The sea of marchers carried homemade signs with messages in colorful, handwritten letters calling on elected officials to “Love kids, regulate guns,” “Protect our kids” and “Ban assault weapons.”
Many wore bright blue T-shirts printed with “March for Our Lives” in a bold, white font as they marched from the Milwaukee County Courthouse down Wells Street, Wisconsin Avenue and Third Street on the way to the Deer District.
Hundreds of them gathered Saturday afternoon for the city’s second March for Our Lives rally, one of hundreds of similar gatherings across the country calling for stricter gun laws about one month after the deadly mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas.
March organizer and recent Marquette University graduate Tess Murphy said ending the march in the Deer District was intentional, a way to honor the injured victims of the May shootings that took place near Fiserv Forum.
“Our next generation deserves to live in a society where they can grow and thrive without fearing that their lives will be taken prematurely by a bullet,” said Heidi Rose, program director of the Wisconsin Anti-Violence Effort Educational Fund, addressing the crowd from the courthouse steps. “We mourn the losses of life cut short in Uvalde, Buffalo, Parkland, right here in Milwaukee and so, so many more.
“Gun violence should not have to exist,” Rose told the crowd, and she urged lawmakers to pass stricter gun laws.
“We demand change from our community, from our elected officials and from everyone who wants to see an end to gun violence,” said 16-year-old Rufus King International High School student Mia Moore, taking the stage after Rose. “We demand national legislation passed for universal background checks and raising the age to purchase a firearm.”
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March organizer Tatiana Washington explained her and the other organizers’ No. 1 goal is for the march to encourage federal lawmakers to mandate universal background checks for any person purchasing a firearm in any state. This would include background checks on people purchasing firearms from private dealers, such as sellers at gun shows, a requirement not currently mandated by federal law.
“We hope that Senator (Chuck) Schumer sees all these marches happening all over the country and decides to call for a vote on universal background checks,” Washington said.
Marchers call for banning AR-15s and raising the age to purchase a firearm
Like Moore and Washington, many young people at the march passionately called for legislative change.
“I hope that people really start to truly realize that it is a problem,” said Marquette senior Nick Burriesci. “It’s like an epidemic because it just keeps cascading. There’s so many issues with gun violence, and I hope (the march) actually brings people to actively look for ways to change this.”
The march did not only attract college students, but also everyone from young children to grandparents.
Daiva Baltrukenas said the shootings in Parkland and Sandy Hook made her “want to cry,” but the Uvalde shooting brought her “to (her) knees in tears” because, now, she has a 9-month-old grandson.
“I want to protect him,” she said. “I’m so angry. We’ve got to do something. … This little guy (my grandson) is going to have to be doing active shooter drills. That’s wrong.”
Martin Levson said his religious beliefs pushed him to attend the march.
“I am here because, well, as my sign says, ‘Do not stand idly by while your neighbor’s blood is shed,'” said Levson, the spiritual leader for Congregation Emanu-El of Waukesha. “My faith tradition is very clear about the fact that you don’t just say, ‘Oh well, there’s nothing that can be done.'”
While he does not consider himself an “anti-gun person,” he said he is in favor of banning certain weapons, including AR-15s, and raising the minimum age to purchase a firearm to 21.
March for Our Lives rallies are happening across the US
Washington said the march was one of over 450 similar marches happening nationwide, with most happening on Saturday and some to occur next weekend.
March for Our Lives’ national march took place Saturday in front of the Washington Monument in Washington, DC, while similar marches took place across Wisconsin in Madison, Green Bay, Elkhorn, Eau Claire, Luck and Minocqua, according to the organization’s website.
The events were part of the second nationwide March for Our Lives demonstration organized in response to the recent mass shootings at the Tops supermarket in Buffalo and Robb Elementary School in Uvalde. The shootings, which took place only 10 days apart, killed 10 and 22 people, respectively.
The first March for Our Lives demonstration took place in March 2018 following the Feb. 14 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. The first Milwaukee march attracted an estimated 12,000 people, while over 1 million marched in Washington, DC, or in demonstrations throughout the country.
“It’s just frustrating,” Washington said when asked how she feels about marching again four years later. “It’s a lot of grief and rage, but I also think this time is different. There’s folks that didn’t necessarily support us in 2018 marching with us. … They’re tired of seeing shooting after shooting after shooting, and nothing has fundamentally changed.”
She added that the 2022 march is also personally significant for many Milwaukeeans.
“Gun violence is an issue in Milwaukee and there’s so many of us that have been impacted,” she said, adding that losing her aunt to gun violence in 2017 led to her involvement in the March for Our Lives national organization. “A lot of us are still very heavily thinking about the mass shooting that occurred after the Bucks game.”
Washington said she hopes the march shows the community that acts of violence like the May 13 shootings that injured 21 people in the downtown entertainment district should not be normalized in Milwaukee.
“We shouldn’t be scared to go watch our team in the playoffs and live in fear that we’re going to be shot at,” she said.
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