NEWARK, NJ — As marchers returned to Military Park, ending their three-quarter-mile march through the streets of Newark, their chants reverberated off the buildings, growing louder and louder: "Enough is enough." "Not one more."

It wasn't just suburban school shootings that were on the agenda, however; the gun violence that takes lives in the inner city was front-and-center at the March for Our Lives in Newark on Saturday. From students such as Frankie Walls, who spoke of her mother's fears of her being shot walking down the street in Newark, to Darcy Schleifstein of Randolph, whose friend Alex Schachter was among the 17 killed in the Parkland, Florida shooting in February, the theme was the same: they are tired of wondering when they are the next gun violence victims.

"It's no longer a matter of if, but when," Schleifstein said. The march was one of more than 20 in New Jersey on Saturday, and among hundreds around the country that were sister marches to the national March for Our Lives in Washington, DC, all of which called for more strict gun laws.

"They will let us into Capitol Hill or we will break the doors down trying," said Sarah Emily Baum of Marlboro, who added "We will vote you out," a message directed to members of Congress as a warning if action is not taken. Universal background checks, closing the described gun show loophole and limiting gun magazines are some of the measures they want to see addressed. "Gun violence is not just a social issue, it is a public health crisis," Baum said. "School shootings are just a symptom, not the illness."



Christiannah Akinsanmi, a senior at Howell High School, performed a poem she had written addressing the fact that gun violence affects black people disproportionately. Joined by Baum, her fellow schoolmate from the Freehold Regional High School District, the two emphasized points made by students from Newark, including Elijah Brown, a student at Rutgers University Newark, who told of losing two cousins to gun violence in Baltimore. One had served in Afghanistan and returned home, only to be killed by a bullet meant for someone else.

"He was 23," Brown said. "His daughter will never know the love of her father."

Gov. Phil Murphy praised the students for their activism, and said the state legislature is looking to tighten the state's existing gun laws, and added he will sign laws that were previously vetoed by former Gov. Chris Christie, to make it more difficult for those trafficking in illegal firearms. Among the student organizers who spoke was Zach Dougherty, the Toms River North junior who organized a Presidents Day rally on the steps of the Ocean County Library just days after the Parkland massacre. It was one of the first rallies outside of Florida after the shooting.