Ariz. GOP lawmakers skip student-led March for Our Lives town halls

Two weeks ago, thousands of people descended on the state Capitol in solidarity with March for Our Lives demonstrations, joining teenagers demanding action on gun control and an end to gun violence.

They urged lawmakers to enact legislation requiring universal background checks, ban bump stocks and boost funding for school counselors and social workers instead of placing more armed police officers on campuses.

The grass-roots movement was spurred by the Feb. 14 massacre at a Florida high school that left 17 dead.

More: Teen organizers of March For Our Lives Phoenix: 'We are not done'

While the march is over, student organizers at town halls across the country Saturday said they aren't done fighting for increased gun control in Arizona and nationwide.

Dozens of people gathered in churches on opposite ends of the Valley on Saturday to demand answers from their state lawmakers. More than 100 similar events, known as the Town Hall for Our Lives, were scheduled in 34 states.

But few elected Arizona officials showed up to hear concerns from the 90 or so people who attended the East Valley town hall.

'It's important that they listen'

Angela Mann, an event organizer and freshman at Pinnacle High School in Phoenix, said she was disappointed in the no-shows.

The fact that only Democrats attended made it clear which party was actually willing to have face-to-face conversations about gun control, she added.

"It's important that they listen to their constituents, and that's hard to do if they can't make time to come to events like this," she said.

Only four representatives showed up to the town hall organized by the March for Our Lives organizers in Gilbert. All of them were Democrats.

State Reps. Athena Salman, Isela Blanc and Mitzi Epstein answered questions alongside Sen. Sean Bowie, D-Phoenix.

The chairs set for their Republican counterparts — including Gov. Doug Ducey — remained empty.

Place cards bearing the names of Republicans Ducey, House Speaker J.D. Mesnard, Senate President Steve Yarbrough and Reps. Travis Grantham and Kelly Townsend were left on the table, serving as a reminder of their absence during the two-hour event.

Republicans lawmakers invited to a sister event in the West Valley were also absent.

Governor's school-safety plan panned

Ducey wasn't there, but his proposed gun-control plan was the main topic of discussion.

The draft legislation calls for allocating $11 million to place more armed officers in schools, allowing restraining orders to keep guns out of the hands of people who are unstable, more counselors in schools and a school-safety tip hotline.

Earlier this week, Ducey promoted his plan in a tweet ,saying, "Arizona is taking swift and decisive action to increase the safety of our schools and communities."

Multiple attendees and legislators said the plan didn't do enough to address the actual issues at hand.

It's just Ducey's attempt to look like he's doing something instead of actually fixing the root problems, according to Salman.

"It's a small Band-Aid on a wound that's gushing around the state and around the country," she said.

Blanc said the millions of dollars Ducey wants to allocate for new school-resource officers would be better used by hiring more school counselors and psychologists equipped to catch kids in crisis before it escalates to violence.

The demands of March for Our Lives aren't extreme, according to Blanc. They're in line with a recent Quinnipiac University poll that found 97 percent of respondents support requiring background checks for all gun buyers. Even the Trump administration recently took steps to ban bump stocks.

"We have some common ground on commonsense ideas that we can all agree on and still respect people's Second Amendment rights," Epstein said.

Plans are already underway for future March for Our Lives events.

Organizers said another walkout is scheduled for April 20, the 19th anniversary of the Columbine High School massacre in Colorado.

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