Town halls to focus on guns
Student organizers set up 6 area events to build on Parkland
Looking to build off last month’s March For Our Lives events, which attracted thousands of demonstrators advocating for gun-law reform, Houston-area students are planning a series of local town hall events Saturday to discuss gun ownership rights and student safety.
High school and college students have set town halls in six Houston-area cities, with several legislators and political candidates scheduled to attend. The events come two weeks after hundreds of student-led March For Our Lives rallies blanketed the nation, a response to the February school shooting in Parkland, Fla., that left 14 teenagers and three adults dead. The downtown Houston March For Our Lives event attracted as many as 15,000 people calling for legislative changes that would reduce access to some guns, primarily assault-style rifles, and strengthen background check procedures for firearm purchases.
Students in dozens of cities across the country are assembling town halls Saturday in response to a call from David Hogg, a Parkland student and lead activist following the shooting. In the area, events are scheduled in Houston, Katy, Pearland, Sugar Land, El Lago and Angleton. At least three Austin-area town halls are scheduled, according to the Town Hall Project, a national volunteer organization helping to coordinate gatherings nationally.
Kelly Choi, a Cypress Woods High School senior and organizer of the Houston town hall, said eight legislators and candidates have committed to Saturday’s event at Rice University.
“It was short notice, so a lot of people couldn’t come out just because they had things planned,” Choi said. “But I think they’re recognizing the fact that we have the power to do something. I think it shows they see value in what we’re doing and that we’re more than just students trying to be rebels without a cause.”
Student organizers have emphasized that they plan to get more involved in political activism and local elections beyond the march, backing candidates who support gun-law reforms. The Saturday town hall events are expected to focus on gun legislation and student safety, with legislators and candidates from all political parties welcome.
Choi said organizers received commitments from seven Democrats — including Laura Moser and Lizzie Pannill Fletcher, who are in a hotly contested primary runoff for Texas’ 7th Congressional District — and a lone Republican, state Rep. Sarah Davis, of Houston.
Moser, who finished second in the seven-candidate March primary, garnering about 24 percent of the vote, said the March For Our Lives events represent “a moment of true mobilization for high school students in our country.”
“I think there’s been a huge shift since Parkland, and a lot of that is because of the studentled activism.” said Moser, whose campaign team includes a lead organizer for Houston’s March For Our Lives events. “Even though people said, ‘It’s Texas, don’t campaign on gun reform,’ I believe it’s a winning issue and that’s why I’ve been talking about it in our campaign.”
Fletcher, the leading choice for primary voters at 29 percent, said she has heard calls for gun legislation “pretty much every time I’ve been out on the campaign trail” since the Parkland shooting.
“People are moved by what they’re seeing, and I do think people are talking about gun violence across party lines,” Fletcher said. “I think the student leadership is very inspiring for those who have been working on this issue. I really think it’s galvanizing a lot of discussion in the community.”
In Pearland, student organizers are planning for several dozen attendees and at least four current or aspiring political leaders, including three involved with the Pearland ISD school board.
“We just feel as if our representatives aren’t hearing us or listening to us because they think we’re just kids,” said David Nguyen, a senior at Glenda Dawson High School in Pearland ISD. “I hope they hear our concerns about school safety and what safety measures they should be doing to prevent another (shooting) from happening, without making us students feel imprisoned in these schools.”