“We’re here rain or shine, no matter what. This is what we do,” Romania Dukes, founder and president of Mothers Fighting for Justice, whose son De’Michael was killed by a stray bullet in 2014, advised New Times. “We’re all united: Parkland moms, Pulse moms. We’re together, and we don’t want to take away guns. We want commonsense laws.”
Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried and Parkland capturing survivor and March for Our Lives cofounder David Hogg stood alongside Dukes and greater than 20 protesters, together with members of the United Teachers of Dade and the American Federation of Teachers unions. Following latest mass shootings in Buffalo, Tulsa, and Uvalde, Texas, the mother and father and organizations joined forces to rail towards Rubio and different politicians for failing to enact actual change within the face of a staggering variety of mass shootings within the U.S.: greater than 200 because the begin of this 12 months.
“Teachers are exhausted from mourning. We’re tired of going to students’ funerals. This is a moment of grief for all of us, and children’s lives are more valuable than guns,” mentioned Karla Hernandez Mats, president of the United Teachers of Dade.
Local activist Tangela Sears (heart) was amongst those that referred to as on Marco Rubio to assist enact federal gun-law reform amid the present spate of mass shootings.
Photo by Joshua Ceballos
Mats, Hogg, and others harassed that they are “not trying to take away guns” from rightful gun house owners. Their aim is to cross federal legal guidelines that might make acquiring assault weapons harder (or in some circumstances, unattainable). The activists referred to as for elevating the minimal age required to buy a gun in different states from 18 to 21, arguing that the Uvalde shooter mustn’t have been capable of buy two rifles simply after his 18th birthday on May 17, after which homicide 21 individuals seven days later.
The minimal age to purchase a gun in Florida is 21. It was raised from 18 after the capturing at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on February 14, 2018.
The teams additionally referred to as for higher emphasis on background checks for gun patrons and the banning of AR-15 and related so-called assault weapons like those utilized in Uvalde, Tulsa, and Parkland, which American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten known as “weapons of war.”
Rubio didn’t meet with the protesters; it is unclear whether or not he was at his workplace. In response to New Times‘ request for remark concerning the occasion and his stance on gun reform, Rubio’s press workplace despatched a hyperlink to Rubio’s tweet from Thursday itemizing his two legislative proposals on gun violence — “threat assessments to identify dangerous people” and “allowing police to intervene before threats lead to murder” — and added no additional remark.
Many are lastly realizing the two payments I’ve been working for 4 years are one of the best ways to forestall mass shootings
1. Threat Assessments to determine harmful individualshttps://t.co/i2Nw4VrGpU
2. Allowing police to intervene earlier than threats result in homicide:https://t.co/rJRWHqh8xh
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) June 2, 2022
The Florida senator has come underneath hearth not too long ago for receiving $3.3 million in donations from the National Rifle Association and pushing again towards proposals to ban assault weapons. Rubio has supported the “good guy with a gun theory” — the notion that armed people can cease mass shooters — and not too long ago criticized the National Basketball Association in a collection of tweets for “politicizing” the Uvalde capturing after the Miami Heat broadcast gun control-themed messages throughout final week’s playoff sport towards the Boston Celtics at FTX Arena.
In March of 2018, after the Parkland capturing, Rubio and different legislators from each side of the aisle launched the Extreme Risk Protection Order and Violence Prevention Act, a federal regulation that might use Department of Justice funds to incentivize state legislators to enact “red flag” legal guidelines that permit regulation enforcement officers to confiscate weapons from an individual if a choose deems them a hazard to themselves or others. The invoice failed. Rubio and his fellow lawmakers reintroduced it in 2021, however there was no motion on it since then.
While many at immediately’s protest criticized Rubio for his inaction and referred to as for Floridians to vote him out of workplace in November, Hogg harassed the necessity to attain throughout get together strains to enact commonsense gun legal guidelines. Hogg requested to fulfill with Rubio to debate making these adjustments.
“We understand that we don’t agree on everything, but let’s find what we can agree on. That’s what we did after Parkland in Florida,” Hogg advised New Times. “If we can stop one more Parkland, it’s worth it — or one more student, who doesn’t get on the news, that dies outside of school because he lives in a Black and brown community.”