary agreed that these are conversations that need to happen — with people who are open to having those kinds of conversations. There are some who are just going to get fired up and go on the defense without even reading the bill that’s on the table, and they aren’t worth engaging with, she said.
But, a couple of sessions ago, she said a really good friend of hers — who’s in a different political party — took her to a gun range in Frederick County, where she shot a gun for the first time.
“I’m sure I’ll never do it again in my life, I’m sure the people around me were scared,” she said. “It’s having those types of relationships and them saying, ‘Well, you know, If you do this, it will increase the fee for xyz, and that will be really different for this group or that group. And so those are good and helpful types of conversations to have.”
And for those who tell Boughey and her friends they’re too young to know what they’re talking about? Luedtke was once on the receiving end of their criticism as a 16-year-old environmental activist.
“People do that in part because they’re afraid of you, because they know that young people are able to speak with a moral force when they advocate on issues, particularly issues like this, particularly after all the school shootings we’ve had,” he said. “Ignore that. They’re doing it because you’re being successful.”