By Klaudine Caday and Renee Suarez
EBC Florida Bureau
FLORIDA (Eagle News) — Over a month ago the tragic Stoneman Douglas High School Shooting occurred at Parkland, Florida. One week ago thousands of students walked out of their classroom to make a stand. Today hundreds of thousands gathered in 845 sites around the world for the March for Our Lives demanding change on the issue of gun violence.
In Miami, residents from all over the city gathered at Tropical Park. Children and students held signs demanding stricter gun laws. Teachers and state officials also gathered to show their support for the organized movement.
“We’ve seen some laws and reaction to what happened in Parkland and people are standing up,” said Hannah Purcell, a teacher at the Air Base Elementary School in Homestead. “Gun law change needs to happen now.”
The rally started and ended with students of Stoneman Douglas High School telling their story. They advocated that everyone, especially the youth, should make a stand and act on the issue of gun violence. State officials who are supported by the NRA, like Senator Marco Rubio, and President Trump were targets of the speakers, who claimed that these government officials have not acted on the gun violence and school shootings.
Although a gun law was passed earlier this month in Florida, many citizens and officials were not satisfied. Florida Representative, Nicholas Duran, believes the bill is a start, but more debate is needed so that changes in banning weapons may occur.
On the local level, citizens are growing even more frustrated.
“Those [politicians] who are beholden to the NRA have voted to say that any county or any city that decides to address gun violence in their city would be sued and stripped of their power,” Florida Representative Kionne McGhee said. “They would sue those legislators, those individuals, in the county and city level who choose to take the gun.”
Although state laws say gun laws cannot be passed on the local level, Daniella Levina Cava, District 8 Commissioner in Miami-Dade County, revealed they will push for a lawsuit to challenge that law.
Orlando residents unite in march
The residents of the Central Florida region also held a march led by high school students from the area and consisted of more than 20,000 people. Following a program of speeches and calls for action in the community, marchers walked the streets of Downtown Orlando and to inspire change.
Genesis Cely, a student participating in the march has high hopes for this cause.
“[We, students] shouldn’t have to worry when we go to school that we might be shot and that we might be killed. We have to stand up to make sure that this never happens again,” Genesis said.
Genesis’ family joined her in the march.
“This is our way to yield but also to bring awareness to gun violence” said Genesis’ mother, Nevine Cely, in response to why she and her family are marching.
Like the Miami crowd, the Orlando crowd was a mix of students, parents, and teachers. One parent and a local teacher is Lisa Fox Keating who stands with her daughter at the march.
“There’s not a teacher alive, saving a few, who are willing or would want to arm themselves in a classroom full of children”, Keating said. She further explained that a teacher’s first response is always to protect children and keep them safe.
Held simultaneously with the march in Washington, D.C. where an estimated 800,000 people gathered, Orlando and Miami participants, though far in distance, are closely united in the search for a solution.
(Eagle News Service)