Our generation has lived through the 2012 Aurora movie theater shooting. 12 people were shot and killed while waiting to see a midnight premiere of The Dark Knight Rises. We heard about the men who died protecting their girlfriends and the man who died saving his daughter and her friend.

Our generation has lived through Sandy Hook. We watched in horror as children ran from the school with their backpacks, tears streaming down their faces. When the dust settled and the final body count was tallied, 28 lives were lost just 10 days before Christmas Eve.

Our generation lived through Tucson, Virginia Tech, San Bernardino, Las Vegas, Texas, Pulse, and now Marjory Stoneman Douglas.

Our generation has lived through so much violence. So much gun-related violence.

But something has changed. Something is different this time. This time, it is the students’ voices that are the loudest.

No longer are we just throwing words at the issue and hoping they stick. We are putting words into action. Students like Emma Gonzalez, Cameron Kasky, and David Hogg who survived the shooting at their high school are taking action.

The three are collaborating on The March for Our Lives, a demonstration scheduled for Mar. 24 of this year. With 42 locations planned including Los Angeles, Washington D.C., and Phoenix, the goal is simply to start a conversation. Planners hope the day will promote a discussion on gun control both in the news and in the home as well, so more young people can join the debate. These brave students are turning their tragedy into the foundation for change. And this march is only the beginning. Many more have joined the fight.

Millennials and Generation Z are the ones marching. They are the ones that will be walking out on Apr. 20 to bring awareness to gun violence. They are the ones who spoke at the CNN town hall. They are the ones not asking for change, but inventing it.

The only road block we have to to overcome is ourselves. Now is not the time for ill-informed opinions based on fallacies. Teenagers spouting off random statements they got from a headline or a random tweet are actively damaging our right to have an opinion on any piece of the gun control puzzle. Enough of these shallow opinions, and we will be shut out from any other political discussion to come.

Now is the time to do our research. No matter which side of the gun divide we stand on, the opinions we present should be backed by undisputed facts and non-biassed sources. If we expect to make any change happen, whether that be more or less restrictions, we have to do our research.

Now is the time to prove we belong at the table.