Every day in America, children are stolen by gun violence. Not just statistics but real sons and daughters. Names like Daniel Barden, 7, pictured here, killed along with 19 of his first-grade classmates and six staff members at Sandy Hook. Alaina Petty, 14, killed at Parkland. Joaquin Oliver, 17, killed at Parkland. These names should be on our lips, but too often we remember the killers instead. Parents carry empty arms, siblings grow up missing their best friends, and classrooms never feel whole again. Communities are left grieving children who never got to grow up.

The scale of this loss is staggering. In 2023 alone, more than 2,581 children under 18 were killed by guns. Gun violence is now the leading cause of death for American children and teens, surpassing car accidents, cancer, and disease.

Imagine the grief of 2,581 classrooms with empty desks, 2,581 families shattered, and thousands of friends who will never laugh with them again.

If we do nothing, more names will fade from memory. The children become numbers, while shooters’ names live on in headlines. A National Memorial in Washington, D.C. would change that. It would give families and our nation a sacred place to grieve, honor, and remember. It would remind us that the cost of the freedom to bear arms is measured in children’s lives. This isn’t abstract; it is young lives cut short. Without a memorial, we risk forgetting them and normalizing the loss. With one, we commit as a country to never forget.

Now is the time to act. Every week, more young lives are lost. Waiting means more parents forced to bury their children, more names slipping into silence. We propose a National Memorial in Washington, D.C., funded by a tax on all firearms and ammunition. If we can pay for the tools of death, we can pay to honor the innocent lives they destroy. Other tragedies—like 9/11, the Vietnam War, and the Holocaust—have national memorials so future generations will never forget. Why should our children stolen by gun violence deserve any less?

Children deserve more than our thoughts and prayers; they deserve to be remembered. By creating a National Memorial, we give their lives the dignity of permanence and show the world that America chooses to honor its children, not its killers. Join us. Sign the petition. Let's remember.