Photos courtesy of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America Facebook page
More than 800 marches tomorrow across the country and world, including eight in Missouri, will rally against gun violence in schools. Kim Westerman with the St. Louis chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America tells Missourinet the marches have been organized in response to last month’s deadly Florida school shooting.
“The students there just really rallied and decided to take action and have inspired the whole nation to take action in talking about gun violence,” she says. “I think their message that they’re sending is really clear – that it’s long past time for lawmakers to make these students’ lives and their safety a priority.”
Westerman says tomorrow is about school kids wanting to end the mass school shootings that continue to happen.
“I think it’s really inspiring that a new generation is speaking up,” she says. “Being young, not being politicians, it gives them a different sort of voice. It’s not partisan and it has a different sort of weight that it carries.”
President Donald Trump says last month’s shooting rampage at the school in Parkland, Florida shows the country must address mental health issues. Seventeen people were killed in the massacre and the 19-year-old shooter is in custody.
Missouri’s marches will be in Kansas City, Lee’s Summit, St. Joseph, Warrensburg, Joplin, Springfield, Columbia and St. Louis. The primary march is in Washington, D.C.