News
Athens March For Our Lives
By: Abby Grisez
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Hundreds of people in Athens joined thousands of others calling for stricter gun control as part of March For Our Lives events taking place across the country Saturday.
The Athens March For Our Lives was organized by the Ohio University College Democrats. The crowd gathered in front of Templeton-Blackburn Memorial Auditorium; marched from East Union Street, to University Terrace, to Park Place, through the Alumni Gateway, and back to the lawn in front of Memorial Auditorium. There, speakers rallied the crowd.
OU students, faculty, and students and teachers from Athens High School spoke about stricter gun laws and expressed their concerns about arming teachers.
Sophomore Bailey Williams was one of the students who organized the Athens event. He said they were inspired by survivors from Stoneman Douglas High School who have continued to speak up and call on elected officials for gun reform.
“It’s amazing. It’s great to see young people standing up because it inspires others who are around our age to do the same thing,” he said. “It shows that we do have political capital.”
The goal of the march is to “call on our elected officials to enact responsible gun control laws,” according to the event’s Facebook page. Over eight hundred people said they were interested on the page, and about 200 came to the rally.
Lisa Crockett, a biological sciences professor at OU, isn’t sure if laws will change in the near future because she feels they should’ve been changed long ago. However, she is impressed and inspired by the young people taking action.
“It generates a lot of optimism in the older generations such as myself, that the younger generations are getting so involved in this movement,” she said