A local activist group that called for a changes to gun laws after the Parkland, Florida, school shooting is organizing an Atlanta vigil Saturday for the victims of the tragedy in Santa Fe, Texas.
The Georgia Students Alliance For Social Justice will hold a vigil at 8 p.m. Saturday at Central Presbyterian Church, 201 Washington St. SW.
“We are having a vigil (Saturday) to remember the victims of the Santa Fe school shooting, and all other victims of the 22 school shootings to date this year in America alone,” said Ethan Asher, an organizer and member of Georgia March for Our Lives.
Georgia March for Our Lives organized the March 24 march and rally that drew thousands to downtown Atlanta. The mission for the March demonstration here and those in Washington and many other sites around the country was to urge lawmakers to pass gun control legislation.
Gun control advocates say that ever since the 1999 school shooting in Columbine, Colorado, survivors of mass shootings and families of the victims have helped fight to change the nation's gun laws. After 20 first-graders and six teachers were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012, calls for change intensified, and the gun rights versus gun control debate was back in the national spotlight after the Florida school shooting in February claimed 17 lives.
“In the coming weeks and months, we would like to encourage all eligible citizens to go vote, vote for candidates that support common sense gun laws, and are willing to do what it takes to make change for the better in our country,” Asher said. “Oftentimes you can’t change legislation until you change the legislators, so please everyone go vote.”
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