Parkland Activists Announce Nationwide Tour to Advocate Gun Control, Encourage Young People to Vote
One day after receiving their diplomas, the fresh graduates from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida announced that they will take their fight to raise gun control awareness all over the country.
In a press conference that was reported by Rolling Stone, the students of the March for Our Lives announced Monday that they will be embarking on a nationwide summer bus tour that intends to raise awareness for gun control as well as register voters ahead of the midterm elections this coming November.
According to the organization, the tour that they call March for Our Lives: Road to Change will begin on Friday, June 15, at the Peace March in Chicago. The tour that will run for 60 days will have a total of 50 stops all over the country, including Texas, Iowa, California, Connecticut, and South Carolina. A separate tour will also visit all the 27 congressional districts of Florida.
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Both tours will center on encouraging young people to register to vote in the upcoming midterm elections as well as inform the community about the stand of their candidates regarding gun reform. They also aim to inform the public who among the candidates have a connection with the National Rifle Association.
The organization also discussed their plans for the bus tour on their website, saying: "We're going to places where the NRA has bought and paid for politicians who refuse to take simple steps to save our lives — and we'll be visiting a number of communities that have been affected by gun violence to meet fellow survivors and use our voices to amplify theirs."
"At the end of the day, real change is brought from voting and too often voting is shrugged off as nothing in our country," student leader Cameron Kasky said during the press conference as cited by NBC News.
Kasky also explained why there is a need to encourage more young people to vote in the upcoming election. "I think that a lot of politicians out there do not want a lot of young people voting. I think they want marginalized communities staying out of the polls because they know they'll be voted out," he also said.
The student leader also mentioned that the low voter turnout during the previous midterm elections made them decide to tour the country.
The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students experienced the dangers of gun violence firsthand during Valentine's Day when a former student named Nikolas Cruz started shooting before classes were dismissed.
A total of 14 students and three staff members were killed during the incident, including four seniors who were supposed to graduate this year. There were also 17 students wounded after the shooting spree.
Aside from the press conference, other members of the March for Our Lives movement also attended the Teen Vogue Summit in New York City to discuss the gun violence issue.
"March for our Lives isn't just about us, it's about every single one of you and every single student in America and we're really going to channel that," Parkland survivor Jaclyn Corin stated during the three-day event as reported by The Hollywood Reporter.
