Photo from Rally Below, Recording of Rally Available Here
Everytown, Moms Demand Action Holding Rally at 11am on Wednesday Near U.S. Capitol
WASHINGTON — Today, Students Demand Action, a grassroots network of Everytown for Gun Safety, released the following statements after rallying outside the U.S. Capitol to urge the Senate to take action on gun safety legislation. The rally included Students Demand Action volunteers wearing bulletproof vests, a powerful visual statement about what could soon become reality if the Senate fails to act. The event also featured remarks from student gun violence survivors and advocates as well as Senators Chris Murphy, Richard Blumenthal, Bob Menendez, and Cory Booker. A recording of the event is available here.
“It might be hard to look at, but we’re demanding that senators don’t look away from this deadly crisis that touches each of us in unique ways,” said Jeannie She, a gun violence survivor and member of the Students Demand Action National Advisory Board from Virginia Beach. “Senators, we can’t turn our heads away like you may have in the past. Gun violence scars us and stays with us forever. Don’t Look Away.”
“With gun violence now the leading cause of death for children and teens in the U.S, these are the measures families might need to take to keep us safe if the Senate doesn’t act to protect us,” said Ade Osadolor, a Students Demand Action leader and student at the University of Chicago from Southlake, Texas. “This national movement of high school and college-aged volunteers working to end gun violence isn’t going anywhere, and we’ll keep telling the Senate Don’t Look Away until they act.”
It’s been two and a half decades since the Senate passed major gun safety legislation, and that inaction has had deadly consequences. With sales of bulletproof backpacks skyrocketing at retailers across the country, sadly today’s visual statement was not too far away from the current reality of our nation’s children.
On Wednesday, Everytown for Gun Safety and its grassroots networks, Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action, are holding a rally featuring elected officials and gun violence survivors and hundreds of volunteers at 11:00 am ET outside the U.S. Capitol urging the Senate to take action. Contact [email protected] to RSVP for the event.
