The Great Smoky Mountain Journal
Source:
Tuesday, January 01, 2019 02:41 PM
"March For Our Lives" Gun Control Rally To Take Place Across Nation's Capital Today
The primary march is slated to take place in Washington, D.C., on Pennsylvania Avenue at 12 p.m. EST. Some 500,000 people were expected to attend.
In addition to
Washington, D.C., some 800 sister marches were also being planned in
London, Tokyo, Sydney, New York City, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles,
Mumbai, and the city where the shooting occurred: Parkland, Florida.
Students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School organized the rally
following the deadly school shooting on Feb. 14, 2018, that left 17
people dead. The shooter, Nikolas Cruz, 19, used a legally purchased an
AR-15 assault rifle to carry out the shooting. The students hope the
rally will push lawmakers to pass legislation on gun control. Some
students said the ultimate goal of the grassroots movement is to inspire
people to vote in November for lawmakers wiling to reform gun control.
While the activists “support the right of law-abiding Americans to keep
and bear arms, as set forth in the United States Constitution,” they
also have a list of demands, urging members of Congress to pass laws to
end the sale of high-capacity magazines, improve background checks, and
more safety measures.
"The high-schoolers and the college
students are sick of this normalcy in this environment that we live in
where we have to live with mass shootings and code red drills," said
Alex Wind, a junior at Stoneman Douglas, told the Associated Press.
“It’s going to be very revolutionary,” Sheryl Acquaroli told The
Guardian. “We are going to change laws there, and I want to be part of
that change.”
Some of the teenagers have pulled all-nighters organizing the event that
will come together Saturday. Celebrities such as Ariana Grande, Jennifer
Hudson, George Clooney, Miley Cyrus, and Demi Lovato are expected to
march alongside students in Washington. Cyrus, Grande, Hudson, Lovato,
Lin-Manuel Miranda and Ben Platt were also expected to perform.
The Washington Post reported protesters started filing into Washington,
D.C., this week and held tailgate parties, concerts, dinners and
sign-making events on Friday. The New England Patriots lent its team
plane to Parkland students to travel to the city for the march. The
team’s owner, Robert Kraft, contacted the school offering the use of the
plane. Delta Air Lines also donated two planes to the students to ensure
safe and fast travel.
