The post <i class="fas fa-volume-up"></i> Sounds of the March appeared first on Gun March 2018.

Enlarge

Marchers at the event in Washington D.C. all had different experiences in school, but now share a common concern for security.

The post <i class="fas fa-volume-up"></i> Back to School Means Tight Security appeared first on Gun March 2018.

This is a number that doesn’t have a meaning, but when separated by either dashes or slashes, the meaning becomes clear.

2-14-2018. 2/14/2018.

February 14, 2018.

It means Valentine’s Day, or the day of love, but for Parkland, Fla., it is the day that Nikolas Cruz is accused of going to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and killing 17 people.

Enlarge

Even though the city will be remembered for the tragedy, students from Florida are drawing inspiration from the strength that the survivors possess.

“I really think with them [the survivors] using their voices it’s really going to be a catalyst for change,” said Anna Zamora, student at Florida Atlantic University High School.

Zamora and her friends traveled to Washington D.C. to attend the March for Our Lives event and stayed with a host family from March for Our Lives Lodging. Families in the D.C. metro area partnered with the site to provide out-of-state students a place to sleep.

Enlarge

The group of students traveled by car, plane and train without any parents or guardians, so that they could “be where the change will happen,” according to Danielle Klafter, 17, and Skylar Massella, 18.

“Watching Twitter after the Parkland shooting and seeing all the support and everything was insane,” said Massella. “I am just so proud of everyone my age.”

“We know that there is a problem,” said Klafter. “We all knew someone or had friends in the shooting.”

Like Klafter, Zamora is familiar with the impact that the shooting had on the people from the community.

“I live in Parkland and even though I don’t go to Douglas, I’ve had so many people say I am proud of you,” Zamora said. “We all are just empowered by the strength of the students. They are doing an amazing job at making noise.”

To hear more from Zamora on what it is like to be from Parkland listen to the audio clip below:

Students from across the country have responded to the “noise” by organizing their own school walk-outs and participating in local marches for gun control.

“That is amazing and that is going to do change,” said Klafter. “There are going to be haters that say we don’t know what we are doing. I’ll admit, we don’t know all the laws. We don’t know anything, but we do know there is a problem.”

For the students, the gun control march is just one step in bringing awareness to the issue.

“We are the mass shooting generation like everyone says,” said Massella, “and we are literally marching for our lives.”

The post Florida Students Gain Inspiration from Parkland Surviviors appeared first on Gun March 2018.

While the two were seated at a table, local police were chasing a suspected drug criminal down the street. Eventually, the suspect ran into the restaurant with the police following close behind.

Both had guns that they fired at each other.

During the exchange, a pregnant waitress was shot. Kim Love’s sister was the girlfriend eating out with her boyfriend.

“My baby sister had to hide under a table in the restaurant while witnessing it,” recalled Kim Love, 48, who stood with her 13 year-old-son while holding a cardboard sign that read, “I am: a mom, voter, a donor to candidates who oppose the NRA and fed up and taking action!”

Although the March for Our Lives event in Washington D.C., was primarily focused on victims of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and other school shootings, other marchers came because of their own encounters with gun violence.

“There was a murder last spring, right across the street from me, where you think it wouldn’t occur,” said Elizabeth Risley, a resident of Northeast D.C. “So, someone just like me was murdered by someone not from our direct community. I can’t say every day, but maybe every day, or weekly that’s the community I know.”

Enlarge

Many neighborhoods in Washington, D.C. are plagued by drugs and gun violence.

“I am always getting alerts for a shooting, stabbing or robbery,” said Risley, while standing alongside her niece and nephew holding signs that said, “ban assault weapons” and “stand up for the next generation.”

About 41 percent of robberies in 2016 involved a firearm, according to the FBI’s report, Crime in the U.S. 2016.

Enlarge

While Love’s youngest sister witnessed an act of gun violence, her other sister was a gun violence victim during a robbery.

The middle child was working alone in a small shoe store when people entered, brought her to the back room of the shop, tied her up and held a gun in her face.

The robbers held her there while stealing items from the store.

“We are Unitarian Universalists, so my approach my entire life and my religious belief is that there is never a reason for gun violence,” said Love. Unitarian Universalists believe in searching for spiritual growth, which will lead to justice, love, learning and hope.

“I am a pacifist in the truest sense of the word, so I believe that we should ban guns. That is what will make our children safe.”

The post DC Marchers Share Gun Violence Stories appeared first on Gun March 2018.