Toms River students urge tougher gun laws after Parkland shooting

TOMS RIVER — "Enough is enough."

Zach Dougherty's message was short: Gun violence must end.

It was a message the teen, a dozen more teens standing behind him, mothers advocating for "gun sense," retirees and local activists shared in a protest Monday, five days after a massacre at Florida's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School left 17 people dead and another 14 injured.

Slowly, Emma Mammano, a member of the group, "Monmouth-Ocean Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America," read the name of each victim killed in the mass shooting, beginning with Alyssa Alhadeff, a 14-year-old freshman who lived in Bergen County before moving to Florida.

"I'm 16 years old. I cannot vote. I'm a junior in high school. That doesn't mean I can't do anything," said Dougherty, a Toms River High School North student, at times speaking louder to rise over the crescendo of applause on the steps of the Ocean County Library. See the video above for a glimpse of the message shared by the group.

The students and adults called for passage of "common sense" gun control measures that have eluded policymakers in Washingtion, including curtailing civilian access to military-style weapons and voting out lawmakers who accept money from the gun lobby and fail to move on gun control.

And, above all else, the students and activists said on President's Day, they want the like-minded to vote.

Dougherty and his peers — 16-year-old Andreas Psillos and 18-year-old Evelyn Nazario — mirrored the public speeches high school students in Parkland, Florida, delivered after authorities said 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle on Valentine's Day.

"We shouldn't be concerned with things like getting caught in the crossfire of a school shooting, or dying," said Psillos, a sophomore at Toms River High School North. "We should be concerned with normal things, like what college we want to go to, or keeping our grades up for the semester."

Behind Psillos, students held signs, some homemade.

"PROTECT KIDS" was written in red marker on one poster. "WE CAN END GUN VIOLENCE" was printed across another.

"We shouldn't have to be standing here demanding for protection from the legislation," said Nazario, a senior at Toms River High School North. "There should already be stricter gun laws implemented. There should already be changes going on."

Sue Cummings sat on the ground as students spoke, listening.

Her handmade sign denouncing the National Rifle Association was propped before her, like a shield.

"I'm really moved by the students who are speaking up right now and being angry," said Cummings, a former professor and past chairman of the cell and molecular biology department at Georgian Court University.

Standing near the students, Congressional hopefuls Josh Welle and Jim Keady, two Democrats looking to unseat longtime incumbent U.S. Rep. Chris Smith, R-New Jersey, used the rally to criticize what they called inaction on gun regulation, and to promote their campaigns.

Keady turned to the somber-faced students behind him.

"On behalf of every adult in America, I'm sorry," Keady told them. "We have failed."

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As Arlene Marcoe, 65, drove up from Stafford Township with Cummings, Marcoe said she thought Democrats and Republicans should have this meeting point: "No one needs an assault rifle," Marcoe said.

"I don't care about people going hunting and having rifles; going to the shooting range, having pistols," Marcoe said. "I don't want to disarm anybody. But no one needs an (AR)-15. And that's the rifle that's been used in all of these shootings."

To combat gun violence, fewer firearms are not the answer, said Alexander Roubian, president of the New Jersey Second Amendment Society.

"We've always advocated for common-sense gun control," said Roubian, adding that gun-free zones will not eradicate violence, but instead increase violence.

"We want to provide the same level of protection that judges and politicians receive in the statehouse, along with their personal body guards," Roubian said, adding that a legislative push for more gun control is "hypocritical" of elected officials whose safety at work largely depends on heavily armed security members.

To protect children, Roubian suggested schools enlist the help of veterans or retired police officers.

"The children deserve the same level of protection that politicians give themselves," he said.

Standing outside the library, facing a crowd of more than 100 people who gathered, Dougherty said he had spoken with David Hogg, a Marjory Stoneman student who survived the shooting.

"Start the conversation now," Hogg had advised, Dougherty said. "And it's got to be students who start it."

Katie Park: @kathspark; 908-801-4583; kpark@gannettnj.com