13 March For Our Lives events planned in state
Gun-safety marches part of nationwide campaign
Thousands of people will participate in marches across Arizona Saturday, joining hundreds of concurrent marches across the U.S. protesting gun violence in schools and calling for guncontrol laws.
In the wake of the mass shooting that killed 17 people on Valentine’s Day at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, survivors of the massacre began organizing March For Our Lives in Washington, D.C.
Teens across the country — who were all born after the Columbine shooting in 1999 — seized on the issue and planned their own marches in their hometowns.
There are March For Our Lives events planned Saturday in 13 cities and towns in Arizona.
Marches will span from a park in Kingman in the northwestern part of the state to a market in Nogales that is steps away from a legal port of entry with Mexico.
People say “we shouldn’t be doing this. And you know what, you’re right,” said Jordan Harb, a 17-year-old from Mesa who is organizing the Phoenix March For Our Lives.
“We shouldn’t be out on the streets protesting. We shouldn’t be out at the Legislature lobbying. We should be at school focusing on our grades. But unfortunately, the people who are supposed to be doing that aren’t.”
Although teen organizers began with planning the marches, their effort has grown into a student-led movement sparking multiple school walkouts. Last week, dozens of students sat in Gov. Doug Ducey’s lobby for hours, unsuccessfully demanding to meet with him.
“I’m appalled by how we’ve been treated by our governor and our representatives. This has been nothing but an uphill battle, and it shouldn’t be,” Harb said.
Ducey announced Monday that he wants to tighten gun laws by keeping
guns away from people who threaten to harm themselves or others, and to improve student safety by putting more counselors and police officers inside schools.
Harb called Ducey’s plan “half-hearted measures designed to offer window dressing to the issue.”
He and the other high-school students organizing the Phoenix march detailed their own proposal, which includes a request for comprehensive background checks, a ban on bump stocks and a “ballpark” appropriation of $360 million to fund two counselors for every school in Arizona.
Despite their sit-in a week ago, they said they have still not received a response from Ducey or Republican legislators.
“We’re only having conversations with Democrats because they are the only ones who will talk to us,” he said. “We aren’t discriminating on partisan lines. We just want policy.”
Harb and the organizers visited Ducey’s office again Wednesday evening, where this time they peacefully delivered a copy of their proposal, which they said “actually has teeth,” and left.
The march centers on the Arizona State Capitol at 1700 W. Washington St., Phoenix.
It will begin at 10 a.m. with planned speakers, including U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego, who will speak until about 10:45 a.m. The march will leave the Capitol by 11 a.m.
Police will close surrounding streets from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. for the march. Organizers are not releasing the march route in advance, a safety measure common at large demonstrations.