Dear gun control advocates,

If you want to be taken seriously, dethrone David Hogg.

In the past few weeks it has become increasingly evident that David Hogg has no business leading a national movement – especially one that carries such heavy ramifications.

After repeated interviews, speeches, and demonstrations it has become abundantly clear that he suffers from what every teenager suffers from: emotion. As simple of a concept as that is to grasp, it seems as though people can’t wrap their heads around it. David Hogg is a 17-year-old who has been affected by a truly horrific event, and we should treat him as such. Moreover, the following statement needs to be instilled in the minds of anyone paying attention to this unrest:

Though extraordinarily traumatic and life-altering, surviving any kind of shooting makes you neither an absolute moral authority nor an expert on gun policy.

David Hogg’s arguments and stances are NOT objectively correct simply because of his past experiences. Similarly, those who criticize him are not necessarily ‘heartless’ or ‘unsympathetic.’ Hogg made the conscious decision to put himself on a national stage and take a radical stance; he shouldn’t be surprised when those that do not agree with him speak up.

This is logic: if you openly call the NRA a “terrorist organization,” the millions of people that belong to and support that organization may not take to it so kindly.

This plays into a larger irony that plagues the left, especially gun control advocates. They incessantly call for unification, but proceed to alienate any dissension from their radical positions. Just look at the way they have reacted to the numerous measures that politicians have proposed to prevent mass shootings. It isn’t enough to increase security at schools or raise the age requirement to buy rifles; if it is anything less than a ban on “assault rifles,” they will vehemently oppose it. And Hogg encourages this polarity, unleashing profanity laden harangues that accuse politicians of taking “blood money” from the NRA just to get re-elected.

There is a word for leaders that pander to sudden and popular passions while rejecting thoughtful dialogue. That word is demagogue.

“At this point its like when your old-a** parent is like, ‘I don’t know how to send an iMessage’ and you’re like, ‘Ok give me the f***ing phone’ and you take it and you get it done in one second,” Hogg said in an interview. “Sadly, that’s what we have to do with our government because our parents don’t know how to use a f***ing democracy so we have to do it.”

Is this the sort of political discourse that we are to take seriously? If you’re unsure, think back on leaders of previous movements. Is this how Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. or Susan B. Anthony would convey their ideas? No. I would argue that Hogg is really the one who doesn’t know how to use a democracy, given that he expects extreme and constitutionally-unfriendly laws to be passed simply because people are protesting. I might remind Hogg that hundreds of thousands of children marched earlier this year (and have annually since 1974) to overturn the Roe v. Wade decision in the March for Life. Those advocates have not seen legislation after marching for over forty years. It doesn’t happen in a day.

On a slightly more heinous note, it is now clear that Hogg is being used by liberal leaders as a political object and punching bag. Those in congress who have failed to pass gun control legislation for years are hoisting Hogg up to be criticized for their own policies, and condemning those who shout him down. A truly sadistic act. And the media is not exempt. They are solely responsible for the attention that Hogg has received since the shooting. When was the last time CNN gave a 17-year-old a platform to disseminate their political agenda? It’s unprecedented, and it shows just how far the mass media has strayed for journalistic integrity and journalistic ethics.

In short, David Hogg has attained more power and influence than he can responsibly handle, and it is time for the left to find a new face for their vendetta on the second amendment.