Students across the United States will walk out of schools on March 14 to protest gun violence.

We support the walkout.

“Students and staff have the right to teach and learn in an environment free from the worry of being gunned down in their classrooms or on their way home from school,” reads one organizing group’s statement, as reported by CNN. “Parents have the right to send their kids to school in the mornings and see them home alive at the end of the day.”

This protest will force Congress and lawmakers in many states to face facts that they have for years ignored.

One, most gun owners in the United States don’t belong to the National Rifle Association — between 6 and 7 percent, according to information from Gallup and The Washington Post. So while the NRA has money to throw behind lobbying for ownership of assault weapons and against background checks, the NRA is not the voice of all gun owners. Members of Congress should have the courage to stand up to the NRA and demand that it become a force for laws that lead to more responsible and safer gun ownership.

Two, a vast majority of Americans polled support our constitutional right to bear arms, according to the Pew Research Center. An overwhelming number of gun owners and non-owners also agree — 89 percent of each polled — that those with mental illness should be prevented from purchasing guns. In addition, 84 percent of those polled support background checks on private sales and at gun shows; 83 percent support barring gun purchases by people on no-fly or watch lists; 71 percent support creating a federal database to track gun sales; 68 percent support banning the purchase of assault-style weapons; and 65 percent support banning the purchase of high-capacity magazines.

So, lawmakers, what’s the problem?

Three, the Constitution states that we have the right to free speech. But it doesn’t say you can yell “fire” in a crowded building. It doesn’t say you can use hate speech. It doesn’t say you can incite a riot. Likewise, we have the constitutional right to bear arms, but the Constitution doesn’t say we can own any weapon that we want.

It will be this generation that settles this issue, now or when they succeed the older generation in leadership. The new generation has paid the price in blood, and this issue belongs more to them than Congress and the NRA and others who have failed.

— Kitsap News Group Editorial Board: Terry Ward, publisher; Donna Etchey, general manager; Richard Walker, managing editor.