‘Enough is Enough,’ students proclaim
An Army veteran with 20 years of service, packs of concerned parents and grandparents and dozens of teachers and students were among those who gathered in downtown Round Rock on Saturday to call for an end to gun violence in America.
The crowd, estimated by event organizers to be between 200 and 300 people, assembled at the Sharon Prete Main Street Plaza before marching around the block on North Lampasas Street, Liberty Avenue and North Sheppard Street.
The march began at noon and culminated with a series of speeches delivered by impassioned student speakers. It paralleled the hundreds of rallies occurring across the country throughout the day as part of the March for Our Lives movement organized by student survivors of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shootings in Parkland, Fla.
Jen Bush, a parent who helped organize the rally, recalled feeling assured that the event would draw support despite being in a county that leaned conservative. (Results from the March primaries show Williamson County voters cast 26,128 Democratic ballots compared with 37,260 Republican ballots.)
“I knew there were students out there who wanted to have their voices heard,” Bush said. “I wasn’t sure what our numbers would be given that we are in a red county, but it was more people than I anticipated.”
Many of the marchers carried signs that echoed a common refrain: “Enough is Enough.” Other handmade posters urged lawmakers to prioritize spending on “Books Over Bullets” and to cease financial contributions to the National Rifle Association.
Lynn McClelland, who carried a “Students and Grandmothers Demand Action” sign, has advocated for what she referred to as “comprehensive, sensible gun reform” since the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings in Newtown, Conn. One change she described was a renewed ban on military-style assault weapons, such as the AR-15 used in many of the deadliest school shootings.
“I grew up in a part of Texas where everybody had a gun,” McClelland said. “Everybody hunted, but you don’t need an AR-15 to take down a deer.”
A group of students who attend the Meridian World School in Round Rock — a charter school which, according to its website, aims to “provide an invigorating educational environment that develops responsible citizens” – were the main organizing force behind Saturday’s rally.
Amelie Seigman, a freshman at Meridian World, was the first student to speak after the march.
“I am too young to buy a gun, as many adults are quick to point out,” Seigman said. “I am too young to vote or drive a car, but I am old enough to be shot in my school and live with that fear every day.”
Seigman’s speech reflected a sense of dread that permeated through the crowed.
However, Seigman and the other speakers also carried a message of hope and resilience. They insisted that their generation would be the one to bring change to the intractable problem of gun violence in America.
Suzanne McBride, a sophomore at Early College High School in Round Rock, closed her speech by declaring: “Let’s continue to be our own change. Let’s show those who oppose our cause that we won’t stop until gun reform legislation becomes a reality.”
As McBride concluded her remarks, the crowd burst into emphatic applause.