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CHICAGO - Student-led rallies around the country on Saturday aimed to show support for gun rights, though their effort drew smallerthan-expected crowds in a bid to counter the wellfunded and organized youth gun-control lobby that emerged after the massacre in a Florida high school earlier this year.
Here in Chicago, people rallied in a corner of Millennium Park. In Los Angeles, protesters yelled “gun rights are human rights” as they marched near Pershing Square. In Washington, an American flag billowed against a backdrop of the Capitol as attendees said guns are being used as scapegoats and that society’s problems run deeper than firearms.
Students who say their views have been silenced in recent months as vocal guncontrol advocates have been monopolizing attention used the marches as a way to raise awareness of their fears that hasty solutions could lead to an erosion of the Second Amendment.
Colin FitzSimmons, 13, of Algonquin, Illinois, spoke at the Chicago rally, sounding alarms that liberal gun-control efforts really want to “to disarm the populace.” People held signs reading “we’re not going away” and “take back gun rights.”
“Our generation isn’t going to embrace gun control,” Colin said, noting that any changes to gun laws need to be carefully considered. “The devil is in the details.”
The rallies come amid a wave of gun-control activism sparked by the February shooting that killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. It led to nationwide marches and backing from large groups and donors.
Organizers of Saturday’s marches said many conservative students feel as though their views are not being taken into consideration in the debate about school shootings, and the marches on Saturday were planned as a way to show that not all students support gun control.
Planning for Saturday’s rallies started in April, weeks after gun control rallies took place in Washington and other cities. Organizers expected a modest turnout on Saturday, but far fewer people showed up than organizers had hoped.
In Chicago, organizers planned for about 125 people, but the rally drew approximately 35. The group gathered in a corner of Millennium Park, not the great lawn, because organizers did not secure a permit and park security forced them to leave.
Earlier in the morning in the same city, hundreds of anti-gun violence protesters shut down 10 blocks of the Dan Ryan Expressway, one of the busiest interstates in the United States.
In Palm Beach, Fla., about 100 people were expected to rally at a park; 13 came, including organizer Ashley Johnson, three speakers and the parents of two of the speakers.
The event was meant to be a counterpoint to the March for Our Lives rallies that attracted thousands across the country after the February shooting, including at events in Florida.
“The goal is to be just as successful as March for Our Lives,” Johnson said. “We want to outdo them.”
Ralph Curra, 14, who was an eighth grader at Westglades Middle school, which is adjacent to Marjory Stoneman Douglas, spoke at the event. He recalled hearing the screams from next door, and being on lockdown for five hours as the investigation began into the Feb. 14 attack.
Ralph spoke to the small crowd about his experience, and about how it prompted him to research guns and gun violence. He said changes to Florida gun laws enacted after the Parkland shooting are misguided.
“Raising the age to buy a gun, all you parents out there, when you send your child to college, don’t you want them to be able to protect themselves from criminals?” he asked. “The new laws will leave your child vulnerable to attack in today’s dangerous society.”
Johnson said she was disappointed in the turnout.
“I don’t know why more people didn’t show up. I think a lot of conservatives are just afraid to show up for public events,” she said through tears.