Bay Area students on Thursday are headed to the California capital to address one of the most pressing topics on the forefront of many Americans' minds: gun control.
The collection of roughly 300 students call themselves "Bay Area Student Activists," or BASTA for short, which translates to the word "enough" in Spanish. They plan to ask lawmakers to back four bills in support of tighter gun control.
Those four bills include raising the age of buying a long gun to 21, making confiscated weapon data public, waiving the fee for people seeking gun violence restraining orders and adding a bill that puts a lifetime ban on weapons possession for anyone convicted of domestic violence.
One of those Bay Area students involved in the effort said she's motivated to fight for change in the wake of action taken by Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students following the Feb. 14 school shooting that left 17 people dead at their South Florida campus.
"I think they've inspired every single student in the United States," Kira Galbraitch said. "They've shown that they're not just going to stand down and let this happen again because it happens way too frequently. Many people say we are the generations of mass shootings. I have never lived in a world where there hasn't been a mass shooting."
The students are making the trip to the state capital one day before a national student walkout to mark the 19th anniversary of the Columbine High School massacre.
The Bay Area students are expected to arrive in Sacramento around 10:30 a.m.
