Hundreds of thousands of young people and their allies are participating right now in the main March for Our Lives in Washington, D.C.
The student-organized protest seeks to give U.S. leaders, particularly in Congress, a visible measure of how important these youth believe reforming gun laws are to reduce gun violence. The organizers write:
School safety is not a political issue. There cannot be two sides to doing everything in our power to ensure the lives and futures of children who are at risk of dying when they should be learning, playing, and growing. The mission and focus of March For Our Lives is to demand that a comprehensive and effective bill be immediately brought before Congress to address these gun issues.
In addition to the D.C. march there are 842 sister marches planned in cities large and small from coast to coast and many overseas locations. For instance:
One march will be in Jonesboro, Arkansas, where 20 years ago Saturday two boys, 11 and 13, ambushed fellow students and teachers in a yard after setting off a fire alarm at Westside Middle School, killing five people. Sophie Phillips holds a sign at a Florida rally for those heading to the March for Our Lives in Washington. "They don't know what it's like to be 20 feet from an AR-15," Parkland survivor Alfonso Calderon, 16, told students at a Washington charter school this week, referring to US lawmakers.These guys do know:
Kyle Hausmann-Stokes knows what an assault rifle can do. Having served in the US Army in Iraq, and carried the kind of gun routinely used in mass shootings, he decided he had to speak up. That's why he made a film with fellow veterans calling for gun law reform.
x YouTube Video xFrom the #MarchForOurLives outside the US Embassy in Copenhagen, Denmark, one of over 800 #NeverAgain protests happening today worldwide pic.twitter.com/gzmlvGnu4a
— Stephan Kozub (@StephanKozub) March 24, 2018If you haven’t decided whether to participate, click here to find a march in your locale. Many have not gotten started yet, so you still have time.