According to the Washington Post, student-led rallies to show support for gun rights around the country on Saturday drew smaller-than-expected crowds.
In Chicago, organizers planned for about 125 people, but only 35 showed up. Earlier in the morning in the same city hundreds of people, marching to protest gun violence and gun-related deaths in Chicago, shut down 10 blocks of one the busiest interstates in the United States. The major attention of this successful march brought some scorn from groups including the National Rifle Association.
In Palm Beach, Florida, about 100 people were expected to attend a planned rally; 13 came, including the person who organized the rally, three speakers and the parents of two of the speakers. So, really the turn out was 10, at best. You don’t go to see a play and count the actors as part of the audience. Parents of the actors do count, but really – do they have a choice not to attend? I mean, someone has to drive them home.
The Florida event was meant to be a response to the March for Our Lives rallies that attracted thousands across the country after the February shooting at Stoneman Douglas. “The goal is to be just as successful as March for Our Lives,” the rally organizer said. “We want to outdo them.” Looks like that didn’t work out at all, now did it?
Now, if the organizers of these events had asked David Hogg, Stoneman Douglas High School shooting survivor who is now an activist against gun violence in the United States about this, he would have warned them: with facts.
For the first time in almost two decades, the NRA is viewed unfavorably by a majority of Americans. Conversely, 66 percent of voters support stronger gun laws, the highest level ever measured by Quinnipiac
The young people will win. https://t.co/7Dhbk3fM2a
— David Hogg (@davidhogg111) July 8, 2018
“For the first time in almost two decades, the NRA is viewed unfavorably by a majority of Americans. Conversely, 66 percent of voters support stronger gun laws, the highest level ever measured by Quinnipiac. The young people will win.”
I don’t mean to disagree with David on anything, ever. But, I do think he got it slightly wrong. Instead of saying ‘the young people will win’, he should have said ‘the right young people will win’.
The young people that organized rallies in support of gun control are clearly not winning. The young people who are organizing rallies against gun violence and who support gun control are – keep up the good work!
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Follow me on Twitter Mayme Barth
