Local high school students to reignite March for Our Lives movement with March on the NRA

Gun rights activists plan to rally next weekend

Christina Lorey by Christina Lorey

Copyright 2018 CNN

Hundreds of thousands of students, politicians, and community members across the country are expected to take to the streets once again this weekend for the National March on the NRA.

Here in Madison, Wisconsin high school students are planning a sibling protest from the UW campus to the Capitol Saturday, where they’ll push for stricter gun laws.

March on the NRA Wisconsin is partnering with the national March for Our Lives organization, which was created in the aftermath of February’s Parkland, Florida school shooting, to plan Saturday’s march.

Protesters will meet at the library mall and start the march down State Street at 4 p.m. Saturday until they reach the east side of the Capitol.

There, student activists, Wisconsin politicians, teachers, and people impacted by gun violence will give speeches.

March on the NRA is currently writing legislation that includes plans for universal background checks, reinstituting the 48-hour waiting period for buying a gun, raising the minimum age to buy a gun to 21, campaign finance reform, and more.

Students who are involved believe it’s their voices, when joined together, that can bring about change.

“I think now is super important because, first, the midterms are happening really soon, and after the march in Wisconsin ten days later is the primary,” said Stephanie Trask, a student organizer of the march. “It’s just so we remind people that we’re students and we’re nervous about going into the new school year with school shootings.”

“A quote that stuck with me when we were planning this march is, ‘If we’re old enough to get shot, we’re old enough to have an option about getting shot,'” said Max Prestigiacomo, co-organizer of the march. “It’s really exciting young people are getting involved, but older generations need to realize politics should cross the generational divide and represent every generation.”

Members of the Wisconsin Chapter of the National Constitutional Coalition of Patriotic Americans aren’t in favor of those changes. One week from Saturday, the pro-gun activists are set to hold a rally of their own.

They say people have the right to protest gun laws, but they hope the other side is also willing to listen to what they have to say.

“I think that if some of the people that go to these marches would go out and talk to gun owners,” said Thomas Leager of the Wisconsin NCCPA. “Because if you’re trying to make a law about computers, you talk to an IT engineer. If you want to make laws about buildings and architecture, you talk to an architect. But somebody who hasn’t owned a gun doesn’t really know much about guns. So trying to make a law about guns doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.”

“If you want to protest us, I guess, it is what it is. It’s America, and that’s what America’s about. Speaking your mind, being independent, being free. But all we ask is that you give us a chance to put our message out and actually listen instead of just waiting for a chance to say your rebuttal.”

Gun rights activists say they’ll have booths set up at their rally next week to encourage a civil discussion on the topic. The Pro-Speech/Pro-Gun rally is scheduled for Aug. 11 from 12-3 p.m.

Even though the organizers of the rally are pro-gun, they are encouraging participants not to openly carry so as to “be engaging to the general public.”

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