I Marched, by Holly Homan

On Saturday March 24, 2018, millions upon millions of people joined the March for Our Lives event that was happening in cities all over the country and even in other countries where participants marched in solidarity. I joined the Seattle march. We were marching in solidarity with the students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School where 17 people were gunned down by some mentally deranged young man. Mass shootings at schools have become such common place now that our lawmakers are just brushing the issue aside. They try and make us believe they’re doing something, but the something they’re doing is protecting the cash cow that are NRA donations. In Florida, where the latest mass shooting took place, lawmakers decided to allot several million to arm teachers. Mind you, when teachers ask for money to shrink class sizes, or to buy classroom supplies, or to fund more staff, they’re told it’s not in the budget. But they’ll find the same amount of money to arm and train teachers to use guns. Even our so-called president has advocated spending money to arm and train teachers. Never mind that recently at a California school a teacher was demonstrating how to shoot a gun, shot it into the ceiling and some students were injured as a result. At another school students found a loaded gun left by a careless teacher in the restroom. No one was hurt in that incident. What could possibly go wrong if more teachers were armed?

During the march I saw so many great signs. Many of the signs pointed out the sheer stupidity of arming teachers. My favorite sign said, I have seen smarter cabinets at Ikea. I just cannot fathom why anyone with an IQ above room temperature could possibly think arming teachers would be a good idea. More guns will equal more deaths, not the opposite.

Unfortunately I missed the speeches. I overslept (I had been out at the Dickies show the night before), but I did make it to the march. The march was well attended. Several thousand participated. I saw all ages and all walks of life participate. I heard a group of teens chanting, Show me what democracy looks like. This is what democracy looks like. Our lawmakers should take note of this as so many are woefully ignorant of what democracy does look like.

This movement was started by the survivors of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas massacre and they were very present at the main march on the country’s capitol. Oh, and what was our so-called president doing while this march took place? He was golfing, of course, at his Mar a Lago estate. He could care less about those lives lost. His golf game comes first. And for anyone who thinks that’s okay, you seriously need your head examined.

I commend these young people for not only starting this movement, but for keeping the momentum going. I stand with them and I march with them. I only hope the movement doesn’t fizzle. I see people’s attitudes towards guns changing. More and more people support the banning of assault weapons. The Second Amendment clearly states A WELL REGULATED MILITIA. I don’t know what part of well regulated people don’t understand. Further, this 18th century law needs to be updated. No way could the writers of that amendment have fathomed what sorts of weapons are used today. They were thinking of muskets, not AK-47s.

What we need to do is demand our lawmakers start taking action to ban automatic and semi-automatic weapons. Make them illegal. Further, guns must be regulated. Background checks must be more comprehensive, all guns must require a license and training. It’s easier to get a gun, any type of gun, than it is to get a driver’s license and that is just wrong.

– All photos property of Holly Homan, all rights reserved.