Students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida the scene of a recent mass shooting organized a march in Washington D.C. and other cities on Saturday to protest the NRA. But instead of honestly calling it a gun control march they called it March For Our Lives." By using a misleading title they were likely able to coerce a lot more people to show up. Even so the D.C. march appeared to be less than half the size of last years Womens March.
Speakers called for an assault weapons ban universal background checks and limits on high-capacity magazines. The crowd chanted Vote them out!" to indicate their intent to defeat pro-Second Amendment elected officials. Attendees carried signs that said things like Our ballots will stop bullets." Counterprotesters signs included Criminals love gun control." Ironically hundreds of armed police officers kept the participants safe.
Students as young as 11 spoke at the event defensively claiming they were old enough to understand. Naomi Wadler an 11-year-old student told the crowd People have said that I am too young to have these thoughts on my own" she said. People have said that I am a tool of some nameless adult. Its not true. My friends and I might still be 11 and we might still be in elementary school but we know."
Zoe Tate 11 exclaimed I think guns are dumb. Its scary enough with the security guards we have in school she said. We dont need teachers carrying guns now. I find it amazing that I have to explain that idea to adults.
However Campus Reform asked youth at the rally if they could explain what assault weapons are. Their answers included Um like no I guess. Um but assault weapons does that sound safe to you at all?"
One Parkland student Emma Gonzalez held the stage silent after she got done speaking until it had been over six minutes to represent the amount of time it took the gunman to shoot students at her school. However Colion Noir a host on NRATV observed These kids ought to be marching against their own hypocritical belief structures. The only reason weve ever heard of them is because the guns didnt come soon enough." It shouldnt have taken over six minutes for the good guys to to arrive with guns to stop the killer. If teachers had been armed they could have stopped him far sooner.
David Hogg a student at Marjory Stoneman who ardently supports gun control has been the most vocal face of the school since the shooting. He gave an interview with The Outline that was so profanity laden many news outlets could not reprint it. In it he ridiculed people his parents age for being too stupid to fix gun violence. At the rally he ended his speech with his fist straight out diagonally in the air. Many compared it to a Nazi salute and the Hitler youth who supported gun control.
Students from Parkland who oppose gun control were excluded from participating. Second Amendment supporter Hunter Pollack whose sister Meadow was killed in the shooting wanted to speak but organizers would not let him. Celebrities included Kim Kardashian whose presence didnt do much to influence people. She drew a lot of attention for badly photoshopping a photo of herself to look thinner that completely squashed a car in the background.
The rally was essentially a demand to erode the Second Amendment. It should have been called March Against Our Rights." The marchers claim they dont trust the government yet they want the government to take their guns away. They say theyre calling for common sense legislation but clearly they dont understand what assault weapons are. Over 80 percent of mass shootings are carried out with handguns not assault weapons. In 2016 7105 people were killed by handguns. Only 374 were killed with rifles.
The reality is the NRA is all about promoting gun safety. It stands for the exact opposite of using guns for violence. The NRA is about protecting innocent people from bad people using guns to hurt them. Taking guns away from innocent people trying to protect themselves will just create more victims. Gun control advocates know once they can get approval to ban assault weapons it will become a lot easier to ban handguns next.