Maria Philomena Nevada
CONTRIBUTOR
March for Our Lives rally members gathered in front of the Student Union at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln on Saturday to march to the Capitol.
The March for Our Lives rally in Lincoln was part of a national movement to march for gun safety legislation. The main march was held in Washington, D.C. on the same day.
The march was organized in response to the shooting that took 17 lives at Majorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Many participants at the march mentioned finding out about the march from social media.
The march was co-organized by Isabelle Bousson, 16, and Kieran Wilson, 21. Wilson attended a high school 10 minutes away from Marjorie Stoneman Douglas.
Senators Adam Morfeld, Patty Pansing Brooks and Anna Wishart were also in attendance. Pansing Brooks sponsored Legislative Bill 780, a proposed ban on bump fire stocks and gun silencers.
The senators stood on the steps of the Capitol with those participating in the march.
“I think the next step for me is that I would love to meet with these students over the summer and talk to them about what we can do in Nebraska as lawmakers,” Wishart said.
“We’re actually working with the students right now to do an interim study to look at what gun safety looks like and [what] gun control looks like, particularly in schools and in our community,” Morfeld said.
The march ended with participants standing in front of a row of 18 school desks, signifying those students who lost their lives to gun violence. Pieces of paper were taped to the desks with short biographies of the students.
“When you look at these 18 desks, it puts into perspective how big the number 18 is,” Wilson said to the crowd in his speech.
Wilson said that when they placed the desks on UNL’s campus, “One of the students looked at me and said ‘the craziest thing about this is that these pieces of paper on these desks don’t tell the whole story. A person’s life cannot be measured on a single piece of paper.'”
Wilson continued: “And so when you look at these desks, I want you to think about the families and friends who are suffering because of the people we lost. I want you to think about the stories that aren’t being told because these students are no longer with us.”
