{"id":100864,"date":"2018-03-24T21:25:42","date_gmt":"2018-03-25T03:25:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/over-1000-take-part-in-march-for-our-lives-rally-in-durango\/"},"modified":"2018-03-24T21:25:42","modified_gmt":"2018-03-25T03:25:42","slug":"over-1000-take-part-in-march-for-our-lives-rally-in-durango","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/over-1000-take-part-in-march-for-our-lives-rally-in-durango\/","title":{"rendered":"Over 1,000 take part in March for Our Lives rally in Durango"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=df8242a8-61c8-45b1-ba50-fcfe3eceab61&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" srcset=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=df8242a8-61c8-45b1-ba50-fcfe3eceab61&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=800 800w, https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=df8242a8-61c8-45b1-ba50-fcfe3eceab61&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=1200 1200w, https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=df8242a8-61c8-45b1-ba50-fcfe3eceab61&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=1800 1800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 2000px\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1067\" alt=\"More than 1,300 people gathered in Rotary Park on Saturday for the March for Our Lives rally after marching down Main Avenue from Durango High School.\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">More than 1,300 people gathered in Rotary Park on Saturday for the March for Our Lives rally after marching down Main Avenue from Durango High School.<\/span><span class=\"credit\">Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video wp-block-embed-youtube naviga-video-embed\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Sz2nopbyd9w\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/p><p>An estimated 1,300 people in Durango marched along Main Avenue on Saturday in sync with hundreds more demonstrations around the country in a rallying cry against gun violence and a plea for safer schools.<\/p>\n<p>Marchers gathered at Durango High School and made their way along the sidewalks of Main Avenue to Rotary Park as part of the national March For Our Lives movement. The crowd \u2013 from young to old \u2013 carried manufactured and homemade signs with pointed messages: \u201cNo more guns.\u201d \u201cEducation is about learning, not survival.\u201d \u201cGirls\u2019 clothing is more regulated than guns.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The nationwide protests were organized in the wake of last month\u2019s school shooting in Parkland, Florida, in which 17 people were killed, and less than five months after a gunman killed two students at Aztec High School.<\/p>\n<p>Once at Rotary Park, the crowd gathered around the gazebo to listen to emotional messages from a mix of speakers.<\/p>\n<p>Durango High School student Sophie Hughes, 17, channeled Parkland survivor Emma Gonzalez with her buzzed hair and unflinching determination during her speech.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe notion of mass shootings has become normal to me,\u201d Hughes said. \u201cI am angry that guns are valued more than human lives in America. My generation has become the voice America needs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Many called on Congress to pass stricter gun control laws, while others criticized the NRA, an organization they said has too much control over the U.S. government.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI really don\u2019t think it is a Republican versus Democrat issue,\u201d said DHS student Aubrey Hirst, 17. \u201cGun culture has taken over America itself, and it\u2019s preventing us from making a change. It\u2019s kids like us that are going to step forward and make that change.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At the forefront of the discussion was the semi-automatic AR-15 rifle used in many of the largest mass shootings in the United States, including Parkland and on the Las Vegas Strip on Oct. 1, 2017.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe need way stricter reforms on who\u2019s allowed to buy weapons and the severity of the weapon itself,\u201d said Fort Lewis College student Rosie Fox, 18. \u201cHigh school-aged kids should not be able to buy semi-automatic weapons.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>FLC student Nikole Simecek, who is working toward receiving a teaching degree, was drawn to the rally as a future educator who could one day be faced with an active shooter situation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I\u2019m in the classroom, these kids are terrified, even here in Durango,\u201d she said. \u201cI think a lot of our lawmakers are very out of touch.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Several ralliers said Saturday that politicians are dragging their feet on responding appropriately to gun violence. The notion of arming school teachers is a Band-Aid approach to fixing the problem, Hirst said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTheir solutions will not work,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019ve talked to my teachers at school, and they do not want to be armed. People are dying and we are sick of it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The students, many of them too young to vote, said they are not convinced lawmakers have their best interests in mind.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are a lot of people in office for the right reasons, but also others who are not,\u201d said DHS student Lola Thomas, 16. \u201cIt\u2019s important the youth are speaking out. We shouldn\u2019t have to be worried about getting shot in school.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The central march took place in Washington, D.C., and more than 800 other rallies were held throughout the country. By all appearances \u2013 there were no official numbers \u2013 Washington\u2019s March for Our Lives rally rivaled the women\u2019s march last year that drew far more than the predicted 300,000. Gonzalez, one of the first students from Florida\u2019s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School to speak out after the tragedy there, implored ralliers in D.C. who are of voting age to vote. In her speech, she recited the names of the Parkland dead, then held the crowd in rapt, tearful silence for more than six minutes, the time it took the gunman to kill them.<\/p>\n<p>Since the bloodshed in Florida, students have tapped into a current of gun control sentiment that has been building for years \u2013 yet still faces a powerful foe in the NRA, its millions of supporters and lawmakers who have resisted any encroachment on gun rights.<\/p>\n<p>Organizers are hoping the electricity of the crowds, their sheer numbers and the under-18 roster of speakers will create a tipping point, starting with the midterm congressional elections this fall. To that end, chants of \u201cVote them out!\u201d rang through the Washington crowd.<\/p>\n<p>In Durango, student organizers found support from adults, including speakers state Rep. Barbara McLachlan, D-Durango; Durango Mayor Dick White; City Councilor Sweetie Marbury; and Durango School District 9-R board member Stephanie Moran.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEnough is enough,\u201d McLachlan said. \u201cThese students are going to change the world. No student should have to get up and say, \u2018I\u2019m afraid to go to school.\u2019 No parent should have to wonder if when they kiss their child goodbye, they are coming back that night.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Durango Police Department said the march was mostly peaceful. Officers received two reports of a car attempting to drive through the crowd at two intersections, said Sgt. Nick Stasi.<\/p>\n<p>Marcher Dinah Swan told The Durango Herald on Saturday afternoon that she was in the small group of people the car tried to ram through. The first time the car attempted it, a volunteer crossing guard stopped and re-routed the car. The second time, Swan said, the car headed toward the group without stopping. She said had the group not jumped back, the car would have hit one or more people.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe were not able to locate or positively identify the vehicle,\u201d Stasi said. \u201cWe did not have any other police incidents related to the march.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em class=\"mwc_shirttail\"><a href=\"mailto:mrupani@durangoherald.com\">mrupani@durangoherald.com<\/a>. The Associated Press contributed to this story.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Speakers, protest signs call for action against gun violence<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":100865,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[13,316],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-100864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-video"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100864"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100864\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100864"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=100864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}