Marching for their lives
Understanding the views of the marchers
By Eduardo D. Rossal
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| Photographed by Eduardo D. Rossal |
Participants
Of the March for Our Lives marched for more than gun control. People of all
ages, veterans, and teachers marched and chanted, “Vote them out,” “No justice,
no peace” and “Never again” as they made their way to City Hall.
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| Karl Catarata giving his speech at the rally point in front of City Hall- Photographed by Eduardo D. Rossal |
“The March for Our Lives was very literally a march for our lives,” said Karl Catarata, a UNLV student activist and march organizer. “[The march] was to add more to the statics because for a century; black and brown students have been advocating this issue, but America was mobilized during the March for Our Lives movement, and this is just the tipping point.”
The developing importance of the movement for gun control has transpired to stop the deaths of students in classrooms and to address all the levels of violence Americans witness, Catarata said.
“I am feeling all inspired and pumped,” said Denise Hooks, one of the speakers and activists for common-sense gun reform. “Our generation is here, and we outnumber everyone, and we have taken the appropriate approach for a better future.”
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| Denise Hooks giving her speech at the rally point in front of City Hall- photographer by Eduardo D. Rossal |
Death
in domestic violence, assault is 12 times likely to occur when there is a gun
present according to Gifford Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, an
an organization that researches gun violence, enacting policy to address arm
violence in the nation and writes policies to shift the gun culture of
America.
As of 2018 police have killed 264 people according to Mapping Police Violence, an organization documenting police violence nationwide.
According to Every Town for Gun Safety, an organization that helps to bring Americans together to discuss gun control, black male Americans are 13 times more likely To be shot and killed by a gun than non-Hispanic white males. Black males make up 14 percent of the US population and make up more than half of all-gun related homicides
As America sees a mass shooting every nine days out of 10, amongst the population, especially with the youth, grows concern about gun violence. A mass shooting is defined by the FBI as four or more people shot in an incident. According to with Gun Violence Archive, a non-profit organization that researches and documents gun-related violence, there have been 3,460 American deaths in 2018 due to gun violence.
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| Some of the protesters raised their hands in the air in a sign of strength- Photographed by Eduardo D. Rossal |
Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 complete a ban on assault weapons in subsection Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act, which only applied to manufactured weapons after the ban’s enactment. It expired by sunset provision on September 13, 2004.
The 50 percent opposed to stricter gun control may have some confusion on this particular gun control movement, Catarata said.
“What
we want pro-gun or Second Amendment groups to know is that we are not trying to
take guns away from you,” Catarata said.
The movement is to restrict the mentally ill and irresponsible individual from having The capacity to purchase a gun. That is what the march is about, just to have this conversation about what it really means to have gun control, Catarata said.
Question 1 was an amendment to Chapter 202 of the Nevada Revised Statutes to prevent, excluding certain circumstances, any person who is not a licensed arms dealer or manufacture of firearms from selling a gun to another unlicensed person unless a licensed dealer first conducts a background check on the buyer.
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| A sign that depicts a cartoon of Uncle Sam protecting an NRA Member While people lie dead on the ground- Photographed by Eduardo D. Rossal |
Question 1 passed in 2016 by the majority of Nevadans, and yet Nevada Attorney General Adam Paul Laxalt has not enacted it, Hooks said. The lack of accountability that we have in this country causes such disregard for the rule of law. People voted for Question 1, and the elected officials have not acted accountable to their positions. If one obtains an elected position, then they need to enact laws, even if they may disagree with that law, that people voted for. People in power should endure accountability, or we will go backward, Hooks said.
As Gov. Brian Sandoval will depart from office, his Attorney General Laxalt hasn’t enacted Question 1, Catarata said. Catarata believes the A rating that the National Rifle Association has given to Sandoval has an influence over policymaking. He has responded to the issue, but he could do more to ensure to bring about enacting Question 1. Laxalt should adhere accountability to his position, Catarata said.
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| Protesters raising their fist as a symbol of strength- Photographed by Eduardo D. Rossal |
“The students have already started planning our town halls,” Hooks said. “They want to do town halls and informative forums all the way till November.”
On the anniversary of the Columbine school shooting, April 20, Catarata helped to organized a school walkout that starts at the UNLV SRWC by the grass lawn in honor of the 15 dead and the 24 injured.
#VegasStrong #NeverAgain #VoteForOurLives #MarchForOurLives #EnoughIsEnough #Parkland
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