Following the final speaker, the hundreds of protesters attending the March for Our Lives rally gathered on the south steps of the capitol building last Saturday in Topeka. The rally, organized by junior elementary education major Samantha Inscore, focused on stricter gun laws, calling for an end to senseless gun violence and encouraging people to take action and vote.
Hundreds gathered on the lawn outside the capitol building in Topeka last Saturday to take part in the March For Our Lives Enough Is Enough rally, calling for an end to gun violence.
The rally, organized by Samantha Inscore, junior elementary education major at Emporia State, was one of many that occurred across the country. She was inspired to organize the rally after seeing a video of Emma Gonzalez, a survivor of the Parkland shooting, and thinking about if she would ever be forced to take a bullet for her own students.
“We are here today, to make it clear to our legislature what it is we, the people, want,” Inscore said. “We don’t want students and teachers to continue to be slaughtered in mass numbers within their schools. We don’t want assault weapons in the hands of civilians after a three minute background check. We don’t want our teachers armed in the classroom, and most importantly, we don’t want our lawmakers to ignore our cries for help any longer.”
There were several speakers at the event, including Barry Grissom, former Kansas U.S. Attorney, and Topeka mayor Michelle De La Isla, who was a surprise guest speaker.
During the rally, the speakers focused on the importance of voting, stricter gun laws and not underestimating the power of younger generations to make change.
“We are here because we understand that you are not only our future, you are our now,” De La Isla said. “You have power, limitless power…Don’t you dare let voices of people tell you that you have no capacity to lead. You are leading now.”
Trace Tobin, a political science major at Washburn University and member of Young Democrats, also spoke of the impact that his generation can have on change.
Gun violence isn’t a partisan issue and the NRA is not too powerful to take on, Tobin said.
“Let our generation be the generation who ends senseless violence,” Tobin said.
Grissom agreed with that sentiment during his speech, saying that this generation is the one that will make a difference. and also encouraged people to call their representatives.
In his speech, he encouraged people to call their representatives and tell them that it was “time for change.” The crowd responded by chanting “time for change” together.
“You are the change,” Grissom said, when the chanting subsided.
To go with the rally’s theme of making a change through voting, contacting representatives and calling for stricter background checks and gun laws, there was a voter registration booth set up near the south steps of the capitol.
Forty new registrations, change of party forms and advance ballot forms were completed at the rally, according to Inscore.
“This is just the start,” Inscore said.
Inscore currently has plans to partner with a town hall in Wichita next Saturday to continue the discussion on prevention of gun violence and pressuring politicians to take action.